This is Beirut

Netflix Takes Center Stage at the Venice Film Festival

Bélinda Ibrahim, 23/08 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Netflix Venice Film Festival Cinema Film Culture

For several years, Venice has served as the discreet yet decisive battleground between traditional cinema and streaming giants. In 2025, Netflix makes a striking return to the Lido, shaking up the hierarchy of studios and auteurs alike. Three high-profile world premieres in official competition, carefully crafted productions and a calculated ...

'KPop Demon Hunters' breaks Netflix records and hits theaters

This is Beirut, 23/08 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cinema Art Culture Animated musical Film KPop Demon Hunters

After shattering viewership records on Netflix and climbing to the top of global music charts, the animated musical KPop Demon Hunters is now making its big-screen debut. This summer hit follows a trio of young Korean pop stars who battle demons using high-energy songs and synchronized dance moves. Since its Netflix release on June 20, the film ...

With 'Mother', Mitevska Restores Mother Teresa’s Humanity

Bélinda Ibrahim, 22/08 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Mother Teresa Film Cinema Venice Film Festival Culture

Who was the real Mother Teresa? In Mother, Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska reexamines the legend to reveal a woman far beyond the clichés. Premiering in the Orizzonti section at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, the movie focuses on seven pivotal days in 1948 that forever changed Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the woman who would become Mother ...

'I Love Peru': Raphaël Quenard’s Biting yet Poetic Mockumentary

Marie-Christine Tayah, 14/08 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Raphaël Quenard Film Cinema Cannes Culture Art

Balancing fiction and reality, I Love Peru, the feature debut co-directed by Raphaël Quenard and Hugo David, dives with humor and excess into the rise of an improbable leading man. From improvised shoots in hotel rooms to surreal sequences in Peru, the film reveals a character both grotesque and fragile. Premiering at the most recent Cannes Film ...

Scandal-Plagued Director Kechiche Returns with Festival Premiere

This is Beirut, 08/08 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film Cinema Culture Art Abdellatif Kechiche

A new film by award-winning but scandal-prone French director Abdellatif Kechiche has been selected by a Swiss film festival, marking a comeback six years after his last widely panned feature, organizers said Tuesday. The third film of his Mektoub My Love trilogy — titled Mektoub My Love: Canto Due — is to show in competition at the Locarno ...

'Fantastic Four' Holds Box Office Lead for Second Weekend

This is Beirut, 04/08 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Cinema Film Box Office Culture Art

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Disney’s debut of the rebooted Marvel Comics franchise, continued to outperform the competition for a second straight weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday. Actor-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy-winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn star as the titular ...

Liam Neeson, a Dim-Witted Cop in a Noir Parody

This is Beirut, 01/08 16:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Cinema Film Liam Neeson Pamela Anderson Culture Art

Liam Neeson, in full-on comedy mode: the actor known for Schindler’s List, his reinvention as a violent avenger in Taken, and as a Jedi Master in The Phantom Menace, now plays a clueless, blundering cop in The Naked Gun: Save the World?, opening Wednesday in France. In this send-up of film noir, the Northern Irish star joins Pamela Anderson to ...

Lynette Howell Taylor to Lead Oscars as Academy President

This is Beirut, 01/08 13:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Oscars Film Cinema Culture Art Lynette Howell Taylor

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected A Star is Born film producer Lynette Howell Taylor as its new president, the group behind the Oscars said Thursday. Howell Taylor, who is British and also produced Blue Valentine and The Accountant, becomes the fifth woman chosen to run Hollywood's most elite group of filmmakers. Academy ...

TV Heroines: 10 Female Characters We Love to Hate

Bélinda Ibrahim, 25/07 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

TV Heroines Female Characters Film Culture Actresses

In the world of TV series, some female characters inspire admiration. Others trigger relentless annoyance; the kind that makes you roll your eyes every time they appear, sigh with frustration, or wish for a plotline without them. And yet, they linger, impose themselves, leave their mark. Because hating a character also means acknowledging their ...

What If AI Could Let You Watch Your Dreams Like a Movie?

Bélinda Ibrahim, 17/07 13:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

AI Dreams Film Japan Neuroscientists

Sleep, dream… and soon, wake up and watch your dreams like a movie? While it may still sound like science fiction, this technology is taking shape in research labs. At Kyoto’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, neuroscientist Yukiyasu Kamitani and his team have created an AI system that decodes brain activity during REM sleep—the ...

Nintendo Announces Lead Cast for Epic "Legend of Zelda" Movie

This is Beirut, 17/07 12:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Games Legend of Zelda Film Britain Japan Culture

Two British actors will play the lead roles in the hotly anticipated live-action film adaptation of the Legend of Zelda video game franchise, Japan's Nintendo announced. The film's release is set for May 2027, joining a stream of game adaptations from Super Mario to Sonic the Hedgehog that have stormed the box office in recent years. Bo Bragason ...

Mexican Voice Actors Demand Regulation on AI Voice Cloning

This is Beirut, 14/07 13:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film AI Actors Entertainment Mexico Culture

Mexican actors protested the growing threat artificial intelligence poses to their industry, calling on Sunday for better regulations to prevent voice cloning without consent. The rise of AI was a key issue in Hollywood's 2023 actors and writers' strikes, as creatives feared studios would use the technology to replace paid content. Last year, ...

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