music

Gen Z shift, high costs force UK nightclubs to reinvent

BY CLARA LALANNE

  • The capital remains an "exciting" city, 25-year-old Carys Bromley who recently moved to London from the island of Guernsey, told AFP. "There's a lot of parties, clubs, and a big nightlife.
  • Is the party over?
  • The capital remains an "exciting" city, 25-year-old Carys Bromley who recently moved to London from the island of Guernsey, told AFP. "There's a lot of parties, clubs, and a big nightlife.
Is the party over? UK nightclubs are famed around the world, but Covid and inflation have hit the sector hard, forcing businesses to reinvent themselves to attract new generations to the dance floor.
Pryzm Kingston is a well-known club in southwest London popular with students, where artists like Billie Eilish, Rod Stewart, and Stormzy have performed.
But the converted cinema closed its doors for renovation last month, with its owners saying it was time to "look to the future and reimagine this venue for the next generation of partygoers."
It will be transformed into a smaller club and a dance bar -- "creating venues that reflect what people are looking for now," they added.
Many other British clubs are also trying to re-adjust after around a third of them, about 400 venues, have shut down since 2020, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).
"Whilst nightclubs were in gentle decline prior to Covid, the pandemic profoundly accelerated things," Tony Rigg, a music industry consultant, told AFP, noting that the cost-of-living crisis had sent bills and rents soaring.
As the first pints of the evening were poured in central London, 26-year-old account manager Conor Nugent told AFP he only goes clubbing for "special occasions," after asking himself "if it's really worth it."
Like 68 percent of 18-to-30-year-olds, the Londoner has cut back on nights out for financial reasons and prefers to save up for concerts and events.
Rigg pointed out that Covid-19 caused a "cultural shift" among Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — who generally drink less alcohol and largely miss out on the "rite of passage of going out, experiencing clubs and learning some social behaviours."

Lure of Paris, Berlin

Rekom UK, the company behind iconic clubs like Pryzm and Atik, filed for bankruptcy in 2024, shutting down 17 venues across the country, citing multiple pressures.
About 20 others, including Kingston, were acquired by Neos Hospitality, which decided to convert some into dance bars or host alcohol-free events. 
"The sector has to evolve otherwise it will become obsolete," Rigg acknowledged.
To stop hemorrhaging party-seekers lured by Berlin or Paris, London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched an independent working group called the "Nightlife Taskforce," which is set to publish a report later this year.
"One of the reasons why people love London is our nightlife, our culture," Khan told AFP.
"When I speak to mayors in Paris, in New York and Tokyo, I'm jealous of the powers they have" especially on licensing issues, he said, adding he was looking at other cities like Paris "with envy" as it enjoys a nighttime boom.
He was granted approval in March to overrule certain local authorities who had forced pubs, restaurants, concert halls, and nightclubs to close early.
The government has also announced plans to change regulations to support nightlife venues in certain areas.
"Sadly, in the UK, we struggle with reputational issues and a narrative that makes (clubbing) more of a counterculture element rather than a real economic and cultural driver," NTIA head Michael Kill, who advocates for greater recognition of electronic music and club culture, told AFP.
The night-time sector contributes a vital £153 billion ($203 billion) a year to the UK economy, employing around two million people, according to NTIA.
And with London still enjoying a long, well-established reputation, all is not lost.
The capital remains an "exciting" city, 25-year-old Carys Bromley who recently moved to London from the island of Guernsey, told AFP.
"There's a lot of parties, clubs, and a big nightlife. The places stay open longer, it's busier, a bit more wild," she said.
cla-zap/jwp/jkb/gv

music

'Musical cocoon': Polish mountain town hosts Chopin fest

BY STANISLAW JANUSZ NAKLICKI

  • He is launching his world tour in Duszniki-Zdroj.
  • A few hundred people gather in front of a large white tent in the peaceful spa town of Duszniki-Zdroj, nestled on the Polish-Czech border.
  • He is launching his world tour in Duszniki-Zdroj.
A few hundred people gather in front of a large white tent in the peaceful spa town of Duszniki-Zdroj, nestled on the Polish-Czech border.
Inside, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra is preparing to open the 80th edition of the International Chopin Piano Festival.
"I've loved Chopin for so many years!" said Erin Gao, a 33-year-old from China, who travelled to hear the composer's works while vacationing in Europe.
Mike Righton, a 73-year-old from Texas, shared that enthusiasm.
"This is my fifth year here. I love this festival -- there are lots of concerts, and the place is very pretty," he said.
Organisers expect around 2,000 spectators over the nine-day event that runs until August 9 in this town of just 4,000 residents, where Frederic Chopin's legacy is visible everywhere.
"Above all, this festival brings together true enthusiasts of Chopin's music," said Piotr Paleczny, the festival's artistic director.
Streets are adorned with posters and statues of the composer and shops welcome tourists with souvenirs bearing his image.
It was here in 1826, when the town was part of Germany and known as Bad Reinerz, where a 16-year-old Chopin gave his first concert abroad.
That performance inspired the creation of the festival, which has attracted many of classical music's biggest names since its founding in 1946.
One of this year's performers is Warsaw-born pianist Julia Lozowska, 23.
"I grew up with Chopin. I love many other composers, of course, but he's the one I understand best," she said.
Among the festival's headliners is Aristo Sham, 29, a prodigy from Hong Kong and winner of the 2025 Van Cliburn Competition. He is launching his world tour in Duszniki-Zdroj.
"To play in the same venue as him, to follow in his footsteps -- it's a huge honour and privilege," Sham said after a rehearsal, his eyes resting on a bust of Chopin.
"Here, we're in a musical cocoon, just playing music in an enchanting setting for an incredibly enthusiastic audience."
str/dt/js

plastic

A 'Thinker' drowns in plastic garbage as UN treaty talks open

  • The sculpture will slowly disappear under layer upon layer of bottles, toys, fishing nets and other garbage during the 10 days of talks starting Tuesday, aimed at sealing the first international accord to tackle plastic pollution.
  • A replica of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "The Thinker" outside the United Nations headquarters was being slowly submerged in plastic rubbish Monday as countries gathered in a bid to finalise a global treaty on plastic pollution.
  • The sculpture will slowly disappear under layer upon layer of bottles, toys, fishing nets and other garbage during the 10 days of talks starting Tuesday, aimed at sealing the first international accord to tackle plastic pollution.
A replica of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "The Thinker" outside the United Nations headquarters was being slowly submerged in plastic rubbish Monday as countries gathered in a bid to finalise a global treaty on plastic pollution.
The sculpture will slowly disappear under layer upon layer of bottles, toys, fishing nets and other garbage during the 10 days of talks starting Tuesday, aimed at sealing the first international accord to tackle plastic pollution.
Six metres (20 feet) tall, the artwork, entitled "The Thinker's Burden", is being constructed by the Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong.
He hopes it will strike a chord with diplomats from the UN's 193 members and make them think about "the health impacts of plastic pollution: not just on our generation, but on all future generations", Von Wong told AFP.
Sitting on a representation of Mother Earth, this "Thinker" holds crushed plastic bottles in one hand and looks down at a baby held in the other.
"Over the course of the next 10 days, we're going to be slowly adding more and more plastic to this art installation to show the growing cost that is being passed on to future generations," Von Wong said.
"If you want to protect health, then we need to think about the toxic chemicals that are entering our environment," he said.
"We need to think about limits on plastic production. We need to think about a strong, ambitious plastics treaty."
Well over 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items.
While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled.
Nearly half, 46 percent, ends up dumped in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter.
In 2022, countries agreed to find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024, but a fifth round of talks in December last year in Busan, South Korea, failed to overcome fundamental differences.
Plastics break down into bits so small that not only do they find their way throughout the ecosystem but into human blood and organs, recent studies show, with largely unknown consequences.
lme-im-rjm/js

history

Mighty Atom: how the A-bombs shaped Japanese arts

BY KATIE FORSTER AND KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • - 'Black Rain' - "Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
  • From Godzilla's fiery atomic breath to post-apocalyptic anime and harrowing depictions of radiation sickness, the influence of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki runs deep in Japanese popular culture.
  • - 'Black Rain' - "Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
From Godzilla's fiery atomic breath to post-apocalyptic anime and harrowing depictions of radiation sickness, the influence of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki runs deep in Japanese popular culture.
In the 80 years since the World War II attacks, stories of destruction and mutation have been fused with fears around natural disasters and, more recently, the Fukushima crisis.
Classic manga and anime series "Astro Boy" is called "Mighty Atom" in Japanese, while city-levelling explosions loom large in other titles such as "Akira", "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Attack on Titan".
"Living through tremendous pain" and overcoming trauma is a recurrent theme in Japan's cultural output "that global audiences have found fascinating", said William Tsutsui, a history professor at Ottawa University.
The US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 left around 140,000 people dead. It was followed days later by the bombing of Nagasaki that killed around 74,000 people.
Some poetry "portrays the sheer terror of the atomic bomb at the moment it was dropped", but many novels and artworks address the topic indirectly, said author Yoko Tawada.
"It's very difficult for the experience of the atomic bomb, which had never existed in history before, to find a place in the human heart as a memory," she told AFP.
Tawada's 2014 book "The Emissary" focuses on the aftermath of an unspecified terrible event.
She was inspired by connections between the atomic bombs, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and "Minamata disease" -- mass mercury poisoning caused by industrial pollution in southwest Japan from the 1950s.
The story "is less of a warning, and more a message to say: things may get bad, but we'll find a way to survive", Tawada said.

Godzilla's skin

Narratives reflecting Japan's complex relationship with nuclear technologies abound, but the most famous example is Godzilla, a prehistoric creature awakened by US hydrogen bomb testing in the Pacific.
"We need monsters to give a face and form to abstract fears," said professor Tsutsui, author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind".
"In the 1950s, Godzilla fulfilled that role for the Japanese -- with atomic energy, with radiation, with memories of the A-bombs."
Many people who watched Godzilla rampage through Tokyo in the original 1954 film left theatres in tears, he said.
And "it's said that the special effects people working on Godzilla modelled the monster's heavily furrowed skin after the keloid scars on the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
In the nearly 40 Godzilla movies released since, nuclear themes are present but often given less prominence, partly to appease American audiences, Tsutsui said.
Even so, the series remains hugely popular, with 2016 megahit "Shin Godzilla" seen as a critique of Japan's response to the tsunami-triggered Fukushima disaster.

'Black Rain'

"Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
But the fact Ibuse was not an A-bomb survivor is part of a "big debate about who is permitted to write these stories", said Victoria Young of the University of Cambridge.
"How we talk about or create literature out of real life is always going to be difficult," she said.
"Are you allowed to write about it if you didn't directly experience it?"
Nobel-winning author Kenzaburo Oe collected survivor accounts in "Hiroshima Notes", essays written on visits to the city in the 1960s.
"He's confronting reality, but tries to approach it from a personal angle" including his relationship with his disabled son, said Tawada, who has lived in Germany for four decades after growing up in Japan.
"The anti-war education I received sometimes gave the impression that Japan was solely a victim" in World War II, she said.
"When it comes to the bombings, Japan was a victim -- no doubt" but "it's important to look at the bigger picture" including Japan's wartime atrocities, she said.
As a child, illustrations of the nuclear bombings in contemporary picture books reminded her of depictions of hell in historical Japanese art.
This "made me consider whether human civilisation itself harboured inherent dangers", making atomic weapons feel less like "developments in technology, and more like something latent within humanity".
kaf-kh/stu/djw/jfx

Canada

'Fantastic Four' stretches lead to 2nd week at N.America box office

  • The film pulled in an estimated $40 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, a 66 percent drop from the prior weekend, for a two-week global total of $368 million.
  • "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," Disney's debut of the rebooted Marvel Comics franchise, continued to outperform the competition for a second straight weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.
  • The film pulled in an estimated $40 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, a 66 percent drop from the prior weekend, for a two-week global total of $368 million.
"The Fantastic Four: First Steps," Disney's debut of the rebooted Marvel Comics franchise, continued to outperform the competition for a second straight weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.
Actor-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy-winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn star as the titular team of superheroes, who must save a retro-futuristic world from the evil Galactus.
The film pulled in an estimated $40 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, a 66 percent drop from the prior weekend, for a two-week global total of $368 million.
Universal's family-friendly animation sequel "The Bad Guys 2," about a squad of goofy animal criminals actually doing good in their rebranded lives, debuted in second spot, earning $22.2 million.
"This is a good opening for an animation follow-up sequel," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
The film edged out Paramount's reboot of "Naked Gun," a slapstick comedy starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr, son of the bumbling police lieutenant from the original 1980s movie and related television series "Police Squad!"
It pulled in $17 million in its opening weekend.
"Superman," the latest big-budget action film featuring the iconic superhero from Warner Bros. and DC Studios, slipped from second to fourth at $13.9 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
That puts the global take of the film, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, at $551 million.
"Jurassic World: Rebirth" -- the latest installment in the blockbuster dinosaur saga -- finished in fifth place with $8.7 million. Its worldwide total stands at $765 million after five weeks in theaters.
Independent horror film "Together," which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Neon, claimed sixth spot in its debut weekend with $6.8 million.
"This is a very good opening for an indie horror pic," Gross said.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"F1: The Movie" ($4.1 million)
"I Know What You Did Last Summer" ($2.7 million)
"Smurfs" ($1.8 million)
"How to Train Your Dragon ($1.4 million)
bur-mlm/des

conflict

Filmmakers try to cash in on India-Pakistan battle

BY SEEMA SINHA

  • In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervour.
  • Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people.
  • In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervour.
Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people.
The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire.
Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle.
India tagged its military action against Pakistan "Operation Sindoor", the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads.
The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi's determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities.
Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: "Mission Sindoor", "Sindoor: The Revenge", "The Pahalgam Terror", and "Sindoor Operation".
"It's a story which needs to be told," said director Vivek Agnihotri.
"If it was Hollywood, they would have made 10 films on this subject. People want to know what happened behind the scenes," he told AFP.
Agnihotri struck box office success with his 2022 release, "The Kashmir Files", based on the mass flight of Hindus from Kashmir in the 1990s.

Coloured narratives

The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party gave that film a glowing endorsement, despite accusations that it aimed to stir up hatred against India's minority Muslims.
Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, some critics say Bollywood is increasingly promoting his government's ideology.
Raja Sen, a film critic and screenwriter, said filmmakers felt emboldened by an amenable government.
"We tried to wage a war and then we quietened down when Mr Trump asked us to. So what is the valour here?" Sen told AFP of the Pakistan clashes. 
Anil Sharma, known for directing rabble-rousing movies, criticised the apparent rush to make films related to the Pahalgam attack.
"This is herd mentality... these are seasonal filmmakers, they have their constraints," he said.
"I don't wait for an incident to happen and then make a film based on that. A subject should evoke feelings and only then cinema happens," said Sharma.
Sharma's historical action flick "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" (2001) and its sequel "Gadar 2" (2023), both featuring Sunny Deol in lead roles, were big hits.
In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervour.
"Fighter", featuring big stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, was released on the eve of India's Republic Day on January 25 last year.

Anti-Muslim bias

Though not a factual retelling, it drew heavily from India's 2019 airstrike on Pakistan's Balakot.
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews but raked in $28 million in India, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.
This year, "Chhaava", a drama based on the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, a ruler of the Maratha Empire, became the highest-grossing film so far this year. 
It also generated significant criticism for fuelling anti-Muslim bias. 
"This is at a time when cinema is aggressively painting Muslim kings and leaders in violent light," said Sen.  
"This is where those who are telling the stories need to be responsible about which stories they choose to tell."
Sen said filmmakers were reluctant to choose topics that are "against the establishment".
"If the public is flooded with dozens of films that are all trying to serve an agenda, without the other side allowed to make itself heard, then that propaganda and misinformation enters the public psyche," he said.
Acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said true patriotism is promoting peace and harmony through the medium of cinema.
Mehra's socio-political drama "Rang De Basanti" (2006) won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
"How we can arrive at peace and build a better society? How we can learn to love our neighbours?" he asked.
"For me that is patriotism." 
str-abh/djw/jfx

television

'Wednesday' returns with Jenna Ortega, and a Lady Gaga cameo

BY AURéLIE CARABIN

  • There are bigger roles for Wednesday's family, notably her mother Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and father Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman).
  • Jenna Ortega returns to screens next week for a second series of "Wednesday", Netflix's spin-off of The Addams Family that launched her career and revived Gothic fashion.
  • There are bigger roles for Wednesday's family, notably her mother Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and father Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman).
Jenna Ortega returns to screens next week for a second series of "Wednesday", Netflix's spin-off of The Addams Family that launched her career and revived Gothic fashion.
The first instalment of the quirky series in 2022 became Netflix's second most watched show after "Squid Game", clocking up 252 million views.
Ortega's deadpan and witty portrayal of Wednesday as she solves a series of murders while enrolled in the creepy Nevermore Academy hooked millions of fans and became a viral sensation.
The first four episodes of the Tim Burton-directed second series will release -- naturally enough -- on Wednesday, with the rest of them due on September 3.
The 22-year-old actor and the producers have promised a more macabre turn for the horror-inflected drama. There are bigger roles for Wednesday's family, notably her mother Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and father Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman).
American arthouse favourite Steve Buscemi also appears as the new head of Nevermore, Principal Dort.
"There's a couple of weapons that I had to learn to use that I hadn't used on people before, so that was a little bit of a learning curve," Ortega told reporters recently about the biggest challenge of the second series.
They include a Swiss army knife and an axe. 
Her character, as in her own life, also has to contend with her newfound fame after her exploits in season one.
One of her most high-profile fans, Lady Gaga, has a cameo in the new series. 
Since 2022, Ortega has gone on to play roles in "Scream VI" and in Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", as well as landing brand ambassador roles for Dior and other labels. 

Surprises

Burton, director of cult hits from "Batman" to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", agreed to direct the second series -- he made half of series one -- after feeling "strangely like it was written for me".
"Even though I'm not a teenage girl, I feel like one sometimes, and it's just something that really spoke to me," he said during an online press event ahead of the launch.
"I loved (Wednesday's) take on everything from family to school to psychiatry, to everything. That's why I wanted to do it, because of the strength of that particular character," he said.
The show's creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, said viewers should be prepared for surprises. 
"Wednesday goes into this season thinking she knows Nevermore," they said in an interview published on fan platform Tudum. "But as soon as she returns, nothing happens the way she's expecting. 
"She thinks she's going to be in control, that she knows where all the bodies are buried, but she doesn't."
A third season has already been commissioned by Netflix. 
ac-adp/rmb

Britain

'Peaky Blinders' creator to pen new James Bond movie: studio

  • Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February, and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood's most valuable franchises back into production.
  • Steven Knight, the creator of gritty TV crime series "Peaky Blinders," will write the highly anticipated next James Bond movie, studio Amazon MGM announced Thursday.
  • Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February, and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood's most valuable franchises back into production.
Steven Knight, the creator of gritty TV crime series "Peaky Blinders," will write the highly anticipated next James Bond movie, studio Amazon MGM announced Thursday.
Knight will work alongside previously announced director Denis Villeneuve ("Dune") to bring the world's most famous fictional spy back to the big screen after a prolonged absence. 
Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February, and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood's most valuable franchises back into production.
There has been no new Bond film since 2021's "No Time To Die." 
Knight is best known as the mind behind violent British gangster series "Peaky Blinders," which was set in industrial England at the turn of the 20th century and became a global hit.
Running for six seasons, and with a Netflix film version currently in the works, "Peaky Blinders" turbo-charged the careers of leading man Cillian Murphy, alongside a stellar supporting cast including Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
In addition to "Peaky Blinders," Knight also co-created the wildly popular television quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and has penned four novels.
The Birmingham, England-based screenwriter, producer and director's other TV credits include "Taboo," "See," "This Town," and "All the Light We Cannot See."
The Bond films, based on Ian Fleming's novels, have earned more than $7 billion collectively at the global box office since debuting in 1962.
No release date or title has yet been set for the film franchise's 26th installment.
And despite frenzied speculation among fans, there has been no announcement on which actor will replace Daniel Craig as the suave British super-spy.
Among the actors most discussed to be the next Bond are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Holland, Harris Dickinson, Jacob Elordi, and Ben-Adir -- but Amazon MGM has so far refused to disclose the franchise's most closely guarded secret.
amz/hg/jgc

film

Oscars group picks 'A Star is Born' producer as new president

  • Howell Taylor also produced the 2020 Oscars ceremony, in which "Parasite" became the first non-English language film to win best picture.
  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected "A Star is Born" film producer Lynette Howell Taylor as its new president, the group behind the Oscars said Thursday.
  • Howell Taylor also produced the 2020 Oscars ceremony, in which "Parasite" became the first non-English language film to win best picture.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected "A Star is Born" film producer Lynette Howell Taylor as its new president, the group behind the Oscars said Thursday.
Howell Taylor, who is British and also produced "Blue Valentine" and "The Accountant," becomes the fifth woman chosen to run Hollywood's most elite group of filmmakers.
Academy members vote for the winners of the Oscars each year.
CEO Bill Kramer praised Howell Taylor for "revitalizing our awards work" during her time serving as an Academy governor.
Howell Taylor also produced the 2020 Oscars ceremony, in which "Parasite" became the first non-English language film to win best picture.
Hollywood's most prestigious award show, the Oscars have seen a recent uptick in interest, with nearly 20 million watching the latest ceremony in March.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Oscars ratings sank to barely 10.4 million. The Academy Awards telecast regularly topped 40 million just a decade ago.
amz/hg/dw

games

Google must open Android to rival app stores: US court

  • The ruling clears the way for the Epic Games shop to operate within the Google Play Store despite the latter's requirement that apps use Google's payment system, which collects commissions on transactions.
  • A US federal court ruled Thursday that Google must open its Android operating system to rival app stores, after the internet giant lost an appeal in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.
  • The ruling clears the way for the Epic Games shop to operate within the Google Play Store despite the latter's requirement that apps use Google's payment system, which collects commissions on transactions.
A US federal court ruled Thursday that Google must open its Android operating system to rival app stores, after the internet giant lost an appeal in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.
The ruling clears the way for the Epic Games shop to operate within the Google Play Store despite the latter's requirement that apps use Google's payment system, which collects commissions on transactions.
US Ninth Circuit Court Judge Margaret McKeown said in an opinion that a panel of justices decided to uphold the original verdict because the initial ruling's parameters were "supported by the record and the nature of the market."
Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney fired off a post on X declaring: "Total victory in the Epic v Google appeal!"
Google will continue its appeal of the December 2023 verdict, with the next venue being the US Supreme Court, according to the company's global head of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland.
"This decision will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem," Mulholland said in response to an AFP inquiry.
"Our top priority remains protecting our users, developers and partners, and maintaining a secure platform as we continue our appeal."

'Feudal security'

Internet rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argued in a brief filed in the case that "competition rather than monopoly will make users more safe."
"Google and other tech giants offer 'feudal security' in which users must depend on the whims of a monopolist to guarantee their safety," the EFF said in an online post.
The EFF argued that the initial judge's order promises to level the playing field in the Android operating system for rival app stores, including some with better vetting and curation policies.
The judge's order resulted from Google's defeat in an antitrust case brought by Epic, where a California jury decided that Google wields illegal monopoly power through its Android Play Store.
A similar legal battle has played out between Epic and Apple regarding its App Store.
Shortly after Fortnite's launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Epic embedded secret code into the game's software so that players could bypass the tech giants' payment-processing systems, thereby avoiding commissions of up to 30 percent, the court noted.
Epic dubbed the circumvention scheme "Project Liberty" as part of a protest against tight control of the main shops for smartphone digital content.
Fortnite returned to Apple's App Store in the United States in May after being sidelined for years due to a legal battle with the iPhone maker.
North Carolina-based Epic has faced off against Apple in US courts since 2021, when Fortnite was banned from the App Store over what Apple said was an attempt to get around the iPhone maker's payment system.
Apple is appealing aspects of the outcome of that case despite a judge ruling the App Store is not a monopoly.
gc/jgc/acb

music

US theater and opera legend Robert Wilson dead at 83

  • "Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness," said a statement issued on his website.
  • Celebrated US director Robert Wilson, who revolutionized stage and opera, died Thursday at the age of 83, his management said.
  • "Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness," said a statement issued on his website.
Celebrated US director Robert Wilson, who revolutionized stage and opera, died Thursday at the age of 83, his management said.
"Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness," said a statement issued on his website. It said he worked right up until the end.
Wilson's productions of original works as well as traditional repertoire pieces were hugely popular wherever they were shown. But it was in France where he was best known. 
It was the French who gave him a "home," Wilson told AFP in 2021. 
It was in 1976 that Wilson was propelled onto the international stage with "Einstein on The Beach," a nearly five-hour opera staged several times since its creation, with music by Philip Glass. 
"Einstein on the Beach" broke all the conventions of classical opera -- there is no linear narrative but rather it draws on themes related to Einstein's life. 
It does not aim to explain the theory of relativity but to convey the upheaval introduced by the notion of space-time, notably through dance.
Wilson's trademarks included minimalist aesthetics, body language influenced by Asian theatrical forms, and lighting effects evoking dreamlike worlds.

Avant-garde admiration

His love affair with France began with "Deafman Glance" ("Le Regard du Sourd") -- his first success -- a "silent" seven-hour show presented at the Nancy Festival in 1971, and later in Paris.
The show was born out of a real-world incident when in 1967, Wilson saw a 13-year-old Black teenager, Raymond Andrews, being beaten in the street by a police officer. He realized the child was deaf and mute and eventually adopted him.
Wilson, also a visual artist, had a string of collaborations including with choreographer Andy de Groat, Tom Waits, Isabelle Huppert for "Orlando" by Virginia Woolf, Lady Gaga for video portraits of her at the Louvre, and ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.
"While facing his diagnosis with clear eyes and determination, he still felt compelled to keep working and creating right up until the very end," the website piece announcing his death said. 
"His works for the stage, on paper, sculptures and video portraits, as well as The Watermill Center, will endure as Robert Wilson's artistic legacy."
Memorials will be held for Wilson at time and locations yet to be announced.
Born to a lawyer in October 4, 1941, in Waco, Texas, Wilson was performing his own plays in the family garage by the age of 12, but recalls being bottom of the class at school. 
He was cured of a severe stutter thanks to a psychotherapist who worked with dance. 
In his twenties, he landed in New York but hated what he saw in theaters and instinctively gravitated toward the American avant-garde: Andy Warhol, John Cage, choreographers George Balanchine, and especially Martha Graham.
He relished nurturing emerging talent, and in 1992, created the Watermill Center near New York.
ram-gw/dw

music

Justin Timberlake says he has Lyme disease

  • "Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.
  • Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as "relentlessly debilitating."
  • "Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.
Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as "relentlessly debilitating."
The 44-year-old former NSYNC frontman, whose world tour has just wrapped up, took to Instagram in reflective mood.
"This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and, at times, grueling experience," he said of a tour that was criticized by some fans as lackluster.
"Among other things, I've been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don't say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I've been up against behind the scenes.
"Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness."
Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria often carried by ticks that live in woodlands throughout North America and Europe.
Symptoms can include widespread pain, fatigue, and muscle weakness. In serious cases, patients could experience damage to the tissues, joints and immune system.
The "Can't Stop The Feeling" singer was in legal hot water last year after being arrested for drunk driving in a small town near New York.
Timberlake, whose tumultuous relationship with Britney Spears was the inspiration for his 2002 smash "Cry Me A River" later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to do community service.
hg/acb

music

Michael Jackson's dirty sock sells for over $8,000 in France

  • A technician found the used sock discarded near Jackson's dressing room after the concert in the southern city of Nimes in July 1997, auctioneer Aurore Illy told AFP. The self-styled "King of Pop" wore white athletic socks adorned with rhinestones during his "HIStory World Tour" in 1997, according to specialist website interencheres.com.
  • A single glittery sock that late pop superstar Michael Jackson wore during a concert in France in the 1990s sold for more than $8,000 on Wednesday, a French auctioneer said.
  • A technician found the used sock discarded near Jackson's dressing room after the concert in the southern city of Nimes in July 1997, auctioneer Aurore Illy told AFP. The self-styled "King of Pop" wore white athletic socks adorned with rhinestones during his "HIStory World Tour" in 1997, according to specialist website interencheres.com.
A single glittery sock that late pop superstar Michael Jackson wore during a concert in France in the 1990s sold for more than $8,000 on Wednesday, a French auctioneer said.
A technician found the used sock discarded near Jackson's dressing room after the concert in the southern city of Nimes in July 1997, auctioneer Aurore Illy told AFP.
The self-styled "King of Pop" wore white athletic socks adorned with rhinestones during his "HIStory World Tour" in 1997, according to specialist website interencheres.com.
Jackson can be seen wearing them in clips of him performing his hit "Billie Jean".
Decades later, the off-white item of clothing is covered in stains, and the rhinestones adorning it have yellowed with age, in a picture posted on the website.
"It really is an exceptional object -- even a cult one for Michael Jackson fans," Illy said.
The sock, initially valued at 3,000 to 4,000 euros ($3,400-4,500), sold for 7,688 euros ($8,822) at the Nimes auction house.
A Macau gaming resort in 2009 paid $350,000 for a glittery glove Jackson wore when he performed his first "moonwalk" dance in 1983.
A hat he wore just before that performance sold for more than $80,000 in Paris in 2023.
Jackson died of a fatal overdose in 2009 aged 50.
He still has a huge fan base, despite child molestation accusations against him during his lifetime and after his death, which he and his estate have denied.
luh/ah/as/rlp

film

France's Luc Besson resurrects new 'romantic' Dracula

  • It was sparked by discussions with Landry Jones, the star of "X-Men: First Class", whom Besson directed in his last film, 2023's "Dogman".
  • As a director with no affection for the horror genre, France's Luc Besson has made a new version of "Dracula" with American actor Caleb Landry Jones in the principal role as a lovelorn incarnation of the famous vampire. 
  • It was sparked by discussions with Landry Jones, the star of "X-Men: First Class", whom Besson directed in his last film, 2023's "Dogman".
As a director with no affection for the horror genre, France's Luc Besson has made a new version of "Dracula" with American actor Caleb Landry Jones in the principal role as a lovelorn incarnation of the famous vampire. 
Besson, best known for "The Fifth Element" and embroiled in sexual assault allegations and financial problems in recent years, has produced what he believes is a "romantic" vision of one of the most notorious Gothic figures.
Titled "Dracula: A Love Story" and based on a relatively minor plotline in the original Bram Stoker book, the 66-year-old director puts Dracula's search for the reincarnation of his late wife at the heart of his story.
"I'm not a fan of horror films, nor of Dracula," Besson told Le Parisien newspaper about his production, which straddles several centuries in the life of the immortal blood-sucking count. 
It was sparked by discussions with Landry Jones, the star of "X-Men: First Class", whom Besson directed in his last film, 2023's "Dogman".
"I'd love to do all my films with him. He's a genius," Besson told RMC radio in France this week of the 35-year-old Texas-born actor.
Releasing first in France on Wednesday and then in other European and South American countries over the next month, the film is the biggest-budget French film of the year, according to media reports.
Besson's career and personal finances took a major blow in 2017 with his hugely expensive flop "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", which cost an estimated $180 million and had an A-list cast that included Rihanna.
The year after, the man behind the popular thrillers "Leon" and "Nikita" faced rape allegations from the Dutch actress Sand van Roy, which he always denied. 
The case was dropped without charges after a legal battle that went all the way to France's top court in 2023.
Initial reviews for Besson's "Dracula" are mixed, with Paris Match magazine calling it the "best horror film of the summer" while Le Figaro newspaper said it "unfortunately failed to bring fresh blood to the vampire myth."
The original 1897 book has been adapted over a hundred times to the silver screen, with the two modern classics considered to be the 1958 version by British director Terence Fisher and a 1992 production by Francis Ford Coppola. 
Another Gothic literary masterpiece, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, is to get another overhaul later this year in a big-budget Netflix-funded production by Guillermo del Toro which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. 
adp-cgc/cw

music

Thousands honour Ozzy Osbourne at UK hometown funeral procession

BY CLARA LALANNE

  • Thousands of fans have gathered at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal.
  • Thousands lined the streets of UK city Birmingham on Wednesday to pay an emotional farewell to hometown hero Ozzy Osbourne as the heavy metal hellraiser was laid to rest.
  • Thousands of fans have gathered at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal.
Thousands lined the streets of UK city Birmingham on Wednesday to pay an emotional farewell to hometown hero Ozzy Osbourne as the heavy metal hellraiser was laid to rest.
Black Sabbath frontman Osbourne, who earned the nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness" and once bit a bat while on stage, died on July 22 at the age of 76.
He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019 and died 17 days after playing a final gig to a sold-out crowd in Birmingham.
Osbourne's funeral procession set off at around 1200 GMT on a route planned with the rocker's family through the English city.
Chants of "Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!" could be heard, with one fan crying out "we love you Ozzy!" as his coffin -- sitting in a stately black Jaguar hearse topped with flower arrangements -- and other vehicles crawled by.
The procession, which earlier passed the star's childhood home in the city's Aston area, was accompanied by a live brass band performance by local musicians from Bostin' Brass.
Fan Mhairi Larner said it was "overwhelming" and "very emotional" to be part of the city's farewell to a star who'd been so "proud of his roots".
"I've been a fan as long as I can remember, and I raised my son to do the same," said the 31-year-old carer who had travelled from the central city of Nottingham.
"He was just nuts, a little bit weird, but it's nice to have someone like this," she told AFP.
Another fan, Reece Sargeant, came with friends to say goodbye.
"I think it was important to come and pay our respects.... Ozzy and Black Sabbath really put Birmingham on the map," he said.
The 16-year-old described the band's last concert as "out of this world".
Osbourne famously once said he wanted his funeral to be a celebration of his life and not a "mope-fest".
The procession paused at the Black Sabbath bench -- an art installation featuring headshots of each member on a bridge also named after the band.
Visibly emotional family members including his widow Sharon Osbourne laid flowers at the bench and read some of the written tributes that have been left there along with balloons and flowers.
Thousands of fans have gathered at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal.
The cortege, led by police motorbikes, then continued its slow journey towards a private funeral service.

'Tribute'

"Ozzy was more than a music legend - he was a son of Birmingham," Zafar Iqbal, the lord mayor of the central English city, said in a statement.
"It was important to the city that we support a fitting, dignified tribute ahead of a private family funeral.
"We're proud to host it here with his loving family in the place where it all began," Iqbal, who could be seen hugging family members when the procession stopped in central Birmingham, added.
Black Sabbath enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s and 80s after forming in Birmingham in 1968.
Their eponymous 1970 debut album made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records, including their most famous song "Paranoid".
The group went on to sell more than 75 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Osbourne was added for a second time last year as a solo artist.
Osbourne gained notoriety for his outlandish stunts, many fuelled by his legendary indulgence in drugs and alcohol.
In 1989, he was arrested for drunkenly trying to strangle his wife Sharon, which he once mentioned in a 2007 interview.
His live performances at the height of his hedonism have gone down in rock folklore, particularly the 1982 gig in the US city of Des Moines when he bit a bat on stage.
Osbourne said he thought a fan had thrown a rubber bat onstage, and it was not until he took a bite that he realised it was real.
jwp-har-jj/jxb

law

French govt prepares new law to return colonial-era art

  • The bill was presented during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a government spokeswoman told reporters.
  • France's government on Wednesday discussed a bill designed to speed up the return of artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin, officials said.
  • The bill was presented during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a government spokeswoman told reporters.
France's government on Wednesday discussed a bill designed to speed up the return of artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin, officials said.
If approved, the law would make it easier for the country to return cultural goods in France's national collection "originating from states that, due to illicit appropriation, were deprived of them" between 1815 and 1972, said the culture ministry.
It will cover works obtained through "theft, looting, transfer or donation obtained through coercion or violence, or from a person who was not entitled to dispose of them", the ministry added.
The bill was presented during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a government spokeswoman told reporters. The Senate is due to discuss it September.
Former colonial powers in Europe have been slowly moving to send back some artworks obtained during their imperial conquests, but France is hindered by its current legislation.
The return of every item in the national collection must be voted on individually. Wednesday's draft law is designed to simplify and streamline the process.
France returned 26 formerly royal artefacts including a throne to Benin in 2021.
They were part of the collection of the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac museum in Paris, which holds the majority of the 90,000 African works estimated to be in French museums, according to an expert report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018.
A "talking drum" that French colonial troops seized from the Ebrie tribe in 1916 was sent back to Ivory Coast earlier this year. 
In 2019, France's then prime minister Edouard Philippe handed over a sword to the Senegalese president that was believed to have belonged to the 19th-century West African Islamic scholar and leader, Omar Tall.
Other European states, including Germany and the Netherlands, have handed back a limited number of artefacts in recent years
Britain faces multiple high-profile claims but has refused to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece and the Kohinoor diamond to India, two of the best-known examples.
The French draft law is the third and final part of legislative efforts to speed up the removal and return of artworks held in France's national collection.
Two other laws -- one to return property looted by the Nazis, and a second to return human remains -- were approved in 2023. 
ls-adp/jj

music

UK's Birmingham to bid final farewell to hometown hero Ozzy Osbourne

  • Thousands of fans have left heartfelt messages and floral tributes at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal, an offshoot of hard rock.
  • Heavy metal hell-raiser Ozzy Osbourne will be laid to rest on Wednesday, with thousands set to bid the legendary musician a final farewell when his funeral cortege drives through his UK hometown.
  • Thousands of fans have left heartfelt messages and floral tributes at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal, an offshoot of hard rock.
Heavy metal hell-raiser Ozzy Osbourne will be laid to rest on Wednesday, with thousands set to bid the legendary musician a final farewell when his funeral cortege drives through his UK hometown.
Officials in the central city of Birmingham said Tuesday they have worked with his family to draw up the details of Osbourne's last goodbye, before a private funeral service.
"Ozzy was more than a music legend - he was a son of Birmingham," Zafar Iqbal, the lord mayor of the central English city, said in a statement.
"It was important to the city that we support a fitting, dignified tribute ahead of a private family funeral," he said.
Osbourne, nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness" and who once bit a bat while on stage while performing with his Black Sabbath band, died on July 22 at the age of 76.
The heavy metal star, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, passed away just over a fortnight after playing a final gig before a sold-out crowd in Birmingham.
Birmingham city council said Osbourne's funeral cortege would pass slowly through the city from 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) down Broad Street to Black Sabbath bridge.
The hearse and vehicles will be accompanied by a live brass band performance by local musicians from Bostin' Brass.
"We know how much this moment will mean to his fans. We're proud to host it here with his loving family in the place where it all began," Iqbal said.
Thousands of fans have left heartfelt messages and floral tributes at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal, an offshoot of hard rock.
Iqbal said the Osbourne family "have kindly funded all of the associated costs" of the funeral.
Black Sabbath enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s and 80s after forming in Birmingham in 1968.
Black Sabbath's eponymous 1970 debut album made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records, including their most famous song "Paranoid".
The group went on to sell more than 75 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Osbourne was added for a second time last year as a solo artist.
Osbourne gained notoriety for his outlandish stunts, many of them fuelled by his lavish use of drugs and alcohol.
In 1989, he was arrested for drunkenly trying to strangle his wife Sharon, which he once mentioned in a 2007 interview.
His live performances at the height of his hedonism have gone down in rock folklore, particularly the 1982 gig in the US city of Des Moines when he bit a bat on stage.
Osbourne said he thought a fan had thrown a fake rubber bat onstage, and it was not until he took a bite that he realised it was real.
jkb/jwp/yad