drivein

Quintessentially American, drive-in theaters are going dark

BY PIERRE HARDY

  • - Attendance down - Drive-in theaters are a throwback to another era in a country where cars are king.
  • Film buffs sit snugly in cars watching a drive-in movie, munching popcorn on a lovely recent fall night.
  • - Attendance down - Drive-in theaters are a throwback to another era in a country where cars are king.
Film buffs sit snugly in cars watching a drive-in movie, munching popcorn on a lovely recent fall night.
Michelle Hutson, 52, has been coming to the Family Drive-In since childhood, enjoying what is now a dying form of quintessentially American entertainment.
With a sigh, she notes she might soon see the last picture show as the nearly 70-year-old outdoor theater -- one of the few remaining drive-ins in the Washington area -- is on its way out, too.
"I'm about to be a grandma again for the second time. And it's heartbreaking to know that she may not be able to experience that," Hutson said.
The owners of the land under the Family Drive-In announced a few months ago they want to sell it, asking $1.5 million, said theater owner Andrew Thomas.
If he bought the land at that price, it would mean a mortgage payment three times what he pays now in rent, Thomas told AFP.
"It's just not feasible for the business."
He launched a crowd-funding drive last month to save the theater and so far has raised around $30,000.
"It's overwhelming, in such a good way, that people care that much. Even in times of economic uncertainty, it means that this is a thing for them that's worth saving, and I agree with them," he said.
"We have an opportunity to preserve a piece of history," said the 40-year-old.

 Attendance down

Drive-in theaters are a throwback to another era in a country where cars are king. In their heyday in the 1950s there were more than 4,000 in America -- but now only 300 or so remain, said Gary Rhodes, a movie historian.
They have died off because more people watch television at home and urban development has made the land needed for a drive-in theater very expensive, Rhodes said.
Drive-ins enjoyed a spike in popularity during the Covid pandemic, as people avoided crowded places like indoor movie theaters, but now "attendance is still going down," Rhodes said.
"I would say the majority of the drive-ins that are left in the world are there because the owner keeps it there. It's for the love of the business that they're there," said D. Edward Vogel, co-owner of a drive-in and vice president of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.
"Unfortunately, we are reaching a point where a lot of them want to retire," he said.
Because of TV streaming platforms and other factors, he said, "in my take of things, it's going to be a very rough road to hoe now."
To try to keep drive-in theaters alive, his association created a web site that seeks to match drive-in owners who want out with potential buyers who want in.  
"We've been inspired by some brand new owners that understood the risk and came up to the challenge, and are determined to maintain a drive-in theater business," said Vogel.
"That's really what's breathing faith into the fact that this can continue."
Mike White and Melissa Sims are examples of these new entrepreneurs. They invested $500,000 to open a brand new drive-in in Louisiana and it is scheduled to open this autumn.
They have had to postpone the big day several times because of delays getting permits and other problems.
"We quizzed a lot of people before we started, and 99 percent of the people that we talked to said sure, they'd be glad to go," White said.
"For me, drive-ins represent a time that my family was was brought together and was doing things together," said Sims.
"That's what it would bring back to this community."
ph/ev/dw/des

art

Exhibit on Monet's prolific Venice visit debuts at Brooklyn Museum

  • The highlight of "Monet and Venice" is a room showcasing the French master's paintings accompanied by music, with a symphony created for the occasion by the museum's composer-in-residence, Niles Luther.
  • Claude Monet did not want to travel to Venice in 1908 -- at the time, he was 68 and working on his famed water lilies paintings, and only reluctantly agreed to accompany his wife Alice Hoschede.
  • The highlight of "Monet and Venice" is a room showcasing the French master's paintings accompanied by music, with a symphony created for the occasion by the museum's composer-in-residence, Niles Luther.
Claude Monet did not want to travel to Venice in 1908 -- at the time, he was 68 and working on his famed water lilies paintings, and only reluctantly agreed to accompany his wife Alice Hoschede.
But his time spent there became one of his most prolific, resulting in 37 paintings, many of which are being put on display at an exhibit opening Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
"He fell in love with the city, and he had a wonderful time there with Alice," the exhibit's co-curator Lisa Small told AFP.
"They wanted to come back, but Alice became ill and died sadly" in 1911, Small explained. "So he finished these paintings at Giverny in a state of sadness and mourning."
The exhibit, which runs until February 2026, retraces the couple's journey to Venice through masterpieces the French painter created in the city and their archives, including postcards and photos.
Nineteen paintings have been compiled for the exhibit, including "The Palazzo Ducale" and "The Grand Canal, Venice." 
Many showcase -- in the Impressionist master's iconic style -- architecturally stunning buildings from various distances at different times of days, always highlighting water and their reflections.
Venice itself is the second protagonist of the exhibit, which also features works on the city by Canaletto (1697-1768), J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
The highlight of "Monet and Venice" is a room showcasing the French master's paintings accompanied by music, with a symphony created for the occasion by the museum's composer-in-residence, Niles Luther.
The piece is a nod to art critics who, "especially toward the end of his career, would talk about his work in musical terms, through a musical lens," said Small.
"They would talk about the symphony of colors, the harmony of the brushstrokes, the brushstrokes being like an orchestra," she said.
"So we felt that there was a really meaningful connection between having music, a contemporary classical composer give his interpretation of that, in with the paintings."
pel/des/sst

education

Guillermo del Toro backs Paris stop-motion animation studio

  • "The names that are important in stop-motion are all over 50 years old," del Toro told reporters in Paris at the Gobelins film school in southeast Paris. 
  • Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said Friday he was teaming up with a Paris film school and Netflix to launch a training studio to help old-fashioned stop-motion animation techniques survive.
  • "The names that are important in stop-motion are all over 50 years old," del Toro told reporters in Paris at the Gobelins film school in southeast Paris. 
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said Friday he was teaming up with a Paris film school and Netflix to launch a training studio to help old-fashioned stop-motion animation techniques survive.
Stop motion is the oldest form of animation, involving manipulating real-life models to create films frame-by-frame.
It dates back to the late 19th century and is best-known nowadays through the "Wallace and Gromit" or "Chicken Run" films by British studio Aardman.
"The names that are important in stop-motion are all over 50 years old," del Toro told reporters in Paris at the Gobelins film school in southeast Paris. 
"Stop-motion is perpetually on the brink of extinction. And it is perpetually preserved by slightly crazy people. It's a tiny cult with very devoted individuals," joked the filmmaker, who directed the 2022 animated film "Pinocchio" using the technique. 
Del Toro, whose latest film "Frankenstein" starring Oscar Isaac is set to release on Netflix next month, said he valued stop-motion as a craft beyond the reach of artificial intelligence.
"In an era in which you can have AI intruding in any other form of animation, this is AI-proof. So that is really good," he added in the presence of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos.
The project's details, such as investment and equipment, are set to be finalised in the coming months. 
The launch date for the studio will be announced at a later date, according to school director Valerie Moatti. 
agu-adp/sbk

obituary

Moody Blues star John Lodge dead at 82

  • "It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that John Lodge, our darling husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother, has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us," the family added.
  • British singer and guitarist John Lodge, a longtime member of the band The Moody Blues, has died at the age of 82, his family announced on Friday.
  • "It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that John Lodge, our darling husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother, has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us," the family added.
British singer and guitarist John Lodge, a longtime member of the band The Moody Blues, has died at the age of 82, his family announced on Friday.
Lodge, a bass player, vocalist and songwriter who joined the English rock band two years after its 1964 formation, died "unexpectedly" surrounded by loved ones, relatives said.
"It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that John Lodge, our darling husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother, has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us," the family added.
"As anyone who knew this massive-hearted man knows, it was his enduring love of his wife, Kirsten, and his family, that was the most important thing to him, followed by his passion for music, and his faith."
The statement noted he "peacefully slipped away surrounded by his loved ones and the sounds of The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly".
Together with fellow singer Justin Hayward, Birmingham-born Lodge joined the Moody Blues in 1966 following the departures of Denny Laine and Clint Warwick.
Alongside remaining founders Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge, they embraced the psychedelic rock movement of the late 1960s and enjoyed fame for decades.
The 1967 album "Days Of Future Passed" is seen as one of rock's first concept albums, while 1968 follow up "In Search Of The Lost Chord" saw the group move towards further experimentation.
The Moody Blues hits include "Nights In White Satin", "Question" and "Isn't Life Strange".
The band continued to perform until 2018, the same year it was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
jj/pdh/st

art

Art world's 'troublemakers' join forces in 'joyful' London show

BY CéCILE FEUILLATRE

  • Invader is a French urban artist who guards his anonymity behind masks and whose mosaics based on the pixellated art of the original 1978 video game "Space Invaders" inhabit city walls worldwide.
  • They come from a world of underground, even subversive, art, but now US activist Shepard Fairey has joined forces with Britain's Damien Hirst and French street artist Invader with a "joyful" exhibition to show even in dark times there is always hope.
  • Invader is a French urban artist who guards his anonymity behind masks and whose mosaics based on the pixellated art of the original 1978 video game "Space Invaders" inhabit city walls worldwide.
They come from a world of underground, even subversive, art, but now US activist Shepard Fairey has joined forces with Britain's Damien Hirst and French street artist Invader with a "joyful" exhibition to show even in dark times there is always hope.
"We all see ourselves as troublemakers because we have been," Fairey told AFP, ahead of Friday's opening of a new London exhibition of the three men's individual works, but also unique hybrid pieces combining elements of all their different styles.
The exhibition called "Triple Trouble" took some 18 months to put together and was "born from us all liking each other's work," said Fairey.
He shot to global fame when he designed the iconic "Hope" poster for the 2008 US presidential campaign of Barack Obama -- elected America's first African-American president.
His street art piece created after the 2015 Paris attacks, featuring the French national symbol Marianne, hangs in the office of French President Emmanuel Macron.
British painter and sculptor Hirst, who has dominated the UK contemporary art scene since the 1990s, is known for provocative works examining death, including animals such as pickled sharks or a bisected cow displayed in a tank of formaldehyde.
Hirst's works can now command prices stretching into millions of pounds.
Invader is a French urban artist who guards his anonymity behind masks and whose mosaics based on the pixellated art of the original 1978 video game "Space Invaders" inhabit city walls worldwide.
The three friends began some time ago to think of working collaboratively.
"I think often artists are seen as very egotistical and unwilling to share or collaborate easily, but this was a joyful process," Fairey said.
"I think in this moment of division culturally, the idea that even people as difficult as artists can come together, it's a nice sentiment," he added.

'Infiltrate the system'

"We all proposed ideas to each other. A lot of the pieces were shipped back and forth between our studios," Fairey said.
"But I think the spirit of the work, if anyone looks around, it's joyful, it's playful."
In London's airy, large Newport Street Gallery, all of the works on display have been revisited. 
In one of Fairey's paintings "The Flames of Discontent" a leather-jacketed young woman painted in his distinctive poster style walking into fire is accompanied by Hirst's butterflies and Invader's instantly recognisable space invaders characters.
"I've always embraced what I call the inside outside strategy. Punk rock and graffiti and hip hop were influences for me, skateboarding, which are all counterculture," Fairey said.
"My idea was, if you can infiltrate the system and change it for the better within, that's actually a really amazing bit of subversion and detriment."
But with their artistic success other questions have arisen.
"What's authentic, what's too commercial? These are things that anyone who has a career arc where they go from not being well-known to being well-known has to consider," Fairey asked.
"For me, it's always been about maintaining my principles.".
He acknowledged that since the hope that accompanied the first flushes of the Obama years "we're seeing a backslide now".
"But I think there's always hope to be had, because even places that have had some of the darkest, most cruel moments in our history like Germany, Germany is now a very progressive place," Fairey argued, pointing to Berlin's support for the arts and renewable energy.
cf/alm/jkb/pdh/gv

film

Comeback studio Warner takes 'victory lap' amid takeover rumors

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • - Takeover rumors - The sudden success has come at a nonetheless turbulent time for parent corporation Warner Bros Discovery, the product of a 2022 merger with Discovery.
  • In just six months, Warner Bros has gone from ailing Hollywood giant reportedly mulling a leadership change to the industry's hottest studio -- and the rumored target of a $70 billion takeover bid.
  • - Takeover rumors - The sudden success has come at a nonetheless turbulent time for parent corporation Warner Bros Discovery, the product of a 2022 merger with Discovery.
In just six months, Warner Bros has gone from ailing Hollywood giant reportedly mulling a leadership change to the industry's hottest studio -- and the rumored target of a $70 billion takeover bid.
With a string of box offices smashes like "Superman," "A Minecraft Movie" and "Sinners" -- plus the acclaimed "One Battle After Another" starring Leonardo DiCaprio -- Warner Bros Discovery's film division was the first studio to hit $4 billion at the box office this year.
It is a dramatic turnaround from as recently as March, when Warner was reeling from expensive flops like "Mickey 17" and its high-profile, roundly reviled "Joker" sequel.
"We're doing our part," movie studio co-head Michael De Luca said Thursday, in an interview at the Bloomberg Screentime summit in Los Angeles that trade press dubbed a "victory lap."
"When there is a good run at a studio, morale is high," he said.
Renowned cinephiles De Luca and fellow studio boss Pamela Abdy were pilfered from Warner's smaller rival MGM back in 2022.
By this spring, the pair were rumored to be on the way out, with CEO David Zaslav reportedly even taking meetings with potential successors.
This week, their contracts were renewed.
"We can't address the speculation and rumors and all that stuff," said Abdy. 
"All I can say is, David, Mike and I had the privilege of seeing all these movies early. We knew what we had with the filmmakers and with these stories and we couldn't wait for audiences to see them."

Horror hits

Having generally trailed rivals like Disney and Universal in recent years, Warner has had nine films that opened at the top of the box office charts this year -- more than any other studio.
That list included "Weapons," one of several breakout horror hits this year from Warner, at a time when the until-recently thriving genre has suffered disappointing returns at rival studios.
Other Warner horror hits included installments in two long-running franchises: "Final Destination" and "The Conjuring."
De Luca attributed the success to bringing in "fresh and innovative" ideas, like injecting more humor into the gory "Final Destination" universe.
"With franchises that are particularly long in the tooth, you really have to innovate within the genre," said De Luca.
He added: "None of them were phoned in. None of them were a bunch of executives in a room saying 'milk that franchise'.
"Audiences can tell when something is not prefabricated."

Takeover rumors

The sudden success has come at a nonetheless turbulent time for parent corporation Warner Bros Discovery, the product of a 2022 merger with Discovery.
In June, Zaslav announced the business was again splitting, separating its booming streaming and movie divisions from the dwindling television channels.
That has now been called into question by a potentially even bigger deal.
In what would be the latest and most startling game of Hollywood musical chairs, Warner has been targeted by Paramount -- recently acquired by the billionaire tech family of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the world's second-richest man.
Larry's son David Ellison, the new Paramount CEO, on Thursday declined to comment on the rumored bid, but said "there are a lot of options out there that are actionable in the near future."
He also made the case for scaling up, in order to produce "more movies, more television series" for consumers.
"There's always going to be speculation in our business -- we're in a time of massive disruption," said Abdy.
"You can't focus on that."
amz/hg/sst

music

US judge tosses Drake lawsuit over Lamar diss track

  • But Judge Jeannette Vargas said Lamar's lyrics about the 38-year-old Canadian artist -- born Aubrey Drake Graham -- amounted to "nonactionable opinion."
  • A US federal judge in New York on Thursday threw out a defamation case filed by Canadian rapper Drake against his own label Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar's viral diss track.
  • But Judge Jeannette Vargas said Lamar's lyrics about the 38-year-old Canadian artist -- born Aubrey Drake Graham -- amounted to "nonactionable opinion."
A US federal judge in New York on Thursday threw out a defamation case filed by Canadian rapper Drake against his own label Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar's viral diss track.
In 2024, the superstar rappers exchanged a litany of increasingly vitriolic songs, with Lamar delivering the major blow with his chart-topping "Not Like Us."
In his suit filed in January, Drake accused Universal -- which is behind both artists -- of betraying him in favor of profits by promoting the song, which features punchlines that accuse him of pedophilia.
The lawsuit also cited the track's promotion as causing a "physical threat to Drake's safety" as well as a "bombardment of online harassment."
But Judge Jeannette Vargas said Lamar's lyrics about the 38-year-old Canadian artist -- born Aubrey Drake Graham -- amounted to "nonactionable opinion."
"The issue in this case is whether 'Not Like Us' can reasonably be understood to convey as a factual matter that Drake is a pedophile or that he has engaged in sexual relations with minors," Vargas wrote in her ruling.
"In light of the overall context in which the statements in the recording were made, the Court holds that it cannot."
In a statement after the ruling, Universal Music Group called the suit "an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day."
"We're pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake's music and investing in his career."
Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is also 38, went on to perform the Grammy-winning "Not Like Us" as the headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show in February. 
He cut the profanity and the word "pedophile" but didn't stop short of the money line, rapping "tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-minoooooor" on live television in front of more than 130 million viewers.
pel/sst/bjt

Global Edition

Hungary's 'master of the apocalypse' Krasznahorkai wins literature Nobel

BY PIA OHLIN

  • Literature offered hope, he said in a statement sent to AFP through his literary agency RCW.  The Nobel "proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read".
  • The Nobel Prize for Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai considered by many as Hungary's most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
  • Literature offered hope, he said in a statement sent to AFP through his literary agency RCW.  The Nobel "proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read".
The Nobel Prize for Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai considered by many as Hungary's most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
The Swedish Academy honoured him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".
Speaking to the Nobel Foundation, the 71-year-old author said he was "very happy" and "very proud".
"To be in the line, which contains so many really great writers and poets, gives me power to use my language, my original language, the Hungarian language," he said.
The Academy highlighted Krasznahorkai's first novel, 1985's "Satantango", which brought him to prominence in Hungary and remains his best-known work.
It called the novel, which portrays a destitute group of people isolated in the Hungarian countryside, "a literary sensation".
Krasznahorkai is "a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess", the Academy said.
"But there are more strings to his bow, and he also looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone," it added. 

'Artistic gaze'

Krasznahorkai was among those mentioned as a possible winner in the run-up to the announcement.
The Academy noted the author's signature flowing syntax with long, winding sentences devoid of full stops.
"While it is Krasznahorkai's weighty, rolling syntax that has perhaps become his signature as an author, his style also allows for a lightness of touch and a great lyrical beauty," Academy member Steve Sem-Sandberg said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed the prize to Krasznahorkai, calling him "the pride of Hungary".
Krasznahorkai grew up in a middle-class Jewish family.
He has drawn inspiration from his experiences under communism, and the extensive travels he undertook after first moving abroad in 1987 to West Berlin for a fellowship.
His novels, short stories and essays are best known in Germany -- where he lived for long periods -- and his native Hungary.
Critically difficult and demanding, his style was described once by Krasznahorkai himself as "reality examined to the point of madness".
"It is Laszlo Krasznahorkai's artistic gaze, which is entirely free of illusion and which sees through the fragility of the social order, combined with his unwavering belief in the power of art that has motivated the Academy to award him this prize," Sem-Sandberg said.
American critic Susan Sontag crowned Krasznahorkai the "master of the apocalypse" after having read his second book, "The Melancholy of Resistance", in 1989, the Academy said.
Described as a "feverish horror fantasy" by the Academy, the novel is set in a small Hungarian town where a mysterious circus arrives, its main attraction the exhibition of a giant whale carcass.

'The bitterness'

His "War and War" novel (1999) was described by New Yorker magazine critic James Wood as "one of the most profoundly unsettling experiences I have ever had as a reader".
Asked in the Nobel Foundation interview about his main inspiration, Krasznahorkai replied: "The bitterness," describing a "very, very dark" time to be alive.
"I am very sad, if I think of the status of the world now, and this is my deepest inspiration," he said.
Literature offered hope, he said in a statement sent to AFP through his literary agency RCW. 
The Nobel "proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read".
"And for those who read it, it offers a certain hope that beauty, nobility, and the sublime still exist for their own sake. It may offer hope even to those in whom life itself only barely flickers."
Krasznahorkai is the second Hungarian to win the prize, after Imre Kertesz in 2002.
The Academy has long been criticised for the overrepresentation of Western white men among its picks.
Just 18 of the 122 laureates since the prize was first awarded in 1901 have been women, including last year's winner Han Kang of South Korea.
The Nobel Prize comes with a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2 million prize sum.
Krasznahorkai will receive the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.
bur-po-jll/sbk

painting

Rediscovered painting shows madam of notorious Nazi brothel

  • Brunner said the writers hope that the rediscovered oil painting will find a home in a museum, describing Madame Kitty and her brothel as "part of Berlin's city history".
  • A long-lost oil painting of Nazi-era Berlin's most notorious brothel madam, Kitty Schmidt, has been rediscovered and was presented to the public in the German capital on Thursday.
  • Brunner said the writers hope that the rediscovered oil painting will find a home in a museum, describing Madame Kitty and her brothel as "part of Berlin's city history".
A long-lost oil painting of Nazi-era Berlin's most notorious brothel madam, Kitty Schmidt, has been rediscovered and was presented to the public in the German capital on Thursday.
Madam Kitty's opulent salon, located in an upscale Berlin neighbourhood, was a den of espionage wired by the Nazis to spy on prominent visitors.
"Between 1939 and 1942, diplomats, foreign journalists and even high-ranking Nazi officials were spied on without their knowledge," Urs Brunner, the new owner of the painting, told AFP.
A woman who bought the painting on the cheap at a Berlin junk shop in 1999 recently contacted Brunner and fellow author Julia Schrammel.
The two Austrian writers are co-authors of the 2020 book "Kitty's Salon: Sex, Spying and Surveillance in the Third Reich".
The painting's owner only discovered that it depicted the infamous madam after a digital image search led her to the website for the book.
The writers had long been searching for the painting, which they knew existed from old photographs.
"I wrote to almost every auction house and antique dealer in Berlin. The fact that we found it is very important to us," Schrammel said of their hunt for the painting. 
"There are only a handful of photos of Kitty, and they are all in black and white."
Brunner said the writers hope that the rediscovered oil painting will find a home in a museum, describing Madame Kitty and her brothel as "part of Berlin's city history".
The portrait appears to depict Madame Kitty in her 40s, although "she always pretended to be younger than she was," Brunner told AFP. 
"She was always very well-dressed and wore a lot of make-up."
According to Brunner, it is unclear whether the brothel owner -- who died in 1954 -- had willingly worked with the Nazis or was forced into collaboration.
Brunner said she never joined the Nazi party and did not appear to hold antisemitic views -- although "some of Nazi Germany's biggest war criminals came and went at her home, and she got along with them".
"She was probably a profiteer and an opportunist, but not a die-hard Nazi, according to what we know," Brunner said.
clp/bst/fz/gv

Global Edition

Hungary's Laszlo Krasznahorkai wins Nobel literature prize

  • Last year, the award went to South Korean author Han Kang, the first Asian woman to win the Nobel.
  • The Nobel Prize in Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary's most important living author whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
  • Last year, the award went to South Korean author Han Kang, the first Asian woman to win the Nobel.
The Nobel Prize in Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary's most important living author whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
The Swedish Academy honoured him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art."
Krasznahorkai, 71, is "a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess," the jury said in a statement.
"But there are more strings to his bow, and he also looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone."
Krasznahorkai was among those mentioned as a possible winner in the run-up to the prize.
Last year, the award went to South Korean author Han Kang, the first Asian woman to win the Nobel.
The Academy has long been criticised for the overrepresentation of Western white men among its picks.
Women are vastly under-represented among its laureates -- just 18 out of 122 since it was first awarded in 1901.
The Swedish Academy has undergone major reforms since a devastating #MeToo scandal in 2018, vowing a more global and gender-equal literature prize. 
The Nobel Prize comes with a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2 million prize sum.
Krasznahorkai will receive the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.
po/jll/st

Global Edition

Nobel literature buzz tips Western author

BY NIOUCHA ZAKAVATI

  • "Authors like Han Kang would have been unthinkable five or six years ago," he said, noting that she was well-established internationally and only 53, while the Academy previously tended to honour older men.
  • The Nobel literature prize could go to a Western author this Thursday, experts predict, though bookies have several authors from Asia as top picks even after South Korea's Han Kang last year became the first Asian woman to win.
  • "Authors like Han Kang would have been unthinkable five or six years ago," he said, noting that she was well-established internationally and only 53, while the Academy previously tended to honour older men.
The Nobel literature prize could go to a Western author this Thursday, experts predict, though bookies have several authors from Asia as top picks even after South Korea's Han Kang last year became the first Asian woman to win.
Awarding the prize to another woman this year would make history: it has never gone to a woman two years in a row, and women are vastly under-represented among its laureates -- just 18 out of 121 since it was first awarded in 1901.
But literary critics in Stockholm told AFP they therefore expect a Western man to get the nod this year, citing Australia's Gerald Murnane, Romania's Mircea Cartarescu, Hungary's Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Peter Nadas as possibilities, as well as Swiss postmodernist Christian Kracht.
Murnane and Krasznahorkai meanwhile have the lowest odds on betting sites, along with India's Amitav Ghosh, who rose into the reckoning just two days before the announcement.
Another contender among bookmakers is China's Can Xue, who is known for her experimental style and has been likened to Franz Kafka. 
The 18-member Swedish Academy that awards the prize insists it does not take gender, nationality or language into consideration.
But "even if they say that they don't think in terms of representation, you can still look at the list (of past laureates) and see that it's kind of 'OK, this year was a European, now we can look a little further afield. And now we go back to Europe. Last year was a woman, let's choose a man this year'," Sveriges Radio culture critic Lina Kalmteg told AFP.
After a #MeToo scandal that rocked the Academy in 2018, every other laureate has been a woman, suggesting an effort to right past wrongs and improve the gender imbalance.

'Bizarre masterpiece'

Bjorn Wiman, culture editor at Swedish newspaper of reference Dagens Nyheter, told AFP he thought this year's winner would be a man "from the Anglo-Saxon, German or French-language world".
Christian Kracht, a 58-year-old German-language postmodernist author who writes about pop culture and consumerism, is a favourite in literary circles, he said. 
At this year's Gothenburg Book Fair -- held annually a few weeks before the Nobel announcement -- "many members of the Swedish Academy were there, sitting in the front row during his event", Wiman said.
"And that is usually a sure sign," he said, adding that the same thing happened when Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek won the prize in 2004.
Another writer getting a lot of attention in the run-up this year is Australia's Murnane.
Born in 1939 in Melbourne, his work draws heavily on his own life experiences.
His novel "The Plains" (1982) delves into Australian landowners' culture, described by the New Yorker as a "bizarre masterpiece" that feels more like a dream than a book.
"The question is whether he'll answer the phone (when the Academy calls), I don't know if he even has one," joked Josefin de Gregorio, literary critic at Sweden's other main daily, Svenska Dagbladet. 
"He's never left Australia. He lives in the countryside, he doesn't make himself very accessible," she said.
"I hope he wins, I want more people to discover his wonderful work," de Gregorio said.
Australian Aboriginal writer Alexis Wright has also been mentioned.

'Unthinkable'

Other names that regularly make the rounds are Antiguan-American author Jamaica Kincaid, Canada's Anne Carson, Chile's Raul Zurita, and Argentina's Cesar Aira.
The last South American to win was Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa in 2010, and the region could be overdue, Kalmteg told AFP.
She also mentioned Mexican authors Cristina Rivera Garza and Fernanda Melchor.
With no public shortlist and the prize committee's deliberations sealed for 50 years, it is always difficult to predict which way the Academy is leaning. 
It has a penchant for shining a spotlight on writers relatively unknown to a wider public, with Wiman noting that it was previously known for being "openly elitist, artistically".
"Authors like Han Kang would have been unthinkable five or six years ago," he said, noting that she was well-established internationally and only 53, while the Academy previously tended to honour older men.
The 2025 winner, who will take home a $1.2 million cheque, will be announced on Thursday at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).
nzg/ef/po/jll/db

cinema

French cinema booms in Russia despite political rift

BY MARINA LAPENKOVA

  • The Moscow cinema hall showing Cedric Klapisch's dramatic comedy "Colours of Time" -- recently premiered at Cannes -- was crowded.
  • On a cold autumn evening in Moscow, Alexandra was headed to a cinema, hoping to escape reality for a few hours by taking in a new French comedy.
  • The Moscow cinema hall showing Cedric Klapisch's dramatic comedy "Colours of Time" -- recently premiered at Cannes -- was crowded.
On a cold autumn evening in Moscow, Alexandra was headed to a cinema, hoping to escape reality for a few hours by taking in a new French comedy.
With Hollywood boycotting the Russian market over Moscow's offensive on Ukraine, French films are one of the few cultural windows Russians have left to the West.
And even as relations between Paris and Moscow have sunk to their lowest in decades, French cinema has retained its popularity as aficionados seek a big-screen dose of "art de vivre", the French philosophy of living well and savouring the moment.
"French films create a colourful bubble where I want to stay," Alexandra told AFP, allowing her to "pause my thoughts about what's going on in the world."
The Moscow cinema hall showing Cedric Klapisch's dramatic comedy "Colours of Time" -- recently premiered at Cannes -- was crowded.
Other French films on offer range from fresh releases such as Luc Besson's "Dracula" and Quentin Dupieux's "The Piano Accident", to Rene Clement's cult classic "Purple Noon", starring Alain Delon. 
Russia was the top export market for French films in 2023, and second in 2024 by ticket sales, according to Unifrance, a French cultural body promoting cinema abroad. 
This comes even as pirate copies of Hollywood films were still being shown in some Russian cinemas.  

'Life-saving'

The popularity has endured even as France hit Russia with an unprecedented number of sanctions over the Ukraine offensive, and the Kremlin and Elysee deploy increasingly sharp rhetoric against each other.
French President Emmanuel Macron called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin an "ogre" and "predator" earlier this year -- drawing rebukes from officials in Moscow.
But big box office releases have kept flowing, with 73 French films hitting Russian cinemas last year.
In 2023, animated film "Miraculous" scored more than three million viewers in Russia -- the largest audience for a French film in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"It would be foolish in this situation to abandon the country that invented cinema," Konstantin Ernst, the sanctioned head of Russia's state-run Channel One, told AFP.
"The subtlety, depth, and aestheticism of French cinema are closely aligned with the Russian soul," he added.
Many Asian and Latin American producers have tried to fill the void in the Russian market by the formal absence of Hollywood movies -- but with little success.
For Marina, a 33-year-old who works at a law firm, they have a "different energy."
"French or European cinema is closer to me in terms of its atmosphere and elegance," she told AFP.
It is "essential, even life-saving," she added.
- 'Different way of living' - 
Russians have for centuries sought to establish cultural bridges to France -- "from French literature in the 19th century to the cinema that replaced it," Joël Chapron, a French expert on Russian cinema, told AFP.
It is "a kind of cultural diplomacy," he added, offering a "glimpse into the culture they've always loved ... and an alternative to propaganda." 
As Alexandra put it: "Interwoven for centuries, our two cultures are continuing their dialogue."
Even during the Cold War, French cinema was widely popular behind the Iron Curtain.
The 1952 swashbuckling comedy "Fanfan la Tulipe" starring Gerard Philippe attracted some 30 million viewers.
French actors have also remained high-profile celebrities in Russia. Disgraced star Gerard Depardieu was even granted citizenship in 2013.
Unifrance has defended its decision not to join Hollywood in boycotting the Russian market over the Ukraine offensive.
"Banning culture would mean severing ties with the Russian population," a spokesperson told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Cinema was a way of "providing a glimpse to another culture ... and to a different way of living," they added.
Channel One's Ernst hailed that decision as "wise".
Distributors agree.
"Closing doors is never helpful," said Nadezhda Motina, president of Arna Media, which sells French films in Russia.
"We must show Russians another world with its values and bring a little sun into cold water," she said, referring to French writer Francoise Sagan's novel "A Little Sun in Cold Water."
ml-agu-asy/jc/rh

politics

Kimmel hopes boycott outrage drew free speech 'red line'

  • "I hope that we drew a really, really bold red line as Americans about what we will and will not accept," said Kimmel.
  • Comedian Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday said he hopes the outrage over his late-night show's suspension following pressure from the Trump administration had drawn a "bold red line" for free speech.
  • "I hope that we drew a really, really bold red line as Americans about what we will and will not accept," said Kimmel.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday said he hopes the outrage over his late-night show's suspension following pressure from the Trump administration had drawn a "bold red line" for free speech.
Kimmel was briefly taken off the airwaves last month over remarks the host made in the wake of the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, prompting a public outcry.
Disney-owned ABC brought back Kimmel's show after a week-long hiatus.
"I hope that we drew a really, really bold red line as Americans about what we will and will not accept," said Kimmel.
"I really hope that that's what comes out of all this."
President Donald Trump, who has long chafed at the mockery he receives from Kimmel and his fellow late night talk show hosts, has repeatedly demanded they be taken off air, and has called other criticism of him "illegal."
Kimmel's removal from the airwaves came shortly after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr appeared to threaten the licenses of stations broadcasting the show unless they did so.
Kimmel said his comments about Kirk's alleged killer had been "intentionally and, I think, maliciously mischaracterized" by Republicans. 
But he said he would "love to have Trump on the show" in future.
"I wouldn't necessarily be interested in (having) Brendan Carr on the show," he deadpanned.
Reflecting on the boycotts by companies owning dozens of ABC affiliate stations, Kimmel on Wednesday admitted he initially thought his show was permanently finished.
"The idea that I would not have whatever it was, 40 affiliates... I was like, 'Well, that's it,'" he told the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles.
"I said to my wife, 'that's it. It's over,'" he said.
Kimmel's return proved a huge ratings hit, even as the blackout meant a quarter of the country could not watch.
amz/lb

fashion

Victoria Beckham reveals struggle to reinvent herself in Netflix series

BY HELEN ROWE

  • But I desperately wanted to be liked, have a sense of worth," she said.
  • Ex-Spice Girl turned designer Victoria Beckham describes herself as someone who "desperately wanted to be liked" in a new three-part documentary about her life.
  • But I desperately wanted to be liked, have a sense of worth," she said.
Ex-Spice Girl turned designer Victoria Beckham describes herself as someone who "desperately wanted to be liked" in a new three-part documentary about her life.
In the Netflix series due to launch on Thursday, the 51-year-old once known as "Posh Spice" recounts her battle to reinvent herself as a fashion designer after the British girl band split.
"People thought I was that miserable cow that never smiled," she said, referring to her straight-faced public persona.
Performing had been her "dream", she said, but when the band came to an end she found fashion to be a "creative outlet".
Beckham, who frequently becomes emotional in the series by director Nadia Hallgren, said she struggled to establish herself as she came up against a world that said, "she's a pop star, she's married to a footballer, who does she think she is?" 
Former Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour admitted to initially having her own doubts.
"Most of the celebrities who get involved in our world are not true designers," Wintour said.
"I was sceptical. I think we can all be a little bit snobby in the fashion business, and think maybe this is a side gig, but Victoria was one that totally proved us wrong," she said.
Designer Tom Ford said his first reaction on hearing that Beckham planned to start her own fashion label was astonishment.
"I wanted to call her and say, 'Why? Why would you do this? Do you understand this business is so tough?'," he said.
"I think a lot of people thought, 'Oh, OK, Victoria Beckham is starting a collection. Someone else will probably design it. She'll stick her name on it," he added.

'Uncool kid'

The series, titled "Victoria Beckham", traces the celebrity's early life and pop career, and follows her as she prepares for a high-stakes catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week.
Reflecting on her school days, Beckham said she did not fit in but always yearned to be valued.
"That uncool kid at school who was awkward, that was me. But I desperately wanted to be liked, have a sense of worth," she said.
Beckham, a mother-of-four who is married to English former star footballer David Beckham, also touches on her eponymous brand's well publicised financial difficulties.
The clothing label has not made an operating profit since it was established in 2008.
In 2024, however, the label reported its fourth year of sales growth in a row.
"We were millions in the red" at one point, she said.
The Spice Girls stormed to worldwide fame in 1996 after the release of their first single "Wannabe", spreading their message of girl power and eventually going on to sell 85 million albums worldwide.
Only two of their 11 singles failed to reach number one on the British charts, while their first three singles all hit the US top five.
The five-piece split in 2000 but reunited for a world tour in 2007. Another reunion tour went ahead in 2019 without Beckham.
har/pdh/sbk

music

Country music star clashes with Trump govt over immigration raids

  • The fracas is the latest between the Trump administration and pop culture figures.
  • A US country music star and military veteran became the latest -- and possibly least likely -- target of the Trump administration after it took issue with his lyrics about brazen immigration raids.
  • The fracas is the latest between the Trump administration and pop culture figures.
A US country music star and military veteran became the latest -- and possibly least likely -- target of the Trump administration after it took issue with his lyrics about brazen immigration raids.
Zach Bryan, a Grammy winner who packs out stadiums with fans of a musical genre that usually appeals to conservatives, sparked the ire of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an as-yet unreleased track in which he sings about ICE agents and police who "come bust down your door."
"I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told a right-wing podcaster after hearing a snippet.
DHS assistant secretary of public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said Bryan should "stick to Pink Skies, dude," in a reference to a previous hit by the songmaker.
The department, which has adopted an aggressive social media strategy that revels in the often-violent raids carried out by its Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) officers, put out a montage video of arrests overlaid with another Bryan song, "Revival."
The lyrics in question come from "Bad News," part of which Bryan posted on Instagram.
"My friends are all degenerates, but they're all I got, the generational story of dropping the plot. I heard the cops came, Cocky motherfuckers, ain't they? And ICE is gonna come bust down your door," he sings.
"The middle finger's rising, and it won't stop showing. Got some bad news, the fading of the red, white, and blue."
On Tuesday, Bryan hit out at the backlash, insisting the song is about his love for his country.
Anyone who uses it "as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are," he said on Instagram.
"When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle." 
Bryan, who served in the US Navy, and whose parents are both veterans, said he was not taking an extreme stance.
"Left wing or right wing we're all one bird and American. To be clear I'm on neither of these radical sides," he said. 
The fracas is the latest between the Trump administration and pop culture figures.
Last week officials lashed out over NFL plans for Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, with Noem insisting ICE agents would be present at an event where even the cheapest tickets are well out of reach for most undocumented migrants.
Thousands of immigration enforcement officers have fanned out across the United States in recent months as part of Trump's election pledge to carry out the largest deportation in US history.
While their raids are popular among some Trump supporters, the operations have been criticised as unnecessarily violent and apparently unfocused, seemingly targeting people solely on the basis of their skin color or the language they speak.
hg/mlm

music

'I ain't dead yet!': Dolly Parton reassures fans after scare

  • But on Wednesday she appeared in good health.
  • A very much alive Dolly Parton took to Instagram on Wednesday to declare "I ain't dead yet!"
  • But on Wednesday she appeared in good health.
A very much alive Dolly Parton took to Instagram on Wednesday to declare "I ain't dead yet!" after her sister sent fans into a tailspin when she called for prayers for one of America's most beloved celebrities.
In a video posted to her official account, the 79-year-old Queen of Country thanked the public for their concern, but insisted she was not at death's door.
"There are just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you'd know that I was okay," she said from what appeared to be a photo studio.
"I'm not ready to die yet. I don't think God is through with me, and I ain't done working."
The "Jolene" singer posted the video captioned "I ain't dead yet!" the day after her younger sister Freida Parton sparked panic with a post that some people interpreted as indicating the star's recent health problems were terminal.
"Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly. Many of you know she hasn't been feeling her best lately," Freida Parton wrote on her Facebook page.
"I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me."
The "9 to 5" singer delayed upcoming Las Vegas gigs last week, citing unspecified "health challenges," and disclosed that she was set to undergo multiple medical procedures.
But on Wednesday she appeared in good health.
"I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you? I'm working hard here," she said.
Parton said she had neglected herself after the death of her long-time husband, but was now undergoing treatment 
"Nothing major. But I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home" for medical care. 
"But I wanted you to know that I'm not dying."
"Those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate and I appreciate your prayers, because I'm a person of faith, I can always use the prayers for anything and everything, but I want you to know that I'm okay."
Parton became a major star in the 1970s, with singles including "Coat of Many Colors," and followed up with smash hits such as "I Will Always Love You," famously covered by Whitney Houston.
She is due to receive an honorary Oscar next month, but Hollywood trade publication Variety said she was no longer expected to attend the Los Angeles ceremony.
hg/acb

film

New 'Knives Out' spotlights Trump-era US political landscape

BY JOE JACKSON

  • - 'Sin and guilt' - The now-trilogy of "Knives Out" whodunits are loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's novels and other works from the so-called golden age of detective fiction a century ago.
  • The latest "Knives Out" movie may be another whodunit but the expanding franchise's creator insists he also wanted to confront the current US political climate with the star-studded film.
  • - 'Sin and guilt' - The now-trilogy of "Knives Out" whodunits are loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's novels and other works from the so-called golden age of detective fiction a century ago.
The latest "Knives Out" movie may be another whodunit but the expanding franchise's creator insists he also wanted to confront the current US political climate with the star-studded film.
"It's hard for it not to be in your mind," writer and director Rian Johnson told AFP as "Wake Up Dead Man" opened the London Film Festival on Wednesday after premiering in Toronto last month.
"We tried to not shy away from that," he added, noting his latest Daniel Craig-led murder mystery was "unapologetically set and tuned into this moment" in the United States.
The film, showing for the first time outside North America, features a charismatic tyrannical monsignor, played by Josh Brolin, holding sway over a devoted and dysfunctional congregation.
He is challenged by another priest (Josh O'Connor), who is accused of being a PINO: a "Priest in Name Only", playing on the "Republican in Name Only" slur beloved by the US President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Taking swings at conspiracy theorists, and with characters delivering lines like "what is truth?", the battle lines drawn by Trumpian politics are apparent on-screen throughout.
Johnson, a one-time evangelical, said he chose to set the movie in small-town upstate New York and its church after seeing his former faith increasingly collide with politics and cultural issues under Trump.
"It's something that I think popular culture and movies that are meant to be entertainment are sometimes very afraid to engage with," he argued.

'Sin and guilt'

The now-trilogy of "Knives Out" whodunits are loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's novels and other works from the so-called golden age of detective fiction a century ago.
Oscar-nominee Johnson noted this instalment was also heavily influenced by the 19th century writing of Edgar Allan Poe, adding a "darker" and more "Gothic" edge.
It sees Craig's Benoit Blanc -- the gentleman detective with a deep Southern drawl who has anchored every film -- grappling with a seemingly impossible death while unpicking congregation members' possible motives. 
"Faith and human sin and guilt, it clicks together like two gears with a murder mystery form," explained Johnson. 
Glenn Close is among the stellar cast, with the director calling it "a real bucket list thing to get to work with her".
"Anytime you get to work with a legend that you grew up watching, it feels like something special," he said.
Meanwhile, rising star O'Connor -- who first came to prominence playing a young Prince Charles in "The Crown" -- shines as a boxer-turned-priest with a strong moral backbone but weighed down by guilt.
Johnson revealed Craig tipped him off to the fellow Briton's potential and, after watching him in 2023's "La Chimera" and last year's "Challengers", soon saw he was a special talent.
"The camera loves him. There's a very specific thing with certain actors where the camera just loves looking at them," he said.  
"It's wild because you're hanging out with them in-between takes, and then you look through the camera at them, and boom, it's there."

'Fresh challenges'

After the success of the first "Knives Out" film in 2019, Netflix paid a reported $400 million for two sequels. 
The second film, "Glass Onion," became the streaming giant's first to play in major US theatre chains. 
This follow-up will also hit some cinemas first in November, before streaming globally from December 12.
Johnson revealed his next movie, a "paranoid thriller" that is "pretty well developed", will be "totally different" and outside the franchise.
"I've had a great time doing three of these, and now I think it'd be healthy to do something else next," he told AFP.
That said, the 51-year-old filmmaker reiterated he and former Bond star Craig are open to crafting more "Knives Out" sequels "as long as we both want to do it".
The London Film Festival closes on Sunday, October 19. 
jj/jkb/gv

conflict

New documentary shows life in Gaza for AFP journalists

BY ANTOINE GUY

  • Independent journalist Helene Lam Trong's documentary "Inside Gaza" will be screened at the Bayeux prize for war reporters on Thursday in the presence of six of the seven permanent AFP journalists who covered the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
  • A new documentary tells the story of AFP journalists who were trapped in the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the Israeli offensive, witnessing the destruction of their own reality through a lens.
  • Independent journalist Helene Lam Trong's documentary "Inside Gaza" will be screened at the Bayeux prize for war reporters on Thursday in the presence of six of the seven permanent AFP journalists who covered the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
A new documentary tells the story of AFP journalists who were trapped in the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the Israeli offensive, witnessing the destruction of their own reality through a lens.
Independent journalist Helene Lam Trong's documentary "Inside Gaza" will be screened at the Bayeux prize for war reporters on Thursday in the presence of six of the seven permanent AFP journalists who covered the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
It traces their daily lives after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacks in Israel led to the deaths of more than 1,200 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Then came the Israeli offensive, which has killed more than 67,000 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry -- figures the United Nations considers reliable.
Day after day, the journalists had no choice but to document the unimaginable suffering of their own people.
"I wanted to explain what this profession is, which is primarily carried out in the field," filmmaker Lam Trong said.
"Inside Gaza," which was co-produced by AFP's documentary production unit at Factstory along with Arte and RTBF, almost exclusively relies on AFP images, mostly taken by the journalists who testify in it.

Attempts to discredit

Reporting in Gaza means being surrounded by children who are injured or in shock, and dead bodies wrapped in shrouds or buried under the rubble.
There is no let-up, as Israel has forbidden foreign journalists from entering the Palestinian territory.
"They are seasoned journalists in their fifties, and they know how to maintain their rigour under conditions of extreme urgency and discomfort," said Lam Trong, who conducted lengthy interviews with them after they left Gaza in early 2024.
But attempts to discredit these journalists are frequent.
AFP journalist Mohammed Abed recalls several Western media outlets asking him to prove that a child had died, after pro-Israel lobby groups claimed that a photo he had taken of a father embracing his dead child in a shroud was actually that of a doll.
"We have rarely seen such questioning of information disseminated by experienced journalists," said Lam Trong. "Palestinian journalists have faced the ultimate level of distrust from the media."

Journalists a target

What is broadcast is severely downplayed, the director said, describing a careful curation process and a decision to remove the most disturbing footage from the film -- a difficult task given the extent of Gaza's destruction.
AFP's seven journalists and their families were evacuated between February and April 2024 and now reside in Doha, Cairo and London, struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. 
The news agency is now working with a dozen freelancers in Gaza.
"The purpose of the film is to provoke reflection on what journalists do" as the profession faces global threats -- particularly in Gaza, where the press is constantly targeted, said film producer and Factstory's documentary unit head Yann Ollivier.
"I hope that those who claim there are no journalists in Gaza will be compelled, after watching this film, to acknowledge that there are indeed journalists there, and that they adhere to the ethics of factual journalism," he told AFP.
Around 200 journalists have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.
The documentary will be broadcast on French-German TV channel Arte on December 2. 
agu/jlo/jmo/ib/cc/phz/st

fashion

'Return to elegance': highlights from Paris Fashion Week

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT AND MARINE DO-VALE

  • AFP looks back on the key moments: - Global makeover - After a momentous Milan Fashion Week, marked by the absence of the late Giorgio Armani and new creative directors at Gucci and Bottega Veneta, Paris saw a procession of new designers take their first bows at their new houses.
  • A historic Paris Fashion Week has wrapped up after 10 days of Spring-Summer 2026 womenswear shows, featuring many new faces and hailed by critics as marking a "return to elegance".
  • AFP looks back on the key moments: - Global makeover - After a momentous Milan Fashion Week, marked by the absence of the late Giorgio Armani and new creative directors at Gucci and Bottega Veneta, Paris saw a procession of new designers take their first bows at their new houses.
A historic Paris Fashion Week has wrapped up after 10 days of Spring-Summer 2026 womenswear shows, featuring many new faces and hailed by critics as marking a "return to elegance".
AFP looks back on the key moments:

Global makeover

After a momentous Milan Fashion Week, marked by the absence of the late Giorgio Armani and new creative directors at Gucci and Bottega Veneta, Paris saw a procession of new designers take their first bows at their new houses.
Matthieu Blazy's first collection for Chanel, Jonathan Anderson's womenswear debut at Dior or Pierpaolo Piccioli's first steps at Balenciaga: around 10 labels in Paris were under new direction following a major shake-up.
"The questions of succession and creative renewal arise, and it just so happens that it's happening everywhere all at once," Chanel fashion boss Bruno Pavlovsky told the WWD fashion website in an interview.

But no radical change

While Chanel's new collection was widely praised, critics were more divided over the offerings from Dior and Balenciaga.
"There was no creative shock," Marc Beauge, editor of French fashion magazine L'Etiquette, told AFP. 
"These were collections designed primarily to be commercial and reassuring," he added, describing them as exercises in "creativity under constraint".
"The priority is to reassure and avoid losing existing clients, rather than taking risks," the specialist added.
"We're not yet in a new era of fashion, but there's definitely a fresh breeze on the catwalks," said Pierre Groppo, fashion editor at Vanity Fair France.

Feminine, sensual looks

"In general, everything has softened. We've definitely moved away from streetwear," Marie Ottavi, fashion journalist at French newspaper Liberation, told AFP.
"We're craving more elegance, with delicacy and at times a touch of flamboyance," she added.
Chief fashion buyer at London store Harrods, Simon Longland, said that "the overarching trend this season was a return to elegance, often referencing the refined silhouettes of the 1920s and 1950s".
Skirts were long, with ruffles, fringed with feathers, or pleated. Dresses were light and airy, often with floral motifs.
But there was still plenty of skin on display. Skirts were slit and tops had exaggerated cutaways. 
Sheer materials and "naked dresses" featured on many runways, including Vivienne Westwood or Schiaparelli where chief designer Daniel Roseberry sent out model Kendall Jenner in an eye-catching black version. 
At McQueen, Sean McGirr resurrected the "bumster" low-slung jeans of the late Alexander McQueen that show the top of the buttocks.

White shirts

The humble white shirt looks like it will be a must-have next year.
New Chanel face Nicole Kidman wore one to Blazy's show on Monday night, pairing it with wide jeans in a low-key but elegant ensemble.
During the show, Blazy's version was worn over an asymmetric black skirt. 
At Balenciaga, it came with a train and wide black trousers. Carven transformed it into an inverted dress. At Saint Laurent, it was closed with an oversized bow or worn provocatively open.

Best concepts

Smaller labels operating on tighter budgets than the corporate mega-houses often devise the most interesting shows.
French designer Alain Paul, a former ballet dancer, recreated an audition hall for his show. Models walked past long tables draped in white cloths, where guests sat with a glass of water, a pencil and a score sheet -- like a jury.
Gauchere, run by German designer Marie-Christine Statz, presented her new looks through a dance performance created by celebrated French choreographer Benjamin Millepied.
Casablanca, the brand of Franco-Moroccan couturier Charaf Tajer, staged its show on an apple-green carpet inside the American Cathedral in Paris to the sound of a gospel choir blended with house music.

The celeb-spotting

Saint Laurent began the week with a spectacular show in front of an illuminated Eiffel Tower with many bright lights from the entertainment industry in attendance including Madonna and Charli XCX.
The Chanel show was the hottest ticket in town and did not disappoint the crowds waiting outside for glimpses of A-listers as Penelope Cruz, Kendall Jenner, Pedro Pascal, Tilda Swinton or Angele filed past.
Louis Vuitton, with Zendaya, or Dior, with Johnny Depp and Jenna Ortega, were their usual celeb magnets. 
The most unexpected sight was the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, settling down on the front row of Balenciaga on Saturday in a show of support for former Valentino designer Piccioli.
Stella McCartney had British screen legend Helen Mirren read out the lyrics from her father's Beatles hit "Come Together" before her show that was watched by rapper Ice Spice and model Cara Delevingne among others.
adp-mdv/rlp

music

UK prosecutors to appeal dropped 'terrorism' case against Kneecap rapper

  • But chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the charge was not brought by prosecutors within the legal time limit, rendering it "unlawful and null".
  • UK prosecutors Tuesday said they would appeal a court's decision to drop a charge of supporting "terrorism" brought against a Northern Irish singer from punk rap group Kneecap.
  • But chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the charge was not brought by prosecutors within the legal time limit, rendering it "unlawful and null".
UK prosecutors Tuesday said they would appeal a court's decision to drop a charge of supporting "terrorism" brought against a Northern Irish singer from punk rap group Kneecap.
"We are appealing the decision to dismiss this case as we believe there is an important point of law which needs to be clarified," a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said, referring to the case against Liam O'Hanna, also known by his stage name Mo Chara.
O'Hanna, 27, had been charged under Britain's terrorism laws for allegedly displaying a flag belonging to the banned Lebanese group Hezbollah during a concert in November 2024.
But the case was thrown out by a London court last month after a judge found there had been a technical error in the way the charge had been brought.
Kneecap said the decision to appeal was "unsurprising" and called it a "waste of taxpayers money" in a statement posted on social media, repeating claims that the case was a "witch-hunt against Palestinian solidarity".
"We will fight you in your court again. We will win again," the group added.
O'Hanna, named Liam Og O Hannaidh in Irish, was charged in May when a video emerged from a November concert in London in which he allegedly displayed the Hezbollah flag, an offence the singer has denied.
But chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the charge was not brought by prosecutors within the legal time limit, rendering it "unlawful and null".
The band, which sings in Irish and regularly leads chants in support of Gaza during performances, has had multiple concerts cancelled internationally over its pro-Palestinian stance and other controversies.
Canada last month barred Kneecap from entering the country, citing the group's alleged support for Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
But its performance in Paris went ahead in September despite objections from French Jewish groups and government officials. The group also played the vaunted Glastonbury Festival in southwest England in June.
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