Artist’s latest work at Royal Courts of Justice in London is thought to refer to pro-Palestine demonstrations
A painting by Banksy of a judge using a gavel to beat a helpless protester appeared on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice in London before quickly being covered up by guards.
Banksy confirmed the artwork was his by posting a picture of it on Instagram on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Thousands of film workers join new boycott initiative criticized by Israeli producers’ group as ‘misguided’
Thousands of actors, directors and other film industry professionals have signed a new pledge vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
“As film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions” the pledge reads. “In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror.”
Continue reading...The Voice of Hind Rajab, a harrowing account of a Palestinian child’s death in Gaza, won the runner-up Silver Lion
US indie director Jim Jarmusch unexpectedly won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival on Saturday with Father Mother Sister Brother, a three-part meditation on the uneasy tie between parents and their adult children.
Although his gentle comedy received largely positive reviews, it had not been a favourite for the top prize, with many critics instead tipping the Voice of Hind Rajab, a harrowing true-life account of the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl during the Gaza war. In the end, the film directed by Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania took the runner-up Silver Lion.
Continue reading...Daughter of former Nazi official and her husband to be questioned after raid on home failed to find masterpiece
A federal court in Argentina has ordered house arrest for the daughter of a former Nazi official and her husband after a raid failed to locate a painting stolen from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam.
Authorities raided a home in the coastal city of Mar del Plata last week after a Dutch newspaper identified a painting seen in a real estate photo as an Italian masterpiece registered on a database of lost wartime art.
Continue reading...Author quipped she wrote ‘suitable’ piece after Alberta school ban included her novel The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood has released a new short story critiquing elected officials for a wide-ranging book ban in the Canadian province of Alberta. The controversial decision to remove books purportedly containing “explicit sexual content” has seen numerous works of literature swept up in the dragnet, including Atwood’s dystopian work The Handmaid’s Tale.
In a social media post, Atwood wrote that since her famed work was no longer permissible in Alberta schools, she had written a “suitable” short work for teens, adding the work was necessary because the province’s minister of education thought students were “stupid babies”.
Continue reading...Hundred Year Hunger – which has a chorus in Arabic – has been released by the British protest singer to coincide with a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for Gaza
Billy Bragg has released a new original song to show his support for the people of Palestine. The title of Hundred Year Hunger was inspired by a new book of the same name by E Mark Windle about the history of chronic malnutrition and deprivation in Gaza and will raise money for the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal.
Writing on Instagram, the British protest singer said that the song “looks at the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.
Continue reading...Objects including three-metre spears were collected in late 19th and early 20th centuries and donated to city’s museum
For decades, they have languished in storage in the basement of a museum in the English West Country. Finally, an extraordinary collection of weapons and ceremonial objects taken from the Larrakia people more than a century ago is beginning a winding journey home to the saltwater landscapes of the Northern Territory in Australia.
During an emotionally charged ceremony, Bristol city council formally handed over 33 objects including spears that would have been used to hunt creatures from fish to buffalo, some still gleaming with the red ochre used to decorate them.
Continue reading...‘I’m really touched,’ Kath & Kim favourite tells 10-year-old, adding that cancer treatment ‘is smacking me around right now’
Magda Szubanski has shared an update about her health from her hospital bed as she continues treatment for an aggressive form of blood cancer.
Szubanski, well-known for her roles in Kath & Kim and Babe, posted a video to Instagram on Sunday to thank a young fan who had “really cheered me up” with her Book Week costume of Szubanski’s Kath & Kim character, the hapless netball fan Sharon Strzelecki.
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Continue reading...Acting CEO of parent agency makes announcement one day after judge blocks her from firing VOA director
The agency that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded international broadcasters is eliminating jobs for more than 500 employees, a Trump administration official said. The move could ratchet up a months-long legal challenge over the news outlets’ fate.
Kari Lake, acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media, announced the latest round of job cuts late Friday, one day after a federal judge blocked her from removing Michael Abramowitz as VOA director.
Continue reading...What likely started as a routine refresh spiraled into a political storm that went all the way to the US president
It was supposed to be a simple rebrand – or so Cracker Barrel thought.
Earlier this month, the 56-year-old southern restaurant chain known for its country-store charm and nostalgic Americana aesthetic unveiled a new look: a minimalist logo, more modern interiors and a handful of new menu items.
Continue reading...Educating Yorkshire Part 2 shows inspirational teachers negotiating challenges in young people’s lives
“Basically, there’s summat wrong with me. I’m like … a psychopath. Genuinely!” A teenage girl with the face of an angel is confiding in Mr Wilson, one of the student managers. He listens solemnly, but his mouth twitches with the beginnings of a smile.
“I’m going to start by disagreeing with you,” he says with all the seriousness he can muster. “You’re not a psychopath.” The girl in the sky-blue hoodie relaxes and rewards him with a broad smile.
Continue reading...Labor announced on Thursday Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program will provide financial assistance for 62 organisations statewide
Arts organisations and galleries across New South Wales have voiced their relief after the state government announced $15.4m funding over two years, allaying worries of a looming crisis for NSW’s regional galleries.
Sixty-two arts organisations across NSW will receive $15.4m funding for the next two years through Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP), the state government announced on Thursday, with $7.5m going to 31 regional arts organisations, including 10 regional galleries.
Continue reading...Search for artwork seen in estate agent’s photo continues after police raid on house finds tapestry hanging in its place
Argentinian police have said they will continue hunting for an old master painting looted by the Nazis and spotted by chance in an estate agent’s listing after a search of the property in the seaside town of Mar del Plata failed to uncover the work.
“The painting is not in the house … but we’re going to keep searching for it,” the federal prosecutor Carlos Martínez told local media. He said items that could be useful for the investigation, including two firearms, engravings and prints, had been seized.
Continue reading...Emma Heming Willis recalls the actor’s ‘alarming and scary’ early symptoms and says his family has ‘learned to adapt’ as his brain ‘is failing’ amid ‘really great health overall’
Bruce Willis’s brain is “failing him” and his “language is going”, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, has revealed, more than two years since the actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,” Heming Willis told Diane Sawyer in an ABC special on Tuesday. “It’s just his brain that is failing him. The language is going. We’ve learned to adapt and we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a different way.”
Continue reading...BBC’s Stranded on Honeymoon Island tests whether love can flourish ‘in toughest of conditions’, says Davina McCall
The new BBC series Stranded on Honeymoon Island is a “social experiment” about the reality of marriage that will teach audiences about “moving forward with your life”, its host, Davina McCall, has said.
Made by the producers of Married at First Sight UK, the show features 12 singles looking for lifelong love who are matched with someone on a speed date and “married”. They are then stranded on a tropical island dressed only in their wedding outfit for a three-week honeymoon without phones, luxuries, family or friends.
Continue reading...Police say musician charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down an LA street last week
Lil Nas X was charged on Monday with four felonies after police say he charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down a Los Angeles street last week.
Prosecutors charged the musician, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said. He was initially booked on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing an officer on Friday.
Continue reading...The director said he did not ‘feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help’ after Ukraine calls the film-maker’s participation a ‘disgrace’
Woody Allen has denied claims that his participation in a Moscow film festival was “whitewashing” Russian atrocities, after condemnation of his appearance by Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Allen said in a statement to the Guardian: “When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong. The war he has caused is appalling. But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.”
Continue reading...Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh faces terrorism charge in UK for alleged display of Hezbollah flag mid-performance
The Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have cancelled their scheduled US tour dates in October, citing the proximity to a court hearing in London involving band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s alleged mid-performance display of a Hezbollah flag.
Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence in the UK in May after being accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert in London last November.
Continue reading...Adler was involved behind the scenes of storied Broadway productions before finding acting success in his 60s
Jerry Adler, who spent decades behind the scenes of storied Broadway productions before pivoting to acting in his 60s, has died aged 96.
Adler died on Saturday, according to a brief family announcement confirmed by the Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York. Adler “passed peacefully in his sleep”, Paradigm Talent Agency’s Sarah Shulman said on behalf of his family. No immediate cause was given.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The creator of some of cinema’s most memorable music says it pales in comparison to the great works
As one of the greatest composers in film, John Williams has written some of the most memorable music in cinema for masterpieces such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and Star Wars.
But despite winning five Oscars, the 93-year-old believes that, as an art form, film music pales in comparison to history’s great works.
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