Fraudster planned to kill his wealthy future wife 'almost the minute' he met her, court told

As the 77th Cannes Film Festival gets underway, there are plenty of obvious frontrunners for the coveted Palme d’Or. But don’t count out Ali Abbasi‘s “The Apprentice” as a dark horse pick to win the festival’s top prize.

Irvines Bakery of Beith scooped awards across four categories at the prestigious Scottish Baker of the Year 2024/25 Awards in Glasgow.

The Cover Turns 1, a toast to the relaunch of the editorial property that seeks to champion rising and emerging talent from across the globe.The Cover Turns 1 playlist – featuring all 49 artists who have appeared on The Cover since its launch on May 29, 2023 – is available to listen to below.The playlist features songs by artists such as Chappell Roan, Ashnikko, Blondshell and more, as well as DIY and unsigned acts including Picture Parlour and this week’s Cover star, Songer.The Cover Turns 1 is a month of celebrations that will look back at the incredible new talent NME has championed on The Cover in its first year, with new content that includes Life Since The Cover (exploring milestones artists have hit since their cover debuted), Cover To Cover (cover stars on cover stars) and Behind The Cover (a behind the scenes look at the creative process).Relaunched on May 29 2023, The Cover is dedicated to championing the most exciting emerging artists on earth and connecting them with NME’s global audience of millions of music fans. From soon-to-be superstars to the unsigned and DIY heroes making waves in their respective scenes, all have a place on The Cover.

Studiocanal has acquired UK and Ireland rights for Ali Abbasi’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender The Apprentice.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed a slew of international territory sales on its resistance epic “William Tell,” Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play. WME Independent represents domestic rights.

Magnus von Horn’s sophomore feature Sweat earned its director a spot in Cannes’ Official Selection in 2020, after his debut, The Here After, played in Directors’ Fortnight in 2015. But the festival of 2020 was canceled in the wake of the Covid pandemic, so von Horn’s place in this year’s Competition, with his third feature The Girl With the Needle, must surely mark the Swedish director’s coming-of-age. The film, starring Vic Carmen Sonne and Trine Dyrholm, riffs on one of Denmark’s most notorious murder cases to weave a poetic and dark fairytale about the people living on the margins in the aftermath of the First World War. 

A nursery nurse put a baby girl in “mortal danger” and then deliberately did nothing about it, a jury has heard.

Alex Ritman Paris-based sales house Charades has sold the Argentinian Western-inspired documentary “Gaucho Gaucho” across much of Europe. The film — which won a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at CPH:DOX — has landed deals with Tandem (France), Filmin (Spain), Selmer Media (Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark), M2 (Romania, Poland, Hungary. Ex-Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria), Praesens (Switzerland) and Bantam Films (Benelux).

In 2020, Magnus von Horn was excited to find that his film Sweat had been accepted into the Official Selection at Cannes, a big step up from his debut, The Here After, which made Directors’ Fortnight in 2015. The pandemic put an end to that, but his disappointment was short-lived; this year, his dark atmospheric follow-up, The Girl With the Needle, sees him joining the big league. “This is huge to me,” he beams. “The main competition!”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor European Film Promotion is playing host at the Cannes Film Festival to 20 up-and-coming European producers, selected for its Producers on the Move program. Variety invited the producers to share details of their upcoming projects. Katharina Posch, Austria“I’m Not Here to Make Friends”Director: Julia Niemann“I’m Not Here to Make Friends” is a sleek and sunny psycho thriller about a reality TV show set on a remote island.

Christopher Vourlias In the past decade, Swedish-Polish filmmaker Magnus von Horn has become something of a fixture on the French Riviera, with his latest film, “The Girl With the Needle,” the director’s third feature to debut at the Cannes Film Festival and his first to compete for the Palme d’Or. But the dark historical drama, which is set in post-WWI Copenhagen, marks a departure for the 40-year-old.

Scottish thriller Granite Harbour returns to Aberdeen for a new three-part series, following former sergeant in the Royal Military Police turned detective, Davis Lindo (Romario Simpson), and his partner DS Lara Bartlett (Hannah Donaldson) as they tackle a murder case involving an oil tycoon. In the latest instalment, an uneasy truce is called with Grantley, leading Davis and Bart to investigate a dinghy washed up on the beach, which links back to the Stolthet. As clothing fibres are discovered on the dinghy, tensions rise as Macmillan moves to impound the Stolthet, and Bart and Lindo question Captain Nielsen.

Met Gala was on Monday, and people are still discussing the famous and fashionable event. The biggest names in entertainment, fashion, and sport gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and there were many viral moments.This year’s theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” the dress code “The Garden of Time,” inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story under the same name.

Sebastian Stan and Lily James are set to take lead roles in a new psychological horror thriller titled, “Let The Evil Go West.” The film hails from Danish director Christian Tafdrup (the original 2022 version of “Speak No Evil”), and Xc Vs penned the script.

Carolina Herrera will be honored with the 2024 Hispanic Heritage Award for Fashion at the 37th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards (HHAs). The ceremony is scheduled at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts‘ Opera House on September 5th, 2024.In 1988, The White House established the HHAs to honor Hispanic Heritage Month in America.

The Chromatica Ball special is coming, after all!

There has been royal baby joy for Prince Gustav and Princess Carina of Denmark as they have welcomed their second child - a daughter - via surrogate. Gustav - who is Queen Margrethe's nephew and a cousin of King Frederik X - and Carina both 55, have been together for more than 20 years and married in Germany two years ago.The couple spent years fighting a strict inheritance rule set by the Prince's Nazi grandfather in the 1930s, which prevented them from marrying.The couple welcomed their son, Prince Gustav Albrecht, via a surrogate in the US last year and were both present during the birth.

EXCLUSIVE: The upcoming ABBA feature, which will air on 14 broadcasters including the BBC and CW, is an attempt to give the global superstars the Asif Kapadia-style doc treatment for the first time while combatting “Anglo-American” snobbery, according to its director.

Rosamund Pike is about to put on a magical display in Now You See Me 3!

UPDATED 10:00 a.m. PT: London’s Met Police is investigating comedian Dane Baptiste following a now-deleted death threat posted on Instagram that was aimed at a fellow comic.