City Dakar Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Even if the critical reactions have been mixed, Italian films have proven much stronger than usual at this year’s Venice Film Festival, with a notable resurgence of genre filmmaking in the likes of Adagio and Enea. Ironically, Matteo Garrone, the one local director in the selection whose actual stock in trade is genre of all stripes — gangster realism (Gomorrah, Dogman), satirical comedy (Reality), and baroque fantasy (Tale of Tales) — arrived this year with a blisteringly topical drama that might be his most traditional, and best, yet.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Jane Campion is championing Matteo Garrone‘s “Io Capitano,” which is Italy’s Oscar-nominated contender for best international feature film. The movie narrates the Homeric journey of two two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe in pursuit of a better life. It realistically depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.

The Grand Tour is sending Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May off to another exotic location for the Amazon Prime Video show's latest episode, with the trio flying to foreign office red zone Mauritania. The three former Top Gear stars follow in the tracks of the Paris-Dakar rally in cheap modified sports cars, encountering minefields, ravines and rivers in the West African nation. Despite facing a number of dangerous challenges during filming, Richard, 54, has admitted that it was the lack of cool beers that got him down the most.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated immigration epic “Io Capitano” is gaining traction in movie theaters across the African continent, and will soon be touring villages in Senegal with the director in tow as part of an itinerant cinema initiative called Cinemovel. Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s latest feature — the title for which translates to “Me Captain” — narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave the Senegalese capital of Dakar to go to Europe.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sting, Isabella Rossellini, and U.S. director Roger Ross Williams (“The Apollo,” “Life Animated”) came out to support the recent New York launch of Matteo Garrone’s Venice prizewinning immigration epic “Io Capitano” at the Museum of Modern Art. The movie – which is Italy’s now shortlisted Oscar candidate for best international feature film – narrates the Homeric journey of two two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe in pursuit of a better life.

EXCLUSIVE: Cohen Media Group has set Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone’s latest pic, Io Capitano, for a nationwide release. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Roberto Benigni, whose film “Life Is Beautiful” won three Oscars in 1999, has come out of the woodwork to support Matteo Garrone’s Golden Globe-nominated “Io Capitano,” which is Italy’s current Oscar candidate for best international feature film. The revered yet reclusive Italian actor/director, whose most recent big screen role is playing Geppetto in Matteo Garrone’s hit 2019 live-action adaptation of “Pinocchio,” is clearly a big fan of “Io Capitano” (the title translates to “Me Captain”). The movie narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe.

EXCLUSIVE: Activist Artists Management has brought on Grant Pennel as a Talent Manager, also signing Moustapha Fall, the Senegalese actor who earned praise for his debut performance in Matteo Garrone’s Golden Globe-nominated Io Capitano.

Tomorrow Manchester will host the Chanel Métiers d'art show - one of the most significant events in the fashion calendar. Having graced culturally relevant locations such as Dakar, Tokyo and New York, Manchester has been chosen as the venue for the 2023 show, with the fashion house citing it as "one of the most effervescent cities of pop culture and an avant-garde one, whose bands, spanning all genres, have changed the history of music."

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano” is getting a special screening on Wednesday in Brussels, where hundreds of EU parliament members will watch the timely immigration drama on which Pathè has announced a slew of sales. The film, which is Italy’s Oscar candidate for best international feature film, world premiered to strong reviews in September at Venice Film Festival, where it won best director for Garrone and best emerging actor for its co-star Seydou Sarr.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Though it’s become a convenient catch-all term for journalists covering the subject, the phrase “European migrant crisis” can’t help but leave a sour taste in the mouth — implying as it does that Europe, the destination for so many hard-up voyagers from variously ailing or hostile countries, is the disadvantaged party in all this. That bias carries through to the bulk of well-intended films on the matter, which tend to pick up migrants’ stories, however sympathetically, on European turf.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone, who is a two-time Cannes jury prizewinner, with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012, is in competition at the Venice Film Festival for the first time with his immigration-themed drama “Io Capitano.” Shot in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of largely non-professional actors, “Io Capitano” narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe. Garrone’s own company, Archimede, produced with RAI Cinema and Belgium’s Tarantula Film as a co-producer. The drama is backed by Pathé, which is handling world sales through Pathé International.

Despina Athanassiadis, France Born in France and with Greek roots, Athanassiadis is currently focusing on her Alliance4Development project “The Young One,” about female truck drivers – “It’s a story of transmission, from older to younger generation” – which was awarded script consultancy residency at DreamAgo. “As a filmmaker, I’m interested in people who struggle. I find it fascinating, watching how they find ways to fix their problems.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone, who is a two-time Cannes jury prizewinner with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012, is set to be in competition in Venice for the first time with his immigration-themed drama “Io Capitano.” Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s new film – the title for which translates to “I Captain” – narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe. It depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Yes, the Cannes Film Festival has only just started. But Hollywood is already quietly planning for the Venice Film Festival lineup, as the unofficial launch of awards season in late August is starting to shape up with several high-profile titles, Variety has learned. Among the films in contention to bow on the Lido: Luca Guadagnino’s sexy tennis comedy “Challengers,” starring Zendaya and Josh O’Connor, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ surrealist science-fiction romance “Poor Things,” with Emma Stone and Marc Ruffalo, among entries believed to be locked-in for a Venice launch. Zendaya was last in Venice in 2021 with “Dune,” but Denis Villeneuve’s sequel, which has an early November launch date, is not expected to follow suit to the fest.

Terry Hall, the longtime voice of legendary ska group The Specials has died after what the band termed a brief illness. He was 63.

The Interrupters have recruited Rancid‘s Tim Armstrong and The Bodysnatchers’ Rhoda Dakar for their new single ‘As We Live’.The track, which you can listen to below, is the third to be lifted from their forthcoming new album ‘In The Wild’, which is due out on August 5 via Hellcat / Epitaph. It follows ‘Anything Was Better’ and ‘In The Mirror’.“Love is the fuel for everything beautiful in the world.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“We Cry Together” is probably the most conversation-stopping song on Kendrick Lamar’s brilliant and challenging fifth album “Mr. Morale & the High Steppers” — a horrifyingly realistic recreation of an argument in an abusive relationship that finds Lamar and actress Taylour Paige saying absolutely horrible things to each other, with her delivering an entire verse while sobbing, and apparently culminates with the two of them having sex.The most commonly cited precedent for “We Cry Together” is Eminem’s 2000 song “Kim,” an even more horrifying scenario in which he murders his real-life ex-wife.

The Interrupters have announced their return and details of their first album in four years.The follow up to 2018’s ‘Fight The Good Fight’ is titled ‘In The Wild’ and it will arrive on August 5 via Hellcat/Epitaph Records.The album has been previewed this week with first single, ‘In The Mirror’, which takes the group back to their ska-punk roots.Speaking about the new track, vocalist Aimee Interrupter said: “I fell into so many self-destructive patterns trying to come to terms with my childhood. I spent so long trying to run from the pain. No matter how far I ran, there I was…I realised I needed to make peace with who I saw in the mirror.”Listen to the new track below. Commenting on the record, the band added: “We are so excited to announce our 4th full-length album ‘In The Wild’.“We put so much love into this album.

Ed Meza @edmezavarInternational feature film and commercial content group Iconoclast and Berlin-based StickUp Films have established a new joint venture to produce feature films and series for the domestic and international markets.Represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the new shingle, Iconoclast Films Germany, is aiming to produce a minimum of three film or series projects annually within a five-year ramp-up period.The company is headed by Luis Singer and Dennis Schanz of StickUp Films – the creators and co-producers of Netflix’s award-winning series “Skylines” — as well as Iconoclast executive producer Swantje Rummel.Iconoclast sees the new venture as part of its international content strategy and a logical extension of its brand. In addition to producing recent works by the likes of Gus Van Sant (“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot”), Julian Schnabel (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Harmony Korine (“The Beach Bum”) and Romain Gavras (“The World Is Yours”) through its companies in the U.S.

Senegal has become an online icon after he offered a heartwarming show of solidarity to student mothers across the country. Labaly Touré, a professor at the University of Kaolack in Dakar, tweeted two photos of himself teaching while cradling the baby of one of his pupils.

A Swim-on Part in the Goldfish Bowl, "Mark was certainly the star." And at a different time she allegedly said, according to the Independent, "I always felt I came second of the two. Unloved is not the right word but I never felt that I made the grade.”Yep! That part is true, too.

$6 billion eponymous development project will transform a Senegalese farming village by the decade’s end.“I want the buildings to look like real African sculptures that they make in the villages,” Akon, 47, told a masked crowd Monday in the seaside capital, Dakar.The Senegalese American artist — whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam — was in town to lay the first stone in a corn field on 2,000 acres of coastal land given to him by the Senegalese government.Construction, he said, is

France to return certain cultural artifacts taken from African countries during the colonial era. The law, which will go to parliament for consideration, centers on the transfer of ownership of several African objects, including a saber loaned to Senegal last year.

By Justin Kroll

Amazon Prime has commissioned a new documentary series about Spanish racing driver Fernando Alonso, it announced Thursday. Titled “Fernando,” the new documentary will feature intimate access to Alonso and his racing team throughout the past year in the lead up to his debut at the Dakar Rally in South America.

By Jake Kanter

Amazon Prime Video has announced its latest exclusive documentary series, Fernando, a unique portrayal into Formula One World Champion, and one of Spain’s most successful and popular sport stars, Fernando Alonso.

Nick Gold ran the independent London-based World Circuit label on a simple premise. “I thought if you love something, there’s a chance that someone else will too,” says Gold, who opened up the typically niche market for world music to a wide au

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets the President of Senegal, Macky Sall (Photo: Facebook)