MBC Group Opens New Headquarters in Riyadh That Will Boost Saudi Film and TV Industries

Egypt, which is home to the Middle East and North Africa’s biggest film industry, will not participate in the Best International Film Oscar race this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing British podcast studio Novel has made its next big play by signing Universal Studio Group Acquisitions exec Neil Krishnan to oversee a push into TV and film.

EXCLUSIVE: VFX outfit Outpost has bolstered UK operations with a new London studio now open for business.

Mexico has selected five-time Academy Award winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truth as its official entry to the best international film category of the Oscars.

Maryam Touzani’s exploration of suppressed homosexuality The Blue Caftan has been submitted as Morocco’s official entry to the best international film category.

MAMAMOO will be making their highly anticipated return in October.On September 27 at midnight KST, RBW Entertainment unveiled a teaser poster announcing the girl group’s forthcoming return. Titled ‘Mic ON’, MAMAMOO’s 12th mini-album will be released on October 11 at 6PM KST.“MAMAMOO has turned on its mics and is ready to make some noise,” the agency said of the record’s title, per Korea JoongAng Daily.

Silent Hill game has been rated by South Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee, titled Silent Hill: The Short Message.The game was rated by the committee on Monday (September 26), listed under publisher UNIANA. As Gematsu reports, the company regularly publishes Konami games in South Korea.A number of Silent Hill projects are reportedly in development at various studios, including Bloober Team (The Medium, Layers Of Fear) who partnered with Konami last year to jointly develop “selected contents”.

Alice Diop’s Saint Omer has been selected as France’s entry to the best international film category.

Orit Fouks Rotem’s Cinema Sabaya will be Israel’s entry to the best international film category in this year’s Oscar race, following its best picture win at the country’s Ophir national cinema awards over the weekend.

Warner Bros Discovery has revamped its group focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and announced its new executive team.

Paramore have added a stop to their fall 2022 North American tour. On November 13, six days before the seven-week trek is scheduled to end at Mexico’s City’s Corona Capital Festival, they’ll play a bonus show at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, a historic venue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with support from Nigerian-American R&B singer Ogi. Fans can now register for a verified presale via Ticketmaster, with the general sale starting this Friday (September 23) at 10 a.m.

Saudi Arabian media and entertainment giant MBC Group has officially launched its new headquarters in the capital of Riyadh.

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued updated guidance on State Pension, Tax Credits and benefit payments scheduled to be made in the two days immediately after the bank holiday for the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egyptian-American director Dina Amer’s politically sensitive drama “You Resemble Me,” the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen who in 2015 was wrongly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber, is getting a Middle East release via Front Row Filmed Entertainment. Amer’s feature debut, which world premiered positively at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, is a deeply researched character study of the fragile young Muslim woman who became linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris even though she didn’t participate in them. Aït Boulahcen died during an anti-terrorism raid alongside her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was one of the ringleaders of the coordinated assaults that killed 130 people in the French capital, including 90 at the Bataclan theater. 

Kanye West has opened a Christian preparatory private school called Donda Academy in Simi Valley, California.The tuition-based school aims to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders,” according to its website.“Each day, Donda students learn fundamentals, grow in their faith, and experience two enrichment classes,” the website states, adding that the daily schedule includes “full school worship, Core classes of language arts, math and science, lunch & recess, enrichment courses including World Language, Visual Art, Film, Choir and Parkour”.The school costs $15,000 (around £13,000) per year although, as stated on the admissions page of the website, “Everyone is welcome to apply regardless of financial situation. Financial aid and scholarships are available for students who qualify”.Rolling Stone reported yesterday (September 15) that two families claimed that they were made to sign NDAs to have their children attend.However, Tamar Andrews, a consultant for Donda, told Rolling Stone that parents of each student only have to sign “an informal agreement”.“Honestly, we don’t care if people know about the school,” she said.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that inflation fell for the first time in nearly a year in August as lower diesel and petrol prices took some pressure off struggling households, but it remains close to its 40-year record. The ONS said Consumer Prices Index inflation reached 9.9% in the year to August, down from 10.1% the previous month.

Professional bull rider Ouncie Mitchell was tragically killed in a domestic violence related shooting over the weekend.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Dan Abrams wants to expand the offerings at the bar. After launching Whiskey Raiders, a digital outlet devoted to the review and discussion of whiskey and bourbon, in late 2020, the entrepreneur’s Abrams Media wants to do the same for tequila, rum and gin. The company has launched Tequila Raiders, Rum Raiders and Gin Raiders, each devoted to offering online resources and content around each spirit — creating a large database of liquor reviews. Just as Whiskey Raiders does, the new sites will aggregate individual reviews from respected outlets across the internet and use a proprietary algorithm to assign one average score for each bottle. In addition to reviews, the sites will also provide news and lifestyle coverage on tequila, rum and gin.