‘The Rise of Wagner’ Review: A Potent Doc Study of a Mercenary Player in Global Politics

A rising number of desperate human traffic victims have been discovered in the region.

Every year, on the third Thursday of May, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Vyshyvanka. The occasion pays tribute to the country's original folk traditions and sees citizens wearing embroidered Ukrainian clothes, including the Vyshyvanka, a loose-fitting shirt, which is often in black or white and features geometric patterns stitched around the edges.  This year’s celebration was seen as a symbol of national unity against the Russian invasion.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading French producer Michael Gentile’s Paris-based outfit The Film is about to start shooting Julie Delpy’s next directorial outing, “The Barbarians,” and Laurence Arné’s “Les Hennedricks” starring Dany Boon. Delpy’s comeback to French filmmaking since “Lolo,” “The Barbarians” is a satirical comedy unfolding in a small town in Brittany which is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees after voting unanimously to greet them in exchange for subsidies from the government. But instead of seeing Ukrainians come into town, they see Syrian refugees, causing some tensions among locals and testing their liberal beliefs. Delpy will star in the film opposite Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”), Laurent Lafitte (“Elle”) and Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), India Hair (“Angry Annie”), Mathieu Demy (“The Bureau”) and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy.

Thania Garcia Blur will be releasing their first album in eight years, “The Ballad of Darren,” later this summer, the band announced on Thursday morning. The news arrived with an early taste of the 10-song collection, a guitar-driven single titled “The Narcissist.” The album, which will be released on July 21 on Parlophone, follows their last reunion album — 2015’s “The Magic Whip” — and was produced by James Ford, who last worked with Blur’s Damon Albarn for the Gorillaz’s 2018 album “The Now Now.” “This is an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now,” said Albarn of the new record in a statement. Lead guitarist Graham Coxon added, “The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention. Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”

Christopher Vourlias Two years ago, Hungarian producer Mónika Mécs had a banner year, bowing Bence Fliegauf’s “Forest — I See You Everywhere” in competition at the Berlin Film Festival before walking the red carpet in Cannes, where Oscar nominee Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife” competed for the Palme d’Or. The world — and the global film industry — was still learning to live with the coronavirus pandemic; “Forest” premiered online in the Berlinale’s virtual edition, and Cannes attendees spent dry-mouthed mornings spitting into test tubes. But the economic impact of the pandemic had only begun to make itself felt, as production costs spiked and reached heights that are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.

EXCLUSIVE: When millions of Ukrainians fled to the Polish border after the Russian invasion last year, Maciek Hamela, whose film In the Rearview is debuting in the Cannes market this week, was one of a number of volunteers who drove to help assist multiple generations of Ukrainian civilians in fleeing the life-threatening conflict. 

The grand final of the Eurovision song contest hit our screens last night, broadcasting live from Liverpool to millions all over the world.

Kate Middleton made a surprise cameo at the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday night.  The 41-year-old Princess of Wales gave a pre-recorded piano performance in the international song competition's opening segment, which she filmed earlier this month at the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle. Middleton played an instrumental version of the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra's song "Stefania," which won the contest last year.

Catherine Tate left Eurovision Song Contest fans 'screaming' as she put on a dazzling display while being the spokesperson for the UK. The comedian and actress delivered the results of the country's national jury – including the coveted "douze points" on Saturday night (May 13).

The Eurovision Song Contest is taking place on Saturday night and is this year being hosted by the UK.

The buzz has been brewing this week - if not longer - for Eurovision 2023 and today's finally the day. The Grand Final of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday night (May 13) in Liverpool after the city won a tight bidding contest to host the event on behalf of Ukraine.

Never mind which country takes the Eurovision crown this evening in Liverpool, UK – the audience has already claimed its favourite, and it’s the host Hannah Waddingham. 

EXCLUSIVE: Cinephil has come aboard to represent worldwide sales rights to Polish director Maciek Hamela’s In The Rearview, which will make its debut in the Cannes Film Festival next week as part of the ACID (Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema) program. 

Naman Ramachandran Gross box office in the European Union (EU) and the U.K. grew by 70% in 2022 compared with 2021 – from €3 billion ($3.27 billion) to €5.1 billion ($5.57 billion), down by 28% on pre-pandemic levels. The numbers were revealed in the 2023 edition of Focus – World Film Market Trends, a report which is prepared each year for the Cannes film market. Three U.S. films, “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru” topped the European charts in 2022, selling 34.4 million, 30.6 and 30.2 million tickets throughout the calendar year respectively. Cinema attendance in the EU and the U.K. increased by 63% from 403 million tickets sold in 2021 to an estimated 657 million in 2022, representing 67% of the average pre-pandemic admission level registered between 2017 and 2019. 

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo gets to the occasional truth with Hulu’s hit period comedy series, “The Great.” Created by Tony McNamara (“The Favourite,” “Cruella”), the show follows the sometimes true rise to power and subsequent rule of Catherine “The Great” (Elle Fanning) in a chaotic and debaucherous 18th century Russia.

The world premiere of ‘Wham!’ about the pop supergroup formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley is among the highlights of the 30th edition of the Sheffield DocFest, set for June 14-19 in north-central England.

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off with a bang on Tuesday night in the UK with the first of two semi-finals. 

It's really happening!

The Coronation was but the warm-up event. This coming Saturday sees the UK play host to the 67th Eurovision Song Contest and venue city Liverpool is pulling out all the stops. 

Jennie Punter Last year, during an online panel at Hot Docs film festival featuring Ukrainian documentary filmmakers who were staying in place, Oksana Karpovych told attendees how she’d gained knowledge working alongside foreign media crews covering the war, and was now applying that to her own creative documentary projects. This year, at the festival’s 30th anniversary edition, Karpovych attended the in-person Forum market event to pitch “Intercepted” — her observational doc exploring the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — which ended up winning the 2023 CMF-Hot Docs Canadian Pitch Prize. With Ukraine in the spotlight at Hot Docs this year, both audiences and industry attendees are getting wide exposure to the films and ideas of leading Ukrainian documentary creators. The timing of this programming is perfect, said Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk, not only for the obvious reason.