Kanye West and Jay-Z won the top prize at Sunday's BET Awards, earning video of the year for Otis. They also won best group. Beyoncé won best female R&B artist and video director of the year. "I fell in love with music by listening to R&B. It's the core of who I am," she said, giving special thanks to "Whitney Houston, my angel". Cissy Houston's tribute to her late daughter was the emotional highlight of the event, performing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Mariah Carey, Brandy, Monica and Chaka Khan also staged tributes. Among the night's other performers were Usher, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown and the comeback artist D'Angelo. The soul band Maze were honoured with a lifetime achievement award, and they were serenaded by Tyrese, Faith Evans and Joe. * AP
Kristen Stewart returns to indie cinema
Kristen Stewart is set to headline the independent film Cali, directed by Nick Cassavetes,a gritty action pic set in Los Angeles. It marks a return to indie fare for the actress, who has balanced the Twilight franchise with independently produced movies including Welcome to the Rileys and The Runaways, both from 2010. She recently starred in Snow White and the Huntsman. "A lot of times, you will read a script and you can identify with things that are very surprising, things that kind of shock you about yourself," Stewart told MSN Movies, when asked what attracted her to the project. "And the process of making the movie is finding out why those feelings occurred." Stewart says she will get a tan, dye her hair blonde and hit the gym for the role. "I am going to get into the best shape of my life." * IANS
Spice Girls to auction clothes
The Spice Girls, who reunited last week to launch a musical featuring their hits, will sell some of their iconic costumes to benefit children's charities in the UK. "I can't wait for [daughter] Harper to grow a little so she can have some. But the rest we'd like to put up for charity," Victoria Beckham told the Daily Mirror. Fans will be able to pick up Emma Bunton's baby-doll dresses and Melanie Brown's leopard-print catsuits at a gala event later this year.
Disney developing Marvel animated film
Walt Disney Animation Studios is digging deep into Marvel's back catalogue and is in the process of developing an animated feature based on the comic book series Big Hero 6, "one of the lesser-known of Marvel's 4,000-plus titles", reported the online magazine Deadline.com. Big Hero 6 features the characters Sunfire, Silver Samurai, GoGo Tomago, Honey Lemon, Hiro Takachiho and Baymax, who were brought together by the Japanese government to protect the country.