French Film Industry Rallies to Support Iranian, Women-Led Protests in Wake of Mahsa Amini’s Death in Custody (EXCLUSIVE)

, showed her support for women and girls in Iran with a black T-shirt featuring the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” written in Farsi. Meghan wore the top for a Women@Spotify event at the company’s LA headquarters, where she was joined by Archewell president Mandana Dayani and executive vice president of global communications Ashley Hansen, who are both Iranian.“At an event today, Meghan spoke about the revolution being led by women and young girls in Iran, the courage and bravery they show every day, and their leadership and advocacy of basic human rights,” Dayani wrote as she shared a series of images from the event on .

experiencing a career renaissance thanks to Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which is allowing both fans (and the actor himself) to go back and consider those films he made back when he was a star the first time around. There’s been a lot of talk about Fraser’s time with The Mummy franchise, but the actor took a recent opportunity in the San Francisco bay area to apologize for something that went wrong while filming George of the Jungle, and in doing so made a brand new error. Fraser recently attended the Mill Valley Film Festival (via SFGate) where The Whale was set to be screened.

A large group of Venezuelans expelled from the United States and sent to Mexico under a new Homeland Security policy protested at the border Friday, causing officials to briefly close an international bridge leading to Texas. The protesters gathered in Matamoros, Mexico, which sits across from Brownsville, Texas. Video footage posted on social media shows a group of people gathered on the bridge appearing to talk among themselves.  A spokesperson for U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Former RAI CEO Fabrizio Salini – who prior to running the Italian pubcaster held top posts at Sky, Fox International Channels, and Discovery Italy – has joined Italy’s Minerva Pictures, which is stepping up its expansion from film into the realms of TV and streaming content. The veteran TV exec will become a board member at Rome-based Minerva, the production, digital publishing and distribution company headed by Gianluca Curti. Minerva has been branching out into TV since 2019 when Santo Versace, who is the older brother of Gianni and Donatella Versace, decided to invest in the company, becoming chairman of its board. Salini, besides joining the Minerva board, will be in charge of the company’s “business activities with broadcasters and streamers,” said Curti, who added that the exec has a mandate to explore opportunities that go beyond film, TV series and docs.

Naman Ramachandran An influential panel of buyers from Asia and Europe identified multiple problems in the current, depressed post-pandemic box office landscape for arthouse films and attempted to find solutions at a Platform Busan panel on Monday. The panel included Laure Parleani of Totem Films (France), Kim Heaok of Hark & Company (Japan), Beril Heral of Filmarti (Turkey) and June Lee from Korean streamer Watcha. The panel was moderated by Variety Asia editor Patrick Frater. Parleani mentioned that France has had its worst box office September in 42 years, with only Rebecca Zlotowski’s Venice title “Other People’s Children” and Alice Winocour’s Cannes title “Revoir Paris,” both starring Virginie Efira, bringing some cheer amongst local fare.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor One of the new honors the Grammy Awards will introduce at their next ceremony is song for social change — a special-merit award that “recognizes creators of message-driven music that responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact.” While the honor is “curated by a blue-ribbon committee,” there’s little question that the number of submissions will have an impact — and according to the Recording Academy, 95,000 of the 115,000 submissions received have been for Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour’s song, “Baraye,” a protest song about 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested and beaten by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing a proper head covering, in line with the country’s Islamic law.

The state broadcaster of Iran appeared to be hacked on air this weekend, including a news bulletin being interrupted with a protest.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Grappling with free-falling theatrical admissions and misplaced blame by exhibitors on so-called “auteur” movies, the leading lights of the French film industry sounded the alarm about the state of the country’s cinema sector during a dramatic and emotional conference. The jam-packed event on Thursday, called Appel aux Etats Generaux (Call for General Assemblies), was organized by some of France’s most established producers including Saïd Ben Saïd, Judith Lou Levy and Philippe Carcassone, who work frequently with directors Paul Verhoven, Mati Diop and Florian Zeller, respectively. The conference was held at the Institut du Monde Arabe, a cultural venue headed by Jack Lang, who served as minister of culture throughout the 1980s. More than 400 people attended the event, including members of the independent distributors guild (DIRE) and the directors guild SRF, the governing body of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert and other French actresses have cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian women. The trio joined 50 other French cinema icons such as Isabelle Adjani, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Alexandra Lamy to give themselves a haircut to express their support for the widespread civil unrest in Iran that was kickstarted by the state-sanctioned killing of the 22-year-old activist Mahsa Amini after she refused to follow the law forcing women to don the hijab on September 16. The video - which was hashtagged with the phrase Hair For Freedom and was posted on Wednesday (05.

Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche have shown solidarity with Iranian protesters by filming themselves cutting off pieces of their hair. In recent weeks, protesters in Iran - and subsequently all over the world - have been cutting off a lock of hair to protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. She died shortly after being detained by Iran's morality police for wearing her hijab too loosely and showing some hair.

Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert and a handful of female actresses and singers from France are lending their support to the people of Iran amid the mass protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.Amini, 22, was killed by Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 for improperly wearing her hijab — a violation of the country's strict dress codes for women in public.According to a United Nations report, Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 and taken to a morality «re-education center» in Tehran where, per Iranian authorities, she died of a heart attack three days later.

and Juliette Binoche expressed support for women in Iran by chopping off their hair.Last month, women across Iran against the country's oppressive standards for women following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody on September 16. Amini was detained by Iran's morality police for wearing a hijab improperly.

French stars and creatives including the likes of Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche are cutting their hair in a video as a sign of protest against the Iranian government.

More than 50 French female artists from the worlds of cinema and music have symbolically cut their hair in a video campaign showing support for the ongoing protests in Iran calling for more freedom for women following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Manori Ravindran International Editor The London Film Festival has revealed its jury line-up for this year’s awards. The Official Competition jury is led by “Power of the Dog” and “Cold War” producer Tanya Seghatchian (pictured), while the First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) jury will be headed up by director and actor Nana Mensah whose directorial debut “Queen of Glory” won the Best New Narrative Director prize at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. Elsewhere, Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini will lead the jury selecting the winner of the Grierson Award for Best Documentary after winning the award in 2018 for his film “What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire.”

Academy Award-nominated writer/director Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton,” “The Bourne Legacy”) is having a moment thanks to the rapturous critical and commercial reception of his new “Star Wars” series, “Andor,” starring Diego Luna. The showrunner is riding high with the praise given to his Lucasfilm streaming series, which presents audiences a very different experience and perspective on the galaxy far far away.

Editors note: The death of Mahsa Amini earlier this month after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab according to official dictates has sparked outrage and protests within the Islamic Republic and around the world, with Global Day of Action for Iran set for Saturday with rallies around the globe (more information below). Currently seen as one of the stars of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Iran-born actress and Amnesty International UK ambassador Nazanin Boniadi reflects on Amini’s tragic death and the potentially pivotal time for her homeland.

French film and TV trade Le Film Français has posted a public apology after the cover photo for its latest weekly publication featuring seven men prompted anger from top female cinema professionals in France, including Venice Golden Lion winner Audrey Diwan and actress Alexandra Lamy.

Angelina Jolie has joined in with those demanding freedom for Iranian women, as protests continue after the death of Mahsa Amini.