Luxembourg Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Fatima Djoumer has been appointed General Director of independent exhibitor network Europa Cinemas, replacing Claude-Eric Poiroux who is stepping down after 30 years in the role.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German producer Silvana Santamaria has come on board as a lead producer on “The Witness,” the new Tehran-set project reuniting Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar that Arthood entertainment is selling in Cannes. Saeivar will direct “The Witness.” Saeivar wrote “3 Faces,” the Panahi-directed drama that premiered in 2018 in Cannes where it won the award for best screenplay. Panahi, who is one of Iran’s most prominent auteurs, was recently released from Tehran’s Evin prison after being incarcerated for “propaganda against the system.” He is expected to work very closely with Saeivar on “The Witness” shoot and be on set every day, as he did for Saeivar’s previous films “No End” and “Namo,” according to Santamaria. Panahi will also serve as editor on this previously announced film that is expected to start shooting soon.

EXCLUSIVE: Here at the Cannes Film Festival, Mubi has taken rights in North America, UK, Italy, Latin America, Turkey, India and Benelux to Un Certain Regard movie The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed two multi-territory deals for Bulgarian gay summer-romance film “Liuben,” directed by Venci Kostov. The film has been acquired by TLA Entertainment for North America, France, U.K. and Ireland, and Cinemien for Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy and Sweden. “Liuben,” which has its world premiere at Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival in June, is the first openly gay film from Bulgaria. Roma actors, who are usually absent from Bulgarian cinema, play lead roles in the film.

IMAX is ramping up its operations in France, as well as expanding its longstanding relationship with Kinepolis in Europe and North America. In France, IMAX will aim to nearly triple the number of its systems from the 22 currently in operation to more than 60. One of those will be in partnership with Belgian exhibitor Kinepolis in Nimes.

Anna Marie de la Fuente The Eternal Memory Chile, U.S. DIRECTOR: Maite Alberdi Alberdi’s follow-up to Oscar- nominated “The Mole Agent” snagged Sundance’s top doc award and a worldwide distribution deal with MTV at Sundance. Co-produced by Fabula, it centers on a loving elderly couple struggling with the man’s fading memory.  The Cardinal (“El Cardenal”) Chile, Argentina, Brazil

Naman Ramachandran Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, slid 9% to €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) for the first quarter of 2023, financial results released on Thursday have revealed. The group attributes this to “significantly lower TV advertising revenue,” particularly in Germany, and the disposals of RTL Belgium and RTL Croatia. Fremantle’s revenues were down 5.6% to €435 million (Q1/2022: €461 million), mainly due to timing effects of production deliveries, the group said. The group’s total advertising revenue fell to €700 million (Q1/2022: €829 million), of which €545 million represented TV advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €653 million), €76 million digital advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €83 million) and €39 million radio advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €46 million). Distribution revenue was down by 1.8% to €107 million (Q1/2022: €109 million).

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Magnolia Pictures International has acquired worldwide sales rights — including U.S. sales rights — to heist comedy-drama “The Delinquents” from Argentinian writer-director Rodrigo Moreno (“The Custodian”). The film will world premiere as part of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. In “The Delinquents,” the routine lives of two bank employees, Morán and Román, break down when Morán steals a small fortune from the bank’s vault. On the run, he glimpses a possible alternative to the gray life he’s been living and, in addition, falls in love. But he is forced to choose between this radical alternative and following through on his heist plans, so he resigns himself to a short prison stint. His colleague Román, unwillingly in possession of the stolen money, feels trapped by the secret he’s keeping; his paranoia increases until he too finds a way out, and also discovers a new love. But, bound by their common destiny (highlighted by the similarity of their names), the two protagonists are inevitably drawn together again.

< 1 min read Luxembourg’s openly gay Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has condemned Hungary’s implementation of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, explicitly targeting the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. Bettel comments follow Hungary’s enactment of a highly controversial Child Protection Act in June 2021, which prohibits discussions about LGBTQ+ individuals in schools and media.

With Summer on the horizon, people are booking their Summer holidays in locations like Spain, Greece, Africa and the Caribbean thick and fast. There are currently plenty of holiday offers from travel operators like TUI, EasyJet and First Choice.

Sargon of Akkad as the first regent to rule, an orphan turned royal cup bearer with a goddess on his side, Sargon conquered and unified Mesopotamia some four thousand odd years ago.In ancient Egypt, pharos wore crowns to connect them to depictions of their deities and to invoke the power they possessed. These days, crowns and kings are more about pageantry than pagan veneration and only twelveEuropean nations maintain a form of monarchy; Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the Vatican and of course the UK and its colonies which we now call territories because colonialism was and is the scourge of humanity, owed in large part to the monstrous monarchs that propagated it.

Cristiano Ronaldo thanked Bader Almotawaa after the Kuwait international graciously accepted being passed as the most-capped men's player.

Cristiano Ronaldo reunited with a couple of his former Manchester United teammates while on international duty with Portugal this week - finding particular joy in seeing Diogo Dalot once again.

She’s got that red lip classic that we like! Taylor Swift slays a rosy pout like no other.

Naman Ramachandran Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, climbed 9% to a record €7.2 billion ($7.6 billion) for the financial year 2022. However, the company’s EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) slid 6% to €1.08 billion, down from €1.15 billion in 2021. RTL attributes this to higher streaming start-up losses and lower TV advertising revenue at RTL Deutschland, and the exits of RTL Belgium and Groupe M6. These effects were partly offset by record adjusted EBITA contributions from RTL Nederland and Fremantle, RTL said. The RTL Group has interests in 56 television channels, nine streaming services and 36 radio stations. The group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, including “American Idol,” “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor.” 

reported on Friday. The company was founded in 2021 by Travis Montaque, Richelieu Dennis and Bonin Bough and recently put in a bid of $400 million for Vice Media.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Silicon Valley investment firm Maum Capital Group has struck a strategic and financial alliance with Globalgate, the local-language film and TV production consortium assembled by Lionsgate. The move involves an investment of unspecified value and significance into Globalgate. It also sees the appointment of Globalgate’s executive chairman William Pfeiffer as CEO of Maum affiliates, including Maum Culture Innovation and Maum Studio, which are focused on content-based businesses. The Maum-Globalgate alliance “furthers Maum’s plans to harness and expand Korean and global content, filmmakers, and talent on the worldwide stage,” the companies said in a statement. Korean music and TV content is currently among the most exportable, following the successes of BTS and Blackpink, TV hit “Squid Game” and the Oscar success of “Parasite.”

Dutch-born filmmaker Malou Reymann picked up the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival Saturday evening with her second feature Unruly.

The Göteborg Film Festival has unveiled the 53 Nordic Films that will take part in the latest edition of the Nordic Film Market, running February 2 – 5. Scroll down for the list.

New research has discovered that during the ongoing cost of living crisis, people in the UK claiming their State Pension entitlement only just break even despite an increase to weekly payment rates in April. The research, conducted by pension advisors Almond Financial, looked at the current State Pension in comparison to the average cost of living in the UK.

Holy Spider breakout Zar Amir Ebrahimi will head the jury of the Nordic Competition at the 46th Göteborg Film Festival, running from January 27 – February 5.

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we’re talking with Isidoor Roebers and Lea Fels, partners at Dutch doc producer Scenery, a joint venture with Banijay Benelux that has served up artistic but commercial unscripted projects for everyone from local public broadcaster NPO to Netflix and Prime Video.

A Scottish businessman has recorded a tongue-in-cheek Christmas song about the cost of living crisis as he tries to put a positive spin on the tricky times faced by many during the festive period.

Vicky Krieps says she suffered physically for her art on the shoot of Austrian director Marie\ Kreutzer’s Corsage, revisiting the life of the legendary 19th century Empress Elisabeth of Austria with a contemporary, emancipated eye.

The historical drama Corsage centers on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1877, yet the film’s writer-director Marie Kreutzer says its message about female oppression still resonates today.

EXCLUSIVE: French film actress Judith Godrèche is making her debut as a TV director debut with an A24-backed comedy series inspired by her life.

Luxembourg-based RTL Group saw a 12% jump in revenue to $5 billion (€5 billion) for the first nine months of 2022, according to its third-quarter statement which was released on Friday.

Aaaaaand re-banned.

Naman Ramachandran Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio will be presented with the European Film Academy’s Award for European Innovative Storytelling for his miniseries “Exterior Night.” The director will be guest of honor at the 35th European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 10 at Reykjavik. In “Exterior Night,” Bellocchio returns to the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978, a subject that he tackled in his feature film “Good Morning, Night,” for which he received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2003 European Film Awards. The academy has also revealed nominations in several categories for the awards.

put on blast this week by Keith McNally, the restauranteur who also owns Manhattan staples Pastis, Minetta and Tavern. According to McNally, the late night host “profusely apologized” for his actions.On Monday, McNally publicly shamed Corden on Instagram, calling him “a tiny Cretin of a man” and “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” The restauranteur used the post to list two occasions which sparked the decision to “86” Corden, adding that the late-night host behaved similarly in his former restaurant, Cafe Luxembourg, several years prior to the incidents in the post.But on Monday night, McNally posted an update, saying that Corden had owned up to his actions and asked for forgiveness, and that the ban against him was no longer in effect.“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely.

James Corden has been accused of treating restaurant staff poorly by an angry New York restaurant owner.

James Corden has been banned by the owner of iconic Balthazar restaurant in New York. Restaurateur Keith McNally – who has a history of booting celebrities from his eateries – said he barred the Late Late Show host, 44, due to his treatment of staff. The 71-year-old also called the presenter a “tiny cretin of a man” and said he was the “most abusive customer ever”.

Not so funny. Keith McNally shared that he banned James Corden from his Balthazar restaurant after the comedian allegedly mistreated his waitstaff on multiple occasions. 

wrote on Instagram alongside an image of the late night host. “And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago. I don’t often 86 a customer, to today I 86’d Corden.”The restauranteur went on to list two occasions which sparked the decision to “86” Corden, adding that the late-night host behaved similarly in his former restaurant, Cafe Luxembourg, several years prior to the incidents at hand.According to McNally, the first incident took place in June and was kick-started when Corden discovered a piece of hair in his main course and showed the hair to a Balthazar manager who was “very apologetic.”“Corden was extremely nasty to G,” McNally wrote.

a scathing Instagram post put up late Monday.“I don’t often 86 a customer, to today I 86’d Corden. It did not make me laugh,” he wrote.McNally accused Corden, who has admitted to having anger issues in the past, of treating his servers poorly by demanding free items and yelling at them.According to a manager’s report, the first run-in with Corden happened in June. The funnyman allegedly ate his main course before showing a server a hair in his order.“Get us another round of drinks this second,” McNally alleged Corden demanded.

James Corden, the host of “Late Late Show” and the star of the upcoming series “Mammals”, has been banned by Keith McNally from his French brasserie restaurant Balthazar. The New York restaurateur on Monday wrote in his Instagram page, “James Corden is a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man. And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”