From ovations in Venice to death threats in Israel: the extreme responses to NAZA documentary

Posted on September 19, 2026 by Admin

As Gaza documentary wins cinematic acclaim, its directors face vitriol in Israel amid a febrile election campaign

First there was a moment of stunned silence. Then, in the Sala Grande, the main screening hall of the Venice film festival within the Palazzo del Cinema, the audience stood almost as one and turned to applaud the film-makers for 25 minutes.

The film the audience had watched for 80 harrowing minutes was the Gaza documentary NAZA, which has been produced by the Guardian.

Stephanie Cole, Coronation Street and Open All Hours actor, dies aged 84

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Admin

Cole, described as an ‘extraordinary talent’, also appeared in Waiting for God, Tenko and had an extensive theatre career

The actor Stephanie Cole, best known for roles in Coronation Street, Waiting for God and Open All Hours, has died aged 84.

She also appeared in the prisoner-of-war drama Tenko, A Bit of a Do and Doc Martin.

Iranian actor Laleh Marzban faces severe threats after Venice film festival speech

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Admin

Marzban, who won a best actress award for her portrayal of a woman held hostage by her father in Falling House, has received condemnations from authorities after dedicating her prize to ‘the women of Iran’

An Iranian actress who won the best newcomer award at the Venice film festival has come under severe attack from the country’s authorities and state media after highlighting the plight of women in Iran in her acceptance speech.

Laleh Marzban last Saturday won the best actress award in the Orizzonti sidebar competition for emerging talent, for her role in Mohsen Gharaei’s Falling House, a film revolving around three generations of women who are incarcerated in their own home by the family’s father.

‘We demand the truth’: Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee lead calls for proof of life of disappeared Eritrean writers

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Admin

More than 180 writers sign letter renewing calls for information on 12 authors detained incommunicado since 2001 crackdown on free speech by Isaias Afwerki

More than 180 writers have signed a letter to Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki calling for proof of life for 12 writers arrested in 2001.

Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee join prominent writers including Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Isabel Allende, Ben Okri, Yann Martel, Kamila Shamsie and Tsitsi Dangarembga in signing the letter dated 18 September, marking 25 years since a government crackdown on the independent press. “Within days, Eritrea’s free press and the nation’s independent voices were systematically crushed,” opens the letter.

Peter Max, psychedelic pop artist who epitomized flower power, dies aged 88

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Admin

The US artist, whose swirly, colorful, instantly recognizable designs became hugely commercially successful, died on Monday

Peter Max, whose colorful, psychedelic pop art expressed the optimism of the “flower power” movement of the 1960s and graced everything from postage stamps to a cruise ship, has died at 88.

Max died on Monday, his son, Adam Max, said in a written statement on Wednesday. No cause was given.

Battle of Chile director Patricio Guzmán dies aged 85

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Admin

Passionate documentary maker won international acclaim for unsparing but poetic films exploring the impact of the Pinochet regime in Chile

Patricio Guzmán, the film-maker who chronicled Chile’s bloody 1970s political strife and its subsequent social and political turmoil in films such as The Battle of Chile and Nostalgia for the Light, has died aged 85. According to Chilean news outlet Emol, Guzmán died on Tuesday in Paris after a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Guzmán’s chief preoccupation throughout his career was the carnage unleashed by Augusto Pinochet’s coup in 1973 against Salvador Allende, Chile’s elected president. He later told the Guardian: “I’m a film-maker who was very marked by the ways of the dictator. It has remained with me for ever. I cannot leave it behind.” However, he resisted the idea that he was an activist, political film-maker, adding: “I’m not a sociologist. Neither am I a politician. I make films that are metaphorical and poetic; I interpret reality through my own personal way of looking.”

Venice best actress winner says she signed on at Danish job centre days before her victory

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Admin