Iran Bans Director Mohammad Rasoulof From Leaving Country To Serve On Cannes Jury

EXCLUSIVE: New indie film financier Mizzel Media is launching in Cannes with what we understand to be a healthy six-figure investment in feature The Girl From Köln, the next film from Holy Spider and The Tale outfit One Two Films.

The first reactions from critics for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have been revealed following the film’s world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival!

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Directors Guild of America is disputing a Writers Guild of America strike rule that forbids writer-directors from making minor script changes. The conflict revives a decades-old battle — which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 — over the WGA’s jurisdiction. Though the Supreme Court ruled against the WGA, the guild has continued to argue that “hyphenate” members are prohibited from making minor script modifications during a strike. The dispute turns on eight types of activities — including cutting material for time, making adjustments in dialogue, and changing stage directions — that the WGA sees as writing work under its jurisdiction.

Ukraine war and the momentous burst of rebellion against the Iranian regime prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini are reverberating profoundly at the Cannes Film Festival. At the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve paid tribute to the war’s victims by reciting a poem from Ukrainian poet Lessia Oukraïnka, solemnly declaring: “I no longer have either happiness or freedom, only one hope remains to me: to return one day to my beautiful Ukraine.” One year ago, Cannes got off to an emotional start with remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Viola Davis was serving up looks on the red carpet at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival!

CANNES — Johnny Depp seemed back in full celebrity mode on Tuesday, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans before the premiere of the Cannes Film Festival’s opening film “Jeanne du Barry,” which marks the actor’s first major role since his high-profile defamation trial.

CANNES (Reuters) -Johnny Depp seemed back in full celebrity mode on Tuesday, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans before the premiere of the Cannes Film Festival's opening film "Jeanne du Barry," which marks the actor's first major role since his high-profile defamation trial. Fans in the French Riviera city were seen hoisting signs that read "Congrats, Johnny" and "We are sorry" with a heart. The festival delivered on its glamorous reputation with a parade of stars including Mads Mikkelsen, a blue-haired Helen Mirren and John C.

So many stars walked the red carpet at the premiere screening of Johnny Depp‘s new movie Jeanne du Barry, which is kicking off the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Gillian Anderson and Jason Issacs will star in the film adaptation of Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir The Salt Path. Marianne Elliott, the Tony Award and Olivier Award winning theater artist, is to make her screen directing debut on the project which will be a nice one in the Cannes market for Rocket Science. Black Bear has already snapped up UK rights.

EXCLUSIVE:  Destry Allyn Spielberg’s directorial debut, Please Don’t Feed the Children, is heading to the Cannes market with Altitude Film Sales, which is repping world sales.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here, and with Cannes just a few days away we’ve got plenty for you to digest in this week’s newsletter. You can subscribe here.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, whose movies “The Square” and “Triangle of Sadness” have won two of the past five Palmes d’Or, will attend Cannes this year not as a competitor but as jury president. Over a lively phone chat, Östlund (who lives on Majorca with his fashion-photographer wife, Sina Görtz, and their son) shares his wildest aspirations for the festival. What made you want to take on the role of jury president? When you look at the history of who has been the president of the Cannes Film Festival’s jury, you get humbled. My biggest inspirations come from the directors connected to this festival. And the way Cannes is fighting for the intellectual European perspective of cinema is something that is important and unique in the world.

WhatsApp could vanish from UK mobile phones amid a row over the proposed online safety bill.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to officially have their new royal family titles bestowed upon them during the coronation ceremony.Joining the monarchs for the occasion are the senior members of the royal family, including Prince William and his son, Prince George — who each have special roles in the program. Ahead of the big day, over 2,200 invitations were sent to members of government in the U.K.

The Amsterdam-based International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has called on Iran to lift a travel ban on director Mohammad Rasoulof.

The strike has begun, Insiders. The industrial action, the first in the U.S. since 2007-08, dominated news coverage in film and TV this week but there’s been plenty more going around the world. Jesse Whittock here to take you through. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter here.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-winner Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) will star alongside Oscar-nominee Kate Hudson (Glass Onion) and actress and model Kaia Gerber (Babylon) in psychological thriller Shell from director Max Minghella (Teen Spirit).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been banned from leaving Iran to serve as a member of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard jury, according to a report. News of the travel ban for the director who was recently released from Tehran’s Evin prison after being arrested last July for criticizing the government on social media, has been reported by the Farsi-language news service of Radio France Internationale (RFI). The report said Rasoulof had been asked to be a member of the Un Certain Regard jury but has been forced to decline. The Cannes Film Festival did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof has confirmed that he was unable to accept an invitation from the Cannes Film Festival to participate in its Un Certain Regard jury after being barred from leaving Iran.