Rape rows risk taking sheen off Venice film festival

Agencies
August 19, 2019

Venice, Aug 19: The star-studded Venice film festival opens on Wednesday with a row raging about the inclusion of controversial directors Roman Polanski and Nate Parker.

With only two women directors out of 21 in the running for its Golden Lion top prize, campaigners have lashed the festival -- now the launchpad for the Oscars.

Director Alberto Barbera said last year that he would rather quit the 11-day event -- where three of the last five Oscar best picture winners were premiered -- than give in to pressure for quotas.

But feminist critics have only upped their attacks, accusing the festival of "almost comically scant levels of self-awareness".

"1 rapist. 2 women directors in competition at Venice. What else am I missing?" tweeted Women and Hollywood founder Melissa Silverstein, referring to Polanski's conviction for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 1978.

She was equally scathing about the late addition of US director Parker's film "American Skin" to a sidebar section.

"Good job Venice," she tweeted caustically, adding a reference to a rape trial the actor-turned-director was embroiled in while still at university.

Parker's 2016 debut film about a slave revolt, "The Birth of a Nation", was derailed after it emerged that he was accused of raping a fellow student, who later killed herself.

Although Parker was acquitted, he later admitted that when "I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom".

Fellow black American director Spike Lee has vowed to travel to Venice to support "brave" Parker.

"I haven't been affected by a film like this... in a long, long time," he said in a statement about the movie in which a Marine veteran whose son is killed by the police takes justice into his own hands.

But it is the premiere of 85-year-old Polanski's historical thriller about the persecution of the French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, "An Officer and a Spy", which is likely to make most headlines.

With Polanski suing the Academy of Motion Pictures for stripping him of his membership, Screen Daily's chief critic Fionnuala Halligan was withering about his selection.

She imagined festival director "Barbera, wandering the Lido hopelessly, singing the same mournful refrain... he can't find a female film director.

"So this year he's going to programme the new film by (a) convicted child rapist."

The message was "crystal clear", she added: "You don't cut it, ladies."

Halligan wrote such "gender imbalance... shouldn't be acceptable and Polanski is just like rubbing salt into that."

She also deplored the decision to add the director's cut of French director Gasper Noe's controversial 2002 rape shocker "Irreversible" to the line-up.

"Time to turn over," she argued.

Barbera defended his selections insisting that "numerous films this year deal with the theme of the feminine condition in the world which, even when directed by men, reveal a new sensitivity".

He said this was "proof that the scandals of recent years have left their mark on our culture".

The rows threaten to take some of the sheen off a staggeringly starry selection that features Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Kristen Stewart, Meryl Streep, Scarlett Johansson, and Mick Jagger.

Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, and Robert De Niro are also due on the red carpet where the curtain will also come up on the new DC Comics blockbuster, "The Joker".

Trailers for the film starring Joaquin Phoenix, which traces the origins of Batman's nemesis, have already been viewed more than 80 million times.

Steven Soderbergh's take on the Panama Papers investigation, "The Laundromat", will also be premiered while Pitt plays an astronaut in James Gray's highly-anticipated sci-fi drama.

Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda -- who won the best film at Cannes last year with "Shoplifters" -- opens the festival Wednesday with his French-set family story, "The Truth", starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, and Ethan Hawke.

The two female directors vying for the top prize are Saudi Arabia's Haifaa al-Mansour, the maker of the acclaimed "Wadjda", with "The Perfect Candidate", and the Australian comedy "Babyteeth" by newcomer Shannon Murphy.

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News Network
May 24,2020

Los Angeles, May 24: Hollywood star Salma Hayek says her daughter Valentina Pinault is a talented 12 year old who wants to be a director and star as a lead in a film one day.

The Oscar-nominated actor shares Valentina with husband, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault.

Hayek said she has confidence in her daughter's abilities and believes she has a long way to go.

"She has so many talents. She draws, she wants to shoot movies - both as a director and as the lead - and she writes great pieces. Sometimes when I read her work, I have an urge to produce these stories.

"But she tells me that she will do it by herself when she's older. I don't know what's coming next for her but it seems that she has a lot of ways to go," the actor told HELLO! magazine.

Hayek, 53, added she is concerned about Valentina who has always lived a sheltered life.

"Valentina has always done what she wanted, I've never made her do anything and this means she hasn't yet learned how to oppose pressure, how to overcome obstacles.

"I know by experience that only the overcoming of some difficulties can lead you in the right direction," she said.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Bandipur, Jan 28: British adventurer Bear Grylls and superstar Rajinikanth arrived at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park in Karnataka on Tuesday for shooting a special episode of the show 'Man vs Wild'.

The actor arrived at the location dressed in comfortable sporty clothes. Donning a dark blue jacket and grey track pants, Rajinikanth was also carrying a cross-body sling bag.

Videos and photographs of Rajinikanth arriving at a helipad were shared widely on social media.

Reports say that an agreement was signed between the Karnataka Forest Department represented by the Field Director of Bandipur and Banijay Group, Seventaurus Entertainment Studio Private Ltd, Mumbai for shooting of the documentary in December 2019. The team was also allowed to do a recce from December 27th to 29th as per the agreement, a report said.

The shooting has been permitted for six hours. "Permission for the shooting has been given for Sultan Batteri highway and ranges of Mulleholle, Maddur and Kalkere ranges. They will be shooting in non-tourist zones. If permission was given for the shooting of Wild Karnataka, then this can also be permitted. Also, no tourist or regular forest patrolling activities will be affected. The shooting will be done under special forest protection and no one will be aware of the locations," a forest official was quoted as saying in another news report.

Earlier in 2019, Grylls shot an episode of the show with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Grylls is also back with the latest edition of his National Geographic show ‘Running Wild With Bear Grylls’, where actors such as Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Joel McHale, Cara Delevingne, Rob Riggle, Armie Hammer and Dave Bautista take on adventurous challenges in remote wilderness.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Mumbai, Jul 28: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he was left in tears as his daughter-in-law, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan were discharged from hospital after testing negative for coronavirus.

Aishwarya and her eight-year-old daughter, who were shifted to the isolation ward of Nanavati Hospital on July 17, were discharged on Monday.

Amitabh, 77, and his actor-son Abhishek are still in hospital after they were admitted on July 11.

In a post on official blog, the Bollywood veteran said that he became emotional when Aaradhya told him that he would be "back home soon".

"They go home, the little one and Bahurani... and the tears flow out... the little one embraces and tells me not to cry... 'You’ll be home soon', she assures... I must believe her," he said.

On Monday, Abhishek had said that he and his father were still under the care of medical staff at the Nanavati Hospital's isolation ward.

"My father and I remain in hospital under the care of the medical staff. Thank you all for your continued prayers and good wishes. Indebted forever," the 44-year-old actor tweeted.

Both Amitabh and Abhishek have been sharing their health updates with fans on various social media platforms.

Last week, Amitabh had dismissed reports that he had finally tested negative for coronavirus, calling the piece of news "an incorrigible lie".

Mumbai's Covid-19 tally rose to 1,10,129 on Monday with addition of 1,033 new cases.

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