Venice Topper Barbera Puts Emphasis on Emerging Talent With Biennale College

North Korea are reportedly being sent to labour camps after thousands of special flowers failed to bloom. The 'Kimjongilia' begonias - named after Kim Jong-un's father and former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il - are meant to be in bloom to mark the dead dictator's birthday on February 16. The event is known as the 'Day of Shining Star', and typically sees streets in the hermit country lined with red flowers honouring Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011 aged 69.

Super Bowl half-time show, where he was seen hanging upside down.The hotly anticipated concert also featured performances from Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar in a jaw-dropping spectacle.The musicians provided entertainment at SoFi Stadium in California during the Super Bowl match-up between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.Surprise guest 50 appeared upside down for a specially produced mix of his hit song "In da Club", which mirrored a key scene from the song's original music video.50 was welcomed on stage after both Snoop and Dre, who opened the show and sang their hit classic "The Next Episode" from the early 2000s.With screams and cheers darting around the stadium during 50's surprise medley, he was surrounded by beautiful women while he flaunted his buff physique.After his shock reveal, social media went absolutely wild, with many flocking to tweet their excitement about 50 joining the widely anticipated concert.One person tweeted: "5O Cent is in 'DA' house! This is the best Super Bowl ever. #SuperBowl."Another avid fan penned: "Could this line-up get any better? Legend after Legend and now 50 Cent! This is a 90s dream #SuperBowl." A third said: "50 Cent!!!!! This is sick! This performance is legendary.

Friends star Matt LeBlanc has reportedly split from his British girlfriend Aurora Mulligan after nearly six years together.It's claimed that 54-year-old Matt has split from 36-year-old Aurora, a Top Gear producer from Northern Ireland who he met when he previously hosted the motoring show in 2016.A source exclusively told The Sun that the couple struck a clean break.They said: "Matt and Aurora's relationship has run its course. It's all over."It's a huge shame and Matt has taken the news particularly hard, as anyone would."He and Aurora fell for each on Top Gear and although there was a pretty big age gap they were a really great match."After the speculation, the Hollywood star was spotted in California sporting some stubble and looking deflated over the weekend.He wore baggy pants and a motoring T-shirt as he kept his head down with shades.Until recently, Matt and Aurora had gone from strength-to-strength.In 2017, they made their red carpet debut at a New York film festival and in 2018 attended the UK launch of Top Gear's 25th series as a couple.Father-of-one Matt called her "honey" on social media while Aurora joked and replied with "old geezer".Matt's rare public sighting came after fans expressed their concern for one of his co-stars Matthew Perry and his battle with addiction.The Friends Chandler Bing actor announced he is bringing out a new book, which will feature his highs and lows over the years.

There were so many celebs in attendance at the 2022 Super Bowl, including some top stars in the music world!

Note: We will update reactions frequently

reports.“Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” the filmmaker's children shared in a joint statement to on Sunday. «We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world.

Andrew Garfield is enjoying another day on the tennis courts with his girlfriend!

Batgirl production crew have been slated after locals told of heavy-handed bouncers on the set on their doorstep.

Paul Murray saw it coming long before most.

Boris Johnson has been branded “a walking advert for independence” ahead of a visit Scotland on Monday.

The mother of a young woman who suffered horrific injuries while being restrained at school is demanding cameras in all classrooms where kids with additional needs are taught.

EXCLUSIVE: The Venice Film Festival and its festival director Alberto Barbera have become awards whisperers.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe country’s box office is still sputtering but Italian cinema is instead “in a state of grace,” as Venice chief Alberto Barbera put it recently as he announced the five features from Italy that are competing for the fest’s Golden Lion. It’s the most he’s ever selected from Italy.And Barbera is adamant that he didn’t allocate almost one-fourth of Venice’s 21 competition slots to Cinema Italiano “to support our colors at a difficult time.”“Some years he selects very little from Italy,” notes Barbara Salabè, who is the top Warner Bros.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAs the Venice Film Festival claws back 70% of its pre-pandemic registration numbers and lures a parade of Hollywood stars to the Lido, it seems festival director Alberto Barbera is right: Venice is well and truly back. And just in time, too.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentOn Tuesday night, the eve of the 78th annual Venice Film Festival, Variety hosted a rooftop party at the Hotel Danieli honoring fest topper Alberto Barbera and the Biennale, its parent organization, with its International Achievement in Film Award.Variety international editor Manori Ravindran presented the prize to Barbera and Roberto Cicutto, the president of the Biennale.The event’s theme was “Stairway to Parasite,” a tribute to director Bong Joon Ho, this year’s Venice Jury President, who posed for paparazzi and mingled with fellow jurors Virginie Efire, Cynthia Erivo and with guests including Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and supermodel Madisin Rian.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe 78th Venice Film Festival gets underway Wednesday with a slew of Hollywood stars expected on the red carpet for the Sept. 1-11 event, beginning with Penelope Cruz for Pedro Almodovar’s opening film “Parallel Mothers,” in competition, and Isabelle Huppert for French drama “Promises,” which opens the fest’s more cutting-edge Horizons section.They will soon be followed by the creative teams and key cast “of all the films,” said artistic director Alberto Barbera speaking to Variety.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThere is no doubt that Venice these days is the world’s top event to premiere a future Oscar winner, but it wasn’t always like that.When artistic director Alberto Barbera returned to the Lido in 2012 “a lot of things had changed at an international level, driven by transformations due to the digital revolution and the re-organization of production and distribution,” he says.At the time, “Venice was suffering very much from the competition from other festivals, specifically Toronto and subsequently also Telluride.”For various reasons, one being cost, it had become more difficult for Venice to have access to big productions; not just from Hollywood, but also to European films that often preferred to

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThere is no doubt that Venice these days is the world’s top event to premiere a future Oscar winner, but it wasn’t always like that.When artistic director Alberto Barbera returned to the Lido in 2012 “a lot of things had changed at an international level, driven by transformations due to the digital revolution and the re-organization of production and distribution,” he says.At the time, “Venice was suffering very much from the competition from other festivals, specifically Toronto and subsequently also Telluride.”For various reasons, one being cost, it had become more difficult for Venice to have access to big productions; not just from Hollywood, but also to European films that often preferred to

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Venice Film Festival, after some ups and downs over the years, has been hitting its stride for the past decade thanks to Alberto Barbera, who has steadily steered the event forward by finding ways to make the grand dame’s historic grandeur flourish into a crucially important space for the future of filmmaking.Variety will give its Intl. Achievement in Film Award to Barbera and La Biennale di Venezia at a ceremony at the Venice Film Festival.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThough the Venice Film Festival will serve as a launching pad for several blockbusters, festival artistic director Alberto Barbera this year is introducing a section called Horizons Extra, dedicated to more offbeat works of all genres with no length constraints although they must be more than an hour long.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Venice Film Festival and Italy’s Mymovies streaming platform have devised what the streamer’s chief Gianluca Guzzo calls “a unique model.”It’s an SVOD service called Biennale Cinema Channel that offers Italians Lido titles from past editions that never made it into local theaters and in September will also provide them with a selection of world premieres launching from Venice’s upcoming 78th edition.It all started with Alberto Barbera’s second mandate at Venice 10 years ago, says Guzzo.