June Givanni founded London archive documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years
A pioneering curator, writer and programmer of African film is to receive Bafta’s outstanding British contribution to cinema award.
June Givanni is the founder of a London archive that has amassed more than 10,000 items – including films, ephemera, manuscripts, audio, photography and posters – documenting Pan-African cinema over 40 years.
Continue reading...James Hunter alleges in a LA court filing that Goth intentionally kicked him while he lay on the ground playing dead
An extra has alleged in a Los Angeles court filing that British actor Mia Goth kicked him in the head on the set of slasher film MaXXXine.
James Hunter, a background actor on the latest instalment in the X series, which follows on from the success of X and Pearl, claims he was covered in fake blood and told to lie in the ground and play dead for a scene filmed in April 2023.
Continue reading...Oscar-winning director leads calls for inquiry into police investigative process following death of Lee Sun-kyun
A group of South Korean artists, including film director Bong Joon-ho, has called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death last month of prolific actor Lee Sun-kyun.
Lee, who played a lead role in Bong’s Oscar-winning film Parasite, died last month in an apparent suicide, at the age of 48.
Continue reading...Snook wins best actress in a TV drama series for her performance as the ambitious Shiv Roy in Succession, which also won best TV drama
Australians have won big at this year’s Golden Globes, with Sarah Snook and Elizabeth Debicki taking home acting awards and Margot Robbie winning for Barbie’s box office success.
Snook won the best actress in a TV series – drama for her performance as the ambitious Shiv Roy in Succession, which also won best TV drama.
Continue reading...Liz Oliva Fernández says the sanctions, imposed 60 years ago and upheld through Biden, have led to a ‘desperate situation’
A Cuban journalist is looking to spread awareness of the US trade embargo in two illuminating documentaries arriving in early 2024.
Liz Oliva Fernández says whenever she covered news or events on the island, be it the push for democratic reforms, or the private businesses springing up after the Castros loosened their grip on power, they always intersected with the sanctions.
Continue reading...Actor and daughters, 12 and 10, died along with pilot on Thursday after small plane they were in crashed into Caribbean Sea
A Los Angeles pilates instructor who recently lost her two daughters and their father – actor Christian Oliver – has paid tribute to her girls and her former husband, saying their deaths are “deeply felt by all who knew” them.
Jessica Klepser’s remarks about Oliver and their daughters – Madita Maia and Annik Luna Klepser, ages 12 and 10, respectively – were contained in a statement published late Friday on Instagram by Wundabar Pilates, the studio where she works.
Continue reading...Actor, 37, received sacrament on New Year’s Eve and Capuchin friar Alexander Rodriguez says he wishes to be a deacon ‘in the future’
The Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf is seeking to becoming a Catholic deacon after receiving the sacrament of confirmation on New Year’s Eve.
A California-based chapter of the Capuchin Franciscans, a Catholic religious order, shared the news in a Facebook post on Tuesday alongside photos of the 37-year-old actor smiling next to several of the organization’s members.
Continue reading...Anthony Delon told a magazine his father was finding it hard to accept his frail state of health
The actor Alain Delon will file a legal complaint against his son over “a media outburst” in France’s most prominent magazine, his lawyer has said.
In an interview published on Thursday, Anthony Delon told Paris Match that his father was finding it hard to accept his frail state of health, adding that there were “major risks” that the 88-year-old had celebrated “his last Christmas”.
Continue reading...Analysts suggest popularity of A Guilty Conscience is down to portrayal of recent abuses in judicial system
Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese language film of all time is a courtroom drama exploring themes of power and justice in a city where many feel both have been abused in recent years.
A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut of the Hong Kong screenwriter Ng Wai-lun, tells the story set in the city of a single mother wrongly accused of murdering her daughter and the legal battle to clear her name.
Continue reading...Two new studies show female film-makers still underrepresented despite recent successes such as Barbie
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie may have been the top-grossing film of 2023, but women are still dramatically underrepresented behind the camera in Hollywood, according to two major studies of the industry.
At the same time, major studios that pledged to re-examine their diversity and inclusion practices in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 still fail to produce many films from people of color, according to USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. The center’s latest report, titled Inclusion in the Director’s Chair, called the entertainment industry’s pledges to promote inclusion “performative acts” and “not real steps towards fostering change”.
Continue reading...Murguía, who voiced titular character in Oscar-winning animated Pixar film, appeared in more than 100 roles spanning cinema, stage and television
Ana Ofelia Murguía, the Mexican actor who voiced the titular character of Disney and Pixar film Coco, has died aged 90.
Her death was announced “with deep sadness” on social media by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, which said Murguía’s “artistic career was vital for the performing arts of Mexico”. Her cause of death was not given.
Continue reading...Family of Oscar-nominated British star announced his death on 30 December in a statement
The Oscar-nominated British actor Tom Wilkinson, best known for his role in The Full Monty, has died aged 75, his family have announced. His death was confirmed in a statement shared by his agent on behalf of his family.
The statement read: “It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on 30 December. His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Continue reading...‘I have limited rizz’ said an actor while Barbenheimer refers to the year’s most talked about films
Hallucination, Barbenheimer and acabó were among the new and breakthrough words of 2023, according to an analysis of the Guardian archive. And do you have “rizz”?
Dozens of new words appeared on the newspaper’s pages this year. And while the majority of these relate to people and placenames previously unrecorded on the news pages, some words were truly newly minted.
Continue reading...Former US president denies director’s claims that he insisted on appearing in 1992 film in exchange for filming in his hotel
Donald Trump has denied claims made by the director Chris Columbus that he “bullied his way into” appearing in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
The former US president said on his social media platform Truth Social, that the film’s production team were “begging me to make a cameo appearance”.
Continue reading...The British film-maker also wrote the landmark TV play Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth, and won an Emmy award for Band of Brothers
David Leland, the director behind popular 1980s hit Wish You Were Here and writer on a string of acclaimed British films including Made in Britain, Mona Lisa and Personal Services, has died aged 82. His agency Casarotto Ramsay and Associates said in a statement that Leland died on Sunday surrounded by his family. They added: “He is survived by his wife, Sabrina, his four daughters, his son and his six grandchildren … all of whom he loved almost as much as Arsenal football club.”
Born in 1941, Leland initially trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech of Drama, before becoming part of the breakaway that led to the creation of the Drama Centre in 1963. He secured small roles in 1970s films such as John Mackenzie’s directorial debut One Brief Summer, Gawain and the Green Knight starring Murray Head and Jacques Demy’s The Pied Piper. However, he found writing and directing more to his taste, directing the world premiere of Michael Palin and Terry Jones’s pair of short plays, Their Finest Hours, at the Crucible theatre, Sheffield, in 1976, and commissioning Victoria Wood to write her 1978 play Talent for the same venue. In 1977 Leland cast Pierce Brosnan, who had also studied at the Drama Centre, in the UK premiere of Tennessee Williams’ play The Red Devil Battery Sign at the Roundhouse in London.
Continue reading...Signatories of open letter, who include Charlotte Rampling and Carla Bruni, accused of placing actor above the law
An open letter signed by 56 prominent figures defending Gérard Depardieu and suggesting the cinema giant – who has been accused of rape and sexual assault – is the victim of a “lynching” has sparked outrage in France.
Critics have accused signatories – including the British actor Charlotte Rampling, the former French first lady Carla Bruni and Depardieu’s former partner Carole Bouquet – of placing him above the law and attempting to drown out #MeToo voices.
Continue reading...The actor, who also starred in film and television for decades, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer
James McCaffrey, the actor who provided the voice of the titular character of the Max Payne video games, has died aged 65.
The actor died on Sunday at his home in Larchmont, New York, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, his wife, the actor Rochelle Boström confirmed.
Continue reading...Likeness on display at Grévin Museum since 1981 is removed as allegations against actor are back in spotlight
A French museum has removed a wax likeness of Gérard Depardieu, the latest measure taken against the actor since he faced allegations of sexual assault.
The Grévin Museum in Paris said on Monday it had taken away the waxwork “following the negative reactions of visitors” passing in front of it, as well as comments on social media.
Continue reading...Essex-based Bridie West’s edible creation based on setting in Cameron Diaz romcom got more than 1.2m views
An Essex cake baker has gone viral after making a cake version of a cottage that had a starring role in the Christmas movie The Holiday.
The clip of Bridie West meticulously piping butter cream over a cottage-shaped cake has garnered more than 1.2m views on TikTok and almost 50,000 on Instagram.
Continue reading...Newspapers and politicians discuss general’s skin tone, saying actor’s casting in the role created ‘a historical error’
A decision to cast black actor Denzel Washington as the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal in an upcoming Netflix film has sparked a small but heated debate in Tunisia, the military general’s birthplace.
After a similar controversy on race and representation in nearby Egypt over a Netflix docudrama about Cleopatra, Tunisian newspapers, social media and even the halls of parliament have seen discussion on the skin tone of the long-dead leader.
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