Saudi Arabia Picks Female Empowerment Drama ‘Scales’ as its Oscar Candidate

Documentary filmmaker Bryan Fogel has become expert at telling complex stories of international intrigue.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentEnding a bitter rift between Qatar and several Arab countries, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced that the trade and travel blockade it led for more than three years against its tiny but super rich neighbor is finally over.The sudden rapprochement saw Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman invite and welcome Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to a Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in the kingdom.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs it ramps up original productions, Middle Eastern broadcaster MBC is launching lavish 1980s-set Arabic crime drama ‘Rashash,’ created by Britain’s Tony Jordan (“EastEnders”) and touted as its most ambitious Saudi series to date.Directed by another Brit, Collin Teague, whose credits include “Doctor Who,” “Rashash” is based on the true story of a Saudi Arabian drug trafficker convicted of murder and other crimes after being caught by the police in Saudi

Hillary Clinton, Alec Baldwin and Reed Hastings, the Netflix chief executive.At the screening, Fogel implored media companies not to be scared off. “In my dream of dreams, distributors will stand up to Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal Tuesday officially ending a feud with Qatar in an agreement negotiated by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, a government official confirmed Monday. The détente — designed to further isolate Iran — follows a slew of historic Middle East peace deals brokered by the Trump White House in recent months normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors.

Comedians Dan Levy and Natasha Leggero are joined by Seth Rogen for an all-new season of “House Hunters: Comedians on Couches Unfiltered”. The actor is one of several guests who appear on the Discovery+ series as they rewatch classic episodes of “House Hunters” and share their hilarious commentary.

Seth Rogen for an all-new season of. The actor is one of several guests who appear on the Discovery+ series as they rewatch classic episodes of and share their hilarious commentary. Rogen joins Levy and Leggero to lampoon “Three’s Not a Crowd in Colorado Springs,” in which a throuple -- Brian, Lori and Geli — searches for their perfect home near the Rocky Mountains.

A Delaware Chancery Court Wednesday rejected Shari Redstone’s motion to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit claiming she breached her fiduciary duty by pushing allies to ram through the Viacom-CBS merger at stockholder expense in a quest to attain the status of “media magnate” like her father, the late Sumner Redstone.

Jessica Mulroney is getting back to work. After taking a step back from the public eye and most of her own projects earlier this year in the wake of her white privilege scandal, Mulroney appears to be ready to get back to some of her passion projects.

For years the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked a tightrope—balancing his access to powerful Saudi Royals while pushing for reform in the kingdom—until the tightrope became a noose.

Comedian John Mulaney exhibited signs of a relapse during a bizarre skit he performed with Seth Meyers weeks before he checked into rehab, according to a new report. The former "Saturday Night Live" writer entered a rehab facility in Pennsylvania over the weekend, according to Page Six, following an alleged relapse consisting of alcohol and cocaine abuse.

Unfolding with a sense of urgency that propelled his 2017 film “Icarus” to critical acclaim, and an Oscar win, Bryan Fogel’s follow-up “The Dissident,” which tracks the lead up to and fallout surrounding the Jamal Khashoggi assassination, is a propulsive call to action that stands as one of the best documentaries of the year.

Establishing peaceful relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors has been a goal of U.S. presidents since the modern Jewish state was established in 1948.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThe Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based production company AGBO.

The submissions deadline for the International Oscar category at the 93rd Academy Awards may have now passed, but a few last-minute contenders are still being confirmed, including Saudi Arabia which has put forward Scales.

Guy Lodge Film CriticYou can take the girl out of the woods, but you can’t take the woods out of the girl — unless, of course, you take the woods away altogether. Such are the tough lessons learned in “Toorbos,” a satisfying marriage of folky period romance and environmental parable from the misty, mossy depths of South Africa’s Knysna forest region: a national beauty spot much enshrined in local literature and lore, but rarely given this kind of grand-scale screen showcase.

Naman Ramachandran In today’s Global Bulletin, Italy’s Oscar contender “Notturno” named European Movie of the Year; U.K.

Pussycat Dolls star Carmit Bachar discusses female empowerment, how 2020 has changed her and more in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam.