Set out to find 'Not One Less'

"Not One Less" is the heartwarming tale of 13-year-old Wei Minzi, a substitute teacher living in a poor village in rural China. She is given an assignment to teach a class of 28 kids, ages 6 to 10, with instructions to make sure that all the students, "not one less," stay in school. As the story goes, Zhang Huike, the class troublemaker, is sent to the city to find work and pay off his parents' debts. Wei puts herself on the line to find him and bring him back. "Not One Less" will play at 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Admission is $6, $5 seniors, $4 members. In Mandarin with English subtitles.

Oscar nominations spark DVD orders

With four major Oscar nominations, including one for best picture, "Lost in Translation" is poised to make an even bigger splash when it hits video stores next week. "Translation" got all kinds of free publicity this week not only from its Oscar nods for actor Bill Murray and director Sofia Coppola but also multiple wins at Sunday's Golden Globe Awards telecast. "It will suddenly appear on people's radar," said Ralph Tribbey, editor of The DVD Report. Said Cynthia Lin of Walmart.com, "We expect to see a second life for 'Seabiscuit,' 'Whale Rider' and 'Finding Nemo.'?"

-- Los Angeles Daily News

Some tasty tidbits from Oscarland

• If Sofia Coppola wins in any of the three categories for which she is nominated, it would make the Coppola family (Carmine, Francis Ford and Sofia) the second three-generation Oscar-winning family. The first were the Hustons (Walter, John and Anjelica).

• Diane Keaton has received one acting nomination in each of four successive decades.

• "City of God" is the first film to benefit from a 1999 rule change that allows pictures entered in the foreign language category in a given year, and not nominated, to compete in other categories the succeeding year if they have their first U.S. release in that year.