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A village that cries endlessly seems almost fascinating, doesn’t it? Well, it most certainly is the case with Amegakure in the Naruto Shippuden anime. The village has a history of war, loss, and suffering. It is evident with children either being orphaned or turning to criminal organizations.

Moreover, it doesn’t exist for mere aesthetic purposes in Kishimoto’s series. Rather, it has deep symbolism of pain, loss, and suffering. It represents the history of oppression and tyranny, but there’s a catch to that. There is a plausible explanation for its unnaturalness in the anime.

Amegakure in Naruto Shippuden anime | Credit: Studio Pierrot

According to this theory, the downpour can be attributed to a weapon test gone wrong. It does align well with the village’s history of conflict and its technological advancements. The rebreathers and the village’s landscape are only a fraction of its true potential.

Cast members of children’s musical Finn made an unexpected return to the Kennedy Center stage when rock band Guster invited the young singer-actors to join the band in a song Friday night.

In a video of the performance – the alternative rock band Guster was performing with the National Symphony Orchestra (see it below) – Guster lead singer Ryan Miller said from the Kennedy Center stage, “My friend named Michael wrote the songs for a musical called Finn,” a reference to one of the show’s three creators Michael Kooman.

Miller continued, “In the before times they were booked to play here. But as all of you know, things happened, and the show is no longer being presented by the Kennedy Center. As the new administration has made abundantly clear, Finn’s themes of inclusivity, love, and self-acceptance aren’t going to be welcome in this building while they are in control.

Sean Connery had a way of making villains look like sidekicks, and Diamonds Are Forever was no exception. Bruce Glover’s Mr. Wint was supposed to be menacing, but next to Connery’s effortless swagger, he felt more like an awkward henchman at a villain tryout.

Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962) | Credits: Eon Productions

While Glover struggled to leave an impression, another James Bond actor had no problem acknowledging Connery’s undeniable talent.

Roger Moore couldn’t get enough of Bruce Glover’s bond villain Roger Moore in Live and Let Die | Credits: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Sean Connery had a habit of stealing scenes, and Diamonds Are Forever was no different. Bruce Glover, who played the assassin Mr. Wint, brought his own quirky menace to the role, but Connery’s effortless charisma made him seem almost harmless. Turns out that another Bond legend, Sir Roger Moore, had a soft...

Bruce Glover might just be the most prolific non-famous actor of the 20th century. With roles spread over the better half of the century, he has appeared in some of the most celebrated Hollywood features of all time while also managing to stay under the radar of the majority of movie industry fans.

Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) [Credit: United Artists]

However, to keen-eyed followers like Sir Roger Moore, Bruce Glover existed as one of the funniest people in the business. Despite starring in relatively smaller parts, Glover managed to leave a strong impression on those who knew what to look for in a movie. Among his numerous forgettable films was one where he starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi in 2001.

Bruce Glover’s role in pre-mcu era ScarJo movie Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch in Ghost World (2001) [Credit: United Artists]

Scarlett Johansson has been a prolific part of...

Bruce Glover, who notably played a villain in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever and had small roles in several classics of the ‘70s, has passed away. He was 92.

The news of Bruce Glover’s passing was shared on social media by son Crispin, who posted numerous photos – ranging from publicity shots to family photos – all bearing the caption: “Bruce Herbert Glover May 2, 1932 – March 12, 2025”.

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A post shared by Crispin Hellion Glover (@crispinhellionglover)

While Bruce Glover was featured in dozens of movies, his most famous role was as one of the henchman (along with Putter Smith’s Mr. Kidd) to Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. He and Smith stole nearly every scene they were in, providing deadly ends to their targets (from scorpions to time bombs) and exchanging banter that made them some of the most interesting lower-tier baddies in the entire franchise.

Bruce Glover would be featured...

Bruce Glover has sadly died.

The actor, known for roles in productions like Chinatown and Diamonds Are Forever, has passed away at 92.

A rep for his son, Crispin Glover, said Bruce died of natural causes on March 12, via People.

“Bruce Herbert Glover May 2, 1932 – March 12, 2025,” Crispin wrote on social media.

Keep reading to find out more…

Bruce was best known for his roles as Duffy in Chinatown, and James Bond villain Mr Wint in Diamonds Are Forever.

He appeared in the Walking Tall series and Hard Times, as well as the shows Route 66, The Six Million Dollar Man, Chips, and The Streets of San Francisco.

Bruce is survived by his son Crispin Glover. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this difficult time. Rip. We have sadly lost many stars in 2025.

Bruce Glover, veteran actor and father of fellow character actor Crispin Glover, has passed away at the age of 92. Perhaps most well-known for his portrayal of Diamonds Are Forever villain Mr. Wint during Sean Connery's tenure as James Bond, Glover's distinct features and arresting approach to characters made him a journeyman in the industry, racking up over 115 credits in film and television projects since he began acting in the late 1950s. Other notable appearances of Glover's include parts in Walking Tall, Chinatown, Hard Times, and Ghost World.

His death, which apparently took place on March 12, was confirmed by the younger Glover in a series of Instagram posts with the caption "Bruce Herbert Glover May 2, 1932 – March 12, 2025" on Saturday, March 29, in the late afternoon. No further details have been given or confirmed by any outlet who covered the news at the time of this story's publication.

Think you've seen Glover's...

Bruce Glover, whose acting spanned seven decades, has died. Glover was a prominent character actor best known for playing offbeat villains, even menacing James Bond in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Glover’s death was announced by his son and fellow actor Crispin Glover on Instagram. Glover died on March 12, 2025; he was 92.

Glover was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 2, 1932. His introduction to show business was wearing a gorilla suit in a variety show act with an exotic dancer. After serving in the US Army in the 1950s, he began his acting career on the stage, and eventually made a name for himself on television, guesting on series like Car 54, Where Are You?, Perry Mason, and Mission: Impossible. His off-kilter look and voice often led to him being cast as villains. He made his big-screen debut in an uncredited role in the1959 musical Never Steal Anything Small, with James Cagney, and...

Bruce Glover, a prolific actor who appeared in films like Diamonds Are Forever and Chinatown and acted alongside Bette Davis and Anne Bancroft on Broadway, died at the age of 92, his son, Back to the Future actor Crispin Glover announced on Instagram.

Crispin Glover shared a series of old and newer photos of his father on social media, as well as a family picture featuring himself and his mother, alongside the caption: “Bruce Herbert Glover / May 2, 1932 – March 12, 2025.”

Born in Depression-era Chicago, Glover showed an early interest in performance. While in school he thought about becoming a painter or pursuing a football career. Later on, as an art student, he was asked by a fellow classmate to don a near 100-pound Gorilla suit for a gig “toss[ing] her around” during her stripping act, and thus began his foray into acting. Being drafted in the U.S. Army for the Korean War delayed his plans,...

Bruce Glover, a character actor who played the assassin Mr. Wint in “Diamonds Are Forever” and appeared on dozens of TV shows, died March 12. His son, the actor Crispin Glover, confirmed the actor’s death on Instagram but did not give further details.

Among Glover’s other film appearances were as Duffy in “Chinatown,” “Walking Tall” and “Hard Times.”

Born in Chicago, Bruce Glover acted in the theater and started out on television in shows including “My Favorite Martian,” “The Rat Patrol,” “The Mod Squad,” “Gunsmoke,” “Adam 12,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Police Story,” “Barney Miller” and “CHiPs.”He played Soviet military officer Captain Voda in “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

In 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever,” Glover portrayed the assassin Mr. Wint alongside musician Putter Smith’s Mr. Kidd.

He talked about working with “Diamonds Are Forever” director Guy Hamilton in a blog interview in 2019, recalling, “Whatever you come up with, if...

Bruce Glover, the unorthodox actor who portrayed Mr. Wint, the assassin with the distinctive aftershave who partnered with Putter Smith’s Mr. Kidd in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, has died. He was 92.

His son, Back to the Future actor Crispin Glover, shared on Instagram that he died March 12. No other details of his death were immediately available.

Glover played Deputy Grady Coker alongside Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected box-office hit Walking Tall (1973), then returned for the 1975 and ’77 sequels that had Bo Svenson as the lead.

The Chicago native also portrayed a redneck thug in Stanley Kramer’s Bless the Beasts and Children (1971); Duffy, an associate of Jack Nicholson’s J.J. Gittes, in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974); and a brutish debt collector leaning on a hustler (James Coburn) in Walter Hill’s Hard Times (1975).

Glover performed in hundreds of plays, appearing on...

As fallout from Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center continues, the band Guster spoke out against the new administration during their performance at the venue by inviting the cast of Finn — a musical recently canceled from the center’s tour lineup — to join them onstage for a rendition of their song “Hard Times.”

The moment happened during Guster’s performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the center on Friday, March 28th, just weeks after it was announced that Finn’s Kennedy Center tour had been canceled.

Get Guster Tickets Here

Speaking to the audience as he introduced the cast members, Guster’s Ryan Miller explained, “I have a friend named Michael [Kooman] who wrote the songs for a musical called Finn. In the before times they were booked to play here at the Kennedy Center. But as all of you know, things happened, and the show is no longer presenting here.

Actor Bruce Glover, known for his roles in Walking Tall, Diamonds Are Forever, and many other movies, has passed away. He was 92 years old.

Glover's passing was announced by his son, actor Crispin Glover, with several posts on Instagram. The younger Glover shared a series of posts including different images of his father. Each image was accompanied by the message, "Bruce Herbert Glover. May 2, 1932 - March 12, 2025." Some of the photos featured the two together, while others were of just Bruce at different times in his life.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Crispin Hellion Glover (@crispinhellionglover)

Bruce Glover was born on May 2, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois. After a stint in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, which saw him serving time in Korea, Glover delved into acting, picking up on-screen roles by the late 50s. One of his first on-screen roles was with an uncredited part in the 1959 film Never Steal Anything Small,...

Guster performed Friday night at the Kennedy Center, with the band using their show to stage a protest of sorts amid the Trump administration’s sweeping changes at the historic Washington, D.C. venue.

During the concert, Guster brought out the cast of Finn — an LGBTQ+ musical with trans themes whose own Kennedy Center performances were canceled after Trump named himself chairman — to perform with the band and the National Symphony Orchestra.

“I have a friend named Michael who wrote the songs for a musical called Finn,” singer Ryan Miller...

Ahead of the release of his new album, Will Smith sat down with “Sway in the Morning’s” Sway Calloway and Heather B in front of a live audience at The Hard Rock Cafe in Philadelphia. Check out the full interview anytime on the SiriusXM app and throughout the week in cars on SiriusXM’s Shade 45 (Ch. 45).

Sway & Will SmithLive interview from PhiladelphiaListen on the App

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Sway & Will Smith: Live Interview

During the interview, the actor and rapper talked about his upcoming album, “Based on a True Story,” revealed the music advice hip-hop legends Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar shared with him, reflected on being more introspective the last three years, and much more.

“Jay said, ‘Don’t fake your story,’” Will said of the advice from Jay-Z. “He was like, ‘You gotta say what’s true for you and you’ll be looking at the younger...

The last time Will Smith released a new album, he starred in Hitch, a romantic comedy with Eva Mendes and Kevin James. That was in 2005. In the past 20 years, Smith has gone on to win an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance in 2021’s King Richard. Now, for the first time in 20 years, Smith, who is also a four-time Grammy Award winner, is releasing a new album.

Per Deadline, Smith, who has released four solo albums and five with DJ Jazzy Jeff, will be releasing a new solo effort on March 28 titled Based on a True Story.The new album will feature five previously-released singles as well as nine other tracks. Based on a True Story is Smith’s first new album since 2005’s Lost and Found, which reached the Top 10 when it was released.

Smith: “It’s Official”

Smith took to Instagram to announce the new project.

The countdown to Will Smith’s first album since the Bush administration is on.

The once-and-current rapper has slapped together five previously released singles and added nine other tracks for Based on a True Story, which streets on March 28. It’s his first new disc since 2005’s Lost and Found, which, like three of his other four solo sets, reached the Top 10.

“It’s Official!!” the erstwhile Fresh Prince wrote on Instagram. “My new album Based On A True Story drops March 28. Two Weeks!! Hit that presave. Been working on this project for a minute and I’m itchin’ to get it out to y’all.”

Smith hinted that Based on a True Story is the first of an album trilogy, hence the subtitle Season 1: R.I.T.W.:

The set on indie Slang Records features several songs released in 2024 — “Tantrum,” “Work of Art,” “First Love” and “You...

Will Smith is releasing his first album in over 20 years!

The Oscar-winning actor and Grammy-winning artist has announced that his new album Based on a True Story will be released on March 28.

The album features the previously released singles “First Love,” “Beautiful Scars,” “Tantrum,” “Work of Art,” and “You Can Make It,” plus collaborators like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Teyana Taylor, and Big Sean, among others.

There will be 14 tracks on the album and the full tracklist has been revealed. You can get the album on iTunes when it is released.

Keep reading to find out more…

Based on a True Story Tracklist:

1. Int. Barbershop Day ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Simone

2. You Lookin’ for Me?

3. The Reverend (Rave Sermon)

4. Rave in the Wasteland

5. Bulletproof ft. Jac Ross

6. Hard Times (Smile) ft. Teyana Taylor

7. Beautiful Scars ft. Big Sean and OBanga

8. Tantrum ft. Joyner Lucas

9. First Love ft. India Martinez and Marcin...

Indian director Payal Kapadia’s festival favouriteAll We Imagine As Light is one of the many films backed at an early stage by the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf).

Underlining Hbf’s reach, Wei Liang Chiang and You Qiao Yin’s Cannes Camera d’Or winner Mongrel, Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown, Trương Minh Quý’s Viet and Nam and Wang Bing’s Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) were other 2024 festival titles to receive development support from the fund.

At a time when industry finance is ever tighter, Hbf has received a welcome boost this year,...

1. Documentary Review: Kamay (2024) by Ilyas Yourish

As a symbol of resilience, Ilyas Yourish, as part of the diaspora, offers us not just a documentary, but a poem where the immutability of time and the magnificence of nature stand still, despite the hardships, marginalization, and injustice. This was just before Afghanistan was handed over again to the Taliban. (Jean Claude)

2. Film Review: Sister Midnight (2024) by Karan Kandhari

Full of strong contrasts and static shots, the cinematography by Sverre Sørdal is nicely complemented by hard-cut editing by Napoleon Stratogiannakis. Sudden changes in the setting leave the viewer as confused as the heroine herself. The soundtrack by Paul Banks, best known for being a member of the American rock band Interpol, largely consists of songs reminiscent of American Westerns, which in the end, feels like an inadequate choice as they don’t fit the atmosphere of India. However, the picture is nicely rounded...

90 Day Fiance cast member Riley Diego seems to have fallen on hard times since TLC documented his relationship with Violet Tuyet. According to him, the network is to blame for his recent hardship. So, what did he have to say about everything that has been going on?

TLC First Introduced Riley Diego With Violet Tuyet

90 Day Fiance fans first met Riley Diego when TLC introduced him in scenes with Violet Tuyet. There are some TLC relationships where viewers can spot multiple red flags right out of the gate, and this was easily one of those relationships.

As 90 Day Fiance fans saw in scenes, these two would regularly lock horns, and it often seemed like they did more arguing than anything else. It certainly was not a big surprise once these two decided to go their separate ways.

Riley, Violet/90 Day Fiance/YouTube TLC Celeb Dealing With Recent Hardship...

Not every neighborhood, town, or city has an independent movie theater, the mecca of all cinephiles, providing a safe refuge from all the blockbusters du jour. Some of us aren't so lucky, and don't have a place to see the latest international and arthouse films, or retrospectives of obscure oldies or all-time classics. We don't all live in New York City, after all. But Metrograph At Home brings New York City to you, featuring many of the films screened at the actual Metrograph Theater at 7 Ludlow Street. It's an affordable, high-class streaming option to see the kinds of films you can only find at an independent theater in New York.

Highlights from the November slate of new arrivals to Metrograph At Home include the streaming premiere of Last Things, artist and experimental essayist Deborah Stratman's scintillating look at evolution and extinction from the perspective of the rocks and minerals that pre-date humanity.

Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia,” Carlos Marqués-Marcet “They Will be Dust” and Yeo Siew Hua’s “Stranger Eyes” all won big at Spain’s auteurist haven Valladolid Film Festival on Saturday, in a second edition under José Luis Cienfuegos whose prizes served as a vindication of the changes he has wrought at the festival as well as an indication of some ways European arthouse is going.

All three directors’ awards build on prior upbeat reception. Playing Cannes Premiere, “Misericordia,” which scooped Valladolid’s best picture Golden Spike and its screenplay trophy, was hailed by Variety as a “darkly comic backwoods fable of pansexual desire and small-town sociopathy” which marks a “welcome re-embrace of the streamlined murdery perversities of his terrific ‘Stranger by the Lake.'”

The Valladolid jury, made up of Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Spanish actress Aida Folch, critic and editor Devika Girish, German producer Ingmar Trost and Spanish director and writer Luis López Carrasco,...

While there’s a few more fall film festivals popping up in the next month, the major ones are behind us, which means we have a strong sense of the films to have on your radar in the coming months and even through 2025. We’ve asked our writers from across the globe to weigh in on their favorite world premieres from Locarno Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.

Our coverage will continue with a few more reviews this week, and far beyond as we provide updates on the journey of these selections, so continue to explore all of our festival coverage here. In the meantime, check out top picks from our writers below and return soon for our extensive year-end coverage.

Soham Gadre (@SohamGadre)

1. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)

2 and 3. Youth (Homecoming and Hard Times) (Wang Bing...

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, many musicians have used their platforms to try to deliver some much-needed relief. Some have donated money, others have announced benefit concerts — now, joining those efforts is a massive compilation album featuring 135 previously-unreleased tracks from artists like R.E.M., Jeff Tweedy & Karly Hartzman, Jason Isbell, Fleet Foxes, Waxahatchee, Sylvan Esso, and many more.

Titled Cardinals at the Window, the compilation was officially released today, and is now available to purchase on Bandcamp. Curated by three North Carolina natives — musician and community organizer Libby Rodenbough, New Commute founder David Walker, and music journalist Grayson Haver Currin — the album will raise funds for three organizations: Rural Organizing and Resilience, BeLoved Asheville, and the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

Across its 135 tracks, Cardinals at the Window features a combination of new recordings and previously-unreleased live tracks. In addition to the aforementioned artists, the compilation’s stacked lineup includes Mj Lenderman,...

Unreleased recordings by R.E.M., Mj Lenderman, the War on Drugs, Feist, Waxahatchee, and more than 100 other artists make up a newly released benefit compilation, Cardinals at the Window. Proceeds from the megacomp, available on Bandcamp, will help provide aid to victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.

Other artists who contributed tracks to Cardinals at the Window include Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Angel Olsen, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Sharon Van Etten, Jeff Tweedy and Karly Hartzman, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Sylvan Esso, Fleet Foxes, Little Brother,...

Wang Bing’s Youth (Hard Times) picks up where its predecessor left off, deepening our understanding of lives dictated by backbreaking labor. Filmed over five years in garment factories throughout Zhili, China, this installment carries forward the documentary trilogy’s immersion in the rhythms of industrial toil. Through subtle shifts in focus, Hard Times subtly underscores both the passage of time and growing frustrations among its subjects – young migrant workers fighting for dignity amid dismal circumstances.

As with Spring, the film transports viewers into its world through lengthy, observant shots soaked in the din of sewing machines. This allows us to truly feel the numbing routine engulfing these factory workers, who labor as fast as minds and bodies allow. Yet Hard Times departs from its predecessor in documenting bolder organizing efforts against miserly bosses. It follows mounting disputes over paltry piecework pay and debates splitting the crowd.

While maintaining a fly-on-the-wall approach,...

Jason Statham's 2011 action thriller The Mechanic is a remake of a classic Charles Bronson film of the same name and is now one of the most popular movies on Netflix. The Mechanic remains one of Jason Statham's highest-rated movies of his celebrated career and one of Statham's most successful film franchises. The film follows Statham's Arthur Bishop, an elite hitman or "mechanic" who is the best in the business. After Bishop's mentor Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop goes on a one-man-army mission to avenge his death and make those responsible pay. It's a classic premise for Statham and one of his most immersive movies.

As of October 1, 2024, The Mechanic is available to stream on Netflix. Directed by Simon West and written by Richard Wenk, The Mechanic also features performances by Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, and David Leitch. With a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 53%, The Mechanic is not...

The long-running New York Film Festival, now in its 62nd year – one of the longer film festivals, with a span of more than two weeks — is showcasing some of the longest documentaries on record.

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, directed by Julia Loktev, measures almost 5.5 hours long. Taken together, Wang Bing’s Youth (Homecoming) and Youth (Hard Times), both playing at NYFF, run over 6 hours. That’s brief compared to exergue, the documentary directed by Dimitris Athyridis that clocks in at 14 hours.

Exergue, which premiered at the Berlinale in February before playing at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, explores the 14th iteration of Documenta, the quinquennial event that is considered the most important contemporary art exhibition in the world.

“There’s something about the way that film really digs into this extremely fascinating process of making an art exhibition,” says Dennis Lim, artistic...

John Hsu’s Taiwanese supernatural comedy Dead Talents Society has scored 11 nominations for the 61st Golden Horse Awards, followed by Tom Lin’s Yen And Ai-Lee and Geng Jun’s Bel Ami, with eight nods each.

Dead Talents Society and Bel Ami are among the five films competing in the best film category, along with Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well, Yeo Siew Hua’s Stranger Eyes and Lou Ye’s An Unfinished Film. The same five films are also running in the best director category.

They reflect the overall representation at this year’s Golden Horse Awards, with the participation of Hong Kong,...

Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy of documentaries about Chinese garment workers could have just as easily been named Three Colors. Like the titles that comprise Krzysztof Kieślowski’s triptych, each of Wang’s films is informed by a different color, though it’s primarily used to tint the title cards and chyrons that indicate a given sequence’s setting and subjects. The first installment, last year’s Youth (Spring), appropriately uses a lush green, while the subsequent Youth (Hard Times) went with a punishing deep red. The concluding entry, Youth (Homecoming), opts for something that works in more ambiguous ways, using a light blue that, depending on the viewer, could signal calm, harmony, or even sadness.

Youth (Homecoming) operates as something of an expansion of the concluding sequences of its two forebears. Youth (Spring) and Youth (Hard Times), which both run a full hour longer than the fleet (by Wang...

Paramore staged their final scheduled performance of 2024 at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Friday night, which they styled as a tribute to Blondie’s own 1979 appearance on The Midnight Special.

Singer Hayley Williams channeled Blondie’s Debbie Harry, donning a blue dress and headband, while the stage setup embraced a distinctly retro vibe. True to their recent live performances, Paramore also slipped in a brief cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” during their own song “Hard Times.”

On her Instagram page, Williams shared clips of Blondie’s performance on The Midnight Special and thanked Paramore’s “entire crew for an amazing year of shows and for helping us pull off this tribute.”

Elsewhere during the set, Williams gave an impassioned plea to vote while denouncing Donald Trump’s agenda. “Project 2025 is Donald Trump’s playbook for controlling and punishing women, poor people, people of color & the LGBTQ+ community,...

Notebook is covering the Locarno Film Festival with a series of correspondence pieces written by the participants in the Critics Academy.Illustrations by Lucy Jones.What happens to the body at a film festival? Over the course of the Locarno Film Festival, we tried—as much as decency allows—to investigate this very broad question. These responses seek to tie together the films we’ve seen with our embodied experiences of Locarno, both inside and outside of the cinema, grappling with the limits of our attention, our exhaustion, and our desires. Bitter Victory.Pierre Jendrysiak:Far from the expected glamor, attending a film festival can sometimes feel like the trek through the desert pictured in Nicholas Ray’s Bitter Victory (1957): a dreamy haze, almost a struggle. Under the heat of the Locarno sun, one wanders the streets, looking for a nice bartender to refill their water bottle, a little bit...

Wang Bing’s Youth (Spring), the first in the filmmaker’s trilogy of documentaries about garment workers in Zhejiang province in eastern China, eschewed incident to stress the numbing quality of the manual labor and economic stagnation of its young migrant workers. The second installment in the trilogy, Youth (Hard Times), similarly leans into durational extremes but eventually and sneakily reveals a broadened scope.

Wang again keys us to the perspective of the workers, subjecting us to the constant roar of sewing machines until the din of routine is understood as that and becomes barely noticeable. The oscillation between scenes of toil and moments of rest in which laborers are too tired to do much of anything other than scroll on their phones conveys just how easy it is to become numb in such an environment. Indeed, at first it seems that the biggest change from the first film is...

Henry Fonda's legacy in Western films is marked by a remarkable range of performances that span from heroic figures to complex villains. Over the years, Fonda brought depth, charisma, and gravitas to a genre that has become synonymous with American cinema. His roles often depicted characters grappling with moral dilemmas, frontier justice, and the harsh realities of life in the Old West. These films not only showcased his acting prowess but also reflected the evolution of the Western genre itself. From the early days of classic Westerns to the more modern and introspective takes on the genre, Fonda's contributions remain influential and celebrated.

Each film in Henry Fonda's Western repertoire offers something unique, whether it's a powerful narrative, memorable characters, or a reflection of the times in which it was made. Some of these movies have endings that resonate deeply with audiences, either through unexpected twists or poignant resolutions.

The latest documentary from Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing is titled Youth (Hard Times). For anyone who watched its predecessor, Youth (Spring), in the early days of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, or anywhere else, this news may be cause for concern. Filmed in typically anthropological detail by the master director and his team between the years 2014 and 2019, Spring documented the lives and labors of a group of textile workers in a bustling corner of Zhili––a world of endless hours, meager pay, ruthless bosses, and worrying conditions. It looked like the kind of place where not much light gets in, regardless of the suffocating air pollution. If these were not “hard times,” you had to wonder, what are?

Picking up where Spring left off, Youth (Hard Times) is the dense middle act of what will eventually be a trilogy––a third section, titled Homecoming, is set to play in Venice––that,...

The middle part of a trilogy consisting of 2023’s “Youth (Spring)” and the imminent “Youth (Homecoming),” “Youth (Hard Times)” crystallizes the strengths of Wang Bing’s latest epic-length documentary project. “Hard Times” offers no radical change from the (quite deliberately) repetitive construction of “Spring,” but does feature subtle shifts in focus and certainly a lot more in the way of incident and splintering effects. That’s not to say that there’s now a lack of sequences devoted to people humming along to music playing on their phones while they work — the year’s most surprising needle drop may be that an austere arthouse documentary features an electronic track that seemingly samples The Offspring’s “Original Prankster.”

A primer, first, for anyone who’s not already familiar with the project. Slowness and making viewers aware of deceptively aimless pacing are perhaps the definitive characteristics of Wang’s output. He embeds...

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced its Wavelengths programme highlighting visionary work including Dimitris Athiridis’s 14-hour documentary exergue - on documenta 14, and a Classics line-up featuring work from Atom Egoyan and Frederick Wiseman.

The Wavelengths programme comprises 11 features, three shorts programmes, and an in-cinema looped presentation of Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882.

The features selections includes Cannes entries Viêt And Nam by Trương Minh Quý, Grand Tour by Miguel Gomes and The Damned by Roberto Minervini, and Berlin selection Pepe by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.

exergue - on documenta 14 receives its North American premiere after...

The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled its Wavelengths program for artist-driven experimental work that includes films by avant garde directors Wang Bing, Roberto Minervini and Miguel Gomes.

With 11 features on offer, the Wavelengths section includes a 14-hour documentary, exergue – on documenta 14, from director Dimitris Athiridi set to be presented over three screenings.

The section will also feature North American premieres for the remaining chapters of Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy: Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming); Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, which won best director at Cannes; The Damned by Roberto Minervini, an American Civil War drama that won best director in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes; and Pepe, by director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, about the life and death reflections of a hippo with connections to Pablo Escobar.

Wavelengths last year in Toronto screened Wang’s Youth (Spring), the Cannes competition title about Chinese garment workers.

The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival presented by Rogers has set their Wavelengths and Classics section. Wavelengths includes 11 movies, and 3 short programs and a special in-cinema looped presentation with diverse works from established auteurs and emerging talent.

Of note this year are the North American premieres of Roberto Minervini’s Civil War epic The Damned, Miguel Gomes’ Black and White period movie Grand Tour, and the completion of Wang Bing’s docu trilogy, Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) about Chinese sweatshop workers, the filmmaker’s chronicling which began in Youth (Spring) which played at Cannes and TIFF in 2023.

Jessica Sarah Rinland returns to the sidebar with Collective Monologue, alongside the North American Premiere of the queer Viêt and Nam, by first-time Wavelengths filmmaker Trương Minh Quý. The 14-hour, compulsively watchable exergue – on documenta 14 from Greek filmmaker Dimitris Athiridi will be presented in three screenings.

Short film...

Founded in 1946, Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, known for its adventurous programming, exciting retrospectives, and nightly open-air screenings in the Piazza Grande, capable of seating 8,000 spectators. The latter is by no means the only screening spot, but it’s the location most associated with the festival.

Hosting world premieres and special screenings of highlights from Cannes, SXSW, and other early-year festivals, this year’s Piazza Grande selection includes the launch of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette portrait “The Flood,” starring Guillaume Canet and Mélanie Laurent; Bérénice Béjo-led thriller “Mexico 86”; Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes prizewinner “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; actor Paz Vega’s directorial debut “Rita”; and the world premiere of Tarsem Singh’s restored recut of “The Fall.”

The Piazza Grande often showcases more mainstream fare, but Locarno has always prided itself on providing a less hostile...

We got a nice sampling of Berlinale (e.g. the Golden Bear winner Dahomey) and Cannes (e.g. the Palme d’Or winner Anora) items with a Golden Lion Venice quintet in Dea Kulumbegashvili‘s April, Brady Corbet‘s The Brutalist, Athina Rachel Tsangari‘s Harvest, Yeo Siew Hua‘s Stranger Eyes and Wang Bing‘s Youth (Hard Times) shoring up in the Main Slate section at the upcoming 62nd edition of the New York Film Festival. Both Hong Sangsoo and Wang Bing will be serving not one, but two films this year.

For those who are paying attention we have two world premieres that were completely off our radar in Julia Loktev‘s My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow and Robinson Devor‘s Suburban Fury – a docu project he has been working on for more than a decade.…...

The 2024 New York Film Festival has revealed its main slate lineup including Cannes winners Anora and Seed of the Sacred Fig as well as the U.S. premieres of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds and Roberto Minervini’s The Damned, which was also awarded at Cannes.

Indeed, the NYFF main slate features a number of Cannes prize winners in addition to Sean Baker’s Anora, which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or; exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s Seed of the Sacred Fig, which was awarded a special prize; and The Damned, which won best director in the Un Certain Regard section, shared with Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, which will also screen at NYFF. Other Cannes faves set to play in New York include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, which won the grand prize at the French festival, and Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour,...

New York Film Festival (NYFF) has announced a varied Main Slate featuring anticipated Venice world premiere The Brutalist from Brady Corbet as well as a raft of Cannes and Berlin winners including Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora.

The line-up of 33 films announced on Tuesday morning includes Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prize winner All We Imagine As Light, Miguel Gomes’s best director winner Grand Tour, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, recipient of the special prize.

Mati Diop’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Dahomey takes its place in the selection, as...

Locarno has revealed this year’s official selection.

Known auteurs Hong Sang-soo (“By the Stream”) and Wang Bing (“Youth (Hard Times)”) will now battle it out in the official selection, which will welcome 17 world premieres. Italy will be represented by Sara Fgaier’s “Sulla Terra Leggeri” and “Luce,” directed by Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino. Ala Eddine Slim’s “Agora” will also be shown, as well as Ben Rivers’ “Bogancloch,” “Cent Mille Milliards” by Virgil Vernier and Saulė Bliuvaitė’s “Toxic.”

“We are very excited and happy with our selection, which we believe represents the best of contemporary filmmaking. We have taken special care in highlighting those works that, while broadening the possibilities of cinema, are also consciously trying to spark a more meaningful conversation with the audience,” stated artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, adding that the fest “continues to offer itself up as a platform for intersectional dialogue.”

The...

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will debut 17 world premieres, including new works by Hong Sang-soo and Wang Bing, as part of its 2024 competition program. This year’s event runs from August 7 – 17.

The festival announced its competition lineups this morning. The Hong Sang-soo feature is titled Suyoocheon (By The Stream) and stars Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, and Cho Yunhee. The Wang Bing feature is a France, Luxembourg, and Netherlands co-production titled Hard Times. Scroll down to see the full Locarno competition lineup, which also includes new titles from Ben Rivers, Mar Coll, and Christoph Hochhäusler.

The festival today also announced that French acting veterans Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet will receive the event’s honorary Excellence Award Davide Campari at the opening ceremony on August 7. Previous recipients of the award include Riz Ahmed and Aaron Taylor Johnson.

Locarno’s separate Piazza Grande lineup features 18 titles, including Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig,...

The Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland has unveiled an eclectic lineup for its 77th edition, taking place Aug. 7-17. The fest will screen 225 total films, including 104 world premieres, five international premieres and some debut features, including new films from such directors as Hong Sang-soo, Spanish actress Paz Vega and Radu Jude. Gianluca Jodice’s Le Déluge, starring Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet, will also world premiere and open the fest, with Locarno on Wednesday unveiling that the two French stars will receive the Excellence Award Davide Campari on the fest’s opening night.

Beyond new fare, some of this season’s film festival favorites and classics will screen in Locarno’s main Piazza Grande section, taking place on the town’s main square set up with 8,000 seats. Films to be screened include Cannes hits such as Laetitia Dosch’s Dog on Trial, Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig,...

Over 8,400 short films were submitted for the 2nd annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards in Los Angeles, but only six filmmakers walked away with a win Thursday night.

148 countries were represented at the event held at the Cary Grant Theatre on the Sony Pictures Studios lot, with films competing in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Environment, Animation, Student and Future Format.

Created by Creo and sponsored by Sony, the black tie affair hosted by “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent Denny Directo was preceded by a week-long industry immersion program and workshops with established Hollywood executives.

Winners were selected by a group of industry experts — including Sony Pictures Classics cofounders/co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, and cinematographers Rob Hardy and Kate Reid, with Unjoo Moon and Robert

Primes selecting the initial longlist. Director Justin Chadwick chaired both selection processes.

2nd Annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, winners

Ultimately, the winners were Katie Blair, Olawunmi Hassan & Adaobi Samson,...

Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival on May 16.

The wait is over: Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi drama “Megalopolis” has finally premiered at Cannes Film Festival, shocking and dividing critics.

The film, a $120 million epic starring Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito and Shia Labeouf, was financed by Coppola himself — and has yet to secure a distributor in the United States. Regardless, the movie earned a 7-minute standing ovation from Cannes, as Coppola hugged Driver and Esposito and delivered an emotional speech dedicating the film to hope and family.

Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge wrote in his review that the film “is positively awe-inspiring in some places and an absolute eyesore in others, until you pull back and try to take it all in.” Though reactions have been mixed, the film was undoubtedly jam-packed with scenes that...

Paramore opened for Taylor Swift last night at Paris’ La Défense Arena and took the opportunity to showcase their cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” for the first time live.

The rock band, who are supporting Swift on the European, U.K., and Ireland leg of her Eras Tour, performed a nine-song set and included their recent rendition of Talking Heads’ 1983 single. The cover will appear on an upcoming tribute album, Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, released to celebrate concert film Stop Making Sense.