In Court

Rap artist Beanie Sigel was charged with assault for attacking a man on the

South Philadelphia street from which he derived his hip-hop moniker, police

told Reuters on Saturday.

Connie Stevens has appealed a reversed $4.3 judgement made by the San

Francisco State Supreme Court against her former manager, Norton Styne, who in

1998 claimed the singer owed him royalties from sales of her cosmetics line

on the Home Shopping Network. Stevens is testifying that

Styne was an unlicensed agent at the time, violating the state's Talent

Agencies Act, The Associated Press reports.

Awards

The Indian film Sandstorm, based on the true story of a low-caste

woman who was gang-raped for criticizing child marriages, won the best feature

film award at Zanzibar's Festival of the Dhow Countries on Saturday, the

Associated Press reports. Directed by Jag Mohan, the heroine of the film

seeks justice against the group of upper-caste men who raped her, confronting

sexism and political opportunism in the Indian judiciary.

At an inaugural annual festival in Rochester to celebrate the accomplishments

of women in film, Jackie Brown star Pam Grier will be presented with a

career achievement award on Oct. 20, Friday's Rochester Democrat and

Chronicle reported.

In General

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon helped sponsor a contest to help produce an

aspiring script writer's film, then documented the process for Project

Greenlight, a 13-episode documentary debuting on HBO in December.

According to the Associated Press, the documentary includes uncensored,

behind-the-scenes arguing about budgets and script revisions with Pete Jones,

a Chicago insurance salesman, who was selected from more than 7,000 entrants

for his script Stolen Summer.

The members of 'N Sync offered the Backstreet Boys' A.J. McLean their condolences

while he spends 30 days at a rehab clinic for depression and alcohol abuse.

"I really don't know what to say about that, except for, you know, I hope he

gets better," Chasez said in a telephone press conference Friday,

SonicNet.com reports. "It's kind of sad that he's got a problem like that,

and I wish the guy the best. I hope he pulls it together. At least he's

admitted to himself that he has a problem. And that's pretty much the first

step."

Folk musician Joan Baez has canceled her appearance at the Singer Songwriter

Weekend festival on July 21 because of her sister's life-threatening cancer.

According to AP, the festival, sponsored by WXPN-FM, the public radio station

at the University of Pennsylvania, will continue with other performers,

including Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.