Leading Middle East streamer MBC Shahid has picked up Lebanese comedian John Achkar’s stand-up comedy special “Tryin’” (“Aam Jarrib”) filmed at Paris’ legendary L’Olympia concert hall in what is being touted as a milestone for Arabic stand-up comedy. Achkar’s performance of “Tryin’,” filmed in Paris on Oct. 23, marked the first-ever Arabic-language performance by a […]

Italian auteur Alice Rohrwacher, known for her magical realist works “The Wonders,” “Happy as Lazzaro” and “La Chimera” —  all of which competed at Cannes Film Festival — is set to direct a feature film adaptation of Italo Calvino’s coming-of-age fable “The Baron in the Trees.” One of the most celebrated books in 20th century […]

Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore will be honored during the upcoming Taormina Film Festival with the Golden Globes Prize for Documentary in partnership with Artemis Rising Foundation for his docufilm “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” about Brunello Cucinelli, the fashion designer known as Italy’s “King of Cashmere.” Tornatore will receive the award in Taormina’s large open-air ancient […]

U.S.-based Icelandic film, music video and TV producer Sigurjón Sighvatsson will be celebrated by the Locarno Film Festival with its Raimondo Rezzonico Award, dedicated to producers who epitomize the indie ethos. Sigurjón “Joni” Sighvatsson co-founded Propaganda Films with Steve Golin in 1986, building it into a powerhouse that produced hit TV shows such as “Twin Peaks” […]

Saudi action thriller “7 Dogs” about a global crime syndicate that is trafficking a lethal new drug called Pink Lady across the Middle East – and stars Monica Bellucci as Giulia Leoni, the head of the mobsters’ distribution network – has scored an impressive more than $7 million first frame across the Middle East and […]

Fatma Al-Ghanim is a Qatari athlete and filmmaker who is breaking new ground for women in the tiny country and in the Arab world at large. In 2010, she captained Qatar’s first-ever women’s national soccer team. Now, Al-Ghanim is at the Tribeca Film Festival with “Theatre of Dreams,” a powerful short that marks her directorial and […]

Italian authorities have canceled upcoming concerts by Kanye West and Travis Scott that had been scheduled to take place in July in the northern city of Reggio Emilia, citing security concerns. West, now known as Ye, was scheduled to headline the Hellwat Festival on July 18 at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia. The venue […]

In a significant reversal, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated feature “The Voice of Hind Rajab” has been cleared by India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) that had blocked the politically sensitive film’s release in March. After weeks of controversy in India over its initial censorship of the film – which tells the real story of […]

Rome’s Il Cinema in Piazza summer screenings series has recruited Léa Seydoux, who will present Arthur Harari’s body-swap psychodrama “The Unknown” as part of a three-picture Carte Blanche program featuring “three titles that have shaped her imagination and artistic journey,” organizers have announced. The unique program — featuring 95 free screenings in three outdoor venues, […]

France-based Iranian artist, animator and director Marjane Satrapi, best known for her Oscar-nominated 2007 biographical animated feature “Persepolis,” has died. She was 56. “Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,” said a statement “from close friends and family” sent […]

As Israel steps up air strikes in Lebanon, Beirut’s beloved Metropolis Cinema – championed by Lebanese filmmakers as an indie cinema beacon amid bombings, despair and dysfunction – has announced it is forging ahead with the second edition of its South Screens (Écrans du Sud) festival. “In times shaped by war, silence, and uncertainty, we […]

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court has upheld a one-year prison sentence against Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi who in December had been sentenced in absentia on charges of engaging in propaganda activities against the Iranian state. Panahi’s lawyer Mostafa Nili announced the decision by the court to reject the director’s appeal during a press briefing in Tehran on […]