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The Newport Beach Film Festival, which kicks off April 24 and continues through April 27, will honor five talented artists who will be on hand to accept their awards. The event kicks off opening night with the West Coast premiere of Sundance indie hit “Luce,” a provocative racial drama from director Julius Onah starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and rising star Kelvin Harrison Jr. The fest closes with the world premiere of “Part of Water,” a documentary about local lifeguard hero Ben Carlson who lost his life saving a drowning swimmer in 2014.

Between those bookends, Nbff screens the Ted Bundy crime drama “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” starring Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer; “Official Secrets,” Gavin Hood’s political thriller starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes; and the world premiere of “The Tony Alva Story,” which chronicles the life of the skateboarding legend.

The fest and Vans...

Chicago – The romance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, has fascinated sensibilities for centuries. William Shakespeare, no slouch when it comes to cultural commentary, wrote his version of the pairing in “Antony and Cleopatra,” the latest in the Stratford (Ontario) Festival of High Definition cinema adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Chicagoan Gary Griffin directed the stage production, that was rendered to HD. The screenings of “Antony and Cleopatra” will take place on May 21st, 2015, in various movie theaters across the country, including Chicago.

Griffin is a professional theater veteran, originally from Rockford, Illinois, who cut his teeth in the Chicago theater scene. For the Stratford Festival – besides this version of “Antony and Cleopatra” – he has directed the musicals “42nd Street,” “Camelot,” “Evita” and “West Side Story.” Locally, he has worked with the the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among other area theatrical venues, and he has won eight Joseph Jefferson Awards for direction.

"We knew this was coming. Diaz is gone, and he isn't coming back."

Such was Sgt. Frank Best's (Lyriq Bent) greeting as he informed the other rookies of Chris' (Travis Milne) departure at the start of "Skeletons," Thursday''s (July 25) episode of ABC's "Rookie Blue." As they registered their surprise -- particularly Dov (Gregory Smith), who had done his best to change Chris' mind -- Best added, "People come, people go, so you might as well get used to it."

Indeed: ABC's press information already confirms Diaz will be a big part of the Aug. 15 episode. Meanwhile, another familiar face returned to 15 Division as Detective Luke Callaghan's (Eric Johnson) reappeared to help direct a kidnapping investigation, one with huge reverberations for the cops.

The apparent victim had been taken in a cab registered to Ross Perik (Ben Carlson), last season's perp who kidnapped Gail (Charlotte Sullivan) and fatally stabbed her would-be rescuer,...