Iran Showbiz Latest News and Updates

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.

Swedish director Ruben Östlund has been announced as a guest of honor at the 15th edition of France’s Les Arcs Film Festival, in the role of its Talent Village Ambassador.

The 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its selection, opening with Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man. (scroll down for full list of films)

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent “Snow Leopard,” the last film by Tibetan director Pema Tseden prior to his death in May, was awarded the Grand Prix at the closing ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday. Premiering out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival and later screening at Toronto, the film depicts the argument between a father and his adult son of how to deal with the title beast, which has descended from the mountains to kill sheep in their village.

Family drama Snow Leopard, directed by the late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, has won the Tokyo Grand Prix, the top prize at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

EXCLUSIVE: Succession star Arian Moayed is getting behind the award-winning documentary Joonam as it makes a push for Oscar consideration.

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been arrested while attending the funeral of teenager Armita Geravand, who died after allegedly being assaulted by morality police on the Tehran metro system for not wearing Iran‘s obligatory headscarf.

EXCLUSIVE: Picture Tree International (PTI) has boarded sales on German Iranian director Alireza Golafshan’s comedy Everything’s Fifty Fifty about a divorced couple who embark on a family vacation, ahead of the AFM.

After focusing on Taiwanese projects for its first three years, the pitching section of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) opened its doors to international projects for the first time this year. 

Israel expects to launch a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon to destroy Hamas, the country's defence minister said.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its full jury, signaling that the event is forging ahead with its 20th edition despite the Israel-Hamas conflict — which has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region — and the earthquake that hit the country in September. Joining Jessica Chastain – who is the fest’s previously announced jury president – will be Iranian actor Zar Amir; French actor Camille Cottin; Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton; British director Joanna Hogg; U.S. director Dee Rees; Swedish-Egyptian director Tarek Saleh; Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård and French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani.

ITV News has apologized after giving over airtime to an Iranian state TV journalist who described Hamas‘ attack on Israel as a “moment of triumph.”

We often take advantage of our queer privilege in ways many spend their entire lives hoping for. In Iran, a place not known for its pro-LGBTQ attitudes, queerness is something you hide, and hope never comes out, but that doesn’t erase it.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iranian drama film “Empty Nets” was Monday named winner of the AFF Feature Fiction Award at the Adelaide Film Festival. Directed by Behrooz Karamizade, it collected an A$10,000 ($6,320) cash prize.

A court in Iran has sentenced two female journalists to up to seven years in prison for “collaborating” with the United States government, among other charges, local reports said.

For nearly a decade, Aram Sheibani lived a life of luxury. He jetted around the world, stayed in luxury hotels and drove top-of-the-range cars - including a £250,000 white Bentley. He's said to have bought the flash motor with cash.

An Iranian American woman navigating culture clash, an Argentine bank heist and an animated ghost story voiced by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie debut this weekend with a handful of docs and some notable expansion, vying with Apple wide release Killers Of The Flower Moon.

A mother has spoken of the terrifying moment she thought her new-born son might die from a life-threatening illness, caused by a bacteria passed over during childbirth which she had no previous symptoms of.

An international drugs boss from Greater Manchester who racked up 'eye-watering wealth' and lived a lavish 'jet-setting lifestyle' has lost an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features Social media influencer Lizzy Savetsky was two weeks into filming Season 14 of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York” when a tidal wave of antisemitism forced her to quit the show. She fielded death threats and a barrage of online harassment. “I had been having a lot of anxiety about putting my family — including my three young children — at risk and not having control over how my story would be portrayed,” says Savetsky.

Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows was presented with Best Film in the Fei Mu Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF), while Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, directed by Vietnam’s Pham Thien An, won Best Film in the festival’s Roberto Rossellini Awards.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui, whose 1969 “The Cow” opened up a new era in Iranian filmmaking, and his wife have been found stabbed to death in their home outside Tehran, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday. Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted judiciary official Hossein Fazeli as saying that Mehrjhi and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were found dead with knife wounds in their necks by the director’s daughter, Mona Mehrjui, when she went to visit her father Saturday night at their home home in a Tehran suburb.

Fans of the celebrated Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui have woken to the shocking news of his murder at home by an unknown assailant. He was 83.

Cristiano Ronaldo is facing some serious consequences for actions and the reason why will shock you.

Rod Stewart has revealed that he turned down a big offer to perform in Saudi Arabia because of the country’s human rights issues.The rock legend was offered what may have been the biggest money sum of his career to bring his show to the Middle East but declined due to the kingdom’s discrimination against women, LGBTQ+ people and the press.“I’m grateful that I have a choice whether or not to perform in Saudi Arabia. So many citizens there have extremely limited choices… women, the LGBTQ community, the press.

British rocker Rod Stewart has said he recently turned down an offer to perform in Saudi Arabia in an effort to raise awareness of what he described as “injustices” in the country. 

Salman Rushdie hinted in February that he was working on a memoir about the stabbing attack last year that nearly killed him and left him blind in one eye. Now, the Booker Prize winner has announced that book will be called Knife and will be published by Penguin Random House on April 16, 2024.

Stephen Rodrick I first heard about FX’s “Archer” in the ready room of VAQ-135, a navy squadron who were serving an interminable deployment aboard an aircraft carrier somewhere near Midway Island. (This sounds very much like a humblebrag that Sterling Archer would obnoxiously drop into conversation). It was 2010, and the pilots had lost whatever idealism they’d once had during an endless deployment that had them flying 12-hour missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden said that the Hamas attack on Israel was “an act of sheer evil,” sternly describing horrific reports of the terrorists’ brutality in targeting Jewish men, women, children and babies.

Naman Ramachandran Iran’s Arsalan Amiri, who won two awards at Venice for his debut feature “Zalava,” is at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Project Market with “For the Girls of the Tribe.” Inspired by a real historical event that took place in 1905 in Iran, the film will tell the story of a group of peasants who rescue two girls among dozens who were kidnapped by rebels. The girls have information about a betrayal and are taken before the ruler to provide their testimony but he refuses to accept it, as, according to tradition, a woman’s testimony is only half as valuable as a man’s. “For hundreds of years before this event and even decades after, this situation has recurred in different parts of the world: a group of women is oppressed and most of society, the government and even some other women are silent or passive about it due to fear, benefit or convenience,” Amiri told Variety.