city Damascus: Last News

Halsey has made a statement addressing her silence on the Israel-Hamas war to “admit my regret”.The singer previously expressed her support for Palestine during the 2021 crisis. A series of attacks starting after Israeli police blocked off the Damascus Gate (where Palestinian Arabs typically gather for Ramadan) resulted in the deaths of 83 people in Gaza – including 17 children – and seven in Israel.However, fans noticed the singer had been unusually quiet during the current developments in the crisis.

The headteacher of a primary school has criticised SATs tests after watching pupils break down in tears.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic The sensation of a nation crumbling from within — not in slo-mo deterioration, but amid the chaos of widespread violence and political upheaval — is unimaginable to most people. Yet it’s something many will live to experience. Offering a primer of sorts in that grim prospect is “5 Seasons of Revolution.” Made by the pseudonymous Lina, this very first-person documentary doesn’t offer a lot of explanatory background or big-picture commentary on Syria’s still-ongoing civil war. But in charting the filmmaker’s attempts at reportage alongside the fates of her imperiled group of friends between 2011-15, it provides one vivid perspective on a whole country in freefall.  At that timespan’s beginning, the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring reach our English-language narrator’s homeland, where she’s an aspiring video journalist. Her likewise twentysomething close associates, introduced at the start here, are fellow journalists, social workers, activists. All grew up in a de facto police state now controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, whose father presided over the country’s transformation into a military dictatorship decades prior. Defying an official media blackout, she interviews demonstrators and those who witnessed their being fired on by government forces. We see joyful still images of street actions, suggesting a turning point may be at hand.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J.

Christopher Vourlias The Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival wrapped its 25th edition with a muted closing night on Sunday, with festival organizers scrapping an official award ceremony as Greece continues to mourn the loss of 57 lives in a deadly rail accident on Feb. 28. The awards for this year’s festival — including the Golden Alexander, which went to Heba Khaled, Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh’s “Under the Sky of Damascus” — were handed out behind closed doors earlier in the day. Artistic director Orestis Andreadakis told Variety prior to the festival’s conclusion, “As a sign of respect, the festival canceled from the very start all ceremonies and festive events. In the same spirit, it was decided to call off the closing ceremony.”

Millions of women in the Muslim world live under the dominion of men, subject to their rules, confined by their power. The documentary Under the Sky of Damascus, making its world premiere tonight at the Berlin Film Festival, examines the alarming gender politics in one ancient locality — the capital of Syria.

Christopher Vourlias Though the world watched — often in silence — as a decade-long civil war tore Syria apart, exiled filmmakers Talal Derki (“Of Fathers and Sons”) and Heba Khaled say an equally brutal but less visible war is still raging. In “Under the Sky of Damascus,” which premieres Feb. 20 in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival, the duo shifts the lens to the silenced majority of Syrian women who routinely face sexual harassment, violence and abuse in their patriarchal society. The film follows a tight-knit group of young Syrian women who embark upon on a radical project to produce a play that lays bare the culture of misogyny and sexual abuse that has blighted the lives of females in their country for generations.

George Clooney is set to direct and produce a political espionage thriller series for Showtime under the working title The Department.According to Deadline, the network ordered the series as an adaptation of the French drama The Bureau (Le Bureau des Legendes), which aired for five seasons from 2015 to 2020. Based on actual accounts by former spies and inspired by contemporary events, the series focused on intelligence officer Guillaume 'Malotru' Debailly, who returns to the French capital after six years undercover in Damascus. The Bureau centered on the daily lives of French agents within the nation's leading external security service - their equivalent of the CIA - who trained and led long-term missions in areas with French interests. Living under false identities for years, these agents aim to identify and recruit good intelligence sources. This comes after Clooney as seen filming Wolves in New York City.  He's on board: George Clooney, 61, is set to team up with Showtime to direct and produce a political espionage thriller series under the working title The Department Coming to the small screen: Showtime ordered the series as an adaptation of the French drama The Bureau (Le Bureau des Legendes), which aired for five seasons from 2015-2020 He has to face the challenge of reconnecting with his daughter, ex-wife, colleagues, and even his old self. In 2019, the New York Times lauded The Bureau as one of the Best International TV Shows of the Decade.In June 2020, NPR also praised the show saying, 'It may well be the best TV show in the world right now.' Chris McCarthy, President/CEO at Showtime and Paramount media, said, 'Just as Homeland elevated global espionage to new heights, The Department will take viewers even

A Syrian war film with a difference, Nezouh is a delicate and engrossing entry in Venice’s Horizons Extra section. Director Soudade Kaadan won Lion of the Future for 2018’s The Day I Lost My Shadow, and she continues to impress with this empathetic story of life under siege. 

Netflix has a number of high-profile movies coming to the Toronto  Film Festival, just as it did at Venice and Telluride, but a less heralded title with no instantly recognizable star names was chosen to open the fest tonight, and The Swimmers may turn out to be a surprise winner for the streamer when it debuts this fall. It certainly reverses the curse of some of TIFF’s less successful opening-nighters.

best perfumes for women will give you a lasting, delightful scent that lingers wherever you go.  Despite diverse tastes and the subjective nature of fragrance, there are some truly iconic fragrances whose popularity has stood the test of time with their classic and irresistible aromas.  Which ones, we hear you ask? We’ve scoured the archives to bring you an edit of some of the most popular perfumes of all time.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorJi.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has revealed to Variety the projects that the participants of its 2022 Emerging Producers program are working on. The producers were asked to deliver an elevator pitch for their projects.Every year since 2010, the festival has selected 18 up-and-coming producers of documentary films (17 European and one representing a non-European guest country), which are then provided with educational, networking and promotional support.There are almost 200 alumni of the program, many of whom have gone on to win awards at major festivals.The 2023 participants will be announced by Ji.hlava during the Sarajevo Film Festival on Aug. 15.“All Roads” (working title)Producer: Charlotte Hailstone, Hailstone Films (U.K.)Director: Laura WadhaSynopsis: A decade after the war began, a Scottish/Syrian filmmaker tries to reconnect with her fractured Syrian family, scattered around the world. She embarks on a journey, exploring the breakdown in communication between loved ones she hasn’t seen since 2010, wondering to what extent this has actually been caused by the war.Pitch: Laura’s debut feature builds on her successful short documentaries, including Berlinale Crystal Bear-winning “Born in Damascus.” This intimate film shows the audience what happens long after the initial upheaval of war. A timely light shone on the lasting impact this trauma has on lives and relationships.

The Cure’s Robert Smith and Simon Gallup picked up the Icon Award at tonight’s (May 19) Ivor Novello awards in London.The frontman and the bassist have been part of the band’s lineup since 1978 and 1979 respectively, helping to turn the band into one of the UK’s most beloved and iconic indie acts.During the ceremony at Grosvenor House tonight, Smith and Gallup were presented the Icon Award by their long-time agent, Martin Hopewell from Primary Talent. “The best part of half a century ago when I was a young whippersnapper booking agent, I was persuaded to get down to a small hotel in Crawley, of all places, to see a new and even younger band called The Cure, who were playing halfway up the bill of some sort of talent night,” Hopewell reminisced as he introduced the musicians.“I wish I could say it was some kind of blinding light, road to Damascus experience but nevertheless… when we met up on the street outside afterwards, I agreed to start helping them get some gigs and that makes one of very few decisions I’ve made in my life that I don’t want to go back in time and give myself a clip around the ear for making.”Noting that The Cure had gone from playing “the smallest clubs and colleges to the biggest arenas and festivals”, he celebrated their “famously epic live shows and timeless songs that have inspired countless other artists and embedded themselves into the lives of millions of people”.Hopewell continued to highlight the friendship between Smith and Gallup, while also praising The Cure as a whole for their “unique” artistry.

A new mum has described how a 'Damascus moment' led to her shedding 13 stone after years of struggling with her weight. It was almost three years ago that Carla Piera FitzGerald realised she needed to make a big change in her life.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Nezouh,” from Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.The drama, set against the backdrop of the conflict in Damascus, marks Kaadan’s follow up to her 2018 feature debut, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which won the Lion of the Future prize at Venice. Her 2019 short “Aziza,” meanwhile, won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.Co-financed by BFI, which awarded National Lottery funding, and Film4, “Nezouh” is an allegorical tale of female emancipation.The movie follows 14-year-old Zeina and her family, whose lives are shaken after a bomb rips a giant hole in the roof of their building, exposing them to the outside world.

In one of Syrian-born artist Mohamad Hafez’s stunning 3D pieces, a figurine of the Virgin Mary stands before an ornate portal, her hands joined in prayer. The building around her, rendered in plaster, paint, rusted metal and found objects, is blasted to ruins.

A refugee who saw his home destroyed by bombs in wartorn Syria now fears losing his flat in Britain – over the cladding scandal.

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Focus Features will release Ben Sharrock’s two-time BAFTA nominated Limbo on Friday, April 30 in limited theaters.

Salford schoolgirl has eight GCSEs and dreams of becoming a doctor.