religion

'DJ Priest' mixes religion and rave in Buenos Aires tribute to Pope Francis

BY LEILA MACOR

Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires and served as archbishop of the city before his papacy began in 2013, died on April 21, 2025.

Jeans, a clerical collar and a rosary on his wrist: this is how Father Guilherme Peixoto -- the "DJ Priest" -- appeared in central Buenos Aires on Saturday to spin electronic music at a massive rave paying tribute to Pope Francis one year after his death.
Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires and served as archbishop of the city before his papacy began in 2013, died on April 21, 2025.

Jeans, a clerical collar and a rosary on his wrist: this is how Father Guilherme Peixoto -- the "DJ Priest" -- appeared in central Buenos Aires on Saturday to spin electronic music at a massive rave paying tribute to Pope Francis one year after his death.

Techno versions of the "Super Mario" soundtrack and "Ameno" -- the 1990s classic that emulates Gregorian chant -- were mixed with excerpts from Francis's speeches in Plaza de Mayo, the political heart of Argentina, which had been transformed into a Catholic celebration.

From behind the decks, Peixoto energized tens of thousands of people beneath a laser light show, flanked by the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral and Casa Rosada, the seat of the Argentine government.

Peixoto told AFP his goal for the event was "to let the music touch hearts so deeply that young people return home with a desire to change the world."

On stage, an illuminated cross hung above Peixoto as a nearby screen showed a large white dove flapping its wings as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Many people in the crowd wore halos fitted with white lights, sold by street vendors for less than $10.

The concert kicked off with an audio clip of Francis saying, "The Church is not an NGO." Later, the 52-year-old Portuguese priest recited Francis's frequent request to young people to "make some noise."

Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires and served as archbishop of the city before his papacy began in 2013, died on April 21, 2025.

Tomas Ferreira, a 25-year-old lawyer, told AFP that while he is not Catholic, he thought it was "really great that the priest is trying to bring people together through the fusion of electronic music and religion."

"Religion is modernizing, and that's a good thing," he said.

From Guimaraes to the booth

A native of Guimaraes, Portugal, Peixoto has served as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Braga, northern Portugal, since 1999.

His Sunday masses, he said with a laugh, "are normal. It's a normal liturgy."

He entered the seminary at age 13, but always kept one foot in the world of music. As a young man, he played the organ in a pop-rock band alongside his fellow seminarians.

"Going to church and going out to a bar or a club to listen to music felt the same -- it was normal," he recalled in an interview with AFP.

In the early 2000s, he organized karaoke nights to raise funds for his debt-ridden parish. He learned how to mix music by watching videos on YouTube and practicing the craft over several years.

"When I first started learning how to mix, I also began to immerse myself in electronic music culture. It wasn't just about understanding the technicalities, how to structure a set, but grasping the very essence of what an 'electronic music journey' truly is," Peixoto said.

"It was a long, long process -- a journey that led me right here."

Breakthrough in Ibiza

The Covid-19 pandemic marked the turning point for Peixoto.

He began streaming live sets on Facebook, his videos went viral and the nickname "DJ Priest" stuck.

"Techno started becoming a bit more melodic, which is the style I play now," said Peixoto.

"The music isn't quite as intense or heavy as it used to be. Instead, it serves as a vehicle capable of conveying messages, thoughts and melodies."

He said he conveys "messages of peace."

Peixoto's breakthrough moment came in Ibiza in July 2024, when he celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest by performing in front of thousands of people.

He said he was concerned about how people would react to seeing a priest in the DJ booth. But the fear quickly faded when he said he saw young people showing "such incredible warmth."

"I get goosebumps when I feel that we are all united on the dance floor, that we are all on this journey together," he said.

lm/lb/lga/aks

music

From Armin van Buuren to Mochakk, electronic music dominates Coachella

BY PAULA RAMON

"Giving rise, for example, to this Coachella lineup," she said. pr/jgc/aks/lga

From established stalwarts like Fatboy Slim to rising artists like Australia's Ninajirachi, this year's edition of the annual Coachella music festival dedicated nearly half of its lineup to electronic musicians.
"Giving rise, for example, to this Coachella lineup," she said. pr/jgc/aks/lga

From established stalwarts like Fatboy Slim to rising artists like Australia's Ninajirachi, this year's edition of the annual Coachella music festival dedicated nearly half of its lineup to electronic musicians.

The traditionally rock-centric festival in Indio, California -- headlined this year by singers Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G -- reflects the surge in popularity of electronic music in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It's testament to the rise of electronic music, generally," Swedish DJ Adam Beyer told AFP.

"Much of it is so much more accessible. Also, there is a lot of electronic collaboration and influence in pop so it feels much more visible across the board now," he added.

Among the highlights of the festival's second weekend was the premiere of electronic musician Anyma's "ÆDEN" show on the festival's main stage, after the set was canceled the previous weekend due to high winds.

"I mean man, I love it, it's like... a rave after another, you know?" festival attendee John Good said as he left the Nine Inch Noize show, a joint act by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and German producer Boys Noize.

The second day of the festival featured a set by Beyer with trance legend Armin van Buuren, who popularized the subgenre for a global audience.

"The term is now so broad," van Buuren told AFP, referring to electronic music.

"It's no longer just 'house music,' but even tracks by Sabrina Carpenter have some sort of electronic drums in them. I guess electronic music has spread through and had an impact on all genres of music," he said.

Beyer and van Buuren agreed that the delineation between electronic and traditional genres has faded in recent years along with listening habits.

"This younger generation doesn't really approach music through strict genre labels anymore. It's more about mood, energy and context," van Buuren noted.

The 49-year-old Dutch DJ argued the festival setting was optimized for electronic acts.

"Festivals and large-scale shows have become more immersive and experience-driven, and electronic music is built exactly for this kind of setting," he said. "It's physical, emotional and repetitive in a way that works on this larger scale."

'Unpredictable'

At the Sahara tent, Coachella's stage dedicated to electronic music, the lineup featured a variety of DJs from a range of subgenres.

Among them was Brazilian DJ Mochakk, who called his Coachella debut his "biggest gig to date."

The 26-year-old's influences include Brazilian genres like MPB and Tropicalia, as well as artists like Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque.

"Music always goes in cycles," he told AFP.

"With electronic music I think it's this mix of old and new that people connect with.

"Also how open it is, you can blend so many genres in one set, keep switching energy, keep it unpredictable," he added.

"That keeps it exciting, and I think that's probably why it's been growing so much everywhere."

Techno-flamenco

Another electronic music act at Coachella this year was the duo MESTIZA, consisting of Spanish artists Pitty Bernad and Belah, who brought their cultural influences -- including flamenco dancers -- to the stage.

"Electric music has something very special, and that's why it's understood all over the world," Belah said.

The genre, she added, "has no borders."

"For a long time it was hard to find places where we could go to listen to electronic music," said Pitty, adding that "it has evolved in a dramatic way."

"Giving rise, for example, to this Coachella lineup," she said.

pr/jgc/aks/lga

entertainment

Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'

BY PAULA RAMON

So there will be a lot of big questions that we'll have to sort through as a society," Altman told AFP. The Breakthrough Foundation was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; science patrons Julia and Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe. Six prizes worth $3 million each were presented at the 12th edition of the awards.

Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
So there will be a lot of big questions that we'll have to sort through as a society," Altman told AFP. The Breakthrough Foundation was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; science patrons Julia and Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe. Six prizes worth $3 million each were presented at the 12th edition of the awards.

Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."

The awards, co-founded by philanthropists and tech entrepreneurs, recognize the research achievements of leading scientists around the world in three broad categories: Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

"These are some of the most heroic and inspiring people we get in the world," actor Edward Norton told AFP.

According to the "American History X" star, it was important to turn out and "to highlight what this kind of work contributes to all of us."

"The United States has the most anti-science administration in US history," the actor said. "It's always important, but if it was ever especially important, the moment is now."

In the last year, the Trump administration has slashed funding for science, halting projects and devastating workforces.

Rock climber Alex Honnold agreed with Norton, adding that he hoped the fluctuations "of the political climate... are short-term compared to the long-term effort required to make these kind of gains in human knowledge."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the collaboration between his company's artificial intelligence technology and some of the award-winning scientists "is moving things faster and faster, and letting them discover new things and bring them to the world faster than they could before."

"Change this fast is really disorienting. So there will be a lot of big questions that we'll have to sort through as a society," Altman told AFP.

The Breakthrough Foundation was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; science patrons Julia and Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe.

Six prizes worth $3 million each were presented at the 12th edition of the awards.

French mathematician Frank Merle was honored for his work on nonlinear equations describing the behavior of waves, fluids and other systems.

Merle told AFP the funding is "essential" for science.

"Science is one of the foundations of our civilization," he said.

Hollywood A-listers Ben Affleck, Lily Collins, Robert Downey Jr., Gigi Hadid, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Gal Gadot, Naomi Watts and her husband, Billy Crudup, also attended the event, alongside public figures like Bill Gates and Paris Hilton.

pr/lb/aks/lga

music

Branded pop-up events take center stage at Coachella

BY PAULA RAMON

And the crowds those amenities attract are a gold mine for brands.

With a multitude of promotional events almost as long and diverse as its artist lineup, Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, is now an amusement park for influencers and a gold mine for brands.
And the crowds those amenities attract are a gold mine for brands.

With a multitude of promotional events almost as long and diverse as its artist lineup, Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, is now an amusement park for influencers and a gold mine for brands.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, or simply Coachella, has become the tone-setter for the US festival circuit.

Tickets for this edition -- now in its second weekend with pop stars Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and reggaeton artist Karol G at the top of the bill -- sold out last year within four days of going on sale.

With that, organizers were expecting around 250,000 people to come over two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, where dozens of special events with fashion, beauty, beverage, and lifestyle brands were spread out among the festival's nine stages.

"I love how big it's gotten. I love how more people are open to it," 24-year-old Luz Maura told AFP at an e.l.f. Beauty station.

The pastel-colored space offered lip glosses as souvenirs, slushies to ease the high desert temperatures, makeup artists to touch up glittery festival looks, and hosted multiple selfie corners.

The "e.l.f.scape to Balm Desert" campaign drew a "six-figure audience," said Patrick O'Keefe, the company's vice president of integrated marketing, to AFP.

Promoting a moisturizing lip balm was not just about seizing on the arid, dry desert's climate -- it was also backed by sales data.

"We know that 92 percent of daily makeup users incorporate lip products into their routines," he added.

Its donut-shaped chairs and branded mirrors also serve as irresistible selfie backdrops that in turn promote the brand.

'Analog experience'

At the festival that's sometimes dubbed the "influencer olympics," Pinterest chose to swim against the tide with a "phone-free" installation.

Amid the debate over digital fatigue, "we made a willing decision to sacrifice that sort of immediate coverage in order to tell a story about what we believe in and who we are, and our hope is that, you know, long term that sinks in," Sarah Pollack, the company's vice president and global head of consumer marketing, told AFP.

With their phones locked away in a pouch, visitors to the Pinterest space had to resist the urge to feed their social networks with images of the colorful bar for designing custom accessories or the makeup room.

For California resident Liz Mendoza, the "analog experience" was "a lot of fun."

"Especially in an environment like this where social media is such a big thing and you want to take pictures and post as much as you can, I think it's super nice to have a few minutes off of your phone and just be in the moment," Mendoza added.

Pollack maintained that Coachella, where they are taking part for a third year, "is a great place for us to connect with Gen Z, and Gen Z is our fastest growing demographic."

She noted that 50 percent of Pinterest's audience was Gen Z.

'Cultural destination'

In the Coachella Valley, where temperatures can climb past 86F (30C) this time of year, so-called "brand activations" also serve as oases of shade and, in some cases, air conditioning.

And the crowds those amenities attract are a gold mine for brands.

Absolut, a vodka brand, sets up Absolut Heat Haus each year. The space looks like a nightclub, with bars and a DJ in charge of the music -- a role that last year fell to Paris Hilton.

"Coachella is a standout moment for Absolut because it's more than a music festival -- it's a high-energy social occasion and a cultural destination," said the company's brand director, Bethan Hamilton.

Flor Ruiz, who was born the same year that Coachella began -- 1999 -- said the festival's extracurriculars are key to the experience.

"For me, there's no such thing as Coachella without this," she said, as she left one of the promo events. "It's not just about the music."

"For that, we'd just go to a concert."

pr-pnb/jgc

sculpture

South Korea's chainsaw artist carves a name for herself at 91

BY CLAIRE LEE

At 15, Kim, who was a war refugee, changed her name to Yun Shin – "truth and faith" – on the advice of a monk who urged her to spend her life discovering her "true colour".

South Korean sculptor Kim Yun Shin wields a chainsaw with a quiet focus, refining a craft the 91-year-old has honed over decades spent far from home.
At 15, Kim, who was a war refugee, changed her name to Yun Shin – "truth and faith" – on the advice of a monk who urged her to spend her life discovering her "true colour".

South Korean sculptor Kim Yun Shin wields a chainsaw with a quiet focus, refining a craft the 91-year-old has honed over decades spent far from home.

Long overlooked in her home country, Kim has more recently gained recognition as a pioneering artist, featuring in a sweeping retrospective at South Korea's esteemed Hoam Museum of Art.

The solo exhibition, titled "Two Be One", is the institution's first since its founding in 1982 to spotlight a woman artist, and includes some of her signature abstract sculptures hewn from hardwood with her tool of choice.

"The saw is my body," Kim told AFP in her studio in Paju, a city northwest of the capital Seoul.

"When I lift it and cut (the wood), it has to move exactly like me -- the saw has to become me, and I have to become the saw."

Hoam is exhibiting about 170 of Kim's sculptures and paintings, reflecting her reverence for nature and blending spirituality with meditations on existence, material and form.

Born in 1935 in Wonsan, now in North Korea, she grew up playing alone in the countryside, talking to trees and rice paddies, and making eyeglasses out of sorghum stalks.

At the time, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Kim saw her older brother disappear after joining the independence movement, and pine trees in her town cut down for fuel.

"Those trees were my friends," she said, recalling the pain of seeing them uprooted -- and her drive to salvage and transform them into works of sculpture.

"I think I wanted them to endure -- to keep living on within that (art) form. Maybe that's why I've loved working with wood so much."

Chainsaw carving

Kim's family fled south during the horrors of the Korean War, and she later studied in France before returning to become an art professor in Seoul.

South Korea was then under a brutal military dictatorship. Authorities held artists in suspicion: a friend of Kim's was interrogated simply for using red, a colour associated with North Korean communism.

"Women, in particular, were virtually invisible," she told AFP, noting that her superiors would comment on the length of her skirt and tell her to refrain from smoking on college campuses.

At 48, drawn by the abundant trees in Argentina, she made the unusual choice to move to the South American nation, then just restoring democracy after a dictatorship of its own.

She ended up staying for 40 years, taking up chainsaw carving.

Kim focused on dense, durable wood such as palo santo and"algarrobo", and also worked with quarries in Mexico and Brazil, experimenting with stone sculpture using materials such as onyx and sodalite.

She managed to forge her "own artistic world, nourished by the country's culture and nature", Tae Hyun-sun, senior curator at Hoam, told AFP.

Pave the way

Like many women artists of her generation, Kim has only recently gained global recognition, said Rachel Lehmann, the co-founder of Lehmann Maupin which represents Kim internationally and has shown her work in London and New York.

"Her perseverance and lifelong dedication have helped pave the way for subsequent generations of women artists," she told AFP.

Kim returned to South Korea after a major 2023 solo show in Seoul that propelled her to the Venice Biennale the following year.

Among her former mentees in Buenos Aires is Korean-Argentine filmmaker Cecilia Kang, 40, an award-winning director who is now making a film about her.

As the daughter of Korean immigrants, she felt pressure to follow a conventional path, but Kim -- whom Kang first met when she was 13 -- showed her "that pursuing a life doing what one loves is possible".

At 15, Kim, who was a war refugee, changed her name to Yun Shin – "truth and faith" – on the advice of a monk who urged her to spend her life discovering her "true colour".

Those words have always "stayed vivid with me", she said. "Sometimes I feel they are what have carried me through this life."

cdl/mjw/ane

cinema

Paramount's CinemaCon charm offensive gets lukewarm reception

BY PAULA RAMON

- Hail Mary - For cinema owners, much depends on what happens with Warner Bros. and whether Paramount Skydance can keep its promise to maintain a steady stream of films.

Paramount Skydance was on a charm offensive at CinemaCon this week, trying to convince theater owners that its megabucks deal to swallow Warner Bros. would be good for the industry.
- Hail Mary - For cinema owners, much depends on what happens with Warner Bros. and whether Paramount Skydance can keep its promise to maintain a steady stream of films.

Paramount Skydance was on a charm offensive at CinemaCon this week, trying to convince theater owners that its megabucks deal to swallow Warner Bros. would be good for the industry.

A glitzy promotional film narrated by Tom Cruise ended with the world's most bankable movie star sitting atop the company's water tower, gazing over Hollywood.

"The future is Paramount, and the future looks pretty great from here," said Cruise.

The firm's chief executive David Ellison, attuned to fears that the $111 billion offer for a rival studio would result in cuts, bounded onto the stage at Caesars Palace to insist it would not crimp production.

"I came here today... to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word. Once we combine with Warner Brothers, we're going to make a minimum of 30 films annually," he told the audience, pledging 45-day theatrical windows before any film is available to stream.

"Long live the movies!"

The response from theater owners was lukewarm, and maybe for good reason: they've been here before.

"Disney said a lot of similar things when they were acquiring 20th Century Fox. They committed to maintaining the level of output," Matthew Hoopfer of Michigan-based cinema chain Studio C told AFP.

"20th Century Fox was a major studio; they had 10, 12 movies a year. I think in the Disney showcase (this year) between 20th Century and Searchlight, there were five or six movies."

Cinema United, the umbrella group that organizes CinemaCon, has declared itself skeptical about the takeover.

"While recent pledges attempt to address the threats of consolidation to our industry, they are not yet sufficient in addressing our concerns," organization president Michael O'Leary told AFP.

"We remain open to tangible commitments that will ensure a vibrant global theatrical exhibition industry for years to come."

Cinema owners are not the only ones who are worried.

An open letter signed by thousands of Hollywood luminaries -- from acting heavyweights Jane Fonda and Joaquin Phoenix to directors J. J. Abrams and Denis Villeneuve -- opposed the consolidation and fretted it would mean "fewer jobs... higher costs, and less choice for audiences."

Hail Mary

For cinema owners, much depends on what happens with Warner Bros. and whether Paramount Skydance can keep its promise to maintain a steady stream of films.

A decade ago, annual spending at the North American box office frequently topped $11 billion.

But the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosive growth of streaming put a hole in that, with yearly revenues drooping to less than $9 billion.

Signs are good, however, for 2026.

A strong first quarter, aided by crowd-pleasers like "Project Hail Mary" and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," has some industry-watchers predicting this year could be one of the best in a while.

In the halls of CinemaCon -- where optimism regarding the box office rebound was palpable -- theater owners said the only guaranteed balm was good content, and lots of it.

Chance Crusenberry, owner of a historical drive-in theater in Virginia, said the new uber studio would have to keep its pledge to pump out movies.

"If they want to be successful and they want us to be successful and the movie theaters to stay open, they have to follow through," he said.

The bidding war for Warner Bros., which industry watchers had long held to be flailing a little, ironically emerged as the studio was having a banner year.

"One Battle After Another" scooped up the Best Picture Oscar, beating out in-house rival "Sinners," with both films also scoring at the box office.

But recent successes are only part of the value proposition: the Warner Bros. library is deep, and includes money-spinners like "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings."

To get its hands on that library, Paramount Skydance had to fend off a rival bid from cash-rich Netflix, with reports suggesting it leaned heavily on financing.

A heavy debt load might muddy the waters, said Bryan Sieve, president of Odyssey Cinemas in South Dakota.

"It's going to be an awful big challenge to service that amount and still be able to maintain the capital requirements necessary to have such an aggressive 30-film slate," he told AFP.

While a vein of skepticism ran through many of the theater owners AFP spoke to in Las Vegas, they were united in one thing: if the merger goes ahead, they need it to succeed.

"We hope that they can do it," said Sieve.

pr/hg/sla/hol

film

French film star Nathalie Baye dead at 77: family to AFP

Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in some 80 films and took home the best actress Cesar -- France's equivalent of the Oscars -- four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983.

French film star Nathalie Baye, a multi-Cesar Award winner who starred in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me if You Can," has died at the age of 77, her family told AFP on Saturday.
Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in some 80 films and took home the best actress Cesar -- France's equivalent of the Oscars -- four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983.

French film star Nathalie Baye, a multi-Cesar Award winner who starred in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me if You Can," has died at the age of 77, her family told AFP on Saturday.

Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in some 80 films and took home the best actress Cesar -- France's equivalent of the Oscars -- four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983.

She died Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family said.

The neurodegenerative disease can alter mood, movement and provoke hallucinations.

Baye's career saw a late surge of internationally high-profile roles, including playing Leonardo DiCaprio's mother in "Catch Me if You Can" and a French aristocrat in "Downton Abbey 2".

She also worked with Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan, who cast her as one of his many difficult mothers in "Laurence Anyways" and "It's Only the End of the World".

"Une liaison pornographique" -- whose English title was the more demure "An Affair of Love" -- won her the best actress prize at the Venice film festival.

Baye had a five-year relationship with rocker Johnny Hallyday, dubbed the "French Elvis", whose death in 2017 sparked national mourning.

Their daughter Laura Smet is also a famous actress, who starred alongside Baye as a mock version of themselves -- bickering, competitive, yet very close -- in the hit series "Call My Agent!".

Baye was born in 1948 in Normandy to bohemian parents who were both painters. But struggling with dyslexia, she left school at 14 and went to Monaco to learn dance.

Her breakthrough came in the 1970s when she teamed up with arthouse directors such as Francois Truffaut, Maurice Pialat and Claude Sautet, and then in the 1980s with Jean-Luc Godard.

dar/ekf/ach

film

Top takeaways from CinemaCon: the year's hottest movies

BY PAULA RAMON

"DunesDay" could be the biggest day in movie theaters since "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" debuted simultaneously, creating the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

Hollywood's major studios brought their biggest movies to Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon, the annual industry summit that offers insiders a sneak peek at what's coming soon to theaters.
"DunesDay" could be the biggest day in movie theaters since "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" debuted simultaneously, creating the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

Hollywood's major studios brought their biggest movies to Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon, the annual industry summit that offers insiders a sneak peek at what's coming soon to theaters.

Tom Cruise, Michael B. Jordan, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet led the parade of A-listers onto the stage at the Colosseum theater in Caesars Palace, along with directors Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.

Attendees caught a glimpse of new trailers, clips and teasers. Here are the highlights from the convention:

- 'The Odyssey' -

Nolan debuted epic footage from "The Odyssey," his hotly anticipated take on Homer's epic tale -- and his first movie since his Oscar-winning "Oppenheimer."

The clips featured a look at Matt Damon as Odysseus and Charlize Theron as Calypso, as well as the scene when the iconic Trojan Horse is revealed -- which generated major buzz among industry observers.

"Why 'The Odyssey'? 'The Odyssey' is a story that has fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years," Nolan told the audience at the Universal Pictures event.

"It's not A story. It's THE story," the filmmaker added, explaining that it was a long-time dream to make this adaptation.

Zendaya, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson also star in the film, which is set for release on July 17.

'Disclosure Day'

Spielberg presented an extended new look at "Disclosure Day," his return to sci-fi and extraterrestrials, a genre he first explored nearly 50 years ago.

Though the Oscar-winning director said he had never seen an unidentified flying object himself, he made "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) because the phenomenon offered him "a really great story to tell."

"I made 'Disclosure Day' with a lot more certainty that there's more truth than fiction in the movie that you are going to see on June 12."

Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor and Colman Domingo star in a film that forces humanity to contend with evidence that aliens do exist.

Spielberg, who presented the Universal Pictures movie with Domingo, said he'd been extremely selective in what he wanted to reveal at the event.

"This movie is an experience, and all you need to get from the beginning to the end is a seatbelt," he said.

'Avengers: Doomsday'

Disney's Marvel Studios unveiled the first trailer for "Avengers: Doomsday," which will hit US theaters on December 18.

The clip, which earned thunderous applause from the crowd, offered the first look at Robert Downey Jr. as villain Doctor Doom -- a new franchise character for the actor, whose Iron Man died in "Avengers: Endgame."

It also featured scenes with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), whose Captain America had chosen to remain in the past in "Endgame," passing on his shield. It's not clear yet how Cap has returned.

Downey and Evans were on hand to reveal the footage, along with director Joe and Anthony Russo.

"I said I would only come back if there was a real reason," Evans told the crowd.

"And in 'Doomsday', there is a very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers."

'Dune: Part Three'

Warner Bros showed the opening minutes of Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Three," which is also set to open on December 18.

"DunesDay" could be the biggest day in movie theaters since "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" debuted simultaneously, creating the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

Villeneuve called the final chapter in his sci-fi trilogy -- which takes place 17 years after the end of the last film -- a "thriller -- action-packed, more intense and definitely more emotional."

Chalamet and Zendaya were on hand, along with Jason Momoa, for the presentation.

Zendaya reflected on the changes that the characters had been through, saying it had been "an unkind few years, and I think there's so much left still to fight for."

'Digger'

Cruise and Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu offered a first look at the comedy "Digger," with the actor virtually unrecognizable as a pot-bellied oil man who ruined the planet and now wants to repair it.

"The movie is wild, it's funny," said Cruise, who received a standing ovation from the packed room at the Warner Bros event.

Inarritu said the role "could possibly be the most challenging" for Cruise, who has been nominated for three Oscars for his acting performances.

"We know that he's fearless -- the stunts, the planes, the jumps -- but I have to say embodying this character, this is another kind of fearless," he said.

pr/sst/sla

US

Polish stadium cancels Kanye West concert

"The concert by Ye (Kanye West), scheduled for 19 June 2026 at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium, will not take place due to formal and legal reasons," venue director Adam Strzyzewski announced in a press release on the stadium's website.

A Kanye West concert scheduled to take place in a stadium in Poland in June was cancelled by the venue on Friday, following condemnation of antisemitic remarks by the US rapper.
"The concert by Ye (Kanye West), scheduled for 19 June 2026 at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium, will not take place due to formal and legal reasons," venue director Adam Strzyzewski announced in a press release on the stadium's website.

A Kanye West concert scheduled to take place in a stadium in Poland in June was cancelled by the venue on Friday, following condemnation of antisemitic remarks by the US rapper.

"The concert by Ye (Kanye West), scheduled for 19 June 2026 at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium, will not take place due to formal and legal reasons," venue director Adam Strzyzewski announced in a press release on the stadium's website.

The Polish culture ministry previously said in a statement, received by AFP, that it was seeking to bar West from performing in the country.

"The widely discussed actions of Kanye West, linked to his promotion of Nazism, are in manifest contradiction with Poland's values," Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said.

She went on to express her "clearly negative position" about the June 19 concert going ahead and called on its organisers "not to make public space available to promoters of a criminal ideology".

Quoted by the Polish Press Agency PAP, Cienkowska said that she "cannot imagine" such a concert being held in Poland, "a country where people were murdered in German Nazi extermination camps".

She condemned West -- now legally known as Ye -- as an artist who "openly declares he loves Hitler, who promotes Nazi ideology and makes money by selling T-shirts emblazoned with the swastika".

She added that Warsaw had the means to bar the entry of undesirable individuals and, if necessary, it "will resort to them".

West announced on Tuesday that a concert he had planned to give in the French city of Marseille had been postponed after authorities voiced opposition.

Last week, Britain said it has blocked West from entering the country, leading to the cancellation of a London music festival where he had been scheduled to perform over three nights in July.

The 48-year-old musician has lost fans and several sponsorships in recent years following inflammatory comments and actions.

He has previously said "I love Nazis", sold t-shirts featuring a swastika on his website, and last year released a track titled "Heil Hitler," which was banned by main streaming platforms.

In January this year, he took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal to declare "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite" and "I love Jewish people". He attributed his controversial behaviour to a "manic episode" brought on by bipolar disorder.

ks/bo/sw/rmb

entertainment

Japanese fans gather to welcome BTS on world tour

Fans who Friday surrounded Tokyo Dome -- which can accommodate up to 55,000 people -- included many without tickets, who came just for the atmosphere.

Tens of thousands of excited fans gathered at a landmark Tokyo stadium Friday to watch K-pop megastars BTS, in concert outside South Korea for the first time on their new world tour.
Fans who Friday surrounded Tokyo Dome -- which can accommodate up to 55,000 people -- included many without tickets, who came just for the atmosphere.

Tens of thousands of excited fans gathered at a landmark Tokyo stadium Friday to watch K-pop megastars BTS, in concert outside South Korea for the first time on their new world tour.

The seven-member group -- widely regarded as the world's biggest boy band -- took to the stage together for the first time last month following a years-long hiatus prompted by mandatory military service.

The tour coincides with the release of their latest studio album "ARIRANG".

Last week's spectacular concert in Goyang, about 16 kilometres from the South Korean capital Seoul, marked the start of a tour that will span 85 shows across 34 cities worldwide.

"I waited so long," Miki Satani, 50, clutching a ticket for the concert, told AFP.

BTS "give me lots of energy and cheer me up", said Satani, who discovered BTS six years ago.

"When I have various kinds of hardships in life, I can receive cheer by listening to their music... I feel they are like vitamin supplements for my life."

Fans who Friday surrounded Tokyo Dome -- which can accommodate up to 55,000 people -- included many without tickets, who came just for the atmosphere.

Ticketless Russian tourist Viktoria Diatlova, 27, expressed love for the boy band, saying their music "has such a beautiful message".

Noa Iwaasa, 22, a hairdresser in Tokyo, said: "BTS is part of my life, as I've been listening to them since I was a student."

The two concerts are on Friday and Saturday.

cg-kh/fox

court

'Gomorrah' author cleared of defaming far-right Italian minister

Saviano's lawyer Antonio Nobile told AFP that the outcome was "far from a foregone conclusion", referring to previous defamation allegations brought against him by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

An Italian court has cleared mafia bestseller "Gomorrah" author and journalist Roberto Saviano of defamation charges brought by far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, his lawyer said Friday.
Saviano's lawyer Antonio Nobile told AFP that the outcome was "far from a foregone conclusion", referring to previous defamation allegations brought against him by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

An Italian court has cleared mafia bestseller "Gomorrah" author and journalist Roberto Saviano of defamation charges brought by far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, his lawyer said Friday.

Saviano was acquitted Thursday over a 2018 social media post in which he called Salvini the "minister of the criminal underworld".

Saviano had said Salvini ignored mafia wars taking place in Calabria, southern Italy, as interior minister, and instead focused on cracking down on migrants working in the region's farming sector.

The judge ruled that Saviano had committed no crime, upholding the author’s defence of legitimately exercising his right to political and cultural criticism.

"This ruling was really important because it shifts attention towards the necessity of the freedom to criticise those in power," Saviano said.

Saviano's lawyer Antonio Nobile told AFP that the outcome was "far from a foregone conclusion", referring to previous defamation allegations brought against him by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

In 2023, Saviano was fined 1,000 euros for criticising Meloni’s stance on migrants and calling the then leader of the opposition a "bastard" on national television in 2020.

Salvini, leader of Italy’s Lega party, vowed to sue the author again.

“As interior minister, I fought the Mafia, the Camorra, and the 'Ndrangheta," he said.

"It seems obvious to me that some judges are ideologically aligned,” he said during a phone interview with Rai talk show Ore 14 Sera.

str/dt/ach

games

Video game voice star Troy Baker says 'only humans' can make art

BY KILIAN FICHOU

- 'Ask questions' - Baker struck just the right tone in 2024's "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," in which he played Harrison Ford's film hero in his prime.

Millions of gamers around the world may not know Troy Baker's face but would recognise his voice -- perhaps as the heartbroken father Joel in "The Last of Us" or an intrepid Indiana Jones in "The Great Circle".
- 'Ask questions' - Baker struck just the right tone in 2024's "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," in which he played Harrison Ford's film hero in his prime.

Millions of gamers around the world may not know Troy Baker's face but would recognise his voice -- perhaps as the heartbroken father Joel in "The Last of Us" or an intrepid Indiana Jones in "The Great Circle".

That human connection is why the 50-year-old actor is "not afraid of anything replacing artists" even as creative industries are beset by fears of artificial intelligence taking over.

Baker spoke to AFP soon after of the release of a new title, "Screamer", the latest in a string of 430 games and animations to which he has lent his vocal cords rather than his bearded face and piercing blue eyes, according to IMDb.

Although AI can easily ape an actor's voice,"we're talking about art," Baker said.

"We make art. Art is inherently, intrinsically a human expression, and only humans can make it."

In "Screamer", a car racing title released last month for PC and consoles, Baker plays the role of Mister A., the organiser of a tournament whose high-octane clashes are interspersed with animated sequences.

"History has shown us that technology creates more opportunities than it replaces," Baker said.

Nevertheless, "anytime, in any art form, people are fearful of their jobs," he acknowledged. "I understand it."

Baker himself came in for online criticism in early 2022 for associating with a company specialising in NFTs ("non-fungible tokens", or tradeable digital objects) before quickly backing out.

'I love Joel'

Baker fell almost by accident into voice work in the early 2000s as he was trying to get a rock band off the ground.

But it was in 2013 that he broke through with the role of Joel in "The Last Of Us", the action-adventure game that tells the story of a man and a young girl traversing a post-apocalyptic America.

Baker's motions were also captured in his performance as the gruff and bereaved father.

Popular the world over, the game's success spawned a 2020 sequel and an HBO series starting in 2023, in which Baker appeared for a cameo role as a different character.

"I love Joel. I miss him every day," Baker said, while adding that he "cannot imagine any more of (his) story that's left to tell" despite rumours of a third game regularly circulating online.

Unlike the "multimillion-dollar sets" common in the movie business, in games "there's times when I'm given a microphone, a script and a Zoom call," said Baker, whose other major roles include the brother of the protagonist Nathan Drake in "Uncharted 4" (2016) and the antagonist of two "Death Stranding" games (2019 and 2025).

'Ask questions'

Baker struck just the right tone in 2024's "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," in which he played Harrison Ford's film hero in his prime.

He recalled how at first, he "prepared in a completely wrong way" by attempting to copy one-for-one the movie star's voice and movements.

"That's the least Indiana Jones thing I could do," he later realised, saying he "had to let go" of Ford and do things his own way.

The Hollywood star himself congratulated Baker on his performance at the Game Awards in Los Angeles in 2024, one of the high points of the video game calendar.

But across different projects, "I can't have a single process," Baker said. "Every studio is different. Every game should be different."

His approach these days is to "ask a lot of questions" -- as in "Screamer", where "we spent a lot of time really dialing in each individual character".

This year Baker is appearing in the film "Iron Lung", a sci-fi thriller directed by the YouTube star Mark Fischbach, who goes by the moniker Marliplier.

Nevertheless, "I've never looked at video games as a stepping stone. This is where I love to be," he said.

kf/tgb/js

film

Depardieu drops lawsuit over report that sped up downfall

BY NICOLAS GAUDICHET

In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

French actor Gerard Depardieu on Friday dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Televisions over a 2023 television report that portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl.
In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

French actor Gerard Depardieu on Friday dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Televisions over a 2023 television report that portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl.

Depardieu, whose prolific film and television career includes 1990 comedy "Green Card" and Netflix series "Marseille", is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.

The 77-year-old actor's decision to withdraw the lawsuit was announced by his new attorney, Delphine Meillet, at the start of a hearing before the Paris Criminal Court.

The court case focuses on a dispute between Depardieu and a television show that in December 2023 aired a report that dented his public image and sparked an uproar in France.

The episode, titled "The Fall of the Ogre", included footage of him repeatedly making sexual comments about women during a trip to North Korea in 2018.

In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

Outrage at the actor's behaviour peaked after the release of the previously unseen footage.

The actor argued he had never spoken in such a way about the girl.

The withdrawal of the lawsuit also applies to France Televisions President Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, the authors of the report, and the production company Hikari.

"France Televisions welcomes this withdrawal, which brings to an end two years of legal proceedings, controversy, and misinformation," the broadcaster said.

"Two expert analyses concluded that the actor had indeed made remarks of a sexual nature toward a young girl and ruled out any fraudulent manipulation of the footage," France Televisions added.

- 'Utterly disloyal' -

Speaking in court in October, Depardieu's previous lawyer, Jeremie Assous, had denounced the editing of the report as "utterly disloyal."

He had asserted that the lewd comments heard while a child was visible on screen actually referred to an adult woman who was not shown.

In 2023, President Emmanuel Macron said Depardieu was the target of a "manhunt."

"Everyone is ganging up on the same person, saying the worst possible things based on a news report, without even giving him a chance to defend himself," he said at the time.

He suggested that the footage might have been doctored. "I saw the footage. I also heard there was controversy over the audio not matching the images."

Macron's intervention at the time sparked controversy.

At the October hearing, Depardieu's defence team cited Macron's support.

"The president is, after all, better informed than others," said Assous, who has since been removed from the actor's defence team.

The tarnished film icon has been accused of sexual assault or rape by around 20 women.

A Paris court last year handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

The court also ordered that the actor register as a sex offender.

Depardieu has filed an appeal.

"I'm vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I'll accept that," he has told the court.

But he added that he did not "touch."

ng-as/yad

periodical

Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska's typewriter, photographs go on display

On display is a 1955 essay on photography by Mexican painter Diego Rivera, a letter from author Fernando del Paso and photographs from Poniatowska's interviews with figures who have shaped Mexico's artistic, political and social life over the past seven decades.

An old Smith Corona typewriter, letters from literary contemporaries and photographs are part of the items spanning the life of renowned Mexican writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska to go on display this week in Mexico City.
On display is a 1955 essay on photography by Mexican painter Diego Rivera, a letter from author Fernando del Paso and photographs from Poniatowska's interviews with figures who have shaped Mexico's artistic, political and social life over the past seven decades.

An old Smith Corona typewriter, letters from literary contemporaries and photographs are part of the items spanning the life of renowned Mexican writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska to go on display this week in Mexico City.

Poniatowska, winner of the 2013 Cervantes Prize -- the most prestigious award in Spanish-language literature -- and still active at the age of 93, was not at all pleased with the idea of an exhibition about her life.

"But what I've done my whole life is give a voice to others!" the writer protested when organizers proposed the project to her, according to Alejandro Brito, director of the Museo del Estanquillo in the historic center of the Mexican capital.

The exhibition, which explores her career in journalism and literature, opens on Saturday at the museum founded by Carlos Monsivais, Poniatowska's close friend and literary partner who died in 2010.

On display is a 1955 essay on photography by Mexican painter Diego Rivera, a letter from author Fernando del Paso and photographs from Poniatowska's interviews with figures who have shaped Mexico's artistic, political and social life over the past seven decades.

The writer, born in Paris in 1932 and distantly related to the last Polish king, arrived in Mexico aged 10 and developed an interest in journalism and literature early on.

'Massacre in Mexico'

Photographs show her reporting from a prison, where she interviewed students who were political prisoners following a massacre against student demonstrators in 1968.

Those interviews inspired her to write one of her most courageous and well-known books "Massacre in Mexico."

At the time, the work was hailed for raising awareness about the brutal military repression that had been kept under wraps.

According to her son Felipe Haro, director of the Elena Poniatowska Amor Foundation, his mother wrote the book because "she felt comfortable in the prison; she liked the stories" she found there.

"Elena is a great storyteller," he told AFP during a media tour of the exhibition.

The author, who continues to write and publish, recently visited President Claudia Sheinbaum at Mexico's National Palace.

Sheinbaum asked if Poniatowska needed help getting from the parking lot to the presidential office.

"She almost took offense when we asked her (...) she walked in perfectly fine, completely lucid," the president said at a press conference this week.

During the press tour, Haro said the family had received offers from abroad to display the archives, but that his mother wanted the collection to remain in Mexico.

"Taking the archive away is like taking away the memory" of a country, Haro said.

lp/ai/vel/aks/cms

film

Depardieu drops lawsuit over report that sped up downfall

In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

French actor Gerard Depardieu on Friday dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Televisions over a 2023 television report that portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl.
In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

French actor Gerard Depardieu on Friday dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Televisions over a 2023 television report that portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl.

Depardieu, whose prolific film and television career includes 1990 comedy "Green Card" and Netflix series "Marseille", is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.

The 77-year-old actor's decision to withdraw the lawsuit was announced by his attorney, Delphine Meillet, at the start of a hearing before the Paris Criminal Court.