‘Rebel’ Review: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah’s Radicalization Drama Pulsates With Terrible Inevitability [Cannes]

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentRising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who plays the titular role in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” is attached to star in “Norah” a groundbreaking drama written and directed by Tawfik Alzaidi that is currently shooting in AlUla the sprawling area of Saudi desert and giant boulders that boasts an ancient city.Set in 1990s Saudi Arabia, when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons, “Norah” sees Alfarhan (pictured) play an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with the film’s titular “Norah,” an illiterate orphaned young woman who is facing an arranged marriage in which she will be trapped and has a need  for self expression.

Rafael Nadal and María Francisca Perelló are expecting their first child. The alarms went off at the Roland Garros tournament, where Nadal was able to win his 14th French Open title and 22nd Grand Slam - he becomes the oldest champ of the clay-court tournament history.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticThe resurgence of neo-fascist movements and authoritarian rule around the world has unsurprisingly coincided with a ramping-up of hostility against press freedom. Assassinated U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is the most notorious single example, but hundreds in his profession have been murdered in recent years, with many more assaulted, detained, harassed and so forth.

Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear begins offshore rollout this week, but won’t be hitting cinemas in such Middle East markets as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Nor will it go to theaters in Malaysia or Indonesia. Deadline understands the film has not received distribution certificates in these markets. As with other recent Hollywood films, the issue is believed to be related to LGBTQ content.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentPixar’s “Lightyear” will not be playing in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Kuwait, among other West Asia territories, due to the inclusion of a same sex kiss in the “Toy Story” spinoff.The scene, involving a new lesbian space ranger character named Alisha and her partner starting a family together and greeting each other with a kiss on the lips had been originally cut from the film by Disney.But it was reinstated when Pixar animators spoke out against Disney in an open letter obtained by Variety, saying that Disney had demanded cuts, censoring “overtly gay affection” and in protest against Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“American Dreamer” is a mess of a movie, in which scenes of startling wit and emotional truth co-exist alongside entire subplots that are utterly inexplicable. It’s all over the damn place; its good ideas in near equal proportion to its bad ones, feeling less like a polished production than a filmed first draft, released as a rough assembly.

Michael Nordine authorLest you think America has a monopoly on byzantine immigration systems, “Aisha” is here with an unfortunate reminder that it does not. Following the eponymous young Nigerian woman (Letitia Wright) as she attempts to resettle in Ireland, writer-director Frank Berry’s drama of bureaucracy eschews histrionics in favor of a docudrama-like approach that’s all the more affecting for how authentic it feels.

Essentially a YA show about a Pakistani teen, Kamala Khan, grappling with life in New Jersey under strict traditionalist parents who want her to be a good Muslim girl, Marvel’s “Ms. Marvel” is a charming and entertaining show merging coming-of-age tropes with coming-of-powers allegories.

Just over a month after the release of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and merely weeks removed from the end of “Moon Knight,” Marvel Studios is back at it and has unveiled its latest project, “Ms. Marvel.” And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, we discuss the new series and why it’s one of the best offerings (so far) from Marvel in a while.

Batman fans already knew Michael Keaton would return to the DCEU as the Caped Crusader in the upcoming “The Flash.” And now the directing pair behind HBO Max‘s upcoming “Batgirl” movie officially confirms Keaton’s back for their take on Gotham City, too, though the rumors and set photos, yes, were in overdrive for a while now. READ MORE: ‘Batgirl’: Leslie Grace Teases Early Discussions About Sequel In an interview with Insider, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah decided to drop the news.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticLizzy Carr (Michelle Williams), the central character of Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up,” is a sculptor who is finishing up a series of ceramic figures she’ll be presenting in a gallery show. We see her working, throughout the movie, on the small clay statues — all women, each one about a foot tall, some mounted on rods, all with an intentionally rough, patchy surface that may look awkward and unpolished if you’re close up to it, but when you stand back a bit you see the aesthetic elegance of her style. (Giacometti would understand.) She’s making sculptures of female characters who look a bit ghostly in their lack of perfect line, but that’s part of their design (they all appear a little tormented), and that quality is balanced by the delicate surprise colors they’re painted with, which express their inner life.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSaudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding Telfaz11 Studios is teaming up with France’s Easy Riders Films to develop and produce a slate of four features directed by emerging Saudi talents with international ambitions.The first title expected to go into production is “Night Courier,” a comedy about a young man named Fahad who winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze in an Arab city known for its hidden delights and dangers. This project was first presented last year at the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Souk projects market.The four-picture pact between Telfaz11 and Easy Riders was forged at the Cannes Film Festival.Founded by Alaa Yousef Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami, and Ibrahim Al Khairallah, Telfaz11 is an innovative content company that started out in the YouTube space and has since seen rapid growth in both production and distribution.

Saudi Arabia has taken another step in its push to become a movie production hub by launching its long-awaited 40% cash rebate to grow the local economy.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Saudi Film Commission has announced its long gestating incentive for film productions in the kingdom which consists of an up to 40% cash rebate.Ever since it lifted its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinema in 2017, Saudi has been experiencing a boom in all aspects of film industry activity,  becoming West Asia’s top-grossing territory in terms of theatrical box office returns. Attracting international film and TV productions is clearly a key part of this government-driven effort.Details of the Saudi rebate, which was announced in Cannes, remain scant besides the fact that it provides up to 40% of spend in cash back for film productions that recruit Saudi crew and talent above and below the line and feature the kingdom’s “culture, history and people along with showcasing the diverse selection of landscapes in Saudi Arabia,” a statement said.

In the late 19th century, two French psychiatrists coined the term “folie à deux,” literally translated as madness for two, to describe what is now widely referred to as shared psychotic disorder, or when two — or more — people transmit delusional beliefs and occasional hallucinations to one another. The condition is most common in people closely related, who live in intimate proximity, and has been lengthily dissected by academics.

The great majority of us could only aspire, before “Moonage Daydream,” to step into the mind of David Bowie — the persona, the artist, the entity not yet proven terrestrial. Eclectic, unashamedly maximalist, and variously philosophical: all true of both the man himself and Brett Morgen’s feature-length docu-odyssey, which borrows its title from the 1976 hit, and just debuted as part of Cannes’ Midnight slate.

Detective Hae-joon investigating the death of a man who fell from a mountain top. When he meets the deceased man’s wife in Park Chan-wook’s latest film in competition at Cannes, Decision To Leave.