Shine shines

THE Golden Satellite Awards, announced on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, reflected the openness of this year's field in the run up to the Academy Award nominations next month, with the Coen Brothers' Fargo, Scott Hicks' Shine and Anthony Minghella's The English Patient figuring strongly. Frances McDormand was named Best Actress (Drama) for her performance in Fargo, which also won in the Best Drama Motion Picture and Best Director categories, and shared the award for Best Original Screenplay with The People Vs Larry Flynt. James Woods (Killer: A Journal Of Murder) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine) shared the award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama and Shine's Armin Mueller Stahl won Best Supporting Actor.

In the Comedy or Musical category, Tom Cruise was Best Actor for his performance in Jerry Maguire, while Gwyneth Paltrow won the Best Actress Award for Emma. The Best Picture, Comedy or Musical award went to Evita, and Best Foreign Language Picture to Breaking The Waves. The English Patient picked up awards for Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Original Score, beating Elliot Goldenthal's score for Michael Collins, the only nomination for Neil Jordan's film.

The Golden Satellites we're set up this year to challenge the long established Golden Globes, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. While the public profile of the Golden Globes has risen considerably in the last few years, thanks in large part to the support of the major studios, who see them as an ideal platform for marketing their product in advance of the Oscars, the Foreign Press Association has come under sustained attack as an unrepresentative clique. The new awards have been set up by a rival organisation, the International Press Academy, which claims to be more representative of foreign film correspondents in the United States.

THE Irish producer Morgan O'Sullivan, who recently replaced Lelia Doolan on her retirement from Bord Scannan na hEireann, will be keeping the stages at Ardmore Studios busy for the next couple of months with twos new productions of classic stories. Sweeney Todd, directed by John Schlesinger and starring Ben Kingsley, begins shooting on January 27th. The feature length drama is being produced for the Showtime cable channel in the US. In mid February, a new version of Oliver Twist goes into production for Wait Disney TV and ABC. Among the cast confirmed so far are Richard Dreyfuss as Fagin and Elijah Wood as the Artful Dodger.

THE Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht is planning to increase the powers of the Irish Film Archive in the Cultural Institutions Bill, which is currently awaiting committee stage in the Dail.

The proposals will extend the principle of legal deposit, which only applies to printed material at present, to film. Just as publishing companies are required to deposit copies of all their publications with the National Library, film companies will be legally obliged to lodge one new copy of each film they produce with the archive for preservation in its new vaults, which are due to be constructed this year. Luke Dodd, head of the archive, thinks that there will be enough space in the new vaults for the next five years, at which point a new facility, probably at a green field site, is envisaged.

IRELAND's reputation as a country of enthusiastic moviegoers is further strengthened by the news from UCI that its new Blanchardstown multiplex attracted more people in its first two weeks of trading than in the same period following any other UCI opening. In its second week the new cinema attracted more people than 15 of the company's more established cinemas in the UK. Steve Knibbs, Managing Director of UCI Cinemas, UK and Ireland, said: "This is by far the most successful launch ever for any of our 29 UCI cinemas in the UK and Ireland."

JULIE CHRISTIE and Rufus Sewell, two of the stars of Kenneth Branagh's new version of Hamlet, will attend tonight's charity premiere of the film on Tuesday 21st January in the brand new Belfast Waterfront Hall (see opposite page). The Waterfront is the only venue in Northern Ireland with the facilities to show the film - in its spectacular 70mm format.

The event is in aid of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action and the Ulster Youth Theatre, and will be introduced by Belfast actor Ian McElhinney, who also appears in the film. This is the first time Branagh has been unable to attend the premiere of one of his films in Belfast. He is currently in the US, shooting Robert Altman's latest film, The Gingerbread Man, with a screenplay by John Grisham. Over a thousand tickets have already been sold, but there are tickets still available from the Waterfront Box Office at (080 1 232) 334455.