racism

Kanye West blames bipolar disorder amid outrage over antisemitic rants

  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
  • Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song "Heil Hitler" last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
The song has been banned on major music streaming platforms but is easy to find on the internet. Among other punishment it cost West his visa to travel to Australia.
West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
"You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you're seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you're losing your grip entirely," said West, whose achievements include winning 24 Grammy awards.
In his letter entitled "To Those I've Hurt," he said he sometimes has "disconnected moments" that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior, describing such instances as feeling like an out-of-body experience.
"I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change," West said.
"It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."
In late 2023 West apologized to Jews for having said "I love Nazis."
In 2022 he caused outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "White Lives Matter," seen as a racist insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, and by attending a dinner with Donald Trump that included the white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.
rh/pno/dw/mlm

fashion

Victoria Beckham honoured in Paris amid family rift

  • The Order of the Arts and Letters is reserved for figures judged to have contributed to France's cultural life and is separate to the more prestigious Legion of Honour ("Legion d'honneur"), the state's top award.
  • Victoria Beckham escaped the bitterness of a family feud with a trip to Paris on Monday to receive an award from the culture ministry for her contribution to the fashion and entertainment industries.
  • The Order of the Arts and Letters is reserved for figures judged to have contributed to France's cultural life and is separate to the more prestigious Legion of Honour ("Legion d'honneur"), the state's top award.
Victoria Beckham escaped the bitterness of a family feud with a trip to Paris on Monday to receive an award from the culture ministry for her contribution to the fashion and entertainment industries.
The former Spice Girl, after a weekend celebrating "Baby Spice" Emma Buntun's 50th birthday, headed to the French capital with husband David and her children -- except Brooklyn -- to be named a "Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters."
The ceremony at the culture ministry was kept under wraps to avoid a scrum of journalists or onlookers after explosive claims about the Beckhams by eldest son Brooklyn last week.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati praised Beckham as "a global icon that holds a very special place in the hearts of French people". Dati paid tribute to Beckham's "meticulous, almost architectural" approach to clothing, according to a copy of the speech sent to AFP. 
After starting with shows in London and New York, Beckham has been unveiling the new collections for her label in Paris since 2022. 
"Through your journey, your work, and your commitment, you have woven a deep, sincere, and lasting bond with France," Dati told the 51-year-old singer-turned-designer.  
Brooklyn Beckham deepened a rift with his parents after writing on social media last week that they had tried to "ruin" his relationship with his wife.
In a highly personal post that confirmed a long-rumoured falling out, Brooklyn claimed Victoria Beckham "hijacked" his first dance on his wedding day and danced "inappropriately on me".
Video of Monday's ceremony by Paris Match magazine showed David Beckham and the rest of the his clan looking on and applauding, along with French fashion bosses Antoine Arnault and Francois-Henri Pinault.
The Order of the Arts and Letters is reserved for figures judged to have contributed to France's cultural life and is separate to the more prestigious Legion of Honour ("Legion d'honneur"), the state's top award.
President Emmanuel Macron decorated Louis Vuitton designer and rapper Pharrell Williams with a Legion of Honour last Friday at a private ceremony attended by US rappers Pusha T and Future.
Former England captain David Beckham received a knighthood from King Charles III in November in what he called his "proudest moment".
adp-mng/tw

luxury

Anderson channels nature in Dior Haute Couture debut

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT AND MARINE DO-VALE

  • - Mixed men's - Last Wednesday, the former Loewe designer delivered his second menswear collection since his promotion to French luxury conglomerate LVMH's second-largest fashion brand in April last year.
  • Dior designer Jonathan Anderson drew inspiration from nature and his love of ceramics for his debut Haute Couture collection on Monday, just days after mixed reviews for his menswear.
  • - Mixed men's - Last Wednesday, the former Loewe designer delivered his second menswear collection since his promotion to French luxury conglomerate LVMH's second-largest fashion brand in April last year.
Dior designer Jonathan Anderson drew inspiration from nature and his love of ceramics for his debut Haute Couture collection on Monday, just days after mixed reviews for his menswear.
The 41-year-old has the daunting task of designing all three fashion lines at one of the world's biggest brands -- women's and men's ready-to-wear, plus Haute Couture -- the first person to do so since Christian Dior himself.
Just days after sending out dozens of new looks during Paris Men's Fashion Week in a show that some observers saw as daring but lacking coherence, the Northern Irish creative was back with his first Haute Couture collection.
It featured floral motifs on fabrics or as accessories, while sculptural bulbous dresses were inspired by the work of Kenya-born ceramicist Magdelene Odundo.
"When you copy nature, you always learn something," Anderson declared in his show notes, which compared Haute Couture to a living ecosystem that is "evolving, adapting, enduring".
Other noteworthy pieces included dresses with spherical birdcage-inspired silhouettes, while other models wore transparent vest tops with their dresses gathered around their waists.
A-list attendees at the show at the Rodin Museum included actors Jennifer Lawrence and singer Rihanna as well as Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez. 
Before the show, Anderson admitted in an interview with the Business of Fashion website that he previously thought couture was "irrelevant", adding that he never really "understood the glamour behind it".
"Now, I feel like I'm doing a PhD in couture," he explained. 

Mixed men's

Last Wednesday, the former Loewe designer delivered his second menswear collection since his promotion to French luxury conglomerate LVMH's second-largest fashion brand in April last year.
Inspired by the idea of "today's aristocrats", it featured "angst and a kind of wrongness, engulfing wrong taste", Anderson told reporters, departing from his safer approach last year.
He radically redrew the Dior signature Bar jacket and sent out shirts adorned with rhinestone-fringed epaulettes while models donned yellow or spiked wigs.
Influential fashion website WWD said Anderson had gone "searching for thrills" in what amounted to a "fashion version of extreme mountaineering".
The New York Times said the man behind his own JW Anderson brand and considered one of his generation's leading lights was "thinking about many -- perhaps too many -- disparate ideas".
"He's taking Dior somewhere completely unprecedented. But I think he's exactly where he should be, since he's not there to rehash old ideas," Adrien Communier from GQ magazine in France told AFP.

Highlights

Elsewhere on Monday, Bezos and Sanchez joined Hollywood legend Demi Moore for a celeb-packed Schiaparelli show, while Indian designer Rahul Mishra dazzled with his latest collection.
On Tuesday, all eyes will be on Chanel designer Matthieu Blazy's debut Haute Couture show at the Grand Palais exhibition space. 
The 41-year-old Franco-Belgian, who was appointed in December 2024 after a highly regarded stint at Bottega Veneta, made a strong impression with his debut women's ready-to-wear collection.
He also demonstrated his command of the house's craftsmanship at a December show in the New York subway system.
Among other highlights, Armani will unveil the Italian house's first Haute Couture collection without the oversight of its founder, Giorgio, who died in early September at the age of 91.
adp-mdr/cc

film

Rushdie warns of political violence as he recounts his attack

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • "Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
  • The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said Sunday, warning that "everybody's in danger now" in the increasingly febrile United States. 
  • "Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said Sunday, warning that "everybody's in danger now" in the increasingly febrile United States. 
Speaking at the premiere of the documentary "Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie," the writer pointed to events unfolding across the country, where a second protester was shot dead by federal agents 24 hours earlier.
"The idea of danger and violence is close to everyone now in this country," he told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
"I think everybody's in danger now." 
The film, directed by documentarian Alex Gibney, is the companion piece to Rushdie's "Knife," a memoir recounting the harrowing 2022 attack and its aftermath.
The British-American author was at an event in Chautauqua, New York when 24-year-old Hadi Matar leapt onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times.
The brutal assault left Rushdie with life-changing injuries, including the loss of his right eye.
The comments on political violence come as President Donald Trump has surged militarized immigration raids into American cities, notably Minneapolis where federal agents have shot dead two US citizens this month. 
A man was arrested at Sundance on Saturday after allegedly punching Congressman Maxwell Frost in the face and screaming that Trump was going to deport him, the Florida lawmaker said on X.

Fatwa

Gibney's film uses graphic video of the assault on Rushdie, shot by event organizers and attendees, as well as intimate footage filmed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, over six weeks as the author lay in hospital grievously wounded.
It also mixes in archival news reports and interviews with Rushdie detailing the furor in the Islamic world that greeted the publication of his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses."
The following year, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, telling Muslims worldwide it was their religious duty to kill Rushdie.
For over a decade the author lived in hiding, protected by the British government, until a deal was reached in which the fatwa was officially rescinded in exchange for Britain's granting diplomatic recognition to Tehran.
As the immediate risk appeared to recede, Rushdie re-emerged, becoming something of a celebrity and continuing to create successful literary fiction.
But the threat against him never vanished, and the animosity some bore him remained. 

'Authoritarian'

Hadi, who was sentenced last year to 25 years for attempted murder and assault, told a reporter before his trial that he believed Rushdie had "attacked Islam." 
He admitted he had only read two pages of "The Satanic Verses."
Rushdie said the brutal attack on him was an example of a "larger thing."
"Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
"For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy. Whether that's journalism or universities or music or writing... the uncultured and ignorant, and the radical don't like it, and they take steps against it, which we see every day."
Rushdie's comments come in the wake of a crackdown Trump has launched on higher education, in an effort to stamp out what he claims is a "liberal bias" in university teaching.
Trump also routinely derides journalism and journalists, blasting any report he disagrees with as "fake news," while conservative US states increasingly ban books from school libraries.
The Booker-Prize winning author said the film as conceived was not intended as a commentary on the here and now.
"When you're making the film, you're making the film, and then the world does what it does, and sometimes the two things run into each other," he said.
"I'm now beginning to think that maybe the film is here at a kind of apposite moment, that maybe all of us now are feeling the risk of violence."
The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/ksb

fashion

Haute Couture Week begins in Paris

BY MARINE DO-VALE

  • – History - Haute Couture predates ready-to-wear fashion, which is industrially produced clothing in large quantities.
  • Four days of ultra-exclusive Haute Couture fashion shows get underway in Paris on Monday, but how is the calendar constructed and who gets to take part?
  • – History - Haute Couture predates ready-to-wear fashion, which is industrially produced clothing in large quantities.
Four days of ultra-exclusive Haute Couture fashion shows get underway in Paris on Monday, but how is the calendar constructed and who gets to take part? AFP has the answers.
– A restricted circle -
Only 13 houses hold the official "Haute Couture" accreditation, which is a legally protected term overseen by France's Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM).
These include luxury heavyweights Dior, Chanel and Givenchy, as well as Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Margiela, Alexis Mabille and Schiaparelli.
The designation is granted for one year only and must be renewed each season.
Some major French labels are not included, such as Saint Laurent and Hermes.
The former gave up Haute Couture in 2002 when founder Yves Saint Laurent left the house, while the latter plans to launch around 2027.
These houses are joined by seven "corresponding members", which have an activity considered similar to Haute Couture but are not based in France.
They include Italian brands Armani and Valentino, Lebanese designer Elie Saab and Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf.
The FHCM also invites several guest designers to show each season.
Syria's Rami Al Ali, France's Julie de Libran and Swiss designer Kevin Germanier are among the 28 houses showing through Thursday.
There will also be a debut by Phan Huy, who is the youngest designer ever invited to Paris Haute Couture Week by the FHCM -- aged just 26 -- and is the first Vietnamese couturier in the programme.
"What is interesting is both the presence of very large houses and young designers from abroad who bring new energy and a new vision," said Pierre Groppo, fashion and lifestyle editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair France.
– Criteria - 
Official Haute Couture houses must meet strict criteria to earn the label.
Designs must be original, made to measure and by hand, and created exclusively by the brand's permanent artistic director, in workshops based in France.
The house must also have two separate workshops: a "tailleur" workshop for structured, architectural garments such as jackets, coats and trousers, and a "flou" workshop for soft, fluid pieces such as dresses or blouses.
The FHCM monitoring committee also requires a workforce of at least 20 employees, as well as the presentation of two shows a year in Paris, in January and July.
In theory, houses are meant to present at least 25 looks combining daywear and eveningwear.
There is some flexibility for smaller houses, however. 
"If there are only 21 or 22 looks, we're not going to play the police," Pascal Morand, head of the FHCM, told AFP, adding that the rule of two shows per year had also recently been relaxed.
– History -
Haute Couture predates ready-to-wear fashion, which is industrially produced clothing in large quantities.
Designers cater to an extremely exclusive clientele able to purchase pieces for thousands of dollars intended for red carpets, galas, weddings or other public events.
It was born in Paris in the late 19th century, with figures such as Charles Frederick Worth, Jeanne Paquin and Paul Poiret, and has been legally protected and regulated since 1945 by the French industry ministry.
Morand called it a "laboratory" of craftsmanship and creativity that is a "symbol of French identity."
In December, it was added to France's intangible cultural heritage list, the first step towards earning world heritage status which is granted by the UN's UNESCO body.
mdv/adp/gv/mjw

fashion

Men's fashion goes low-risk in uncertain world

BY MARINE DO-VALE

  • According to him, both the public and designers are no longer looking for one-season pieces which are quickly out-of-date, instead opting for styling that will stand the test of time. 
  • Paris Men’s Fashion Week, which wrapped up Sunday, saw designers opt for often pragmatic and timeless styling, reflecting a low-risk approach at an uncertain time for the industry, experts said. 
  • According to him, both the public and designers are no longer looking for one-season pieces which are quickly out-of-date, instead opting for styling that will stand the test of time. 
Paris Men’s Fashion Week, which wrapped up Sunday, saw designers opt for often pragmatic and timeless styling, reflecting a low-risk approach at an uncertain time for the industry, experts said. 
After a 2025 marked by sweeping turnover among creative directors and numerous debuts, this Fall/Winter 2026 edition was more measured, in substance as well as in style. 
"It’s been a fairly conservative season, without any incredible propositions," Matthieu Morge Zucconi, head of men’s fashion at France's Le Figaro newspaper, told AFP. 
"We’re in a period where we zero in on what's essential. You can feel it in the shows," added Astrid Faguer, fashion journalist at Les Echos newspaper. 
Against a backdrop of worrying international news and economic turbulence in the luxury sector, brands are looking to reassure customers rather than risk unsettling them, experts agree. 

Suits in force

The classic suit-and-tie duo stood out as one of the strongest markers on the runways.
The overall colour palette was fairly classic: black, gray, beige and brown, with a few brighter touches, like the purple seen from Dior to Vuitton, via Issey Miyake and Etudes Studio. 
The extravagant over-sized jackets with large shoulder pads of previous seasons have become more fitted -- still loosely tailored, but more traditional.
"I think that with age and the way my view of the world is evolving now, I wanted to create a silhouette that's ... a bit more fitted," head of Paris-based 3.Paradis, Emeric Tchatchoua, told AFP.
Louis Vuitton chief designer Pharrell Williams wrote that his fairly conventional collection was "designed to endure rather than expire, it is a timeless expression."
For Adrien Communier, head of fashion at GQ magazine in France, the restraint signals a return to basics. 
"There’s really a phenomenon of creating clothes for the now, that will be able to last and take on everyday life," he observes. 
According to him, both the public and designers are no longer looking for one-season pieces which are quickly out-of-date, instead opting for styling that will stand the test of time. 
"It’s impossible not to see a reference to the international context. I think there’s something very responsive and pragmatic in relation to that," he told AFP. 
The unstable state of the world has weighed on luxury sales over the last few years, crimping profits at luxury groups which had enjoyed a post-Covid sales bonanza.  
- 'Normality' - 
It was not all sensible shapes and tasteful tailoring.
Dior designer Jonathan Anderson appeared keener than most to take some risks.
He said he didn't want "normality" as he reimagined modern-day aristocrats for his second men's collection, adding that his designs included some "angst and a kind of wrongness, engulfing wrong taste".
He sent out shirts with checks adorned with rhinestone-fringed epaulettes, while models wore yellow or spiked wigs.
The Bar jacket, a Dior signature item, was redesigned in a shrunken format
A grey cape-coat from Dries van Noten had tiny embedded jewels embedded in a gray cape-coat, while there were faux-fur coats for men at KidSuper and Willy Chavarria. 
Embroidery showed up in several shows, while floral prints and patchwork bomber jackets also featured.
Simon Longland, chief fashion buyer for London luxury store Harrod's, also said that the past week had been about designers "offering flexibility, comfort and longevity."
"Broadly, collections felt less driven by trend and more focused on creating pieces with purpose -- clothing intended to be worn, lived in and valued over multiple seasons rather than defined by the moment alone," he said.
mdr-adp/gv

film

Swinging to win: 'The Invite' delivers comedy gold at Sundance

  • "She kept sending us names of other people.
  • Most marriages have those moments: people are coming for dinner; one of you isn't really in the mood.
  • "She kept sending us names of other people.
Most marriages have those moments: people are coming for dinner; one of you isn't really in the mood. But not everyone finds out that their guests are into raucous group sex -- and want you to join them.
Olivia Wilde's blisteringly funny "The Invite" explores what happens when a husband and wife who have long since tired of each other find themselves sitting down with a couple very much in the throes of passion.
The film plunges Joe and Angela (Seth Rogen and Wilde) and Pina and Hawk (Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton) into a pressure cooker of awkward small talk, simmering anger, and sexual tension -- with comedic and relatable results.
"Anyone who's ever been in a relationship of any kind, I think will recognize some of these themes," Wilde told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival, where the movie had its premiere Saturday.
"We made this as a playful piece to allow people to laugh and get in touch with their feelings, maybe a little bit."
Joe, whose band had a minor hit two decades earlier, is now a ball of resentment over his life as a teacher in a second-rate music school. He's a curmudgeon whose back aches and who no longer touches the piano that once gave him so much joy.
Angela has an arts school degree but never did anything with it, directing her energy into decorating the San Francisco apartment they inherited from Joe's parents, and listening with envy to the earth-shaking orgasms her upstairs neighbor has.
When Pina and Hawk arrive for dinner, Angela is desperate to get along and determined to stop Joe from complaining to them about what he calls those "animal" sex noises.
But it's Pina and Hawk who broach the subject, on their way to offering what turns out to be the real invite of the film.

Improvisation

The blistering script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones ("Celeste and Jesse Forever") is the framework on which an A-list cast wantonly improvises, delivering a rapid fire of provocative lines.
"We had this rehearsal period where the six of us sat in a soundstage and we just dug into it," said Wilde.
"Several of the greatest moments in the movie are written by the cast."
Then when it came to filming, the performers let rip, which made the editing process very tricky, she said.
"There was such an embarrassment of riches," Wilde told the audience. "I had to lose this gold every day."
Rogan, who told AFP he is "a big fan of Olivia's," said when he first signed on to do the movie, Wilde was only set to direct -- something he and Norton were adamant was not right.
"Me and Edward were texting each other. We're just, like, 'How... do we talk her into being in the movie?'" he told the audience.
"She kept sending us names of other people. I was, like, 'Why are you doing this? There's an obvious person who should do this.'
"Then once she decided to cast herself in this film... it really took off."
Norton said Wilde's third directorial project, after "Booksmart" and "Don't Worry Darling," had been a masterclass in keeping plates spinning.
"Seth and I both have directed films that we've been acting in as well," he told the audience.
"Inevitably, you come to moments where you say, 'This was a terrible decision.'"
But that never seemed to happen with "The Invite."
"It's hard for me to overstate the grace and wisdom with which Olivia gave that performance and directed us," he said.
The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/mlm

Canada

'Mercy' debuts atop N.America box office, dislodging 'Avatar'

  • "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment in James Cameron's blockbuster fantasy series, came in second in the United States and Canada with another $7 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
  • Sci-fi thriller "Mercy" starring Chris Pratt debuted atop the North American box office with $11 million in ticket sales, ending the five-week reign of "Avatar: Fire and Ash," industry estimates showed Sunday.
  • "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment in James Cameron's blockbuster fantasy series, came in second in the United States and Canada with another $7 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
Sci-fi thriller "Mercy" starring Chris Pratt debuted atop the North American box office with $11 million in ticket sales, ending the five-week reign of "Avatar: Fire and Ash," industry estimates showed Sunday.
Pratt plays a man on trial for murdering his wife in the Amazon MGM Studios film, with his fate in the hands of an artificial intelligence judge.
The brutal winter storm hitting a large swath of the United States cut into the weekend totals, according to David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
"Considering the extreme weather that's closing theaters across two-thirds of the US and keeping people home, it's a very good opening," Gross said of "Mercy."
"The final numbers may be lower on Monday after we see the effects of the cold and snow."
"Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment in James Cameron's blockbuster fantasy series, came in second in the United States and Canada with another $7 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
That puts its domestic box office haul at $378.5 million, with an additional $1 billion overseas, according to Box Office Mojo.
Disney's Oscar-nominated animated film "Zootopia 2" churned along, remaining in third place at $5.7 million and crossing the $400 million mark in the US and Canada.
In fourth place at $4.2 million was Lionsgate's "The Housemaid," an adaptation of Freida McFadden's best-selling novel about a young woman who is hired by a wealthy couple with dark secrets.
In fifth place was "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," the fourth installment in the zombie horror series, at $3.6 million.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
"Marty Supreme" ($3.5 million)
"Return to Silent Hill" ($3.3 million)
"Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" ($2 million in re-release) 
"Hamnet" ($2 million)
"Primate" ($1.6 million)
bur-sst/des

shooting

Hollywood stars slam ICE after fatal Minneapolis shooting

  • Wilde's comments come after the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who died after being pinned to the ground and shot multiple times by federal agents.
  • Hollywood stars used red carpet appearances at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday to denounce the killing of an American protester who was shot dead on the streets of Minneapolis by federal immigration agents.
  • Wilde's comments come after the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who died after being pinned to the ground and shot multiple times by federal agents.
Hollywood stars used red carpet appearances at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday to denounce the killing of an American protester who was shot dead on the streets of Minneapolis by federal immigration agents.
Actress Olivia Wilde, who was in Park City, Utah, for the premiere of "The Invite," said the death of a second protester in just three weeks at the hands of federal agents was "unfathomable."
"I can't believe that we're watching people get murdered in the street," she told AFP.
"These brave Americans who have stepped out to protest the injustice of these ICE quote/unquote 'officers,' and watching them be murdered -- it's unfathomable. We cannot normalize it."
Wilde's comments come after the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who died after being pinned to the ground and shot multiple times by federal agents.
Pretti's death came weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, in her car in the city.
Wilde, who wore an "ICE OUT" badge, said the US government violence against people exercising their right to free expression was "un-American."
"We may have a government that is somehow trying to make excuses for it and legitimize it, but we (Americans) don't."
Fellow actress Natalie Portman, who was promoting "The Gallerist," got emotional as she described her feelings over a "horrible day."
"What is happening in our country is just obscene," she told AFP in Park City.
"What (President Donald) Trump and (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous and needs to end."
hg/lga/mtp

Bollywood

India's Bollywood bets big on 'event cinema'

BY SEEMA SINHA

  • - 'Propaganda' - Critics argue Bollywood is increasingly producing polarising films aligned with the ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government, using cinema's unrivalled mass reach to shape public sentiment.
  • India's Bollywood is moving decisively towards a cinema of scale and confrontation -- where patriotism, spectacle, and ideological clarity increasingly trump nuance and narrative risk, industry insiders say.
  • - 'Propaganda' - Critics argue Bollywood is increasingly producing polarising films aligned with the ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government, using cinema's unrivalled mass reach to shape public sentiment.
India's Bollywood is moving decisively towards a cinema of scale and confrontation -- where patriotism, spectacle, and ideological clarity increasingly trump nuance and narrative risk, industry insiders say.
The shift has fuelled what experts describe as "event cinema", as studios rely on big-budget spectacles and top-tier stars to lure audiences -- especially smartphone-loving Gen Z viewers -- back into theatres.
That strategy appears to be working. Akshaye Rathi, a prominent film exhibitor, predicted a 45–50 percent rise in net Hindi box-office collections and a 25 percent increase in young theatre-goers this year.
"The year looks poised for historic numbers," Rathi told AFP.
The industry's financial model was shaken during the Covid-19 pandemic, which coincided with the rapid rise of streaming platforms and a shift to home viewing.
But its 2026 upcoming slate, packed with patriotic war dramas, spy thrillers, mythological epics and nationalist narratives -- reflects not just a commercial recalibration, analysts say, but a broader change in creative priorities.

'Propaganda'

Critics argue Bollywood is increasingly producing polarising films aligned with the ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government, using cinema's unrivalled mass reach to shape public sentiment.
"These days film themes also depend upon who is ruling at the centre -- Hindu wave, propaganda... all these are big factors that filmmakers cash in on," said movie business analyst Atul Mohan, editor of film trade magazine Complete Cinema. "But only one or two films work, not all 10 or 15."
He cited the success of 2022 blockbuster "The Kashmir Files", depicting in harrowing detail how several hundred thousand Hindus fled Muslim militants in Indian-administered Kashmir in 1989-90.
And he compared that with the 2025 film "The Bengal Files", on alleged political violence in eastern India, which he described as a commercial "disaster".
Films centred on geopolitical conflict, internal enemies, and heroic masculinity now dominate mainstream Hindi cinema, reflecting both the political mood and the economics of theatrical survival.
Last year's gory action thriller "Dhurandhar", meaning "formidable", leaned heavily on hyper-nationalist tropes of Indian agents confronting Pakistan-linked foes, and became one of 2025's highest-grossing films -- following a real-life four-day border clash with Pakistan.
Its sequel, "Dhurandhar 2", again starring Ranveer Singh, is set for release in March.

'Gratuitous violence'

Veteran Delhi-based film critic Arnab Banerjee said political messaging now outweighs craftsmanship.
"It is not the quality of the film that matters today, it is propaganda films that are working," said Banerjee.
"The mood of the nation is such that people are lapping up these subjects. Pakistan-bashing and references to enemy countries are being accepted without questioning."
Banerjee also criticised what he called an excess of "gratuitous violence", arguing that "it is social media hype that is deciding the film's fate."
He pointed to "Ikkis", a film on the 1971 India–Pakistan war released in January, which struggled commercially despite positive reviews.
"It is a well-made film, but it didn't work," he said. "Perhaps because Pakistan is not shown as the enemy."
Director Ahmed Khan, however, said quality still ultimately determines success, citing his upcoming action-comedy "Welcome to the Jungle", starring Akshay Kumar.
"Whatever the genre -- action, drama, comedy or horror -- it depends on how well you've made it," Khan said.
He pointed to the 2025 successes of the contrasting romantic drama "Saiyaara" as well as high-octane "Dhurandhar".
"Both, poles apart in genre, did great business," he said. "People's mood can change any time."
str-pjm/ane

fashion

Paris fashion doyenne Nichanian bows out at Hermes after 37 years

BY MARINE DO-VALE AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
  • France's Veronique Nichanian received a standing ovation from a star-packed crowd at her final runway show for Hermes on Saturday after 37 years as chief menswear designer, the end of an era at the family-run firm.
  • Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
France's Veronique Nichanian received a standing ovation from a star-packed crowd at her final runway show for Hermes on Saturday after 37 years as chief menswear designer, the end of an era at the family-run firm.
American singer Usher, rapper Travis Scott and "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick watched on as Nichanian sent out a nostalgia-tinged final collection at the historic stock market building in Paris.
"I'm feeling emotional, it’s my decision to stop and do something else," the 71-year-old told AFP afterwards. "It’s a decision I’ve thought through carefully because I feel it’s the right moment for me, and for the house."
The departure of the doyenne of Paris fashion adds to the upheaval at the top of the luxury clothing sector over the last 12 months, which has seen a new generation of designers promoted at brands including Chanel, Dior and Gucci.
Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
The Paris-born designer helped transform a niche luxury brand known for its scarves and leather goods into a global fashion profit machine with sales of menswear estimated at several billion euros a year.
Her design philosophy mirrors her own discreet personality, with a focus on quality and comfort through quiet evolutions, rather than flashy re-invention.
Her final collection for Fall-Winter 2026, which included outfits inspired by her work in the 1990s and early 2000s, "underlines how Hermes clothes are timeless," she told AFP.
She will be replaced by 30-something London designer Grace Wales Bonner, founder of her own Wales Bonner label who will produce her first Hermes collection next year.
Wales Bonner, whose work draws on her father's Afro-Caribbean roots in Jamaica and British tailoring, represents a generational and stylistic shift for the classic French brand.
"Grace Wales Bonner is very modern, committed. Hermes has chosen someone who will bring not only quality, but also an image and a point of view," Marie Ottavi, a fashion journalist at France's Liberation newspaper, told AFP.

'Macho milieu' 

On the eve of her last show, Nichanian told the Business of Fashion website that no one at Hermes had said "you have to stop" but she had felt the need to step back due to the frenetic pace of the corporate business.
"There's so much change, it loses something magic, the something that makes people happy," she told the website about the fashion industry.
"When I talk to my friends at the different houses, they're not happy. It's not only insecurity, it's pressure."
She will remain in charge of men's accessories and silk at Hermes. 
The Armenian-origin designer started her career with Italian legend Nino Cerruti, who plucked her from her Paris fashion school, L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ESCP).
Speaking to AFP in 2014, she confided that she had had to "work harder" as a woman in "a pretty macho milieu and the men didn't expect a woman to tell them what to do." 
As well as her gradual modernising touch, she has also won fans for her attention to what she calls "selfish" details, hidden touches of luxury such as a lambskin-lined pocket.
"We women can sometimes make concessions to comfort. But men, never," she told Le Figaro newspaper in 2018. 

KidSuper

Elsewhere at Paris Men's Fashion Week on Saturday, celeb-favorite Kidsuper founder Colm Dillane produced one of his typically eccentric and creative runway shows.
It began with a short film directed by Dillane featuring veteran French actor Vincent Cassel as a paranoid Parisian losing his grasp on reality and ending with models sitting at cafe tables on the catwalk.
The clothes featured long faux fur coats and patterned trenches for men, or patchwork bombers, all with lavish textures in a palette of autumnal greens, browns and ochre.
Men's Fashion Week concludes Sunday with a show by Jacquemus before the start of Haute Couture Week on Monday. 
adp-mdv/gv

film

This is spinal... brat? Charli xcx stars in mockumentary 'The Moment'

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • She and her tour's creative director, Celeste (played by Hailey Gates), want to move on from "brat," the skinny tank tops and IDGAF self-indulgence that dominated 2024, when her album of the same name ruled streaming platforms.
  • What's a megastar to do when she has defined an entire summer, produced a multi-million-selling album and even persuaded the dictionary eggheads to declare "brat" a word of the year?
  • She and her tour's creative director, Celeste (played by Hailey Gates), want to move on from "brat," the skinny tank tops and IDGAF self-indulgence that dominated 2024, when her album of the same name ruled streaming platforms.
What's a megastar to do when she has defined an entire summer, produced a multi-million-selling album and even persuaded the dictionary eggheads to declare "brat" a word of the year?
That's the conundrum at the heart of "The Moment," a tongue-in-cheek mockumentary starring Charli XCX as she grapples with her meteoric rise to fame and tries to prepare for a sell-out arena tour.
"I'm obviously quite related to my character," the 33-year-old British singer quipped at the Sundance Film Festival, where "The Moment" premiered on Friday.
"I would like to think I'm not as much of a nightmare as Charli in the film," she said to laughter.
The celluloid Charli is indeed a bit of a nightmare: a pastiche of a controlling diva who is on top of every detail, and yet is just a young singer thrust suddenly into the global spotlight and surrounded by an oppressive and needy entourage.
She and her tour's creative director, Celeste (played by Hailey Gates), want to move on from "brat," the skinny tank tops and IDGAF self-indulgence that dominated 2024, when her album of the same name ruled streaming platforms.
But the suits -- the record label executive (Rosanna Arquette) and Johannes, the solipsistic film director hired to shepherd the tour movie (Alexander Skarsgard) -- want to keep the "brat" money machine rolling.
The clash of artistic vision sees Celeste and Johannes battle it out over tour design, in which her on-brand strobe and in-your-face messaging gives way to his light-up wrist bands and a stage set that "looks like a lava lamp," she tells Charli.
A bizarre credit card endorsement aimed at young, queer customers ("How will they know?" asks a bewildered Charli) adds to the pressure and Charli jets off to a spa on Ibiza.
A chance encounter there with Kylie Jenner (in a cameo appearance) sends Charli further down the celebrity spiral, and she caves in to Johannes' sanitized vision of her tour.

Tribute to Reiner

The script, written by Bertie Brandes and Aidan Zamiri, who also directs, draws heavily on archetypes in a plot that sticks closely to the familiar artist-against-the-machine formula.
But, Charli said, those characters accurately describe the music industry.
"I've met different versions of all of the characters in this film," she told filmgoers.
"I've met the people who are truly rooting for you... I've met the people who are in it to be close to the artist. I've met the sort of people who are so 'we totally get you', and they really don't."
Debut feature director Zamiri, whose background is in music videos, said the mockumentary style he was aiming for owed a debt of gratitude to "This is Spinal Tap" -- the 1984 comedy about a fictional British band.
"I think this film wouldn't exist without Rob Reiner and 'Spinal Tap'," he said, paying tribute to the director who was murdered alongside his wife in their Los Angeles home in December.

Pivot

"The Moment" is one of three films starring Charli XCX that are screening at Sundance; she has smaller roles in ensemble pieces "I Want Your Sex" with Olivia Wilde and "The Gallerist," which features Natalie Portman.
The move into film is a deliberate effort to find something new, she told the audience.
"Right now, like the 'me' in the film, I am really wanting 'brat' to stop and actually really pivot as far away from it as possible," she said.
"And that's not because I don't love it. It's just because I think for all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself, and you want to switch the creative soup that you're in and go and live in a different bowl for a while and just feel enriched by that."
Asked how she finds time for so many projects, she reached for a lyric from her smash track "365."
"I don't know, I just do. When you love it, you do it, right? 'Don't sleep, don't eat, just do it on repeat,' to quote myself," she said with a mock curtsy.
The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/sst

film

Lula revived Brazilian cinema, says 'The Secret Agent' director

BY RAMON SAHMKOW

  • -  "I think any story about the use of power to crush people will always be universal," Mendonca Filho said.
  • Brazil's latest Oscar-nominated thriller "The Secret Agent" has resonated with audiences around the world as a universal tale of authoritarian regimes using their power "to crush people," director Kleber Mendonca Filho told AFP in an interview.
  • -  "I think any story about the use of power to crush people will always be universal," Mendonca Filho said.
Brazil's latest Oscar-nominated thriller "The Secret Agent" has resonated with audiences around the world as a universal tale of authoritarian regimes using their power "to crush people," director Kleber Mendonca Filho told AFP in an interview.
Following on "I'm Still Here," winner of last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the new film about Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship has captivated Hollywood.
Fresh from winning two Golden Globes, the period thriller picked up four Oscar nominations on Thursday -- Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting.
Mendonca Filho, the director of 2016's "Aquarius," about a woman refusing to be driven out of her home by developers, and 2019's anti-imperialism drama "Bacurau," links the current boom in the Brazilian film industry to the return to power of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2023.
Under Lula's far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, "culture was extinguished in Brazil," he said.
Mendonca Filho spoke with AFP from Recife, his hometown in northeastern Brazil, where he received the news of the Oscar nominations.
In the film set in Recife, Moura -- of "Civil War," "Elite Squad" and "Narcos" fame -- plays a university professor recently arrived from Sao Paulo, who is unaware that he is being hunted by hitmen linked to the military regime.
Mendonca Filho lavished Moura with praise, saying "he's a great actor, a great artist and a great person. And he's exactly where he should be" among the nominees for best performance. 
Below are excerpts from the interview, edited for clarity. 

How do you explain this moment in Brazilian cinema?

"Brazilian cinema reconnected with the current with Lula's election in 2022, after four years in which culture, practically speaking, was extinguished in Brazil," Mendonca Filho said.
"The Ministry of Culture was eliminated. All support mechanisms were deactivated. 
"(The) two films that were very well received in Brazil and internationally, 'I Am Still Here' and 'The Secret Agent,' became showcase films for Brazilian cinema."
- What's the global appeal of a film about Brazil's last dictatorship? - 
"I think any story about the use of power to crush people will always be universal," Mendonca Filho said.
"The world today is the same one of wars, invasions, land grabs, the use of military or personal power, aggression and battles -- it's nothing new. What's shocking is that the same mistakes keep being made. 
"When I wrote 'The Secret Agent,' I initially thought it would be set in 1977, but I began to realize that the film spoke a lot to the logic of Brazil in 2019 or 2021 (under Bolsonaro). A logic passed down from the past. 
"In the midst of 21st-century democracy, a group of politicians decided to revive the iconography, the words, the methods and the lack of ethics of the military regime." 

How did US audiences receive the film?

"The reaction is very positive. Many people in contemporary America can identify with its story. I think the reaction is largely due to the historical moment the United States is going through," Mendonca Filho said.

Does cinema have a political role to play?

"I don't see any obligation to make political films," Mendonca Filho said.
"If you make a film or tell a story honestly, frankly and knowledgeably, you will probably contribute to a better understanding of a country or society. 
"My films have contributed to the debate in some way, but they weren't designed for that purpose.
"I don't make films to be symbols of resistance, but I believe that art, artistic expression, can function very well as a form of resistance."
rsr/app/sla/lga

film

'One in a Million': Syrian refugee tale wows Sundance

  • There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
  • As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.
  • There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.
In Ismir, they met Isra'a, a then-11-year-old girl whose family had left Aleppo as bombs rained down on the city, and who would become the subject of their documentary "One In A Million," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.
For the next ten years, they followed her and her family's travels through Europe, towards Germany and a new life, where the opportunities and the challenges would almost tear her family apart.
There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
"The obvious vulnerability of her situation, especially as being a child going through this, but that at the same time, she was an agent.
"She wasn't sitting back, waiting for other people to save her. She was trying to fight, make her own way there."
The documentary mixes fly-on-the-wall footage with sit-down interviews that reveal Isra'a's changing relationship with Germany, with her religion, and with her father.
It is this evolution between father and daughter that provides the emotional backbone to the film, and through which tensions play out over their new-found freedoms in Europe -- something her father struggles to adjust to.
Isra'a, who by the end of the film is a married mother living in Germany, said watching her life on film in the Park City theatre was "beautiful."
And having documentarists follow her every step of the way as she grew had its upsides.
"I felt like this was something very special," she told the audience after the screening. "My friends thought I was famous; it made making friends easier and faster."

Search

Family is also at the center of Michal Marczak's beautifully-shot "Closure," which landed at Sundance on Friday.
The intensely cinematic documentary tells the story of a father's search for his teenage son, who vanished from a bridge over the Vistula River, Poland's longest water course.
Over 12 months, Marczak follows Daniel as he searches the river, using boats, underwater drones and hand tools, torn between the dread that he might find Chris' body and the desperate hope that he might be alive.
The river, at times hauntingly beautiful and others murky and unknowable, offers a mirror to Daniel's torment, and to the increasingly fragile hope of his wife, Agnieszka, that Chris will one day come home.
Daniel’s quest expands from the river into the digital world, as he tries to understand how a generation that seems constantly connected can sometimes feel so cut off.
His unrelenting river search lends him a degree of fame in Poland, and he is contacted by another father whose child is missing, eventually helping him to find her body.
Marczak said he had begun the film almost by accident, when he and his wife were rafting down the river thinking about a fiction project when they ran into trouble.
"We were trying to dock on this island, it got quite dangerous," he said.
"Then out of nowhere, this man appeared and he guided us to safety and that was Daniel. 
"We spent the night together by the campfire, and he told us about why he's there. I saw the emotions and...I just couldn't stop thinking about it."
At that moment, he decided to abandon the feature project and make a documentary instead.
Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/sla

Britain

Robbie Williams tops Beatles for most number one albums in UK

  • "But here he is, on top of the world, the UK's number 1 album artist -- of all time!"
  • Pop superstar Robbie Williams has surpassed the Beatles as the artist with the most number one albums in the history of the British charts, sales trackers said Friday.
  • "But here he is, on top of the world, the UK's number 1 album artist -- of all time!"
Pop superstar Robbie Williams has surpassed the Beatles as the artist with the most number one albums in the history of the British charts, sales trackers said Friday.
The news came a week after Williams released "Britpop", now officially his 16th UK chart-topping album.
"He's the one!" said the Official Charts Company, referencing the hit 1998 single "She's the One" by the former Take That frontman.
Since Williams, 51, started his chart-topping career with his 1997 solo debut, "Life Thru a Lens", he has sold an estimated 20 million albums in the UK.
"Britpop" is his first in seven years.
"Not even the confident young 16-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent would have believed this were possible when he joined Take That back in 1990," Official Charts chief executive Martin Talbot said in a statement.
"But here he is, on top of the world, the UK's number 1 album artist -- of all time!"
In his 35-year career, Williams has sold 80 million albums worldwide.
The Beatles now stand in second place on the British album chart-topping list with 15, followed by the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift, tied with 14, and Elvis Presley with 13.
mhc/dth/jhb/jj

music

Spanish prosecutors dismiss sex abuse case against Julio Iglesias

BY DIEGO URDANETA

  • But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
  • Spanish prosecutors on Friday shelved a sex abuse and human trafficking complaint against veteran singer Julio Iglesias, saying Spain's courts had no jurisdiction in the case.
  • But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
Spanish prosecutors on Friday shelved a sex abuse and human trafficking complaint against veteran singer Julio Iglesias, saying Spain's courts had no jurisdiction in the case.
Two women -- a domestic worker and a physiotherapist -- alleged they had suffered sexual and other forms of abuse while working at Iglesias's properties in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.
The allegations dominated headlines in Spain after being aired last week in a joint investigation by online Spanish newspaper elDiario.es and US television network Univision.
But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
After reviewing the complaint, they said they could not open an investigation because the victims "are foreign" and "do not reside in Spain", and the accused is also outside the country.
Madrid-born Iglesias, 82, lives between Miami, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
The alleged acts took place "in countries fully competent" to investigate them, the prosecutors added.
Advocacy groups Women's Link Worldwide and Amnesty International had said a complaint filed with Spanish prosecutors on January 5 outlined alleged acts that could be considered "a crime of human trafficking for the purpose of forced labour" and "crimes against sexual freedom".
The two organisations called the prosecutors' decision "regrettable" and said the two women "will continue fighting for justice and will pursue all available legal avenues", in a statement published in elDiario.es.
Spanish prosecutors said their ruling does not prevent the women from filing their complaint in other jurisdictions.

Jurisdiction issue

According to testimony collected by the two groups, Iglesias subjected the women to "sexual harassment, regularly checked their mobile phones, restricted their ability to leave the home where they worked, and required them to work up to 16 hours a day without days off".
Iglesias called the accusations "absolutely false", saying he had never "abused, coerced, or disrespected any woman".
"I have never felt such malice, but I still have the strength to let people know the whole truth and to defend my dignity against such a serious accusation," he added in an Instagram message last week.
Iglesias's lawyer, Jose Antonio Choclan, told Spain's top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, earlier this week that the alleged acts should be prosecuted where they occurred, requesting the case be closed.
The complaint was submitted in Spain and not the Caribbean countries where the crimes allegedly took place because of the nature of Spanish legislation on gender-based violence and trafficking, Women's Link Worldwide said.
Iglesias, father of fellow superstar singer Enrique Iglesias, is a Grammy winner with more than 300 million records sold in a career spanning decades.
bur-du/imm-ds/jhb

fashion

Stars turn out for Valentino's funeral in Rome

  • Hollywood actress Hathaway, who attended the funeral with her husband Adam Shulman, this week paid tribute to a "titan of a designer" who was also a friend with whom she shared dancing and karaoke. 
  • Anne Hathaway and Donatella Versace were among the stars who attended the funeral Friday of legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, with some mourners wearing touches of his trademark red in tribute.
  • Hollywood actress Hathaway, who attended the funeral with her husband Adam Shulman, this week paid tribute to a "titan of a designer" who was also a friend with whom she shared dancing and karaoke. 
Anne Hathaway and Donatella Versace were among the stars who attended the funeral Friday of legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, with some mourners wearing touches of his trademark red in tribute.
Rome's Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs was decorated with wreaths of white roses while a large photo of the designer, who died on Monday aged 93, was placed in front of the altar.
Throughout a long career, Valentino dressed some of the world's most elegant women, from Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy to Princess Diana, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Hollywood actress Hathaway, who attended the funeral with her husband Adam Shulman, this week paid tribute to a "titan of a designer" who was also a friend with whom she shared dancing and karaoke. 
He "made my world so much brighter, grander and more delightful than I could have ever understood it to be", she wrote on Instagram.
"Now he rests forever surrounded by eternal beauty, a most fitting next chapter for the one true Emperor who gifted us all a legacy of unparalleled magnificence... I love you my darling, and I miss you already," she wrote.
Designers Versace, Tom Ford, Alessandro Michele -- the creative director of Valentino -- Balenciaga's Pier Paolo Piccioli, Anna Fendi and Brunello Cucinelli were also among the guests, as was fashion editor Anna Wintour.
Led by Valentino's partner Giancarlo Giammetti, most of the mourners -- who also included many of Valentino's employees -- wore black.
But several wore a red hat, scarf or shawl, recalling the designer's signature colour.
Valentino died on Monday at his home in Rome, and his coffin was put on public display at his foundation in the city centre on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We'll never find the class that Valentino had again," said one member of the public who came to pay his respects, Francesco Sangiovanni, 81.
"He conquered the world with his refinement... and he enhanced Italy, because he brought Italy to the world. The greatest people wore Valentino," he told AFP.
jra-ar/yad

film

'Navalny' director hits right notes in Sundance fiction debut

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • Roher said the process of making a feature film had been fascinating, not least because after years in documentary, he was suddenly working with actors.
  • Academy Award-winning documentary director Daniel Roher was back at Sundance on Thursday for the film festival's opening day, showcasing a sharp turn in his work.
  • Roher said the process of making a feature film had been fascinating, not least because after years in documentary, he was suddenly working with actors.
Academy Award-winning documentary director Daniel Roher was back at Sundance on Thursday for the film festival's opening day, showcasing a sharp turn in his work.
Roher, whose "Navalny" scooped Best Documentary Oscar for its poignant telling of the life of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, shifted gears into fiction for "Tuner," starring Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall.
Part odd-couple, part heartbreaking romance and part thriller, "Tuner" was the answer to the question: "Now what?" after Roher scooped Hollywood's biggest prize in 2023, the director said.
"I was 29 and I was sitting there thinking to myself: 'What... do I do now?" Roher told an audience in Park City, Utah.
"I actually fell into this little rut... I didn't feel like making anything. I was really scared and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment and everything."
A chance encounter with a piano tuner -- the husband of his wife's friend -- set him wondering what this previously unconsidered profession was all about.
"He was like, 'it's about atrophy and entropy and the forces of the universe'," he said. "'They want to pull these strings out of tune, and it's my job to keep them in tune so people can play'."
"And I was like: let me write this down."
Hoffman -- in stunning form as the eccentric owner of a piano tuning business who refuses to wear his hearing aids -- plays mentor and father figure to Woodall's Nikki, a talented former pianist who had to stop playing because his oversensitive hearing makes any kind of loud noise impossible.
Alone on a tuning job one evening in a wealthy house, Nikki meets a gang of thieves who discover his incredible hearing means he can crack safes.
What starts out as a side-earner quickly degenerates, and Nikki is thrust into dangerous situations that jeopardise his burgeoning relationship with a gifted composition student, played by Havana Rose Liu.
Roher said the process of making a feature film had been fascinating, not least because after years in documentary, he was suddenly working with actors.
"Everything they do is just bizarre, but interesting and fascinating," he said. "I have tremendous respect for them, for their abilities, for the way that they operate. But I don't understand it."
Working with a veteran like Hoffman, whom he called a "legend" of the screen, however, helped put him at ease.
"He treated me like it was 1968, I was Mike Nichols, and we were shooting (Hoffman's breakout film) 'The Graduate'.
"He called me sir. He called me boss. And he just loved being there."

Rescue

Elsewhere at Sundance on Thursday, filmgoers got their first look at "Hanging By A Wire."
Director Mohammed Ali Naqvi's pacey documentary tells the real life story of the rescue of Pakistani schoolboys stranded hundreds of feet above a Himalayan valley in a rusting cable car when wires snap.
Told largely through footage filmed by the hundreds of terrified villagers who gathered below, the film showcases how the ubiquity of the cellphone and connections to social media affect the way that events unfold.
It is through grainy online footage that a local journalist first becomes aware of the drama. Her report, boosted by stunning drone footage provided by a local amateur, alerts the international media and galvanises a rescue response.
The military, police, a local zipline entrepreneur and a have-a-go hero are all involved in the pulse-racing rescue.
For Naqvi, the pacing and feel of the film needed to be as urgent and driving as if it were fiction.
"I love action thriller films from the '80s and 90s, and those are some of the films that have inspired us to make this," Naqvi told a Sundance audience.
Other highlights of the opening day included debut director Louis Paxton's dark comedy "The Incomer," which is infused with Scottish folklore.
Domhnall Gleeson ("Harry Potter") plays the man from the council sent to evict oddball islanders, Isla and Sandy (Gayle Rankin and Grant O'Rourke).
Inevitably, he is sucked in to the weird island life, in a film that explores loneliness and fitting in.
Sundance runs until February 1.
hg/lga/cms

entertainment

NYC sues to block Dr. Phil-fronted police TV show

  • Dr. Phil is the stage name of Phil McGraw, who was made famous to daytime television audiences by Oprah Winfrey, who had him on her show, and went on to host his own long-running series as a tough-talking psychologist. 
  • New York City has sued to block a TV show about the police department fronted by celebrity psychologist Dr. Phil that local officials say is "extremely problematic."
  • Dr. Phil is the stage name of Phil McGraw, who was made famous to daytime television audiences by Oprah Winfrey, who had him on her show, and went on to host his own long-running series as a tough-talking psychologist. 
New York City has sued to block a TV show about the police department fronted by celebrity psychologist Dr. Phil that local officials say is "extremely problematic."
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the city argues episodes of "Behind the Badge," which was given the green light by former mayor Eric Adams, "pose an imminent threat to the life and safety of active NYPD officers." 
"For example, the faces, voices, and names of undercover officers conducting operations in plainclothes are not obscured," the complaint alleges.
"There are numerous other pieces of harmful footage that cannot be released to the public. For example, the identities of individuals in NYPD custody are depicted in the rough cuts without any blurring or redactions applied to their faces."
The city, now led by Democratic mayor Zohran Mamdani, is asking the court to prohibit the sale, distribution, or broadcast of the material, which a New York State Supreme Court judge temporarily granted on Wednesday.
"The  Production  company is disappointed that this lawsuit was filed without advance notice and an opportunity to respond to the request for a restraint on publication which the United States Constitution prohibits," said Chip Babcock, a lawyer for the TV show.
Dr. Phil is the stage name of Phil McGraw, who was made famous to daytime television audiences by Oprah Winfrey, who had him on her show, and went on to host his own long-running series as a tough-talking psychologist. 
Since his eponymous show was dropped from the network television, the 75-year-old has transitioned to other reality television ventures for his own channel.
Mamdani has sought to chart a starkly different course from his predecessor Adams, a flamboyant former police captain known for his idiosyncratic style and love of publicity.
On Friday, a judge will hold a hearing on the documentary that is produced by TV talkshow host Dr. Phil's son Jordan McGraw and his production company McGraw Media, court filings showed.
pel/gw/sla

film

'Sinners' breaks all-time Oscars record with 16 nominations

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • Recently appointed Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor opened the early-morning announcement in Los Angeles with a warning about the threat of artificial intelligence.
  • Vampire period horror film "Sinners" smashed the all-time Oscars record with 16 nominations, the Academy announced Thursday.
  • Recently appointed Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor opened the early-morning announcement in Los Angeles with a warning about the threat of artificial intelligence.
Vampire period horror film "Sinners" smashed the all-time Oscars record with 16 nominations, the Academy announced Thursday.
The blues-inflected race allegory from director Ryan Coogler scored nominations in nearly every category possible, including best picture.
In doing so, "Sinners" blasted past the previous record of 14, jointly held by "Titanic," "La La Land" and "All About Eve."
Coogler told industry website Deadline that the "pretty crazy" record haul of nominations was "so rewarding." 
A rare original Hollywood film that is not based on any existing franchise, "Sinners" was viewed with skepticism by many in the business before its April release, but became a $360 million global hit.
Coogler said he "did not have any expectations" for awards, adding that "people just showing up to the movies and having a good time, that would've been enough."
But its huge tally included a best actor nomination for Michael B. Jordan -- who plays twins returning home to the 1930s segregated US South -- plus nods for everything from screenplay to score.
There was also a nomination for best casting, the first new category to be added to Hollywood's most prestigious awards in more than two decades.
"One Battle After Another" came in second place with 13 nods including best picture, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson.
But its female lead, 25-year-old newcomer Chase Infiniti, was surprisingly snubbed by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters.
Both of the top two nomination getters came from Warner Bros, the movie studio that is currently the target of a bidding war between Netflix and Paramount.
Guillermo del Toro's monster epic "Frankenstein," Timothee Chalamet's ping-pong drama "Marty Supreme" and Norwegian arthouse favorite "Sentimental Value" each bagged nine nominations.
"Hamnet," a period drama in which William Shakespeare and his wife struggle to cope with the loss of their son in plague-ravaged Elizabethan England, secured eight.
Jessie Buckley was nominated for playing the Bard's long-suffering wife Agnes, though the film's male lead Paul Mescal missed out.
"There's no part of Agnes that exists without Paul... and what he poured into this story," Buckley told The Hollywood Reporter after the announcement.

Acting races

The nominations set the stage for the 98th Oscars ceremony on March 15.
While "Sinners" tops the nominations, "One Battle" remains the frontrunner to win best picture, having won almost every precursor prize going so far this awards season.
The zany thriller about a retired revolutionary looking for his teen daughter against a wild backdrop of radical violence, immigration raids and white supremacists broke the all-time record for nominations by Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild.
DiCaprio, Chalamet and Jordan will do battle for the best actor Oscar, along with Ethan Hawke for Broadway period drama "Blue Moon," and Wagner Moura from Brazilian political thriller "The Secret Agent."
For best actress, Buckley will compete with Emma Stone playing an alien -- or is she? -- in conspiracy theorist drama "Bugonia," Renate Reinsve in "Sentimental Value," Kate Hudson in quirky music biopic "Song Sung Blue," and Rose Byrne as a struggling mom in indie hit "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You."

International voters

With the Academy's overseas voter base rapidly expanding, both "Sentimental Value" and "The Secret Agent" were nominated for best picture.
But Persian-language Palme d'Or winner "It Was Just An Accident" missed out in the top category, and will compete for best international film, along with Spain's nomadic hippie odyssey "Sirat" and heart-wrenching Palestinian docudrama "The Voice of Hind Rajab."
Pop megastar Ariana Grande surprisingly missed out on a best supporting actress nomination for her portrayal of Glinda in "Wicked: For Good," which failed to pick up any nods.
Recently appointed Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor opened the early-morning announcement in Los Angeles with a warning about the threat of artificial intelligence.
"We live in a time of limitless technology that enables us to push the boundaries of our cinematic experience," she said.
"And our profound belief is that the heartbeat of film is and will always remain unmistakably human."
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