Neuchatel Fantastic Film Festival Blurs Borders for Expansive 21st Edition

AMANDA Owen has broken her social media silence after concerned fans of Our Yorkshire Farm spotted a "family member" was missing. Many viewers of the popular Channel 5 series admitted they were keen for an update on sheepdog Kate as she hadn't been seen for a long time on the shepherdess' Instagram page.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has appointed Charlie Perkins as head of comedy, reporting into chief content officer Ian Katz. Former head of comedy Fiona McDermott left Channel 4 in March to join Apple TV+.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAndrew Lloyd Webber and Antonio Banderas are teaming to create a joint company Amigos Para Siempre (APS) aimed at producing musicals, stage plays and live entertainment for major markets in the Spanish-speaking world, including the Latino U.S. Upcoming productions will include Spanish-language makeovers of Lloyd Webber classics, such as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Starlight Express,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “Cinderella,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “School of Rock.”Spanish-language adaptation rights to these works will be ceded to the new joint venture  by Lloyd Webber’s company, Really Useful Group.  Building on a decades-long friendship, APS will also license third-party works, as well as develop and produce original shows for the Spanish-speaking market, the biggest easily accessible non-English-language market in the world, whose theater and musical scene is experiencing robust growth. The joint venture will be overseen by Emanuel Nuñuz, CEO of the NuCO Media Group, who has a deep knowledge of the Spanish-world entertainment scene, and Jessica Koravos, president of Really Useful Group. “Antonio Banderas not only forms part of entertainment royalty but is also one of the most versatile creative minds with whom I’ve have the pleasure of working,” Lloyd Webber said.He added: “It’s really moving to associate with Antonio to present my work, as well as other brilliant Broadway and West End titles, in new markets. Though millions of people in all of the Spanish-speaking world already love our shows and music, there’s an extraordinary appetite to receive more and the levels musical and stage play talent is extraordinary.

WALKING into a room to see a consultant, Demi Jones had no idea just how much his words would change her life.  Covid regulations meant she was all alone and just 22 when he dropped the bombshell that she had cancer in her neck and would need to have it cut out. As her world came crashing down, surgeon Costa Repanos was there for her, providing the emotional support she would have had from friends and family pre-pandemic.

X FACTOR star Louisa Johnson looked incredible in a tiny bikini as she holidays in Ibiza. The 24-year-old singer, who won the ITV show in 2015, posed in the crochet bikini as she modelled hats at an outdoor market.

ADELE Roberts has revealed she is now cancer free. The Radio 1 DJ, 43, had been suffering from bowel cancer, revealing in October that she was undergoing treatment and later having surgery to remove a tumour.

X FACTOR star Tom Mann has been supported by his loved ones at a memorial for his fiancée Dani Hampson, following her tragic death last week. The musician – who appeared on the ITV show with band Stereo Kicks in 2014 – announced the devastating news of his partner's death on what was due to be the couple's wedding day. The couple share an eight-month-old son together.

There have been plenty of past Love Island contestants who have had drastic beauty transformations since leaving the villa (Molly-Mae and her filler removal comes to mind), but TikTok is saying Rosie Williams takes the crown for the best beauty overhaul. Rosie, now 30, appeared on series four of the ITV2 show and memorably left after being unceremoniously dumped by Adam Collard – who went on to couple up with Zara McDermott.Though she was known for her thick dark hair, tanned skin and glamorous makeup, it seems she was ready to give her appearance quite a big change after leaving the show. The star has also wiped her Instagram clean of old posts, instead maintaining a curated selection of just nine photos for her 700k followers to look at.

EastEnders star Ricky Champ's wife Sammy has announced they've welcome a baby boy together.The 41 year old actor's other half took to her Instagram stories to announce the happy news as she explained her waters broke two weeks earlier than planned. Sharing a snap of the medication she's on following the birth of their second child, she wrote: "Tell me you just had a c-section without telling me you just had a c-section," followed by a smiling emoji.

Tommy Mallet has shown off the results of his 10kg weight loss after making a bid to lower his cholesterol by the advice of doctors.The 30 year old posted side-by-side photos of himself before-and-after his transformation as he explained how his fitness journey began three months ago on Instagram. Tommy appeared in the snaps shirtless wearing a pair of black gym shorts and was seen looking noticeably slimmer in his most recent picture as he wrote: “Nearly 3 months ago I was given a challenge to lose 10kg & completely change my lifestyle! “I told my doctor I was going to do it and it did! Thank you everyone for the help along the way! Time to get it all in the green.” The star went on to show another photo of himself holding two test tubes of his blood, along with screenshots illustrating the progress he’d made in decreasing his cholesterol levels.

Cyndi Lauper has shared a rerecorded version of her 1993 abortion rights anthem ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.In a series of tweets that accompanied the new, more stripped-back and plaintive version of ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ on June 25, Lauper wrote, “In my childhood, women didn’t have reproductive freedom and 50 years later we find ourselves in a time warp where one’s freedom to control their own body has been stripped away.”She continued, “When I wrote this song with Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1991, we wrote about two little girls who dreamt of stretching their wings like the pigeons they watched that flew above them.“They dreamt of being free.

Top Gun: Maverick has hit another big milestone, surpassing $1billion (£813million) at the global box office.The new sequel, which follows on from Tom Cruise’s 1986 blockbuster, has now overtaken Marvel‘s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness to become the highest-grossing film of the year, and is now Cruise’s first film to pass the billion mark.It is also only the second film to pass the mark since the pandemic, alongside last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.Maverick began breaking records upon its release last month, achieving the highest-grossing opening on its debut weekend for a non-superhero film since COVID-19, taking in $248million (£196million) when it opened.The film follows Cruise’s character Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell three decades after the events of the original film, as he trains up a new group of young pilots while confronting his past.Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly also star, the former taking on the role of Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, the son of Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw.Speaking recently about performing stunts for the film, Teller admitted recently that he thought he was “going to die”.“I think when there’s that much adrenaline and a healthy bit of fear, I was able to hold [vomit] down. I guess that’s a secret skill I have,” he told LADBible.“If anything I think it made me really appreciate how nice it is not to have to, you know, go 500 knots an hour all the time,” he added of his new appreciation for commercial flights.

Good Morning Britain fans have been left convinced that Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid have fallen out as he continues to miss the ITV morning show. The 66 year old presenter was absent from Monday 27 June morning’s episode after Adil Ray stood in with Susanna, 51 as co-host.

Selling Sunsets star Mary Fitzgerald has spoken out about the concerns of her increasing fame after appearing on the hit Netflix real estate series.The 41 year old stars alongside her colleagues in the streaming show, which centres most of its filming at The Oppenheim Group office in Sunset Plaza, Los Angeles, where their work base is located.Though the glamorous agents are typically seen entering the Oppenheim doors rocking the latest designer items, Mary revealed that the cast no longer wear expensive jewellery after there was a burglary near the office. “We've all stopped wearing any of our expensive watches. We've been very, very cautious.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy nominee Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale) has signed on to star alongside Peyton Kennedy, Anjali Bhimani, Jeremy Radin, Akilah Hughes and Ben Gleib in the indie Pruning.

Kim Kardashian at this year’s Met Gala, further cementing its reputation as one of the most famous dresses in history. Now, the Duchess of Cambridge in the The Vampire’s Wife is set to do something similar. Yesterday, the Duke and Duchess unveiled their first portrait as a couple by British artist Jamie Coreth.

Outlander fans in Scotland are in for a treat this summer after it was confirmed that author and creator Diana Gabaldon would be speaking at a special event in the capital.

Paul McCartney – headlining Glastonbury. In London’s Hyde Park, a 78-year-old man – Mick Jagger – will be leading out the last surviving Rolling Stones to sing songs about street fighting and sex.

Eric Brevig and Greg Butler have been hired as visual effect supervisors at VFX and animation studio DNEG, the studio announced Thursday.Both Brevig and Butler come to the studio as winners of the Academy Award winners for best visual effects. Brevig won for “Total Recall” in 1991, while Butler won and Oscar and a BAFTA for “1917” in 2020.

Ben Croll Heading into his first edition at the helm of the Neuchatel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF), artistic director Pierre-Yves Walder looked to land his white whale, setting his sights on a retrospective idea he’d dreamed up many years before.

Film director Paul Haggis appeared in court in southern Italy on Wednesday amid a police investigation into a woman’s allegations he had sex with her without her consent over the course of two days. Haggis, 69, made no comment as he arrived with Italian attorney Michele Laforgia at the courthouse in Brindisi, a port town in Puglia, the region that forms the "heel" of southeastern Italy.There was no sign that members of his family who were in Italy at the time joined him.