Syria Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Christopher Vourlias Academy Award nominee Agnieszka Holland follows the harrowing ordeal of a refugee family trapped on the margins of the E.U. in “Green Border,” a gripping drama from the prolific Polish director that plays in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a great battle” — that popular maxim (or some variation thereof) is often brought up in the context of remembering to have some sympathy for jerks. But it could also be applied to people whose lives seem too charmed to be true.

Naman Ramachandran The third edition of Fragments Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 1) – set up as a platform for underrepresented filmmakers and as a showcase of films featuring unique individuals and minority groups – returns to London’s Genesis cinema and will open with Ken Loach‘s “The Old Oak.” The film centers on struggling pub The Old Oak, where tensions mount following the sudden arrival of Syrian refugees who have been housed in the area.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Neeraj Pandey’s latest effort is Disney+ Hotstar India’s explosive new series “The Freelancer,” an “incisive look” at the world of Islamic State (aka ISIS). The thriller series, based on the bestselling 2017 book “A Ticket to Syria” by Shirish Thorat, is produced by Friday Storytellers and directed by Bhav Dhulia (Netflix’s “Khakee: The Bihar Chapter,” created by Pandey). It follows the rescue operation of a young girl held against her will in war-torn Syria.

Christopher Vourlias When the last American transport plane left the tarmac at Kabul’s international airport in August 2021, ending a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and marking an unceremonious conclusion to what had been known as the “forever war,” the U.S. left more than unfulfilled promises and unanswered questions in its wake: Also left behind was more than $7 billion in military equipment, now in the hands of an Islamist government that rose to power not at the ballot box, but at the barrel of a gun.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Triple Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” which will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, before going onto Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, has sold to multiple territories. Variety has been granted access to an exclusive clip from the film, and Holland’s notes on the production, which we quote from below, again exclusively.

These two hamsters are living the high life with an owner who waits on them hand and foot - providing pamper sessions, tiny human-like meals, movie nights, and even treating them like babies! Mr Liquorice and Mr Teacake are two Syrian hamsters who have an incredible diet of tiny meals, and their owner says he absolutely loves cooking for them.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Tunisian auteur Mohamed Ben Attia’s new work “Behind the Mountains,” which will soon launch from the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, sees the director add a supernatural element to the social dramas for which he is known. Attia’s third feature reunites the director with Majd Mastoura, star of his breakout drama “Hedi” — about a repressed young man ignited by a free-spirited woman — which won best debut and actor honors at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.

Why did it take decades for a biopic to be made about Israel’s first and only female prime minister, Golda Meir?

Both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will hold events at the Invictus Games, taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany, next month.

Lauren Sánchez and her partner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have pledged to support recovery efforts in Maui, Hawaii. The wildfire, which scorched acres of land and displaced families, has garnered attention from all corners of society, prompting acts of generosity from individuals and organizations alike.Lauren Sánchez, known for her charitable endeavors and commitment to making a positive impact, expressed her deep concern for the affected communities in Maui.The sight of burnt environments and families struggling after the catastrophe deeply affected her, inspiring her to move.

Naman Ramachandran Disney+ Hotstar India’s Syria-set thriller series “The Freelancer” is in the works. Based on the bestselling 2017 book “A Ticket to Syria” by Shirish Thorat, the series is from showrunner Neeraj Pandey (Disney+ Hotstar’s Special Ops franchise), produced by Friday Storytellers and directed by Bhav Dhulia (Netflix’s “Khakee: The Bihar Chapter”). Pandey said: “’The Freelancer’ is a high-scale thriller series that unfolds an extraordinary rescue operation of a young girl held against her will in a war-torn Syria.

Marie Amachoukeli’s Ama Gloria has won the Best International Film Prize at the 40th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival, running from July 13 to July 26.

L.A.-based director Guy Nattiv is back in his native Israel with new film Golda starring Helen Mirren as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Over a decade ago, a period of anti-government revolution swept across the Arab world; with the death of Tunisian fruit and vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in protest outside a provincial government building, acting as its catalyst. What followed was a series of street demonstrations, rebellions, and uprisings in other countries including, Libya, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt where millions called for the dismantling of corrupt regimes.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Seven films have been selected for the 11th edition of Final Cut in Venice, the works-in-progress section of the 80th Venice Film Festival. Final Cut in Venice, which runs Sept. 3-5, provides support for the completion of films from Africa and five Middle Eastern countries: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. It is one of the programs run by the festival’s industry section, Venice Production Bridge. Over three days, the working copies of the selected films will be presented to producers, buyers, distributors, post-production companies and film festival programmers. The first two days are devoted to screenings, and then one-to-one meetings between the producers of the projects and the professionals attending the Venice Production Bridge will take place on the third day. The program will conclude with the awarding of prizes in kind or in cash, the purpose of which is to provide support for the films’ post-production.

“The Old Oak” with a planned release in early 2024. Zeitgeist and Kino Lorber previously released Loach’s 2020 film “Sorry We Missed You” and will first release “The Old Oak” at the Film Forum in New York before expanding it to arthouses nationwide.

EXCLUSIVE: Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber have acquired all U.S. rights to Ken Loach’s Cannes Competition entry The Old Oak, which has been mooted to be the veteran filmmaker’s last movie.

A dad-of-three says he was booted out of Turkey and forced to fly back to the UK because he shares the same name as a man from Manchester who had terror charges against him dropped.

“Cousins” was selected as a finalist in this year’s ShortList Film Festival, presented by TheWrap. You can watch the films and vote for your favorite here.To paraphrase one of the many quips Billy Crystal throws down in “When Harry Met Sally”: “In a city of 8 million people, you’re bound to run into your ex.” This is the shrewd setup for Karina Dandashi’s “Cousins,” a 13-minute, Brooklyn-set short centering on Layla (played by Dandashi) and Tarek (Ribal Rayess), two cousins whose reunion is turned upside down when Layla’s ex (Monica Sanborn) turns up at the same bar.“This is the first time I’ve actually done a comedy,” Dandashi told TheWrap.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor When Variety talks to Zoe Saldana and her husband, the artist and film director, Marco Perego, they’ve only just arrived in Taormina and are in the process of unpacking. Room service arrives and Zoe apologizes about having to tuck into the salad straightaway. They’re here attending the world premiere of Perego’s debut film as a director, “The Absence of Eden,” a drama that takes place in the murky world of the U.S.’s southern border, a hellish landscape inhabited by Coyotes, ICE officers, desperate immigrants and refugees. It’s a universe away from the Pandora of the “Avatar” pictures or the science fiction blockbusters “Star Trek” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” Saldana is more usually associated with. “When I was picked for those films, I had no idea they were going to become franchises. I thought it was going to be a one and done kind of thing. I hold all of those films responsible for any kind of global notoriety I may have. However, it’s time consuming. Between ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Guardians’ and ‘Avatar,’ I had solid work for over 10 years. As I became an asset that had a certain value in this industry, I could turn that to films like this.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Los Angeles-based Syrian director and producer Sam Kadi, who helmed the doc “Little Gandhi” about the life and death of young Syrian peace activist Ghiyath Matar and produced the Oscar-shortlisted animation film “Lamya’s Poem,” has signed for representation with management company Bohemia Group. Kadi’s first feature was the 2012 indie immigrant drama “The Citizen,” starring Egyptian actor Khaled Nabawy as a Lebanese immigrant who wins a green card through the U.S. lottery system and arrives in New York to claim his documents on Sept. 10, 2001. The drama, also starring Cary Elwes, then follows the protagonist’s hellish 10-year path to citizenship in post-9/11 America, including his detainment by homeland security and his deportation trial.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Samuel Goldwyn Films has unveiled the trailer for “Simone: Woman of the Century,” a biopic of Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became health minister of France and championed the 1975 law that legalized abortion in France.  Directed by Olivier Dahan, best-known for his Oscar-winning Edith Piaf biopic “La Vie en Rose,” “Simone” boasts powerful performances by Elsa Zylberstein and Rebecca Marder. The key cast is completed by Elodie Bouchez, Sylvie Testud and Olivier Gourmet. The film was a box office hit in France, where it was released by Warner Bros and ranked as 2022’s third highest-grossing French-language hit with over 2.5 million tickets sold. Samuel Goldwyn Films is planning to release the film in U.S. theaters, opening in New York and Los Angeles on Aug. 18, followed by a wider rollout.

McKinley Franklin editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest winners were announced on Sunday, with Japan and the U.S.’s “The Old Young Crow” taking the prize for best of the festival. Lithuania’s “Way Better” won best animated short and China’s “Will You Look At Me” landed best documentary short. Additionally, the award for best live-action short over 15 minutes went to France’s “Sèt Lam” and Spain’s “Mystic Tiger” took home the award for the best live-action short 15 minutes and under. The festival handed out cash prizes worth $25,000, as well as five awards to help winners qualify for the Academy Awards. The competition included some 299 short films within the official selection. The annual festival began on June 20 and will conclude Monday, June 26.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, in Saitama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, will hold its 2023 edition with both in-person and online components, long after COVID, which necessitated such hybrid formats, has retreated. The festival, which sees itself as a gateway for emerging talent, and has operated since 2004, will hold its physical edition July 15-23 and its online from July 22- 26, organizers said on Wednesday. This year, the festival will begin with the world premiere of “Confetti,” which was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the festival as well as the 90th anniversary of its Kawaguchi City base.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is the latest high-net-worth individual to get involved in the documentary business. As a producer on Waad Al-Kateab’s “We Dare to Dream,” about the refugee Olympic team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gebbia not only helped fund the project, he also played an active role in the film’s pre-production, production, and edit. “We Dare to Dream” is Al-Kateab’s second feature docu. In her first film, “For Sama,” which was nominated for an Academy Award, the Syrian director used her camera to capture her daily life during the siege of Aleppo.Gebbia produced “We Dare to Dream” alongside Violet Films’ Joanna Natasegara (“Virunga”) and Abigail Anketell-Jones (“The Edge of Democracy”) and XTR’s Bryn Mooser and Kathryn Everett. Angelina Jolie recently signed on as an executive producer on the project. Gebbia joins fellow philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs (Concordia Studio), Jeff Skoll (Participant Media) and Jim Swartz (Impact Partners) in the docu investment business.

Manchester City players met with children injured in the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake - even in the nerve-wracking days ahead of their historic match as they trained for the historic Champions League final.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Annecy International Animation Festival has postponed outdoor screenings until Monday after Thursday’s knife attack at a playground near the lakeside screening venue in the French mountain resort town. However, the festival will open as planned on Sunday. Six people, included four young children, were wounded in the attack, which was characterized as an isolated incident. The suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian national with refugee status in Sweden, is in custody. Festival head Mickaël Marin and his team said in a statement, “The people of Annecy, France, and farther afield, have all been shaken to the core by yesterday’s tragic events. It has now been established that this was an isolated act.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The chief of the Annecy Film Festival, Mickael Marin, has addressed the tragic knife attack that injured five people, including four children, on Thursday morning (June 8) at a busy lakeside park, just days before the start of the international animation film festival. “We are all shocked here. So far, the only thing that I can say is that we really hope that kids and other people injured will be fine. Of course, we will do something (to express our solidarity). For the time being, the only thing that we can do is to pray for the people who were attacked,” Marin told Variety. Two children and one adult are severely injured, according to France Info. The suspect, arrested by police shortly after the attack, is a Syrian refugee who applied for asylum in France and eventually got it from Sweden in April, according to local reports. France’s anti-terrorist prosecutors office hasn’t yet been seized.

A recent episode of Vice newsmagazine series, which contains a report about Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, was removed from the schedule ahead of its previously announced premiere on Showtime.

Benedict Cumberbatch and his family have suffered a break-in by a knife-wielding chef at their home in North London.According to the Daily Mail, Cumberbatch, his wife Sophie Hunter, and their three young children were in the home when Jack Bissell, a former chef at the Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, kicked his way through the front garden’s iron gate at the actor’s £3.5million house, used a fish knife to rip the intercom off the wall and made a series of threats.Bissell eventually fled the scene before things could escalate further. He was arrested after police found his DNA on the intercom.

Inspirational footballers returned to their former club after beating cancer to help others. Rochdale legend Joe Thompson was joined by former Dale youth player Bader Al-Akkad at Spotland for the Goals for A Cure match.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor In “The Old Oak,” which played in Competition in Cannes, Ken Loach portrays a village in the North-East of England where the indigenous white community comes into conflict with Syrian refugees – a conflict fuelled by the despair, deprivation and decline of the rust-belt region. Such conditions can be a seed-bed for far right groups, the director tells Variety. Such issues have not been explored sufficiently in film and television, Loach says, and he draws a parallel with the portrayal of the rise of Nazism in Germany in the mass media. “We have endless programs about the Second World War, about the horrors of Nazism and fascism, about the racism, about the Holocaust. Quite properly, we have endless programs about that, but what they refuse to point out is that that arose from alienation, anger, feeling cheated, and finding scapegoats. And that’s how we ended up with Hitler, and that’s the ground in which the far right flourishes. One of the points of the film is to say: This is the cause of fascism. This is where it comes from. This is its seed-bed, and it comes as an inevitable consequence of our economic system. Because if the neoliberal agenda was an essential development for capitalism, to use the old-fashioned word, then that’s where fascism comes from. Implicit in that is that the far right will rise because that’s how people will be heading. And they know that and yet the mass media, the press, just turn their backs on that. They’ll tell us all about the horrors of Hitler. Sure. But they won’t tell us how he came to power. And that’s the huge lesson. And we see it in essence now all the time.”

The Old Oak will be his last.Speaking at a press conference for his new movie at the Cannes Film Festival, Loach was asked by Deadline whether reports about his retirement are true.“One day at a time,” he responded. “If you get up in the morning, and you’re not in the obituary column; one day at a time.”It comes after he told The Hollywood Reporter last month that “it would be hard to do a feature film again” because “your facilities do decline.”He said: “Films take a couple of years and I’ll be nearly 90,” he said of a potential next movie.

Ken Loach still has more to say against The Man in society with his cinema, that was clear coming away from the Cannes press conference for his latest movie The Old Oak.

By Hanna RantalaCANNES (Reuters) - Ken Loach said on Friday he does not know if "The Old Oak," the 86-year-old British director's attempt to win the Cannes Film Festival's top prize for a third time, would be his last. "Oh, I don't know, I live day by day," said Loach, who turns 87 in June. "If you read the obituary columns and you're not in them, it's a good day.