Ukrainian Women Mourn Their Lost Loved Ones in NBC News Special ‘Ukraine: A Mother’s War’ (Exclusive Video)

Thania Garcia Although the royal family has yet to confirm the official list of attendees for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, various heads of state have already confirmed their planned attendance at the Westminster Abbey ceremony scheduled for Monday, Sept. 19. Buckingham Palace revealed the full schedule of the funeral plans — which will begin in London and end in Windsor — including the several categories of dignitaries invited: global government representatives, foreign royal families, governors general, realm prime ministers and heads of state. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be present, along with all of the heads of the Commonwealth including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian President Droupadi Murmu and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Joining them will be President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska and the presidents of Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Poland, among other representatives.

Marta Balaga Acclaimed cellist Lukas Stasevskij pursues his dream of cinema with documentary “My Ukraine,” currently in development and set to make a bow next week during film industry event Finnish Film Affair. The film is produced by Tero Tamminen (East Films) and Ilona Tolmunen (Made), also behind Aino Suni’s “Heartbeast,” recently snapped up by France’s Wayna Pitch. “When Lukas approached Tero Tamminen and then they called me, we were both immediately interested,” Tolmunen tells Variety, praising Stasevskij’s “universal” story about finding one’s identity and understanding the meaning of roots.

star tied the knot with creative director and photographer Nick Hardy at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, California. And while the couple calls their big day «magical and cinematic,» it didn't exactly go off without a hitch.«When the rings were requested, no one knew who had them!» the newlyweds, who got engaged in January 2022, tell . «The ceremony stopped and the flower girls appeared from the back. They arrived, but they didn't have the rings.

A few minutes before the North American premiere of “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” director Evgeny Afineesvky summed up his state of mind in a single word: “exhausted.”That makes sense, because “Freedom on Fire” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival about six months after Afineevsky and his team began working on it, barely more than a month after its final footage was filmed and only a few weeks after Helen Mirren recorded narration for a scene that comes early in the documentary.For Afineevsky, who landed Oscar and Emmy nominations for 2015’s “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” this sequel of sorts was made in a six-month rush, including just three months of editing after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February of this year. “The urgency of the movie,” the Russian-born director told the audience before the Tuesday morning TIFF screening, “is to not neglect the situation right now.”Certainly, urgency is a hallmark of “Freedom on Fire,” a harrowing document shot by dozens of people inside Ukrainian cities as the Russian army conducted a bombing campaign and an invasion that seemingly targeted civilians, despite Vladimir Putin’s claims that Russia was there to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country, and to somehow “free” it – though as more than one person in the film points out, the Russian offensive has resulted in ordinary citizens being freed from their lives, their homes, their families.The director’s first film about Ukraine, “Winter on Fire,” was an on-the-ground look at the 2013-2014 Maidan uprising, in which student protests against the Russian-backed president drew a brutal response but resulted in the removal of the president.

Jessica Kiang It isn’t that people’s first instincts are bad in “Victim,” Slovak director Michal Blaško’s compelling, apprehensive feature debut. A distraught Ukrainian mother travelling back to her adopted home in the Czech Republic to be by her injured son’s hospital bedside, for example, will find someone willing to drive her when her bus is delayed. It’s just that once they find those instincts lining up with their pre-existing prejudices — say, when the boy alleges, or heavily implies, that the ones who beat him up were of Roma background — then those same people will erase all nuance, ignore all complexity, and do almost anything to drink further into the intoxication of righteous moral outrage. Even if it means shoring up a teenager’s lie. 

Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Slash, Kasabian and Madness are auctioning off Gibson guitars to help victims of the war in Ukraine.The artists have been playing Gibson guitars featuring the colours of the Ukraine flag over the summer.Now, Gibson has crafted a limited edition run of four Guitars For Peace Les Paul Custom electric guitars, with autograph books by the artists that also include Chic, Paloma Faith, The Charlatans, The Vaccines, Toyah, My Chemical Romance and actor Jason Momoa.Starting on October 11, bidding will open via Julien’s Auctions. A live auction will take place online from November 11-13 here and in person at the Hard Rock New York.“I’m happy to auction this beautiful guitar of mine to benefit the fine people of Ukraine,” said McCartney.

"Dancing with the Stars" pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy is sharing what it was like being in Ukraine when the war broke out and what he's doing to help his homeland.  Chmerkovskiy, who was born in Ukraine but is also a U.S. citizen, was in Ukraine earlier this year when Russia launched its invasion.The dancer was working as a judge on the Ukrainian version of "Dancing with the Stars" at the time.  When the war first broke out in February, Chmerkovskiy documented his experience of being in Kyiv.

Roger Waters has penned an open letter to Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, suggesting she persuade her husband to work toward a ceasefire with Russia and “stop the slaughter”.The letter from the former Pink Floyd member comes by way of response to Zelenska’s interview on the BBC program Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, which aired on Sunday (September 4.)In it, Zelenska was asked what message she had for British people regarding the rise in energy bills that has come in part due to the current war between Ukraine and Russia.Zelenska said: “People must understand [rising energy costs] are not coming through the West’s support to Ukraine. The prices are going up in Ukraine as well.

Christopher Vourlias The pursuit of justice in the wake of unspeakable war crimes is at the heart of Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s timely new feature, “The Kiev Trial.” Produced by Atoms & Void for the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, the film had its world premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The trailer can be viewed below. Held in January 1946 in the former Soviet Union, the film’s titular trial was among the first court cases to hold Nazis and their collaborators accountable for atrocities committed during World War II — acts that would come to be known as “crimes against humanity” during the historic tribunals held in Nuremberg, Germany.

Alpha Violet founding co-heads Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato are in Venice this year with Indonesian filmmaker Makbul Mubarak’s first film Autobiography, which plays in Horizons ahead of trips to TIFF and London BFI  among other festivals.

Emily Blunt Heading To Mipcom For ‘The English’ Red Carpet Curtain Raiser

Their special day. Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev finally tied the knot after more than three years of dating — and the happy couple were joined by all of their celebrity friends.

Ed Sheeran was joined at his Poland gig on Saturday night by Ukrainian band Antytila – watch them give a live debut of their collaborative remix of ‘2step’.Earlier this year Antytila reached out to Sheeran asking if they could perform remotely at the ‘Concert For Ukraine’ fundraiser event in Birmingham. Organisers refused because the event is “only able to focus on the humanitarian situation” and the band are currently fighting the Russians in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, but Sheeran did say he was going to be checking out their music.Following that, they released a collaborative remix of Sheeran’s track ‘2step’ in May, with Antytila sharing screenshots of conversations they’d had with Sheeran.“I’m up for whatever man, just please keep safe,” Sheeran wrote to the group.