ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

He’s Back: Last year, dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones canceled plans to perform at Charleston’s prestigious Spoleto USA Arts Festival to protest South Carolina’s refusal to remove the Confederate flag flying over its Capitol. The flag, he said, was a symbol of racism and slavery--not just Southern heritage. Largely in response to an NAACP boycott, the state moved the flag behind a nearby Confederate soldier monument in July--giving Jones a subsequent change of heart. He and his troupe will perform May 25-27 at the festival. “Though there’s still debate about whether the changes are sufficient, Bill feels that his presence will be more effective than his absence,” said Bjorn Amelan, associate director of the Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company. “He’ll be conducting a public discussion of the issue as part of his residency.” Whether Jones’ gesture--which drew considerable media attention--had the desired effect is anyone’s guess, Amelan concedes: “It was one more drop in a bucket that takes a lot of drops to fill,” he said. “How many drops was Bill’s absence? Very hard to say.”

Zeffirelli Auction: Sotheby’s will auction off furniture and decorative items from the collection of Italian film and theater director Franco Zeffirelli in a March 21 sale in Milan. Many of the items were created as props for his film and stage productions. Zeffirelli, 78, who calls himself “a compulsive buyer” of “things that catch my eye and excite my passions,” said he decided to sell the items--most of which had been stored away in warehouses--”so that other people can enjoy the pieces and take them on yet further travels.” Items include a large Renaissance-style refectory table from a 1986 production of “Otello” starring Placido Domingo (expected to bring an estimated $5,500 to $7,000); the bed from the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet” ($5,500 to $7,000), and two portraits of Elizabeth Taylor as an opera singer in “Il Giovane Toscanini” that hung in the singer’s dressing room in the film ($3,800 to $4,800 and $7,000 to $9,000).

Documentary Festival: The Hollywood Film Festival will celebrate its fifth year by adding an offshoot, the Hollywood Documentary Film Festival. While documentaries have previously been included in the main festival, this year the genre will be separated out for a two-day concurrent event, Aug. 4-5, at Raleigh Studios. Festival founder Carlos de Abreu said the added focus is an attempt to increase the visibility of filmmakers who are often unable to attract the same lucrative deals as their feature-making counterparts. The main festival runs Aug. 2-6 at Paramount Studios.

Who Wants to Survive Litigation?: “Survivor’s” production company has filed a countersuit against ousted contestant Stacy E. Stillman, who claimed in an earlier suit that producers rigged the CBS show to boost ratings. The $5-million countersuit, filed by Survivor Entertainment Group Inc., alleges that Stillman defamed the show and broke confidentiality agreements in an effort to extort money from producers and the network. Stillman, an attorney who was the third person voted off the initial “Survivor” program, alleges that series creator Mark Burnett persuaded two fellow contestants to vote against her, a charge Burnett has denied.

TV Detente: A Japanese TV station has postponed indefinitely a scheduled airing of Hollywood’s 1998 movie “Godzilla” because of fears that it might remind people of the recent fatal collision off Hawaii between a U.S. submarine and a Japanese fishing trawler. The film opens with Godzilla emerging from the ocean to attack and sink Japanese fishing boats in rough seas.