Senegal Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Former Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has admitted that he was asked to encourage Sadio Mane to join the Reds instead of Liverpool.

Netflix has set October 5 for the launch of Part 3 of Lupin, its hit French heist series starring Omar Sy.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cannes Film Festival’s longtime director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety following the announcement of this year’s lineup, which includes a bevy of star-studded period movies, including Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Firebrand” and Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest.” Along with a raft of politically-minded films, there’s also a record six movies directed by female helmers in competition, including newcomers like Senegalese direcotr Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s feature debut “Banel et Adama.” Fremaux said his only regret this year is to miss out on “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” but he’s keeping high hopes to convince Scorsese to vie for a second Palme d’Or 47 years after winning his first with “Taxi Driver.” He also revealed that as many as two or three movies are expected to be added to the competition next week, after Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week announce their respective lineups.

Baaba Maal has spoken to NME about his new record, making music all over the world, and his legacy whilst hoping “the whales singing in the background aren’t too loud”.He is set to release his 14th studio album ‘Being’ on March 31 – featuring the singles ‘Freak Out’, ‘Agreements’, and ‘Yerimayo Celebration’.His first album release since 2016’s ‘The Traveller’, ’Being’ was created during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. With the world on lockdown “whilst this album was becoming itself”, the Senegal legend found that the key to surviving life’s ups and downs was discovering that “the most important thing is just to be”.“Music shouldn’t be about the struggle,” he told NME.

World class climber Jimmy Chin met his future wife, filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi, over a mountain – of footage.

Baaba Maal has released ‘Freak Out’ featuring the Malawian duo The Very Best, ahead of his 14th studio album, ‘Being’.The new worldbeat track is mysterious as the Senegalese musician draws on the idea of privacy.“There are things you should keep to yourself,” he said. “Mystery is important in life; you don’t need to shine a light on every little thing you do.

Ludwig Göransson Composer Ludwig Göransson won an Oscar in 2019 for his “Black Panther” score, and is again nominated for the original song Academy Award for “Lift Me Up” from the sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” along with Rihanna, Tems and director-writer Ryan Coogler. In the film, Coogler wrestles with the loss of Chadwick Boseman, T’Challa, the original Black Panther, the impact of that loss on the other characters, including T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and introduces audiences to a new, underwater civilization in the Gulf of Mexico, Talokan, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta). Göransson reflects on how the song came together: Four years ago, while I was recording in Senegal, I was introduced to a beautiful West African instrument called the kora. The first seeds of “Lift Me Up” came from that trip, and I used a part of the melody in the first “Black Panther” when T’Challa travels to the ancestral plain for the first time and sees his father who has passed on. Hearing it now in a song meant to memorialize Chadwick Boseman himself has been both devastating and cathartic.

EXCLUSIVE: The cast of thriller Rich Flu has been set with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Star Wars: Ahsoka), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Best Friend Forever has boarded Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s debut feature “Banel & Adama,” a lushly lensed Senegalese female emancipation drama. Now in post, the movie is expected to have its world premiere later this year. ‘Banel & Adama’ is set a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues. Sy studied at France’s prestigious film school La Femis and previously directed the short film “Astel” which played at Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Clermont, where it won the Special Jury award, among 80 festivals to date. Ramata, meanwhile, previously co-wrote “Our Lady of the Nil” which played at Toronto, and “Sibel” which played at Locarno and Toronto.

Series Mania’s Forum Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, still one of Series Mania’s industry centerpieces, which in 2023 looks set in many ways to be a bumper edition. Running March 21-23, the Forum hosts ever building industry initiatives at Series Mania, which unspools in Lille, northern France, over March 17-24. 450 projects from 66 countries answered the call for admissions, an all time record, said Francesco Capurro, head of the Series Mania Forum.  “We have more and more projects from outside Europe. An increasing number from Africa: Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, which is very encouraging, as well as from other big markets outside Europe, like Canada, Turkey, Taiwan, he added.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brazilian animated feature “Perlimps,” Alê Abreu’s follow up to Oscar-nominated “Boy and the World,” has been sold in key territories by Best Friend Forever ahead of the European Film Market. “Perlimps” has been picked up for Japan (Child Film and New Deer), China (DDDream), CIS and baltics (Kinologistica), Sweden (Njutafilm) and Portugal (Films4you). BFF is in advanced discussions to close German Speaking territories, Benelux, Spain, Italy and North America. As previously announced, UFO Distribution will release the feature in France. “Perlimps” was just released last week in Brazil by leading independent outfit Vitrine Filmes and Sony Pictures, which holds Latin American rights.

Berlinale Adds Disney Tribute Film, Donna Summer Docs To Line-UpThe Berlinale has added Love to Love You, Donna Summer and 100 Years of Disney Animation – A Shorts Celebration to its 73rd edition line-up running February 16-26. Both titles will screen in the Berlinale Special sidebar. Co-directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano’s the Donna Summer film tells the story of the disco star through unpublished film extracts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recording. Academy Award winner and Walt Disney Animation Studios President Clark Spencer fronts the Disney film, sharing his favorite shorts from the studios’ 100 years of filmmaking. In other news, the festival has announced it will pay tribute to French cinematographer Caroline Champetier with its Berlinale Camera 2023 award. She has chosen Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, on which she did the cinematography, for a screening as part of Berlinale Special program.

In “Saint Omer,” the taut courtroom drama by French-Senegalese director Alice Diop, the revelations arrive not in the totality of the evidence, not between the imposing walls of the courtroom, or in the loneliness of a witness. It happens in the silent spaces between the words, and in the unconscious spasm of a muscle.  READ MORE: Overlooked & Underrated: The 25 Best Films Of 2022 You (Prolly) Didn’t See The accused is Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga), a student and Senegalese immigrant who arrived in France for school, but now finds herself on trial for the murder of her baby.

Feast your eyes on some fabulous fashion! Hollywood’s biggest names never miss a moment to slay. 

Best Original Screenplay: Sarah DeLappe and Kristen Roupenian, “Bodies Bodies Bodies”It’s been an excellent year for the whodunnit genre, and while Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” is soaking up most of the late year praise, Halina Reijn’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies” is just as smart and decidedly more vicious. The screenplay by Sarah DeLappe from a story by Kristen Roupenian is a witty and biting send-up of the murder mystery and slasher genres, in which a bunch of rich, entitled Millennials try to figure out who’s killing them off one by one in the middle of a hurricane, only to discover that their worst enemy is their own shallowness.Best Actress: Anna Diop, “Nanny”Nikyatu Jusu’s “Nanny” was the first horror movie to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Lupin star Omar Sy has hit back at critics of comments he made about differing attitudes to the war in Ukraine and further afield conflicts, saying the attacks against him are simply an example of racism.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

Yesterday’s thrilling World Cup final was watched by a peak of almost 20M viewers across the BBC and ITV as the game drew to an incredible close.

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first titles selected for its Panorama section at the upcoming in-person edition that takes place February 16-26. (Scroll down for the full list)

EXCLUSIVE: UK outfit Make Waves (The Great Green Wall) and science-focused U.S. producer HHMI Tangled Bank Studios (All That Breathes) are teaming on feature-length documentary Blue Carbon (working title), an environmentally-focused musical piece fronted by Grammy-nominated producer and DJ Jayda G with music from Wu-Tang leader RZA and Brazilian artist Seu Jorge.

England’s heartbreaking defeat to France on Saturday became the most-viewed UK TV broadcast of the year so far, peaking with 21.3M viewers on ITV1.

England’s comfortable second round victory over Senegal last night was watched by a peak of nearly 20M viewers on ITV, becoming the most-viewed of the Qatar World Cup 2022 tournament so far in the UK.

With another winning performance at the World Cup, this time defeating Poland in the round of 16, the French national football team also led broadcaster TF1 to yet another ratings record for the year. An average 14.3 million viewers tuned in to see Les Bleus notch a 3-1 victory on Sunday, from the 4pm hour local time. This is the best score for all channels across 2022 and since July 2021. The audience share was 68.9%.

An inspired Lionel Messi performance ended Keanu Baccus’ incredible World Cup journey as the battling Aussies were narrowly beaten by Argentina.

Since it debuted at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury prize, Alice Diop’s first feature Saint Omer has had a robust life on the fall festival circuit. An austere, tightly scripted and subtly acted drama, in which a novelist (Kayije Kagame) becomes fascinated by the trial of an immigrant mother for the murder of her own daughter, the film nevertheless draws deeply on the director’s previous experience as a documentary filmmaker.

UPDATED with latest results: The 2022 FIFA World Cup completed its first round of competition Friday in Qatar, where the last of 16 teams were secured to reach the knockout stage of the world’s biggest sports tournament.

Former Liverpool star El Hadji Diouf has reignited his long-running feud with Steven Gerrard by claiming the current England team is thriving because it isn't beset by internal feuding.

England’s emphatic 3-0 victory over local rival Wales in the Qatar World Cup was seen by a peak UK audience of 18.7M.

The U.S. beat Iran 1-0 in a gutsy must-win game at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, helping the team qualify for the second round of the tournament where it will face The Netherlands in a knockout-stage game this weekend.Christian Pulisic made the difference today with a charging goal in the 38th minute of a dominant first half for the Americans at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha. It was the 22nd U.S. goal for the Chelsea striker, though he was injured during the play and was subbed out at halftime.

The United States began its 2022 World Cup campaign on Monday against Wales, scoring nearly 12M viewers across Fox and Telemundo.

England’s fiery World Cup opener against Iran, which ended 6-2, was watched by a peak of 8M viewers yesterday lunchtime in the UK. The peak was similar to that of host Qatar’s opener with Ecuador.

Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles awards-season event to talk about her film’s visual language, her mother’s own immigrant experience, and casting new Black actors.  

There’s power in hair. Black Panther‘s lead beautician Camille Friend made it her mission to create an authentic and captivating depiction of African and Black American beauty.

Variety examines the Oscar selection process in an array of international markets to see what works, what’s broken and what needs fixing. Despite being over-represented in competition lineups at major festivals like Cannes and Venice, France has had a cursed track record in the international feature film race, and has been overshadowed by smaller countries like Denmark in recent years. The French haven’t been able to claim an Oscar victory in the category since 1993 with Regis Wargnier’s win for “Indochine.” In the past 15 years, only four French films submitted have landed a nomination: Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” in 2020, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Turkish-language film “Mustang” in 2016, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” starring Tahar Rahim in 2010 and Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or-winning “The Class” in 2008. Ironically, some French-language films repping other countries in the international feature race have been more successful, such as Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which was submitted by Austria in 2013 and won. In the upcoming race, France is vying for a nomination with Alice Diop’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Saint Omer,” a politically minded feature debut based on the real-life trial of Fabienne Kabou, a Senegalese immigrant accused of murdering her 15-month-old baby. This year’s Oscar committee, which included the likes of Audiard (“A Prophet”), Philippe Rousselet (“CODA”) and Hengameh Panahi (“Persepolis”), was bitterly split between “Saint Omer,” acquired by Neon’s Super label after Toronto, and “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s romance drama starring Lea Seydoux, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics in Cannes. The heated deliberations ended with a vote, as it almost always does.

MK2 Managing Director Fionnuala Jamison was the focus of the London Film Festival’s second ‘spotlight’ industry talk Wednesday, during which she provided insights on navigating the international film market, including how regional prejudices can impact how films are sold.

Anna Diop and Michelle Monaghan are looking amazing on the red carpet!