Iran Showbiz Latest News and Updates

The 2023 Academy Museum Gala brought out well over 100 celebrities on Sunday night (December 3)!

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Freida Pinto took a break from her jury duties at the Red Sea Film Festival to talk to Variety about her career and her hopes for the future. The Indian actor shot to world fame for her starring role in Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) and remains committed to the breadth of cinema. “I’ve always looked at cinema globally,” she tells Variety.

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir has made history at the 20th edition of Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival as the first local director to win its top prize with her hybrid documentary The Mother Of All Lies.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Untamed Talent, a management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba, is launching with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions, a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment. Front Row Productions will provide capital and strategic value to support Untamed Talent’s goals to innovate new business models covering the South West Asia and North Africa region, the fastest-growing entertainment market in the world.

Former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba has launched management and production company Untamed Talent, with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese feature “The Mimicry” was named best picture at the first edition of the Cinema at Sea – Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival. The festival ran Nov.

Nibbling on a popular pub snack could help add years to your life, according to research.

As Omid Scobie's explosive royal book Endgame hits the shelves this week, many are questioning who the British author is.

Donald Trump in an upcoming film titled The Apprentice.According to a Deadline Hollywood report, Stan will star alongside Succession star Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova in the film. Strong will play infamous attorney Roy Cohn while Bakalova plays a young version of Trump’s first wife, Ivana.The Apprentice – which supposedly began production this week according to Deadline Hollywood – is being led by Cannes prize-winning Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, best known for his film Holy Spider.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s one you probably didn’t see coming: Sebastian Stan, the Emmy and Golden Globe nominee known for his work in the MCU and the acclaimed Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, has been tapped for the role of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a new film from Cannes prize-winning Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider).

Sebastian Stan has landed another role where he will portray a real life public figure!

Jordan Moreau Sebastian Stan is playing young Donald Trump in a movie titled “The Student” from Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (“Holy Spider”), Variety can confirm. The cast also includes “Succession” Emmy winner Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and “Borat 2” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” actor Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. According to the logline, “‘The Student’ is an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit.

Walking faster could lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Researchers found people who walked faster than 3km an hour (1.86 mph) were less likely to develop the condition, while those with a speedier stride of more than 6km an hour (3.7 mph) lowered their risk by 39 per cent.

The 54th edition of India’s Goa Film Festival concluded Tuesday evening with a tribute to Michael Douglas, who picked up the fest’s Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema. 

Naman Ramachandran The 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, concluded on Tuesday with Hollywood veteran Michael Douglas accepting the Satyajit Ray lifetime achievement award for excellence in cinema. Previous winners of the award include Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Dilip Kumar, Carlos Saura, Krzysztof Zanussi and Wong Kar-wai. “It’s a tremendous honor to receive this award, a career life achievement.

Iranian directors Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghadam, whose last collaboration Ballad Of A White Cow made waves on the festival circuit, have been banned from travel and face a trial in relation to their upcoming film My Favourite Cake.

Nick Holdsworth Kaleem Aftab, director of international programming at the Red Sea Film Festival, has cast his net wide in selecting the 14 films in the festival’s International Short Film Competition program. Aimed at attracting emerging talent from across Africa, Asia and the Islamic world, the section includes fiction, animation and documentary in films that average 15-20 minutes long, but may be as short as a couple of minutes, or as long as an hour.

The ex-wife of a dad bludgeoned to death by his next-door neighbour told of her devastation following his brutal death. Esmaeil Tofigh was killed by Tarik Hussein, who repeatedly hit him over the head with a hammer in Longsight.

Jessica Chastain, resplendent in a shimmering silver tasseled jump suit, championed the power of art to bring about positive change at the opening night of the Marrakech Film Festival on Friday evening.

A kind dad had offered to help his neighbour decorate his house before he was brutally killed by him. Tarik Hussein lived next door to 56-year-old Esmaeil Tofigh in Longsight.

The Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron, is visiting Israel following the announcement of a truce in the war with Hamas, the Government said today.

Garry Keane and Stephen Gerard Kelly’s documentary In The Shadow Of Beirut, which is Ireland’s Oscar category this year, is headed to the Red Sea International Film Festival, running November 30 to December 9 in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Caitlyn Jenner took to her X (Twitter) account on Wednesday afternoon and decided to be all KINDS of hateful for absolutely no good reason.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Think about some of the most iconic moments in modern TV history, and there’s a good chance Don Mischer was in the control room. Michael Jackson performing the Moonwalk for the first time on “Motown 25.” Muhammad Ali making a surprise appearance to light the Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony torch. Prince pulling off arguably the most lauded Super Bowl halftime show ever, in the pouring rain.

Naman Ramachandran Tatino Films, a French production and consultancy company involved in industry events in Asia and Europe, has teamed with Kazakhstan-based Alternativa Film Project and the Philippines’ QCinema Project Market for three film residencies. The partnership will yield two Pop Up film residencies called the Pop Up Alternativa Awards for filmmakers from Central Asia and one Pop Up QCFC (Quezon City Film Commission) x QCinema Award for Southeast Asian filmmakers to develop their upcoming film projects.

EXCLUSIVE: Silver Lining Entertainment has signed Niousha Noor, the star of Maryam Keshavarz’s multiple prize-winning Sundance dramedy The Persian Version, for representation.

K.J. Yossman The second annual BFI and Chanel Filmmaker Awards celebrated creative audacity at the tony Claridges Hotel in London on Thursday afternoon.

Ground-breaking French-Iranian sales agent and producer Hengameh Panahi, who represented a myriad of renowned Cannes and Venice prize-winning auteur directors, has died at the age of 67.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Hengameh Panahi, the celebrated French-Iranian producer who founded Celluloid Dreams and forged long-standing bonds with auteurs around the world, has died. She was 67.

Jessica Kiang The 87 submissions for this year’s Academy Award for international feature mark a drop-off from the last few record-setting years when that number has been consistently in the 90s. Whether this is an immediate reaction to the Academy’s rule change mandating that at least 50% of every national selection committee needs to be made up of “artists and or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures” is an open question. But the big-hitters remain in the race and so, pending the official confirmation of the eligibility of the below from the Academy, here is the full international feature submissions list for the 96th Academy Awards.

Documentary director Jeff Kaufman has given an update on the situation for detained award-winning Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh following an in-depth call with her husband Reza Khandan.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced the bulk of its lineup from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), signaling that the event is forging ahead with its third edition despite the Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world. The fest’s third edition, set to run Nov.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled it 2023 line-up and theme as it maintains its third edition against the backdrop of the escalating Israel-Gaza Conflict. (scroll down for full list)

Grimes has teamed up with Iranian Dutch artist and producer Sevdaliza, and shared the new track ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. Check it out below.The single marks the first time that the two artists have come together for a collaboration, and the final result is an introspective rave-inspired hit.“Love me then let me go/ Acid rays through my bones/ Angels in a ravers heart/ Love me then let me go/ Tomorrow I’ll open my eyes/ I don’t wanna waste my youth,” Grimes sings in the opening chorus of the track before Sevdaliza joins for the verse.‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ also marks Sevdaliza’s second single of 2023, following her track, ‘Ride or Die’, which arrived back in June and featured an appearance from Villano Antillano.“Admiration and adoration turn into weapons when women challenge expectations,” the artist and producer said of the track (via Our Culture).

Updated November 2… Fears are growing for the health of detained Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh following fresh details of the violent circumstances of her arrest and current physical condition.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Tony and Emmy Award-nominated actor Arian Moayed (Succession) and Oscar-winning filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi (Period. End of Sentence.) have boarded Liam LoPinto‘s Oscar-qualifying live-action short The Old Young Crow as executive producers.