title: National Rally

text: From the 1980s to the 1990s, the party's policy shifted from favouring the European Union to turning against it. In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen campaigned on pulling France out of the EU and re-introducing the franc as the country's national currency. In the early 2000s the party denounced the Schengen, Maastricht, and Amsterdam treaties as foundations for "a supranational entity spelling the end of France." In 2004, the party criticised the EU as "the last stage on the road to world government", likening it to a "puppet of the New World Order." It also proposed breaking all institutional ties back to the Treaty of Rome, while it returned to supporting a common European currency to rival the United States dollar. Further, it rejected the possible accession of Turkey to the EU. The FN was also one of several parties that backed France's 2005 rejection of the Treaty for a European Constitution. In other issues, Le Pen opposed the invasions of Iraq, led by the United States, both in the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. He visited Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 1990, and subsequently considered him a friend.


title: National Rally

text: Marine Le Pen advocated France leaving the euro (along with Spain, Greece and Portugal) – although that policy has been dropped in 2019. She also wants to reintroduce customs borders and has campaigned against allowing dual citizenship. During both the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis and the 2011 Libyan civil war, she opposed the French military involvements.


title: National Rally

text: Marine Le Pen described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "defender of the Christian heritage of European civilisation." The National Front considers that Ukraine has been subjugated by the United States, through the Revolution of Dignity. The National Front denounces anti-Russian feelings in Eastern Europe and the submission of Western Europe to "Washington's" interests in the region. Marine Le Pen is very critical against the threats of sanctions directed by the international community against Russia: "European countries should seek a solution through diplomacy rather than making threats that could lead to an escalation." She argues that the United States is leading a new Cold War against Russia. She sees no other solution for peace in Ukraine than to organise a kind of federation that would allow each region to have a large degree of autonomy. She thinks Ukraine should be sovereign and free as any other nation.


title: National Rally

text: Luke Harding wrote in "The Guardian" that the National Front's MEPs were a "pro-Russian bloc." In 2014, the "Nouvel Observateur" said that the Russian government considered the National Front "capable of seizing power in France and changing the course of European history in Moscow's favour." According to the French media, party leaders had frequent contact with Russian ambassador Alexander Orlov and Marine Le Pen made multiple trips to Moscow. In May 2015, one of her advisers, Emmanuel Leroy, attended an event in Donetsk marking the "independence" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.


title: National Rally

text: Since their entry into the European Parliament in 1979, the National Rally has promoted a message of being pro-Europe, but anti-EU. However, in 2019 the proposal that France leave the Eurozone and the EU was removed from the party's manifesto, which has since called for "reform from within" the union.


title: National Rally

text: The party's stance on NATO has varied throughout the years, under Jean-Marie Le Pen's leadership the party advocated for a complete withdrawal from the organization, while under Marine Le Pen's leadership the party has softened its stance to instead advocate leaving NATO's integrated military command structure, which France joined in 2009.


title: National Rally

text: The National Rally has advocated for full proportional representation in France, claiming that the two-round system disenfranchises voters. In early 2021, Marine Le Pen, along with centrist politician François Bayrou and green politician Julien Bayou, cosigned a letter asking President Emmanuel Macron to implement proportional representation for future elections.


title: National Rally

text: There has been a difference between Marine Le Pen's and her father's views concerning the Holocaust and Jews. In 2005, Jean-Marie Le Pen wrote in the far-right weekly magazine "Rivarol" that the German occupation of France "was not particularly inhumane, even if there were a few blunders, inevitable in a country of 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq. mi.)" and in 1987 referred to the Nazi gas chambers as "a point of detail of the history of the Second World War". He has repeated the latter claim several times. In 2004, Bruno Gollnisch said, "I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to determine" ("de se déterminer"). Jean-Marie Le Pen was fined for these remarks, but Gollnisch was found not guilty by the Court of Cassation. The leader of the party, Marine Le Pen, distanced herself for a time from the party machine in protest at her father's comments. In response to her father's remarks Marine Le Pen referred to the Holocaust as the "abomination of abominations".


title: National Rally

text: During the 2012 presidential election, Marine Le Pen sought the support of Jewish people in France. Interviewed by the Israeli daily newspaper "Haaretz" about the fact that some of her European senior colleagues had formed alliances with, and visited, some Israeli settlers and groups, Marine Le Pen said: "The shared concern about radical Islam explains the relationship ... but it is possible that behind it is also the need of the visitors from Europe to change their image in their countries ... As far as their partners in Israel are concerned, I myself don't understand the idea of continuing to develop the settlements. I consider it a political mistake and would like to make it clear in this context that we must have the right to criticise the policy of the State of Israel – just as we are allowed to criticise any sovereign country – without it being considered anti-Semitism. After all, the National Front has always been Zionistic and always defended Israel's right to exist". She has opposed the emigration of French Jews to Israel in response to radical Islam, explaining: "The Jews of France are Frenchmen, they're at home here, and they must stay here and not emigrate. The country is obligated to provide solutions against the development of radical Islam in problematic areas".


title: National Rally

text: In November 2014, Marine Le Pen confirmed that the party had received a €9 million loan from the First Czech Russian Bank (FCRB) in Moscow to the National Front. Senior FN officials from the party's political bureau informed Mediapart that this was the first instalment of a €40 million loan, although Marine Le Pen has disputed this. "The Independent" said the loans "take Moscow's attempt to influence the internal politics of the EU to a new level." Reinhard Bütikofer stated, "It's remarkable that a political party from the motherland of freedom can be funded by Putin's sphere—the largest European enemy of freedom." Marine Le Pen argued that it was not a donation from the Russian government but a loan from a private Russian bank because no other bank would give her a loan. This loan is meant to prepare future electoral campaigns and to be repaid progressively. Marine Le Pen has publicly disclosed all the rejection letters that French banks have sent to her concerning her loan requests. Since November 2014, she insists that if a French bank agrees to give her a loan, she would break her contract with the FCBR, but she has not received any other counter-propositions. Le Pen accused the banks of collusion with the government. In April 2015, a Russian hacker group published texts and emails between Timur Prokopenko, a member of Putin's administration, and Konstantin Rykov, a former Duma deputy with ties to France, discussing Russian financial support to the National Front in exchange for its support of Russia's annexation of Crimea, though this has not coalesced.


title: National Rally

text: A 2019 undercover investigation by Al Jazeera uncovered links between high-ranking National Rally figures and Generation Identity, a far-right group. In secretly taped conversations, National Rally leaders endorsed goals of Generation Identity and discussed plans to "remigrate" immigrants, effectively sending them back to their countries of origin, if National Rally came to power. Christelle Lechevalier, a National Rally Member of the European Parliament (MEP), said many National Rally leaders held similar views as the GI, but sought to hide them from voters.


title: National Rally

text: The FN has been part of several groups in the European Parliament. The first group it helped co-establish was the European Right after the 1984 election, which also consisted of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), its early inspiration, and the Greek National Political Union. Following the 1989 election, it teamed up with the German Republicans and the Belgian Vlaams Blok in a new European Right group, while the MSI left due to the Germans' arrival. As the MSI evolved into the National Alliance, it chose to distance itself from the FN. From 1999 to 2001, the FN was a member of the Technical Group of Independents. In 2007, it was part of the short-lived Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty group. Between the mentioned groups, the party sat among the non-affiliated Non-Inscrits. It is part of the Identity and Democracy group, which also includes the Freedom Party of Austria, Italian Northern League, Vlaams Belang, the Alternative for Germany, the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy, the Dutch Freedom Party, the Conservative People's Party of Estonia, the Finns Party, and the Danish People's Party.


title: National Rally

text: It was formerly known as the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, during which time it also included the Polish Congress of the New Right, a former member of the UK Independence Party and a former member of Romania's Conservative Party. They have also been part of the Identity and Democracy Party (formerly the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom) since 2014, which additionally includes Slovakia's We Are Family and the Bulgarian Volya Movement.


title: National Rally

text: During Jean-Marie Le Pen's presidency, the party has also been active in establishing extra-parliamentary confederations. During the FN's 1997 national congress, the FN established the loose Euronat group, which consisted of a variety of European right-wing parties. Having failed to cooperate in the European Parliament, Le Pen sought in the mid-1990s to initiate contacts with other far-right parties, including from non-EU countries. The FN drew most support in Central and Eastern Europe, and Le Pen visited the Turkish Welfare Party. The significant Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) refused to join the efforts, as Jörg Haider sought to distance himself from Le Pen, and later attempted to build a separate group. In 2009, the FN joined the Alliance of European National Movements; it left the alliance since. Along with some other European parties, the FN in 2010 visited Japan's "Issuikai" ("right-wing") movement and the Yasukuni Shrine.


title: National Rally

text: At a conference in 2011, the two new leaders of the FN and the FPÖ, Marine Le Pen and Heinz-Christian Strache, announced deeper cooperation between their parties. Pursuing her de-demonisation policy, in October 2011, Marine Le Pen, as new president of the National Front, joined the European Alliance for Freedom (EAF). The EAF is a pan-European sovereigntist platform founded late 2010 that is recognised by the European Parliament. The EAF has individual members linked to the Austrian Freedom Party of Heinz-Christian Strache, the UK Independence Party, and other movements such as the Sweden Democrats, Vlaams Belang (Belgian Flanders), Germany (Bürger in Wut), and Slovakia (Slovak National Party).


title: National Rally

text: During her visit to the United States, Marine Le Pen met two Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives associated with the Tea Party movement, Joe Walsh, who is known for his strong stance against Islam, which Domenic Powell argues, rises to Islamophobia and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul, whom Le Pen complimented for his stance on the gold standard. In February 2017, two more conservative Republican Congressmen, Steve King and Dana Rohrabacher, also met with Le Pen in Paris. The party also has ties to Steve Bannon, who served as White House Chief Strategist under President Donald Trump.


title: National Rally

text: In 2017, Marine Le Pen met with and was interviewed for the British radio station LBC by former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who had previously been critical of the FN. Apart from the party's membership in the Identity and Democracy parliamentary group and the Identity and Democracy Party, the RN also has contacts with Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, Krasimir Karakachanov's IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement, Nenad Popović's Serbian People's Party, and Santiago Abascal's Vox in Spain.


title: National Rally

text: In 2019, RN MEPs participated in the first international delegation to visit India's Jammu and Kashmir following the decision by Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party government to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The delegation was not sanctioned by the European Parliament, and consisted mostly of right-wing populist politicians including MEPs from Vox, Alternative for Germany, the Northern League, Vlaams Belang, the British Brexit Party, and Poland's Law and Justice party.


title: National Rally

text: In October 2021, Le Pen met with Fidesz leader and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the Law and Justice party, and Slovenian Democratic Party leader and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.


title: National Rally

text: The executive bureau features: Jordan Bardella (president), Steeve Briois (vice-president), Louis Aliot (vice-president), David Rachline (vice-president), Kévin Pfeffer (treasurer), Julien Sanchez (spokesperson), Gilles Pennelle (regional councilor), Edwige Diaz (deputy regional councilor), Hélène Laporte, Philip Olivier, and Jean-Paul Garraud.


title: National Rally

text: In March 2018, the position of vice-president replaced that of General Secretary. It became a duo in June 2019:


title: National Rally

text: As of January 2022, National Rally has 7 MPs; Bruno Bilde, Emmanuel Blairy, Sébastien Chenu, Myriane Houplain, Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Meizonnet, Catherine Pujol. They sit in the National Assembly as non-inscrits.


title: National Rally

text: The National Front was a marginal party in 1973, the first election it participated in, but the party made its breakthrough in the 1984 European Parliament election, where it won 11% of the vote and ten MEPs. Following this election, the party's support mostly ranged from around 10 to 15%, although it saw a drop to around 5% in some late 2000s elections. Since 2010, the party's support seems to have increased towards its former heights. The party managed to advance to the final round of the 2002 French presidential election, although it failed to attract much more support after the initial first round vote. In the late 2000s the party suffered decline in elections. Under Marine Le Pen's presidency the party has increased its vote share significantly. The National Front came first in a national election for the first time during the 2014 European elections, when it gained 24% of the vote. During the 2017 presidential election the party advanced to the second round of the election for the second time, and doubled the percentage it received in the 2002 presidential election, earning 34%. In the 2019 European elections the rebranded National Rally retained its spot as first party.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The Newfoundland is a large working dog. They can be black, brown, or black and white. However, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, before it became part of the confederation of Canada, only black and Landseer (white-and-black) coloured dogs were considered to be proper members of the breed. They were originally bred and used as working dogs for fishermen in Newfoundland. Newfoundlands are known for their giant size, intelligence, tremendous strength, calm disposition, love of children and loyalty. They excel at water rescue/lifesaving because of their muscular build, thick double coat, webbed paws, and swimming abilities.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: Newfoundlands ('Newfs' or 'Newfies') have webbed paws and a water-resistant coat. Males normally weigh , and females , placing them in the "Giant" weight range; but some Newfoundlands have been known to weigh over – and the largest on record weighed and measured over from nose to tail, ranking it among the largest of dog breeds. They may grow up to tall at the shoulder.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The American Kennel Club (AKC) standard colours of the Newfoundland are black, brown, grey, and white-and-black (sometimes referred to as a Landseer). Other colours are possible but are not considered rare or more valuable. The Kennel Club (KC) permits only black, brown, and white/black; the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) permits only black and white/black. The "Landseer" pattern is named after the artist, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, who featured them in many of his paintings. Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) consider the ECT Landseer ("European Continental Type") to be a separate breed. It is a taller, more narrow white dog with black markings not bred with a Newfoundland.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The Newfoundland's extremely large bones give it mass, while its large musculature gives it the power it needs to take on rough ocean waves and powerful tides. These dogs have huge lung capacity for swimming extremely long distances and a thick, oily, and waterproof double coat which protects them from the chill of icy waters. The double coat makes the dog hard to groom, and also causes a lot of shedding to occur. The droopy lips and jowls make the dog drool, especially in high heat.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: In the water, the Newfoundland's massive webbed paws give it maximum propulsion. The swimming stroke is not an ordinary dog paddle: Unlike other dogs, the Newfoundland moves its limbs in a down-and-out motion giving more power to every stroke.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The Newfoundland is known for its calm and docile nature and its strength. They are very loyal, have a mild nature, and make great working dogs. It is for this reason that this breed is known as "the gentle giant". International kennel clubs generally describe the breed as having a sweet temper. The breed typically has a deep bark and is easy to train if started young. They are wonderfully good with children, but small children can get accidentally leaned on and knocked down. Newfoundlands are ideal companions in the world of therapy and are often referred to as "nanny dogs". The breed was memorialised in "Nana", the beloved guardian dog in J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". The Newfoundland, in general, is good with other animals, but its size can cause problems if it is not properly trained.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: A Newfoundland's good, sweet nature is so important, it is listed in the breed standards of many countries; dogs exhibiting poor temperament or aggression are disqualified from showing and should never be used to breed. The breed standard in the United States reads that "Sweetness of temperament is the hallmark of the Newfoundland; this is the most important single characteristic of the breed."


title: Newfoundland dog

text: There are several health problems associated with Newfoundlands. Newfoundlands are prone to hip dysplasia (a malformed ball and socket in the hip joint). They also get elbow dysplasia, and cystinuria (a hereditary defect that forms calculi stones in the bladder). Another genetic problem is subvalvular aortic stenosis (SAS). This is a common heart defect in Newfoundlands involving defective heart valves. SAS can cause sudden death at an early age. It is similar to having a heart attack. The breed may live to be 8 to 10 years of age; 10 years is a commonly cited life expectancy. However, Newfoundlands can live up to 15 years old.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: Genome analysis indicates that Newfoundlands are related to the Irish water spaniel, Labrador Retriever, and Curly-Coated Retriever.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: In the early 1880s, fishermen and explorers from Ireland and England travelled to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, where they described two main types of working dogs. One was heavily built, large with a longish coat, and the other medium-sized in build – an active, smooth-coated water dog. The heavier breed was known as the Greater Newfoundland, or Newfoundland. The smaller breed was known as the Lesser Newfoundland, or St. John's water dog. The St. John's water dog became the founding breed of modern retrievers. Both breeds were used as working dogs to pull fishnets, with the Greater Newfoundland also being used to haul carts and other equipment.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: It has also been proposed that the original Newfoundland that lived on the island was smaller; in theory, the smaller landrace was bred with mastiffs when sold to the English, and the English version was popularized to become what we think of as a Newfoundland today.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The breed's working role was varied. Many tales have been told of the courage displayed by Newfoundlands in adventuring and lifesaving exploits. Over the last two centuries, this has inspired a number of artists, who have portrayed the dogs in paint, stone, bronze, and porcelain. One famous Newfoundland was named Seaman, one of the most traveled dogs in human history, who accompanied American explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific and back, a journey that took 3 years. A statue of him is included in many Lewis and Clark monuments. Many children's books have been written about him (see Seaman (dog)#Children's books about Seaman).


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The breed prospered in the United Kingdom, until 1914 and again in 1939, when its numbers were almost fatally depleted by wartime restrictions. Since the 1950s there has been a steady increase in numbers and popularity, despite the fact that the Newfoundland's great size and fondness for mud and water makes it unsuitable as a pet for many households.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: During the Discovery Channel's second day of coverage of the American Kennel Club Eukanuba National Championship on December 3, 2006, anchor Bob Goen reported that Newfoundlands exhibit a very strong propensity to rescue people from water. Goen stated that one Newfoundland alone aided the rescue of 63 shipwrecked sailors. Today, kennel clubs across the United States host Newfoundland Rescue Demonstrations, as well as offering classes in the field. Many harbour boat tours in St John's have a dog on board for local charm as well as for passenger safety.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: Further evidence of Newfoundlands' ability to rescue or support life-saving activities was cited in a 2007 article by the BBC.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: The Newfoundland shares many physical traits with mastiffs and Molosser-type dogs, such as the St. Bernard and English Mastiff, including stout legs, massive heads with very broad snouts, a thick bull-like neck, and a very sturdy bone structure. Many St. Bernards have Newfoundlands in their ancestry. Newfoundlands were brought and introduced to the St. Bernard breed in the 18th century when the population was threatened by an epidemic of canine distemper. They share many characteristics of many livestock guardian dog breeds, such as the Great Pyrenees.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: Because of their strength, Newfoundlands were part of the foundation stock of the Leonberger (which excelled at water rescue and was imported by the Canadian government for that purpose); and the now-extinct Moscow Water Dog, a failed attempt at creating a lifesaving dog by the Russian state kennel—the unfortunate outcross with the Caucasian Shepherd Dog begat a dog more adept at biting than rescuing.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: A famous all-black Newfoundland performed as the star attraction in Van Hare's Magic Circus from 1862 and for many years thereafter in one of England's founding circus acts, traveling throughout Europe. The circus dog was known as the "Thousand Guinea Dog Napoleon" or "Napoleon the Wonder Dog." The circus owner, G. Van Hare, trained other Newfoundland dogs to perform a steeplechase routine with baboons dressed up as jockeys to ride them. Nonetheless, his "wizard dog" Napoleon was his favourite and held a special position in the Magic Circus. Napoleon would compete at jumping against human rivals, leaping over horses from a springboard, and dancing to music.


title: Newfoundland dog

text: Napoleon the Wonder Dog became a wildly popular act in London from his debut at the Pavilion Theatre on April 4, 1862, and onward until his untimely death many years later when he slipped and fell during a circus practice session. At the peak of his fame, his performance was described in London's Illustrated Sporting News and Theatrical and Musical Review as follows: "Synopsis of his entertainment:— He spells his own name with letters, also that of the Prince of Wales; and when he is asked what he would say of her Most Gracious Majesty, he puts down letters to form 'God save the Queen.' He plays any gentleman a game of cards and performs the celebrated three-card trick upon which his master backs him at 100 to 1. Also 'The Disappearance,' a la Robin. He performs in a circus the same as a trick horse, "en liberté", giving the Spanish trot to music, also leaping over bars, through balloons, with numerous other tricks of a most interesting character."


title: Newfoundland dog

text: When Napoleon the Wonder Dog died at the age of 12 years old, his passing was announced in a number of British newspapers, including the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, which mentioned the loss on May 5, 1868, as follows: "DEATH OF A CELEBRATED FOUR-FOOTED ARTISTE. — Mr. Van Hare's renowned dog, Napoleon, designated 'The Wizard Dog,' died on 24th ult., aged twelve years. He was a noble specimen of the Newfoundland breed (weighing near 200 lbs.) for which he took the prize at the first Agricultural Hall Dog Show. Besides his magnificent appearance and symmetry, he was the most extraordinary sagacious and highly-trained animal ever known. He is now being preserved and beautifully mounted by the celebrated naturalist, Mr. Edwin Ward. — Era."


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: The Peanut Butter Falcon is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, in their directorial film debut, and starring Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes and Zack Gottsagen. The plot follows a young man with Down syndrome who escapes from an assisted living facility and befriends a wayward fisherman on the run. As the two men form a rapid bond, a social worker attempts to track them. Filming took place in North Carolina and Georgia.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2019, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 9, 2019, by Roadside Attractions. The film went on to become a sleeper hit, grossing over $23 million, making it the highest grossing independent film of the year, and received praise from critics.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: Zak, a runaway bandit with Down syndrome, escapes from a state-run care facility with the help of his elderly roommate, to train as a professional wrestler under the tutelage of his hero, the Salt Water Redneck. Meanwhile, Tyler, a man fired for bringing in illegal crab catches, decides to burn the gear of his rivals, Duncan and Ratboy, and flees himself.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: While on the run, Zak and Tyler meet, and embark on a journey to the Salt Water Redneck's wrestling school in North Carolina. Zak's caretaker at the nursing home, Eleanor, embarks on a journey to find Zak and return him safely to the facility. Zak and Tyler become friends while travelling. Tyler teaches Zak various life skills, including how to use a shotgun, and eventually takes on the role of his coach, getting him in shape for his wrestling endeavors. They build a raft and begin traveling by water. Eleanor soon finds them, but after learning her boss intends to send Zak to a more severe form of confinement, joins them to travel south. That night, Duncan and Ratboy catch up with the trio, and Zak defends them with the shotgun.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: When they reach Ayden, North Carolina, Tyler learns that the Salt Water Redneck has retired and closed the school, but convinces him to resurrect his alter ego for Zak. Salt Water trains Zak as a wrestler, and quickly puts Zak on a local fight card, which he believes he has rigged for Zak's safety and success. However, when the fight happens, Zak's opponent, Sam, does not hold back, and proceeds to beat him. As Tyler attempts to intervene, Duncan and Ratboy arrive, and Duncan hits Tyler on the head with a tire iron, knocking him unconscious right as Zak manages to lift Sam overhead and throw him forcefully out of the ring, something Salt Water had told him was impossible. The film ends with Tyler healing from the injury, as Eleanor drives him and Zak to Florida, implying the start of a new life for the three of them as a family.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: The film is a modern retelling of the Huckleberry Finn story, which takes Gottsagen's own desire to be an actor and changes it into a quest to become a wrestler. Nilson and Schwartz met Gottsagen at a camp for actors with disabilities around 2011 in Venice, California, and he expressed interest in them making a film with him. After shooting a $20,000 proof-of-concept video, with producer David Thies, the duo received funding for the film to star Gottsagen. Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson and Bruce Dern joined the cast for the film in June 2017. In July 2017, production began in Georgia. Later that month, John Hawkes, Jon Bernthal, Thomas Haden Church, Mick Foley, Jake Roberts and Yelawolf joined the cast of the film.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: Schwartz and Nilson wanted to play the music that inspired them while writing, and on set used a boombox to play the same music before performing a scene. The soundtrack brings together bluegrass, folk songs, and spirituals, for a mix of contemporary and timeless. The soundtrack contains original music composed by Zach Dawes, Jonathan Sadoff of Thenewno2, and Noam Pikelny and Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers, as well as new and classic songs from Sara Watkins, Chance McCoy of Old Crow Medicine Show, Gregory Alan Isakov, Ola Belle Reed, and the Staple Singers. They were surprised to be able to secure the rights to many of the songs they used at a fraction of the cost they expected.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 9, 2019. Shortly after, Roadside Attractions acquired distribution rights to the film, and released it in theaters on August 9, 2019.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: "The Peanut Butter Falcon" grossed $20.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $23.1 million.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: In its limited opening weekend on August 9, the film grossed $205,200 from 17 theaters. The studio reported that the film was number one in more than half of the theaters it played at, including "a big commercial multiplex in Salt Lake City," and locations in Los Angeles, Dallas, Charlotte, Denver and Austin, with "lots of sellouts in various markets." The film expanded wide on August 23, to 991 theaters, and grossed $3 million for the weekend, finishing 12th. It went on to become a sleeper hit, expanding the following weekend to 1,249 theaters and earning $3 million, as well as $1.1 million on Labor Day. The film grossed $115,420 in its 11th week of release, crossing the $20 million mark.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: The film was met with positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "A feelgood adventure brought to life by outstanding performances, "The Peanut Butter Falcon" finds rich modern resonance in classic American fiction." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+," while those at PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of 5 stars and a 62% "definite recommend."


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: Peter Debruge of "Variety" praised the performances, saying "In Gottsagen, we get a performer who appears to be playing an earnest, unfiltered version of himself, while in LaBeouf, there are layers at play. Oddly enough, both approaches result in a kind of spontaneous unpredictability." He called the film "a feel-good niche indie with its priorities in the right place." Sheri Linden of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "[Gottsagen's] sensibility infuses the modern-day fable with an engaging forthrightness. But the unequivocal material often sticks close to the surface, and the film built around him, for all its physical sweep, can feel constricted by obviousness."


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: David Ehrlich of "IndieWire" called it "a warm (if somewhat overcooked) dramedy" while David Fear of "Rolling Stone" felt that the climax veered close to magical realism.


title: The Peanut Butter Falcon

text: LaBeouf and Gottsagen appeared as themselves presenting Best Live Action Short Subject at the 92nd Academy Awards.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Love Story is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language musical romantic-drama film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula. Produced by Amigos Creations and Sree Venkateswara Cinemas, the film stars Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi while Rajeev Kanakala, Devayani, Easwari Rao and Uttej play supporting roles. The film tells the story of an inter-caste relationship between Revanth (Chaitanya) and Mounika (Pallavi) who meet in the city while pursuing their dreams.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: The film was announced in June 2019 with principal photography commencing in September 2019. It was shot extensively in Hyderabad and other places in Telangana while a schedule took place in Dubai. Filming was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shoot resumed in September and completed in November 2020. "Love Story" features score composed by Pawan Ch while cinematography and editing are performed by Vijay C. Kumar and Marthand K. Venkatesh respectively.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: "Love Story" was initially scheduled to release on 2 April 2020 but was deferred multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is theatrically released on 24 September 2021 and opened to mixed reviews from critics who praised the performances of Chaitanya and Pallavi while criticizing its lengthy runtime. The film netted 8.75 crore in India on its first day, the highest since theatres reopened and began showing cinemas, after the second covid wave. The film grossed over 60 crore at the box office, against a budget of 30 crore making it a commercially successful venture.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Revanth is a lower caste Christian settled in Hyderabad who runs a Zumba center. Mounika, an upper caste girl, also arrives in Hyderabad in search of a job and moves into a neighbouring house. As Mounika is unsuccessful in finding a job, Revanth offers her to share pamphlets for his Zumba center for money but she rejects it for which Revanth mocks her. Following another unsuccessful job trail, she comes to the Zumba centre and dances while Revanth also joins her. Impressed with her dance, Revanth asks her to join his Zumba centre as a partner. Mounika negotiates a salary and starts working with him. Their Zumba centre becomes popular and they desire to expand their business by finding a bigger space in the city. Due to paucity of money, Revanth convinces his mother to sell their land in his hometown Armoor.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Mounika also hails from Armoor and her uncle Narasimham is an influential man in their town. He quotes a far lower price for Revanth's land and Revanth refuses to sell. That night, Mounika confronts Narasimham and demands the share of her money from their property. Narasimham refuses by intimidating Mounika, and she faints. Later, she angrily leaves the town and Revanth follows. She offers her jewellery to Revanth for their business expansion. Revanth mortgages his land and opens a bigger Zumba centre. They overcome their differences and fall in love. Mounika proposes Revanth and he accepts. As she is afraid of her abusive uncle, they plan to elope. Revanth's brother, a police sub-inspector helps them and they devise a plan to frame that Mounika has committed suicide so that no one doubts her whereabouts. They decide to execute their plan after six months and make the necessary arrangements. Revanth goes to Dubai in the meantime and they decide to get married at a registrar's office once he returns.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Revanth waits at the registrar's office but Mounika does not arrive. Revanth worriedly returns to Armoor and meets Mounika. She tells Revanth that she was sexually abused as a child by her uncle and now he is targeting her sister. She has thus decided to stay back and protect her. Revanth takes Mounika to her house who reveals the situation to her parents. In the meantime, her uncle arrives at their home. He confronts them but Mounika's mother locks him up in a room and asks Mounika to leave with Revanth by promising that she would take care of her sister. They run away by taking Revanth's mother along but Narasimham's men chase them. Revanth refuses to escape and decides to fight back. As Narasimham tries to kill Mounika, Revanth kills him in retaliation and he is arrested by the police. Later the court admits that Revanth's act was unintentional.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: In September 2018, Narayan Das K. Narang and Pushkar Ram Mohan Rao of Asian Cinemas, a prominent distribution and multiplex venture announced their maiden film production, through its subsidiary Sree Venkateshwara Cinemas. Sekhar Kammula was reported to direct for the banner, along with his own production Amigos Creations and was reported to be a musical romantic comedy film featuring debutants. Dimple Hayathi was signed to play the lead. However, the project was later shelved after a minor shoot.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Kammula later approached Naga Chaitanya for the project, whom he eventually agreed after reading the script. Sai Pallavi was also chosen for the female lead role, marking her second collaboration with Kammula after "Fidaa" (2017). A formal launch event with a pooja ceremony was held on 27 June 2019 at the Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati. "Love Story" was reported as a tentative title, which was confirmed as the film's official title in January 2020.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Kammula announced that Chaitanya will be seen speaking Telangana dialect in the film, and Pallavi "could spring a surprise for the audience." Devayani, Rao Ramesh, Posani Krishna Murali, Rajeev Kanakala and Easwari Rao amongst others were reported to appear in supporting roles, along with Satyam Rajesh and Thagubothu Ramesh. Sekhar Kammula roped in debutant Pawan Ch, an alumnus of A. R. Rahman's KM Music Conservatory, to score music for the songs and the background. Vijay C. Kumar and Marthand K. Venkatesh who regularly worked in Kammula's projects, handled the cinematography and editing respectively.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: The principal photography of the film commenced on 9 September 2019 in Hyderabad. After shooting crucial scenes in Hyderabad and surrounding areas, and the team traveled to Dubai for their next schedule in February 2020, which was stalled in the same month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Filming was resumed on 5 September 2020 with a limited crew of 15 members being present in the final schedule. In mid-September, a song featuring Chaitanya and Pallavi was shot at the Bodakonda falls in Ranga Reddy district. One of the songs were reported to be choreographed and instructed by Pallavi, with the team stating her "extraordinary talent in dancing". The shooting of the film was completed in November 2020.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: The film score and the soundtrack album are composed by Pawan Ch, a student of A. R. Rahman's music institution KM Music Conservatory, thus marking his debut as a composer in a feature film. The full album featuring five tracks was unveiled on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaviti (10 September 2021).


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: "Love Story" was scheduled to release on 2 April 2020, coinciding the occasion of Rama Navmi, but was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, the makers announced that "Love Story" was scheduled for a release on the Ugadi weekend, 16 April 2021, along with simultaneously dubbed versions in Kannada and Malayalam languages. However, in April, the film's release has been put on hold owing to the rise in COVID-19 cases in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the second wave of the pandemic.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Following the reduction of cases and theatres being reopened in Andhra and Telangana after its closure, In August 2021, the makers announced the new release date as 10 September 2021, coinciding with the festival of Vinayaka Chavithi. However, the film's release was postponed as the trade exhibitors believed that it may clash with the film "Tuck Jagadish", releasing on Amazon Prime Video. Sunil Narang, the film's presenter and also the vice president of Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) requested the producers of "Tuck Jagadish", to reschedule the release date, however, they denied their request, which led the producers to revise the release date to 24 September 2021. The film will be the first film to be screened at Vijay Deverakonda's newly launched multiplex theatre AVD Cinemas, at Mahbubnagar, Telangana.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Prior to the release, the film made a business of from its theatrical rights, Geetha Arts' subsidiary digital service Aha, claimed the acquisition for the film's post-theatrical streaming rights, with the television broadcasting rights were acquired by Star Maa. Advance bookings for the film began on 22 September, two days before the theatrical release and it fetched from the worldwide pre-booking sales. The film premiered on Aha on 22 October 2021. The film's Hindi version dubbed by Aditya Movies was premiered on Sony Max on 13 February 2022.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: In March 2021, singer Komala, who gathered and performed the folk song "Saranga Dariya" on a television show years before the release of its theatrical version, stated that she wasn't credited in the lyrical video as promised. Director Kammula responded that Komala will be credited and compensated for the song.


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: "Love Story" received mixed reviews from critics who praised the performances while the lengthy runtime received criticism. Neeshita Nyayapati of "The Times of India" called the film Kammula's "ode to love." She said that Chaitanya has delivered one of his career's best performances and Pallavi was "dream to watch" while also praising the supporting cast of Kanakala, Easwari Rao and Uttej. However, Nayapati felt that the ending was a little rushed. "Hindustan Times" Haricharan Pudipeddi stated: "In spite of the hurried climax and the predictable ending, the film works to a large extent because of its sensible treatment and earnest performances of Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi, who complement each other so well."


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: "The Hindu" critic Sangeetha Devi Dundoo appreciated the performances of Chaitanya and Pallavi, and Kammula's taking, writing, ""Love Story" could have been yet another "Sairaat", but Sekhar expertly steers it in a different direction in the last act. Romance is one of the most commonly explored genres in commercial cinema and after a point, one tends to view it with cynicism. But this one kept me invested; I watched with bated breath, hoping that Revanth and Mounika cross the hurdles in their path. Gabbetta Ranjith Kumar of "The Indian Express" called the film Kammula's best yet. "With its foot-tapping music, captivating dance moves and engaging script, it gives you bang for your buck and then delivers a social commentary that you take home with you," he wrote. In another positive review, a critic from "Deccan Chronicle" appreciated the direction and performance, writing, ""Love Story" movie illustrates the prevalent caste discrimination amid a love story, and director Sekhar Kammula gets it right for most part, balancing the two aspects of the film."


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: Balakrishna Ganeshan of "The News Minute" called Pawan Ch's music as one of the film's biggest strengths. He appreciated Kumar's cinematography but criticized the poorly done CGI to show the iconic Purana pul bridge. Ganesan also compared "Love Story" with "Uppena" which was released earlier that year, saying that both the protagonists were Dalit Christian but were deprived of a happy ending. Murali Krishna Ch of "Cinema Express" said that despite a promising start, the film lost its steam as it progressed due to uninspired writing. He opined that Kammula has changed the usual style of filmmaking but the premise of the film itself is an old trope in Telugu cinema. Vijaya Mruthyunjaya from "Deccan Herald" opined that the film lacked "heart" with unnecessary backstories and needless subplots, adding that "Love Story" paled out in comparison to other Telugu films of the same genre like K. Balachander's love tragedy "Maro Charitra" (1978). Reviewing the film for "Business Standard", J Jagannath criticized Kammula's direction saying that he treated the sensitive climax portions in an "almost flippant manner by leaving the audience high and dry with a hurried ending."


title: Love Story (2021 film)

text: "Love Story" grossed 60 crore worldwide at the box office. It earned 16.5 crore worldwide on its opening day, with 10.3 crore coming from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. "Box Office India" reported that the film netted 8.75 crore in India on day one, making it the 8th highest opener post-COVID-19 pandemic and the highest since cinemas began to be shown in theatres, after the theatres being reopened after the second wave. In its opening weekend, the film grossed 10.25 crore with distributors obtaining a share of 5.7 crore. The film grossed ₹50.05 crore in its first seven days of release. The film entered the profit zone on its 16th day, grossing over ₹58 crore.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officially formed only in 1989 and currently plays in the Ukrainian Premier League, and has never been relegated to a lower division. The club has secured brand rights from the Ukrainian Dynamo society and has no direct relations to the sports society since 1989. Their home is the 70,050 capacity Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Since 1936, Dynamo Kyiv has spent its entire history in the top league of Soviet and later Ukrainian football. Its most successful periods are associated with Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who coached the team during three stints, leading them to numerous domestic and European titles. In 1961, the club became first-ever in the history of Soviet football that managed to overcome the total hegemony of Moscow-based clubs in the Soviet Top League. The Spartak Moscow–Dynamo Kyiv rivalry that began in the mid-1970s, is widely considered to have been one of the most exciting football rivalries in the Soviet Union. Since becoming the first Soviet football club to participate in UEFA competition in 1965, Dynamo Kyiv has played in European competitions almost every season.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Over its history, Dynamo Kyiv have won 16 Ukrainian top-flight league titles, 13 Soviet top-flight league titles, 11 Ukrainian national cup competitions, 9 Soviet national cup competitions, and three continental titles (including two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups). Its two European Cup Winners' Cups make it one of the only two Soviet clubs to have won a UEFA trophy, the other being Dinamo Tbilisi. The Dynamo Kyiv first team became a base team for the Soviet Union national football team in the 1970–1980s and the Ukraine national football team in the 1990–2000s. The two stars on the club's crest each signify 10 top-flight seasons Dynamo Kyiv won.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Today's club was established based on the first squad of Kyiv's branch of the all-Union Dynamo sports society and its republican branch in the Ukrainian SSR, originally based out of Kharkiv. The Soviet government relocated capital to Kyiv in 1934. The all-Union Dynamo sports society was a sports department of the Soviet state security KGB, originally Cheka-OGPU. During the Soviet period Dynamo's players same as players of all Dynamos in the Soviet Union were officially Soviet uniform servicemembers earning rank, salary, and pension when playing on the team of masters.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: On 13 May 1927, the statute of the Kyivan Proletarian Sport Society (PST) Dynamo was officially registered by the special commission in affairs of public organizations and unions of the Kyiv district. The All-Union sport society of "Dynamo" in Moscow was formed earlier in 1923 on the initiative of the Felix Dzerzhinsky. Under the banner of Kyivan Dynamo gathered the representatives of the GPU the State Political Directorate, the Soviet secret police, the best footballers of which defended the honors of the Trade Union club "Sovtorgsluzhashchie", a portmanteau for Soviet retail servicemen.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The leadership of Dynamo did not dare to reorganize the well-established club and the main title contender in the middle of a playing season. Therefore the first mention of the football club Dynamo could only be found on 5 April 1928 in the Russian-language newspaper (at that time) "Vecherniy Kiev" ("Evening Kyiv").


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: It was then when by the initiative of Semyon Zapadny, chief of the Kyiv GPU, the football team was created. His deputy, Serhiy Barminsky, started to form the team not only out of regular chekists (members of the Soviet secret police), but also footballers of other clubs in the city among which is mentioned a team "Sovtorgsluzhaschie". All the footballers were either part of the consolidated city team or the city champions. The newly created team played its first official match on 1 July 1928 against a local consolidated city team while visiting Bila Tserkva. Already on the fifth minute the Dynamo-men opened the score in the game, however, at the end the club lost it 1–2. On 15 July, the Bila Tserkva newspaper "Radyanska Nyva" ("Soviet Fields") put it in such words:


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The next match played by Dynamo was on 17 July 1928 hosting another Dynamo from the port city of Odessa. As the club gained more experience and played on a regular basis, it started to fill the stadium with spectators with both the club and football in general gaining popularity in Soviet Ukraine.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Its club stadium Dynamo opened on 12 June 1933, a year before the Soviet government turned the city into capital of the Soviet Ukraine.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: During the Soviet era, the club was one of the main rivals, and often the only rival, to football clubs from Moscow. Its ability to challenge the dominance of the Moscow clubs in Soviet football, and frequently defeat them to win the Soviet championship, was a matter of national pride for Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian SSR unofficially regarded the club as their national team and provided it with generous support, making Dynamo a professional team of international importance.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In 1936, the first Soviet Championship was played, and Dynamo Kyiv was one of the pioneers of the newly formed league. The club's early successes were however limited to a second-place finish in 1936 and third place in 1937. In the 1941 season, the club only played nine matches as World War II interrupted league play.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The propaganda story is often told of how the Dynamo team, playing as "Start, City of Kyiv All-Stars", was executed by a firing squad in the summer of 1942 for defeating an All-Star team from the German armed forces by 5–1. The actual story, as recounted by Y. Kuznetsov, is considerably more complex. Still, this match has subsequently become known in the Soviet media as "The Death Match".


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: After the Nazi occupation of Ukraine began, former professional football players (Dynamo and Lokomotyv) found employment in the city's Bakery No. 3, and continued to play amateur football. The team participated in exhibition games that took place in the city among various other teams including teams composed of the "Wehrmacht" soldiers. The Kyiv's team played under the name of "Start", comprising eight players from Dynamo Kyiv (Nikolai Trusevych, Mikhail Svyridovskiy, Nikolai Korotkykh, Oleksiy Klymenko, Fedir Tyutchev, Mikhail Putistin, Ivan Kuzmenko, Makar Honcharenko) and three players from Lokomotyv Kyiv (Vladimir Balakin, Vasyl Sukharev and Mikhail Melnyk).


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In July and August 1942, "Start" played a series of matches against the Germans and their allies. On 12 July, a German army team was defeated. A stronger army team was selected for the next match on 17 July, which "Start" defeated 6–0. On 19 July, "Start" defeated the Hungarian team MSG Wal 5–1. The Hungarians proposed a return match, held on 26 July, but were defeated again, 3–2.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: "Start"'s streak was noticed and a match was announced for 6 August against a "most powerful" "undefeated" German Luftwaffe "Flakelf" (anti-aircraft artillery) team, but despite the game being talked up by the newspapers, they failed to report the 5–1 result. On 9 August, "Start" played a "friendly" against "Flakelf" and again defeated them. The team defeated Rukh 8–0 on 16 August, and afterwards, some of "Start"'s players were arrested by the Gestapo, tortured – Nikolai Korotkykh died during the torture – and sent to the nearby labour camp at Syrets. There is speculation that the players were arrested due to the intrigues of Georgy Shvetsov, founder and trainer of the "Rukh" team, as the arrests were made in a couple of days after "Start" defeated "Rukh".


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In February 1943, following an attack by partisans or a conflict of the prisoners and administration, one-third of the prisoners at Syrets were killed in reprisal, including Ivan Kuzmenko, Oleksey Klymenko and goalkeeper Nikolai Trusevich. Three of the other players – Makar Honcharenko, Fedir Tyutchev and Mikhail Sviridovskiy – who were in a work squad in the city that day, were arrested a few days later or, according to other sources, escaped and hid in the city until it was liberated.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The story inspired three films: the 1961 Hungarian film drama "Two Half Times in Hell", the 1981 American film "Escape to Victory" and the 2012 Russian film "Match".


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: For the 1968–69 season of European football, on 10 July 1968 in Geneve took place a draw for the European Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cups. The draw itself was revolutionary at that time. The Soviet weekly "Football — Hockey" wrote the following on the subject:


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: UEFA heeded the request of the federations of the Nordic countries - Sweden, Denmark and Norway - not to bring their clubs together in the first round. A similar request from Cyprus, Greece and Turkey was granted. The desire of the British to exclude an early meeting between Manchester United and Manchester City, the winner of the Champions Cup and the winner of the English championship, found understanding. The dates for the 1/16 and 1/8 final games were strictly fixed for the first time. An innovation was the replacement of two players during the game. Previously, only the goalkeeper was allowed to be substituted.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The rival of Kyiv in the Champion's tournament was the Swiss Zürich, the matches with which were scheduled for September 18 and October 2. Materials devoted to this club appeared in the Ukrainian press, its matches in its national championship were now regularly monitored.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: However, about a month later on August 21, Soviet tanks and allied forces of the Warsaw Pact occupied the capital of Czechoslovakia, marking the beginning of the end of democratic reforms - the so-called Prague Spring. A few days later, UEFA reacted to the events that stirred the whole world. At the meeting of the Extraordinary Committee, a new partial draw was held, which brought the representatives of the socialist countries together.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Why? Where did it come from? What kind of unprecedented, shameless discrimination against the teams of the socialist countries? - was asked in the editorial of the next issue of "Football — Hockey".


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Some members of the committee, headed by the UEFA president, a large manipulator Wiederkehr, did not like that the governments of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the East Germany came to the aid to the people of Czechoslovakia in their fight against counter-revolution, and all the statutes and rules were immediately forgotten and only one desire remained in some way hurt the players of these countries. Petty politicking dictated this new drawing of lots, which is best called rigging.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Sports organizations, including football, are founded on the principle of rejecting any form of discrimination, whether religious, racial or political. Those who reject this principle do not just put a spoke in the wheel, but in fact nullify the noble meaning of the sports movement, designed to unite and bring nations together.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: According to the new layouts, Dynamo Kyiv would be already playing in the first round of the European Champions Cup with the Polish Ruch Chorzów. Along with the results of the second draw, Soviet newspapers unanimously denounced UEFA, which was led by politicians. The local newspaper "Vechirniy Kyiv" reported that the initiator of the "démarche" was "Celtic", which suffered from the team of Viktor Maslov a year ago. Having already reached the 1/16 finals at the Hungarian Ferencvárosi TC, where the holder of the 1967 Ballon d'Or Florian Albert shone, the Scots, of course, were not happy. And then the occasion arrived.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: On September 4, 1968, the Soviet Union Football Federation sent a note of protest to the UEFA headquarters.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: This fiery opinion journalism had no effect on UEFA. The results of the second draw remained in force by seven votes of the Board members to two, with one abstention. To which the Football Federation of the Soviet Union reacted quite predictably withdrawing Kyivan and Muscovite Dynamos from European competitions and having substantiated his position in the corresponding statement, circulated through TASS channels.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The mentioned “Ruch” and “Ferencváros” (the latter of which was determined by the repeated lot to be rivals of the Bulgarian “Levski”), as well as “Karl Zeiss” from the East Germany, also did not come to the start. The East German champion yielded a pass to the next round to Crvena Zvezda. The Yugoslavs, who did not support the démarche, were eliminated in the next round, missing the restless Celtic in the quarterfinals. Also, who accepted the terms of UEFA were Romania with Czechoslovakia. Steaua lost in the first round to Spartak Trnava, which eventually reached the semi-finals of that tournament!..


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In 1989, the club transitioned into an independent company being disassociated from the Ukrainian republican society of Dynamo. During the last seasons of the Soviet Top League, it competed in the national colors of Ukraine as part of the national movement that grew very popular.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the club became a member of the newly formed Ukrainian Premier League. By the summer of 1993, however, the club was in crisis as the economic policy of Dynamo president Viktor Bezverkhy set Dynamo on the path to bankruptcy. On 19 July 1993, an extraordinary assembly of coaches and players fired Bezverkhy and established a stock society called "Football Club "Dynamo (Kyiv)". Hryhoriy Surkis was elected president of the new company. The republican and city councils of the Dynamo society agreed to hand over two training centers and Dynamo Stadium to Dynamo Kiev. The founders besides the football team and the Dynamo councils became also the commercial consulting centre Slavutych and the British firm Newport Management. A review board was created, consisting of directors of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, and the Security Service, Border Troops, and General Prosecutor of Ukraine.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo's status as the country's principal club did not change, however, as they went on to dominate domestic competitions, winning or being runner-up in every year of the Premier League's existence and becoming a fixture in the UEFA Champions League. Its main rival in Ukraine is Shakhtar Donetsk, a club from the Donbas region, that came second to Dynamo several times before winning its first Premier League in 2002. The matches between these two sides are called the Ukrainian derby.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In 2007, as a part of club's 80-year anniversary, two gold stars were added to the top of the crest, representing ten Ukrainian championship titles and ten USSR champion titles. Due to club's poor performance in the UEFA Champions League during the last two seasons, Dynamo's management took a somewhat unexpected decision by appointing the first foreign manager in the club's history. Previously, only former players or Dynamo football academy graduates became managers, but in December 2007 Russian coach Yuri Semin was invited to become the new manager of Dynamo Kyiv. However, the club yielded to Shakhtar Donetsk in both the Ukrainian Cup and Premier League in 2008. In 2009. in the club's most successful European campaign since 1999, it reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup (eliminating such teams as Valencia and Paris Saint-Germain) but was defeated at that stage by Shakhtar Donetsk. However, 2009 also brought success, as the club celebrated its 13th Premier League title.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In a season which contained their record win, a 9–0 victory over Illichivets Mariupol, the club only managed to finish runners-up in the league in 2010–11, after Shakhtar Donetsk. In what would be icon Andriy Shevchenko's final season at the club, Dynamo also finished as runners-up in 2011–12. In the 2011–12 season Dynamo also managed to reach the group stage of the Europa League after being eliminated in the Champions League third qualifying round by Rubin Kazan by 0–2 in Kyiv and 2–1 in Kazan. In the Europa League playoffs, the club managed to defeat Litex Lovech with a 3–1 aggregate score. In the group stage, Dynamo finished third after a disappointing campaign in a group containing Beşiktaş, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Stoke City.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In April 2013, it was announced the club would play two European ties behind closed doors due to racism from fans during previous European ties. In the 2012–13 season, the club managed to qualify for the Champions League group stage after eliminating Feyenoord 3–1 and Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–3 on aggregate and qualified for the Champions League group stage. Dynamo was placed in a group with Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Dinamo Zagreb and finished in third place with only five points and was eliminated in the Europa League round of 32 by Bordeaux 2–1 on aggregate. In the Premier League, Dynamo finished third, whereas in the Cup, it was eliminated in the round of 32. Overall, the 2012–13 season was a disappointment for Dynamo. The 2013–14 season was an equally disappointing season as Dynamo finished in fourth place in the league, the worst since the establishment of the Premier League and only managed to reach the round of 32 in the Europa League where it was eliminated by Valencia 2–0 on aggregate. Oleh Blokhin was sacked and was replaced by former player Serhii Rebrov. As a result, Dynamo managed to win the 2013–14 Ukrainian Cup for the first time in five years.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Dynamo signed many promising players such as Aleksandar Dragović, Jeremain Lens (departed after end of the season), Łukasz Teodorczyk and Vitorino Antunes. Under Rebrov, Dynamo won the 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League – undefeated – and the 2014–15 Ukrainian Cup to earn a domestic double for the first time in eight years. In the 2014–15 Europa League, Dynamo comfortably qualified from a group containing Aalborg BK, Steaua București and Rio Ave, finishing in first place with 15 points. In the round of 32, the club eliminated Guingamp 4–3 on aggregate, and in the round of 16, eliminated Everton 6–4 on aggregate after a spectacular 5–2 performance in Kyiv. Rebrov prioritized the passing game but focused on solid defensive foundations. However, in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Dynamo was eliminated by Fiorentina 3–1 on aggregate.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Dynamo signed the highly talented Derlis González and was drawn in Group G of the 2015–16 Champions League alongside Chelsea F.C., FC Porto and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Dynamo finished in second place with 11 points after a spectacular performance and a memorable 0–2 in Porto. However, Dynamo was punished by UEFA for a racist incident in the home game against Chelsea where four black men were attacked in the stands by Dynamo fans.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Despite this, Dynamo reached the round of 16 in the Champions League for the first time since 2000, where it was drawn with Manchester City. Dynamo was eliminated 1–3 on aggregate but managed to hold an impressive 0–0 draw in Manchester. Dynamo's domestic performance was equally memorable as the club celebrated the 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League only losing to archrival Shakhtar Donetsk 0–3 twice and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Cup. At the end of the season, several star performers (such as Miguel Veloso, Aleksandar Dragović, Younès Belhanda and Łukasz Teodorczyk) departed the club and were not replaced.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The 2016–17 season was a relative disappointment for Dynamo, as the club finished in second place in the 2016–17 Ukrainian Premier League, behind Shakhtar Donetsk, with a difference of 13 points after a string of disappointing results. In the 2016–17 Champions League, the club was drawn in Group B alongside Napoli, Benfica and Beşiktaş J.K. Dynamo finished in fourth place after a dismal campaign, but managed to record a memorable 6–0 win over Beşiktaş in Kyiv. In the winter transfer window, Dynamo signed promising defenders Aleksandar Pantić and Tamás Kádár and focused on youth academy talents such as Viktor Tsyhankov, Artem Besyedin and Volodymyr Shepelyev, managing to improve its performances. Dynamo lost the 2016–17 Ukrainian Cup to Shakhtar Donetsk 0–1 in the final.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: For the 2017–18 season, after Serhii Rebrov departed, the club appointed former player Alyaksandr Khatskevich as Rebrov's replacement. In Khatskevich's first two seasons at the helm, Dynamo failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage, having to settle for the UEFA Europa League group stage instead. Both times they were eventually eliminated in the Round of 16, first by S.S. Lazio (2–4 on aggregate) in 2017–18, and then by Chelsea F.C. (0–8 on aggregate) in 2018–19. Domestically, Dynamo remained firmly in second place behind Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League. Despite the apparent lack of progress in the results, Khatskevich was rewarded with a two-year contract extension.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: However, only six matches into his new extension, Khatskevich was fired on 14 August 2019, after once again failing to advance to the UEFA Champions League group stage. Dynamo's Sports Director, Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko, was appointed as manager. Despite the change, the results on the field hardly improved, as Dynamo was eliminated from continental competitions by placing 3rd in Group B of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: German journalists from "Der Spiegel" Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger published a book titled "Football Leaks – 2".


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: A separate part titled "Ukrainische Bruderschaft" (Ukrainian Brotherhood) describes brothers Ihor and Hryhorii Surkis's activities in the football sphere and their relation to the "Newport" offshore. All FC "Dynamo’s" activities are financed by this company. The authors refer to Football Leaks documents.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The book tells that starting from 1993, all the financial activities of Kyiv-based FC "Dynamo" have been performed via the company 'Newport", controlled by the club's boss Ihor Surkis. Having cited the FIFA data, the authors noted that in 2011–2017 the "Newport" has spent US$324 million to buy 82 players for FC "Dynamo". The taxes from this sum haven't been paid in Ukraine.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo's traditional colours are white and dark blue, with white being the predominant colour. Throughout their history the club has usually played in a white shirt and blue shorts. This was changed in 1961 when a blue sash was added to the kit; it was removed soon afterwards. In 2004, the club's management decided to restore the famous sash as a talisman. It was added to the away kit and remained there until the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it was replaced by a white kit with a shirt having thin blue vertical stripes, the first time in over 50 years that a club had worn such a pattern.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: During the last two seasons before the breakup of the Soviet Union, Dynamo's kit was similar to Metalist, yellow shirts and blue shorts. This color scheme carried a symbolic meaning, representing the national colours of the yet-not-adopted Ukraine national flag. In the 1990 Soviet Cup Final, the yellow-blue Dynamo team thrashed the all-Red Lokomotiv 6–1 at Luzhniki Stadium. In the early years of Ukrainian independence, the club swapped their yellow colour for white. However blue remained one of Dynamo's colours and is still a main colour of the club's away kit.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The club's current sponsors, New Balance and ABank24, feature on the team shirt. New Balance is also the manufacturer of the kit. Among former sponsors there were Ostchem Holding, Nadra Bank, PrivatBank, Prominvestbank, Ukrtelecom, and others.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Being a member of the All-Union Sports Society Dynamo, the Dynamo football team of Kyiv adopted the same emblem of the Dynamo's sports society as its first logo, which featured on their shirts since 1927 and was a cursive blue Cyrillic letter "Д" (D) in a vertical rhombus. Similar emblem existed in other Soviet football teams throughout the Soviet Union such as FC Dynamo Moscow, FC Dinamo Tbilisi, FC Dinamo Minsk, and others. The idea of symbol is attributed to a native of Ukraine Leonid Nedolya-Honcharenko who at that time served as a chief of political department of the OGPU troops in Moscow District.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The symbol the club obtained on franchise rights from the Ukrainian Fitness and Sports Society "Dynamo" (see Dynamo–Ukraine). Over the years, the club's logo has undergone many changes and replacements, but the cursive "D" has remained ever since.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: In 2003 after Dynamo won their 10th domestic trophy, a golden star was added at the top of the logo to celebrate the club's success. The second star was added to the logo in 2007 during celebrations of Dynamo's 80-year anniversary. Although Dynamo has won only 15 Ukrainian league titles, their 13 titles as USSR Champions were taken into account.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv has participated in all of the USSR and Ukrainian championships to date, and has won both competitions more times than any other team. The club's best performances were in the 1970s and 1980s, a time in which the Soviet Union national football team was composed mostly of players from the club. Dynamo Kyiv tied the national record for winning three consecutive Soviet Premier League titles in 1966, 1967, and 1968.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986 as well as the European Super Cup in 1975, after two games against Bayern Munich. In 1977, 1987, and 1999, the club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. These victories are associated with the name of Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who played for the club in the 1960s and later became the club's long-term head coach. In 2009 the club reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo striker Oleh Blokhin is the Soviet Premier League's all-time top scorer with 211 goals, and has also made more appearances than any other player in the championship's history with 432.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv is also was one of the base clubs of the Soviet Union national football team and many players of the club represented the Soviet Union at international level. After fall of the Soviet Union, Dynamo became the base club of the Ukraine national football team.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo striker Oleh Blokhin is the Soviet Union national football team all-time top scorer with 42 goals, and has also made more appearances than any other player for the team with 112. Two other Dynamo strikers – Oleh Protasov and Viktor Kolotov – are among the Soviet Union national football team top five best scorers with 29 and 22 goals respectfully. Two other Dynamo players – Anatoliy Demyanenko and Volodymyr Bezsonov – are among the Soviet Union national football team top five players with most appearances 80 and 79 respectfully.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Four former Dynamo's players were appointed as a head coach of the Soviet Union national team, among which Valeriy Lobanovsky, Oleh Bazylevych, Vladimir Salkov and Anatoliy Byshovets. All head coaches of the Ukraine national team but two were at some time former players of Dynamo Kyiv.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The club's home ground, Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, is situated in a park located in the centre of the city, close to the Dnieper River bank. The stadium holds 16,873 spectators, and has been the club's home since 1934. When it was built the stadium's capacity was 23,000. After being destroyed in 1941 during World War II, it was rebuilt in 1954. By the end of the 20th century, the stadium was reconstructed as a football-only venue with individual seats. These changes reduced the facility's capacity to its present one. In 2002 after the sudden death of Dynamo's longtime player and coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi, the stadium was renamed in his honour. After NSK Olympiyskiy was closed for reconstruction in 2008, Dynamo also began to play its European games at the Lobanovsky Stadium.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Due to a high demand for European fixtures of the club throughout its European history Dynamo played a majority of their home fixtures at Kyiv's and Ukraine's largest stadium, the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, historically dubbed "The Republican Stadium", which held 83,450 spectators. The stadium has been the home of the Ukrainian Cup final since its inaugural game in 1992 and up until 2007. The stadium was closed for a major reconstruction in 2008, after Ukraine and Poland were chosen to host the UEFA Euro 2012. The Olympiysky became Kyiv's main venue as well as the stadium that hosted the final; it also become an UEFA Elite rated stadium.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The team also has a modern-equipped training base in the Kyiv suburb of Koncha-Zaspa. The club maintains its own football school for children and youths, also situated in Kyiv. Junior Dynamo teams are colloquially known as "Dynamo-2" and "Dynamo-3". Its reserves team -called "double" (дубль) in both Ukrainian and Russian- participates in the national Reserves tournament, where "doubles" of all 16 Vyscha Liga teams compete. Many notable Dynamo Kyiv players progressed through the club's youth system, among them is Andriy Shevchenko, one of the graduates of the school.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv has several reserve teams. Dynamo reserve teams competed in national competitions since 1946. The club was fielding its reserve team in the Soviet Top League competitions for reserve teams (so called doubles) that existed in 1946–1991. Dynamo doubles team holds a record for number of champion titles of the Soviet Top League for doubles winning it 15 times with a closest pursuing Spartak doubles team trailing with 9 titles. In 2004 the club revived its reserve team which later became youth (U-21) team competing at Ukrainian Premier League competitions for U-21 and U-19 teams. Dynamo football school (academy) fields few teams in Ukrainian Youth Football League as well as Kyiv city football league. Among possibly most exotic football academy graduates is a former Moroccan international Tarik El Jarmouni.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Besides its normal junior squads, FC Dynamo Kyiv also has fielded its second team Dynamo-2 which competed among regular "teams of masters" (Soviet analog of professional teams) as well as republican competitions (amateur level) during the Soviet period. The first time the team participated in football competitions at professional level was in 1964 when it took part in the Soviet Second League (in so called the Ukrainian Soviet football competitions). With dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Dynamo-2 was revived based on the Dynamo's reserve team that participated in the Soviet Top League for doubles. The team continued to play in Ukrainian First League for over 20 years. Along with the second team, Dynamo created also its third team Dynamo-3 which at first played at amateur level and later advanced to Ukrainian Second League. Since 2016, Dynamo has discontinued its numbered team.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The Dynamo fan movement is one of the oldest in Ukraine. Active support began in 1980s during the Soviet period (Ukrainian SSR). Then began to appear first graffiti with the team's logo and was registered one of the biggest fights in the USSR: Dynamo fans against fans of Spartak Moscow in the center of Kyiv. In the 1990s on the stands became popular English style.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo ultras are usually associated with right-wing politics and many adhere to nationalist ideas. Historically they would frequently hold patriotic (Ukrainian nationalism) and strongly anti-communist actions. During the reign of Viktor Yanukovych the ultras had bad relations with the government, caused by persecutions of fans and other political factors. The most publicized action was "Freedom Pavlichenko" () in support of political prisoners father and son Pavlichenko. The ultras Dynamo took part in the Independence Day of Ukraine and Heroes Day celebrations.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo ultras often use the image of Sviatoslav the Brave in the design of their banners. "Svyatoslav", a printed magazine of Dynamo ultras, also bears the Kyiv prince's name.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: The most famous derby in Ukraine is Ukrainian derby, always held in a tense atmosphere. Dynamo maintains friendly relations with: Karpaty Lviv, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk ("Braty po zbroyi"; "Band of Brothers"), Hutnik Kraków and with Zalgiris Vilnius, GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Tbilisi, Stade Rennais F.C. fans. Strained relations with: Shakhtar Donetsk, Chornomorets Odesa, Metalist Kharkiv, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw. Now all fans have declared a truce because of the war in Eastern Ukraine. They play the Kyiv derby with Arsenal Kyiv, a strong rivalry also due to politics; Arsenal fans are known to be strongly left-wing.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Oleksandr Shovkovskyi currently holds Dynamo's official appearance record, having made 637 appearances in all competitions, over the course of 17 seasons from 1993 until 2016. He also holds the record for Ukrainian Premier League (Vyshcha Liha) appearances with 426, while Oleh Blokhin remains unreachable for Soviet Top League appearances with 432.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Including all competitions, Oleh Blokhin is the all-time leading goalscorer for Dynamo with 266 goals since joining the club in 1969, 211 of which were scored in Soviet Top League (another Dynamo record). Serhiy Rebrov, who is the all-time topscorer for Ukrainian Premier League, comes in second in all competitions with 163.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv qualified for continental competitions for the last 32 years since 1990 and missed only twice (two seasons) since 1973.


title: FC Dynamo Kyiv

text: Dynamo Kyiv made a forceful entrance into European competitions in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup, advancing into the quarter-finals before losing to Celtic F.C. The club is a regular visitor to UEFA competitions, having participated in over 50 tournaments. Dynamo Kyiv has not missed a single season of European competition since 1990 and, since 1973, has only missed out twice (1984–85 and 1988–89). During the Soviet era, the club won the European Cup Winners' Cup twice, in 1975 and 1986, the 1975 European Super Cup and reached the semi finals of the European Cup/Champions League three times, once under the Ukrainian banner.


title: Angels in America

text: Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Part one of the play premiered in 1991, followed by part two in 1992. Its Broadway opening was in 1993.


title: Angels in America

text: The play is a complex, often metaphorical, and at times symbolic examination of AIDS and homosexuality in America in the 1980s. Certain major and minor characters are supernatural beings (angels) or deceased persons (ghosts). The play contains multiple roles for several actors. Initially and primarily focusing on one gay and one straight couple in Manhattan, the plot has several additional storylines, some of which intersect occasionally. The two parts of the play, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, may be presented separately.


title: Angels in America

text: In 1994, playwright and professor of theater studies John M. Clum called the play "a turning point in the history of gay drama, the history of American drama, and of American literary culture".


title: Angels in America

text: In 2003, HBO adapted "Angels in America" into a six-episode miniseries, using the same title. In the Sunday, June 25, 2006, edition of "The Record", in an article headlined “An AIDS anniversary: 25 years in the arts”, Bill Ervolino listed the miniseries among the 12 best filmed portrayals of AIDS to date.


title: Angels in America

text: In 2017, the play received a much-acclaimed West End revival that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival in 2018. Later that year the production transferred to Broadway, where it received eleven Tony Award nominations, the most ever received by a play at the time. It won three awards: Best Revival of a Play; Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, for Andrew Garfield; and Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, for Nathan Lane.


title: Angels in America

text: Set in New York City, the play takes place between October 1985 and February 1986. The play begins with the funeral of an elderly Jewish woman, whose rabbi eulogizes not only her but her entire generation of immigrants who risked their lives to build a community in the United States. After the funeral, the deceased's grandson, Louis Ironson, learns that his lover Prior Walter, the last member of an old stock American family, has AIDS. As Prior's illness progresses, Louis becomes unable to cope, and he abandons Prior, who is given emotional support by their friend Belize, an ex-drag queen and a hospital nurse. Belize separately also deals with Louis's self-castigating guilt and myriad excuses for leaving Prior.


title: Angels in America

text: Joe Pitt, a Mormon Republican clerk in the same judge's office where Louis holds a word-processing job, is offered a position in Washington, D.C. by his mentor, the McCarthyist lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn. Joe hesitates to accept out of concern for his agoraphobic, Valium-addicted wife Harper, who refuses to relocate. Harper suspects that Joe does not love her in the same way she loves him, which is confirmed when Joe confesses his homosexuality. Harper retreats into drug-fueled escapist fantasies, including a dream where she crosses paths with Prior even though the two of them have never met in the real world. Torn by pressure from Roy and a burgeoning infatuation with Louis, Joe drunkenly comes out to his conservative mother Hannah, who reacts dismissively. Concerned for her son, she sells her house in Salt Lake City and travels to New York to help repair his marriage. Meanwhile, a drug-addled Harper has fled their apartment after a confrontation with Joe, wandering the streets of Brooklyn, believing she is in Antarctica, as Joe and Louis tentatively begin an affair.


title: Angels in America

text: Meanwhile, Roy Cohn discovers that he has advanced AIDS and is dying. Defiantly refusing to publicly admit he is gay or has AIDS, Roy instead declares he has liver cancer. Facing disbarment for borrowing money from a client, Roy is determined to beat the case so he can die a lawyer and he attempts to position Joe in the Justice Department with the aim of having a friend in a useful place. When Joe refuses his offer, Roy flies into a rage and collapses in pain. As he awaits transport to the hospital, he is haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, whom he prosecuted in her trial for espionage, and who was executed after Roy illegally lobbied the judge for the death penalty.


title: Angels in America

text: Prior begins to hear an angelic voice telling him to prepare for her arrival, and receives visits from a pair of ghosts who claim to be his own ancestors and inform him that he is a divine prophet. Prior does not know if these visitations are caused by an emotional breakdown or if they are real. At the end of Part One, Prior is visited by an angel, who crashes through his bedroom ceiling and proclaims that "the Great Work" has begun.


title: Angels in America

text: At the funeral of a friend, a shaken Prior relates his encounter with the Angel to Belize. After revealing the presence of a mystical book underneath the tile in Prior's kitchen, the Angel reveals to him that Heaven is a beautiful city that resembles San Francisco, and God, described as a great flaming Aleph, created the universe through copulation with His angels, who are all-knowing but unable to create or change on their own. God, bored with the angels, made mankind with the power to change and create. The progress of mankind on Earth caused Heaven to suffer earthquake-like tremors and physically deteriorate. Finally, on the day of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, God abandoned Heaven. The Angel brings Prior a message for mankind—"stop moving!"—in the belief that if man ceases to progress, Heaven will be restored. Belize believes that Prior is projecting his own fears of abandonment into an elaborate hallucination, but Prior suspects that his illness is the prophecy taking physical form, and that the only way the Angel can force him to deliver her message is to die.


title: Angels in America

text: Roy lands at the hospital in the care of Belize, where his condition rapidly declines. He manages to use his political clout to acquire a private stash of the experimental drug AZT, at the expense of withholding the drug from participants in a drug trial. Alone in the hospital, Cohn finds himself increasingly isolated, with only Belize, who despises him, and the ghost of Ethel for company. Joe visits Roy, who is near death, and receives a final, paternal blessing from his mentor. However, when Joe confesses he has left Harper for a man, Roy rejects him in a violent reaction of fear and rage, ordering him to return to his wife and cover up his indiscretion.


title: Angels in America

text: Prior goes to a Mormon visitor's center to research angels, where he meets Hannah, who is volunteering there and taking care of Harper, who has slowly returned to reality but is now deeply depressed. Harper and Prior share a spark of recognition from their shared dream, and witness a vision of Joe and Louis together. Prior, with Belize in tow, attempts to confront Joe about Louis, and Joe recognizes Belize as Roy's nurse. Louis, regretting his actions, begins to withdraw from Joe and begs Prior's forgiveness, which Prior angrily refuses. Belize informs Louis about Joe's connection with Roy, whom Louis despises for his conservative politics and underhanded dealings. Louis, as a result, researches Joe's legal history and confronts him over a series of hypocritical and homophobic decisions Joe himself wrote. The confrontation turns violent, and Joe punches Louis in the face, ending their affair.


title: Angels in America

text: Ethel Rosenberg watches Roy suffer and decline before delivering the final blow as he lies dying: He has been disbarred after all. Delirious, Roy seems to mistake Ethel for his mother, begging her to comfort him, and Ethel sings a Yiddish lullaby as Roy appears to pass away. However, with a sudden burst of energy he reveals that he has tricked her, viciously declaring that he has finally beaten her by making her sing. He then collapses and dies. After Roy's death, Belize forces Louis to visit Roy's hospital room, where they steal his stash of AZT for Prior. He asks Louis to recite the Kaddish for Roy. Unseen by the living, Ethel guides Louis through the prayer, symbolically forgiving Roy before she departs for the hereafter.


title: Angels in America

text: After his confrontation with Joe, Prior collapses from pneumonia while visiting the Mormon center and Hannah rushes him back to the hospital. Prior tells her about his vision and is surprised when Hannah accepts this, based on her belief in angelic revelations within Latter-day Saint theology. At the hospital, the Angel reappears enraged that Prior rejected her message. Prior, on Hannah's advice, wrestles the Angel, who relents and opens a ladder into Heaven. Prior climbs into Heaven and tells the other angels that he refuses to deliver their message, as without progress, humanity will perish, and begs them for more Life, no matter how horrible the prospect might be. He returns to his hospital bed, where he awakens from his vision with his fever broken and his health beginning to recover. He makes amends with Louis, but refuses to take him back. Meanwhile, Harper leaves Joe and departs New York for San Francisco.


title: Angels in America

text: The play concludes in 1990. Prior and Louis are still separated, but Louis, along with Belize, remain close in order to support and care for Prior, and Hannah has found new perspective on her rigid beliefs, allowing her to accept her son as he is and forge a friendship with Prior. Prior, Louis, Belize, and Hannah gather before the angel statue in Bethesda Fountain, discussing the fall of the Soviet Union and what the future holds. Prior talks of the legend of the Pool of Bethesda, where the sick were healed. Prior delivers the play's final lines directly to the audience, affirming his intentions to live on and telling them that "the Great Work" shall continue.


title: Angels in America

text: The play is written for eight actors, each of whom plays two or more roles. Kushner's doubling, as indicated in the published script, requires several of the actors to play different genders.


title: Angels in America

text: "Angels in America" was commissioned by the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, by co-artistic directors Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone. It was first performed in Los Angeles as a workshop in May 1990 by the Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum.


title: Angels in America

text: "Millennium Approaches" premiered in May 1991 in a production performed by the Eureka Theatre Company of San Francisco, directed by David Esbjornson. In London it premiered in a National Theatre production at the Cottesloe Theatre, directed by Declan Donnellan. Henry Goodman played Cohn, Nick Reding played Joe, Felicity Montagu played Harper, Marcus D'Amico played Louis, and Sean Chapman played Prior. Opening on January 23, 1992, the London production ran for a year. In November 1992 it visited Düsseldorf as part of the first Union des Théâtres de l'Europe festival.


title: Angels in America

text: The play's second part, "Perestroika", was still being developed as "Millennium Approaches" was being performed. It was performed several times as staged readings by both the Eureka Theatre (during the world premiere of part one in 1991), and the Mark Taper Forum (in May 1992). It premiered in November 1992 in a production by the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone. In November 1993 it received its London debut in a National Theatre production on the Cottesloe stage, in repertory with a revival of "Millennium Approaches", again directed by Declan Donnellan. David Schofield played Cohn, Daniel Craig played Joe, Clare Holman played Harper, Jason Isaacs played Louis, Joseph Mydell played Belize and won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Stephen Dillane played Prior.


title: Angels in America

text: The entire two-part play debuted on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 1993, directed by George C. Wolfe, with "Millennium Approaches" performed on May 4 and "Perestroika" joining it in repertory on November 23, closing December 4, 1994. The original cast included Ron Leibman, Stephen Spinella, Kathleen Chalfant, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Wright, Ellen McLaughlin, David Marshall Grant and Joe Mantello. Among the replacements during the run were F. Murray Abraham (for Ron Leibman), Cherry Jones (for Ellen McLaughlin), Dan Futterman (for Joe Mantello), Cynthia Nixon (for Marcia Gay Harden) and Jay Goede (for David Marshall Grant). "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika" were awarded, in 1993 and 1994 respectively, both the Tony Awards for Best Play and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play.


title: Angels in America

text: The published script indicates that Kushner made a few revisions to "Perestroika" in the following year. These changes officially completed the work in 1995. In 1994, the first national tour launched at the Royal George Theater in Chicago, directed by Michael Mayer, with the following cast: Peter Birkenhead as Louis Ironson, Reginald Flowers as Belize, Kate Goehring as Harper Pitt, Jonathan Hadary as Roy Cohn, Philip E. Johnson as Joe Pitt, Barbara E. Robertson as Hannah Pitt, Robert Sella as Prior, and Carolyn Swift as the Angel.


title: Angels in America

text: Kushner made relatively minor revisions to "Millennium Approaches" and additional, more substantial revisions to "Perestroika" during a run at the Signature Theatre in 2010, which were published in a 2013 complete edition. That production was directed by Michael Greif and featured Christian Borle as Prior, Zachary Quinto as Louis, Billy Porter as Belize, Bill Heck as Joe, Zoe Kazan as Harper, Robin Bartlett as Hannah, Frank Wood as Roy, and Robin Weigert as the angel.


title: Angels in America

text: In 2013, a production of the two-part play was produced by Sydney-based theatre company, Belvoir. The cast featured Luke Mullins as Prior Walter, Mitchell Butel as Louis Ironson, Marcus Graham as Roy Cohn, Ashley Zukerman as Joe Pitt, Amber McMahon as Harper Pitt, Robyn Nevin as Hannah Pitt, DeObia Oparei as Belize, and Paula Arundell as The Angel. The show ran from June 1 to July 14 at the Belvoir St Theatre, before transferring to the Theatre Royal for the remainder of its run. The production finished its season on July 27.


title: Angels in America

text: A Canadian production by Soulpepper Theatre Company in 2013 and 2014 starred Damien Atkins as Prior Walter, Gregory Prest as Louis, Mike Ross as Joe, Diego Matamoros as Roy and Nancy Palk as Hannah, Ethel Rosenberg and the rabbi.


title: Angels in America

text: "Millennium Approaches" made its Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut, in a production by St Andrews-based Mermaids Theatre, in August 2013 to critical acclaim.


title: Angels in America

text: An Italian adaptation of the play premiered in Modena in 2007, in a production directed by Ferdinando Bruni and Elio De Capitani which was awarded several national awards. The same production ran for three days in Madrid, in 2012.