Afghanistan: Celebs Rumors

Murtada Elfadl How people perceive gender and react to it lies at the heart of “Transition,” Monica Villamizar and Jordan Bryon’s documentary premiering in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows Bryon, an Australian journalist, transitioning at the same time that he’s reporting from within Afghanistan as the country falls back under Taliban rule in 2021. His dilemma intensifies as he’s ensconced with a group of hardline Taliban fighters. They only know him as a man, so he’s able to have the access and security he needs to perform his job even as others in the country are losing their rights because of their gender. With that framework, the film feels like a documentation of a timebomb situation. At any moment things might change drastically for Bryon.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has closed a raft of deals on “Fremont,” the critically acclaimed film by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali. The movie world premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Music Box for North America in a deal negotiated by CAA. The black-and-white film, laced with wry humor, tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie. Following its Sundance premiere, the film played at SXSW and is slated to compete at Karlovy Vary. Other festival lined up include Deauville, Melbourne and Athens.

Lisa Ling has joined CBS News as a contributor across the network broadcasts and platforms.

Music Box studios, performing acoustic versions of three of her hit songs. Baser performed "2020s", "X&Y" and "Pretty Boys", songs showcasing her witty lyrics detailing love and loss as well as her wide range of musical influences and styles.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Germany’s Beta has licensed Spanish special ops thriller “La Unidad – Kabul,” to Max for the U.S., the third instalment in one of Movistar Plus+’s longest running franchises, “La Unidad,” whose six episodes deliver an engrossing and sometimes shocking take on the 2021 Fall of Kabul. With the purchase, all 18 episodes of Spanish series “La Unidad” are now available to stream on Max in the U.S.   Beta has previously sold the thriller, spangled by action scenes and haunting in its sudden deaths, to 50 territories including France, Latin America, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Australia.  

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic A year after collecting his second Palme d‘Or for “The Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Östlund finds himself on the other end of the equation at the Cannes Film Festival, overseeing the official competition jury awarding this year’s prizes. Östlund is co-presenting the awards with fellow jurors Paul Dano and Brie Larson, Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, French actor Denis Ménochet, British-Zambian writer-director Rungano Nyoni, Afghan author Atiq Rahimi, Argentinian writer-director Damián Szifrón and “Titane” director Julia Ducournau (another Palme d’Or winner). Full list of prizes below.

A question comes up part of the way through Ric Roman Waugh’s “Kandahar” that the film can’t find an answer for: Is this a Sad Dad Gerard Butler action picture or a Gritty Dad Gerard Butler action picture? Either way, he’s a dad, but in Sad Dad Butler films, that’s a feature; in Gritty Dad Butler films, it’s window dressing. “Kandahar” isn’t quite one or the other.

Director Ric Roman Waugh’s drab film fumbles and grumbles through Iran, the United Arab Emirates and eventually Afghanistan as the hunt for CIA Agent Tom Harris (Butler) intensifies. “Kandahar,” to its credit, aspires to be deep. Geopolitics come up, as does the Taliban’s mangled interpretation of the Quran, along with ISIS and other aftershocks of American wars in the Middle East.Really, though, it is just another tiresome and impenetrably brooding Gerard Butler movie in which no event seems to matter any more than the next one — and grimaces are mistaken for drama. Before ho-hum Harris goes on the run, he is posing as a utility worker in Iran while attempting to destroy a nuclear plant.

A war veteran was caught drug dealing AGAIN after police got a whiff of weed and 'literally used their noses' to get to his house.

Kandahar is the latest from director Rick Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Greenland), starring frequent collaborator Gerard Butler, along with Travis Fimmel, Navid Negahban, Ali Fazal, and Bahador Foladi in an action drama that lacks imagination. With the script penned by Mitchell LaFortune, these particular types of stories often suffer from narrative sameness: westerner travels to the Middle East, things go boom, westerner saves the day, the end. 

, and I don't know if I've ever screenshotted a hair color faster. Although, it's hard to say, especially with how impressive the Cannes beauty looks have been thus far.

Prince Harry’s bid to hire police security when he is in Britain has been denied.

Jennifer Lawrence steps out in a woven dress with a detailed back for the Bread and Roses photocall during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival over the weekend.

Comfort is key! Jennifer Lawrence pulled off a red carpet fashion faux pas.   

Jennifer Lawrence made sure to keep things comfortable on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The 32-year-old Oscar winner attended a special screening of the film and walked the carpet in Cannes, France, while wearing a stunning Christian Dior couture cherry red gown.But when Lawrence lifted her gown to walk down the steps, she revealed that she was rocking some black flip flops underneath the elegant look.Lawrence attended the screening with Sahra Mani, the director of the new documentary she produced,, and fellow producer Justine Ciarrocchi.Earlier on Sunday, Lawrence attended the photocall for while wearing a silver mesh look and heels. is a documentary following Afghan women under the control of the Taliban.

A Thousand Girls Like Me looked at a sexually abused woman’s quest for justice, the film aimed to show how the lives of women changed overnight under Taliban rule. “This film has a message from women in Afghanistan, a soft message: please be their voice who are voiceless under Taliban dictatorship,” said Mani at the premiere.

red carpet in a very unexpected shoe.On May 21, the hit the Croisette in a crimson Christian Dior couture gown with a ruffled bust, corseted bustier, and elegant shawl draped across her arms. Paired with a statement diamond choker necklace and subtle wine-stained lips, the 32-year-old Huger Games star embodied Old Hollywood glamour for the premiere of Anatomy of a Fall, save for one minor, deliciously relatable detail.Underneath Lawrence's gown was a pair of everyday black flip-flops, which could be seen as the actor descended the Palais des Festivals steps in photos from the event—and we can't help but think would be proud.

Late last month the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the Taliban for systematically depriving Afghan women of their rights, demanding the country’s fundamentalist Islamic rulers provide “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls” in Afghan society.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and her producing partner Justine Ciarrocchi touched down at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday to promote their label’s first ever documentary feature, “Bread and Roses” — a harrowing and emotional look at the lives of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. After two decades of American occupation, the nation fell once again to the insurgent group, which moved quickly to strip women of basic rights — simple freedoms like the ability to work, appear in public without a male chaperone and receive an education. “It all just collapsed and a matter of days,” Lawrence recalled to Variety. “I was watching this from America, where Roe v. Wade was about to be overturned. We felt helpless and frustrated with how to get these stories off of the news cycle and into people’s psyches. To help people be galvanized and care about the plight of these women.”

Catherine Bray Afghan director Sahra Mani‘s well-received “A Thousand Girls Like Me” documented the quest for justice of a young incest victim, and now, Mani has returned with a similarly hard-hitting documentary, “Bread and Roses”, premiering in the official selection of Cannes as a special screening. Produced by Jennifer Lawrence, this film tackles an urgent and timely topic through a committed on-the-ground perspective, capturing the experience of three people, Zahra, Taranom and Sharifa, whose lives as they knew them were effectively ended when the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 2021. The film benefits from introducing a voice-of-god narrator or viewer stand-in to guide the audience through an arm’s-length survey of the situation. This is scrappy, up-close and personal filmmaking — which is not to say that anything here is hard to follow or purposefully obscure. It’s more that Mani trusts both her audience and subjects to engage with the actuality of what is happening without the need for intrusive formatting.

Christopher Vourlias With Jonathan Glazer’s Auschwitz-set Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” competing for the Palme d’Or and a host of Polish producers bringing buzzy upcoming projects to the Marché du Film, the Polish industry should again have Cannes talking. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights: The Zone of Interest(Competition)Director: Jonathan GlazerProducers: James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska (JW Films, Extreme Emotions)Sales: A24The veteran British filmmaker’s first film in nearly a decade, which will compete for the Palme d’Or, is a Holocaust drama loosely based on the novel by Martin Amis that’s sure to be among the festival’s most talked-about films.

Films Boutique has closed multiple territory deals on Agnieszka Holland’s “The Green Border,” which just completed principal photography in Poland. The film has been sold to Condor (France), September Films (Benelux), Movies Inspired (Italy), Leopardo Filmes (Portugal), MCF Megacom (former Yugoslavia), Kino Swiat (Poland) and AQS (Czech Rep./Slovakia). “The Green Border” tells the story of a family of Syrian refugees, a solitary English teacher from Afghanistan and a young border guard, all of whom meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis triggered by Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko, who opened the country’s doors to migrants as a back door to enter the EU.

Academy Award-winning Hotel Rwanda screenwriter and director Terry George is heading to Saudi Arabia for his upcoming film Riverman, to shoot in the country’s burgeoning film production hub of Neom.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-winning Irish director Terry George (“In the Name of The Father,” “Hotel Rwanda”) is set for Afghanistan-set actioner “Riverman” which will be shot in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM regional production hub. Inspired by true events that unfolded between 2001-2008 during the war in Afghanistan, “Riverman” revolves around a highly decorated Royal Marine named Max who after a series of devastating events goes to the dark side. He is recruited by a private arms dealer to supply weapons to private armies around the world. “Despite being trained to cope with the deadliest situations on Earth, nothing can prepare Max for the high-stakes world of arms dealing,” says the provided synopsis.

Meghan Markle went for gold in a stunning strapless gown as she was honoured at the Ms Foundation's Women of Vision Awards.The Duchess of Sussex dazzled in a $1,850 Joanna Ortiz gown with matching Tom Ford heels and a clutch bag by Carolina Herrera at the ceremony where she was presented with Ms Foundation's Women of Vision Award, recognising her "global advocacy to empower and advocate on behalf of women and girls". And in a moving acceptance speech, which closed the gala in Manhattan, she said: "It's never too late to start.

EXCLUSIVE: LA-based production, finance, and sales company Premiere Entertainment have picked up international rights to the military action thriller Warhorse One, starring actor Johnny Strong (Black Hawk Down).

Lise Pedersen Cannes Docs, the Marché du Film sidebar dedicated to documentary film, has unveiled the line-up of its Doc Day, which unspools on May 23, as the final event in at Cannes Docs. Veteran U.S. cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, president of Cannes Festival’s Œil d’or Jury which hands out an award to the best doc in Cannes’ Official Selection, will open the morning session in a conversation with writer, director and producer Guetty Felin (“Ayiti Mon Amour,” “Closer to the Dream”). Entitled “Cinema and the Pleasures of the Impossible,” it will explore the many ways filmmaking creates possibilities to search for the invisible, to bring life to the dead and to time travel in their lives.

EXCLUSIVE: Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired North America rights to the indie drama Mending the Line, starring Golden Globe winner Brian Cox (Succession) and Sinqua Walls (White Men Can’t Jump), slating it for release in theaters nationwide on June 9th. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off a successful collaboration on “Charlatan,” Films Boutique has boarded Agnieszka Holland’s next film “The Green Border,” which just completed principal photography in Poland. Now in post production, “The Green Border” tells the fateful story of a family of Syrian refugees, a solitary English teacher from Afghanistan and a young border guard, all of whom meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis triggered by President Lukaschenko opening doors to migrants in Belarus as a back door to enter the EU.  The screenplay, penned by Holland, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko and Maciej Pisuk, is inspired by real events. Research for the film included hundreds of hours of document analysis, interviews with refugees, border guards, borderland residents, activists and experts.

EXCLUSIVE: The award-winning documentary Afghan Dreamers will exclusively premiere on Paramount+ on May 23, ahead of an expected Emmy push for the documentary about an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors has selected 35 winners to award at this year’s Peabody ceremony, including entertainment fare such as “Abbott Elementary,” “Atlanta,” “Better Call Saul,” “Severance” and “We’re Here.” Chosen by unanimous vote of 32 jurors from over 1,400 entries, the 83rd annual Peabody Awards landed on ten entertainment shows, eight documentaries, seven news programs, five from interactive and immersive content, three podcast/radio programs, and one each from arts and public service fare. PBS led the winners circle with six, followed by Apple TV+ and Disney+ with three each, and HBO Max with two. For “Atlanta” and “Better Call Saul,” both shows recieved Peabody honors in their first season — and will receive another for their final seasons. The winners, announced on Tuesday, came out of previously announced 69 nominees in all categories.

The winners of the 2023 Peabody Awards have been announced and PBS leads the pack with a total of 6 followed by Apple TV+ and Disney+ with 3 a piece and HBO Max with 2 trophies.

The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, has returned to California after catching a British Airways flight within hours of his father King Charles’ Coronation. Harry arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at around 7.30pm local time (3.30am UK) to reunite with his son on his birthday. Prince Archie turned four on Saturday and spent the day with his mother, Meghan Markle, at their US home.

all over again… According to , Prince Harry and Prince William “seemingly didn't interact” at on May 6.Not only was Prince Harry seated separately from the and during the King's crowning ceremony at Westminster Abbey, but the Duke of Sussex also did not walk in the procession, nor was he invited to join the rest of the working royal family for their traditional Buckingham Palace following the historic event.Instead, was photographed smiling as he arrived with cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, dressed in a morning suit and a series of medals, including his Afghanistan service medal.  Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank with Prince Harry at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey, on May 6, 2023.Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and Kate Middleton attend the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.  reports that Prince Harry left the festivities immediately following the ceremony, which matches previous reports that King Charles' youngest son would not be visiting the UK for long. Earlier this month, reported that Prince Harry planned to in order to celebrate his son Prince Archie's fourth birthday alongside the rest of his family in California.Aside from their son's birthday taking place on the same day as the coronation, a source recently told that Meghan Markle remained in the States due to within the family following their and , Spare.

What the duke wore. Prince Harry attended King Charles III‘s coronation in a morning suit rather than his military uniform.

Prince Harry showed up to the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla not wearing his military uniform. The Duke of Sussex wore a morning suit for the historic ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which means he’s not be in uniform. PEOPLE reports Harry requested to wear a morning suit — and that he didn't make any specific asks regarding his outfit.The prince has no formal role in the service and he will not be a part of the Coronation Procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace following the crowning ceremony.During the service, Harry sat alongside his cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.Harry served in the British Army for 10 years and undertook two tours in Afghanistan. The youngest son of Charles was all smiles as he entered the monumental event, alongside his cousin, Princess Eugenie. Prince Harry has arrived at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. pic.twitter.com/39AoJwT4h5A source tells ET that Harry arrived in the U.K.