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Sundance celebrates the ‘magic’ of being back in-person

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Sundance celebrates the 'magic' of being back in-person

The Sundance Film Festival met the moment by going virtual for the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic. But on Thursday, there was a palpable sense of relief from the festival’s leadership team at being in-person again.

Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente, director of programming Kim Yutani, senior programmer John Nein and incoming Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez gathered Thursday afternoon in Park City, Utah, to discuss what’s to come. Just outside, on a snowy Main Street, finishing touches were being put on storefronts and restaurants that sponsors have taken over for the week.

“It feels so good to be back in person,” Vicente said. “There’s nothing like the magic of being together in Park City.”

Yutani also announced the last-minute addition of “Justice,” a documentary from filmmaker Doug Liman about allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, that will debut Friday.

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“It was a powerful documentary that we felt was important to add,” Yutani said. “We saw it, like, yesterday.”

Eleven films have their world premieres Thursday night, including the documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything” and the Frankenstein-inspired psychological horror “birth/rebirth,” about a morgue technician who reanimates a little girl. Also on Thursday, “Shayda,” about an Iranian mother and her 6-year-old daughter who go to a women’s shelter in Australia, “The Longest Goodbye,” a documentary about a NASA psychologist preparing Mars-bound astronauts for social isolation, the Daisy Ridley film “Sometimes I Think About Dying” and “Kim’s Video,” a documentary about a hunt for a lost video collection of 55,000 movies.

Programmers watched 16,000 films to determine this year’s slate of 111 films and say that there is something for everyone. Biographical documentaries, films about world issues and diasporic filmmaking are especially popular this year.

Nein said that he expects audiences to be buzzing about the performances of both known stars like Jonathan Majors, in “Magazine Dreams,” Cynthia Erivo, in “Drift,” and Eugenio Derbez in “Radical” and newcomers like Lío Mehiel in “Mutt” and Priya Kansara in “Polite Society.”

The Sundance Institute is also hosting a dinner Thursday night honoring filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Ryan Coogler, Nikyatu Jusu and W. Kamau Bell. There will also be a fundraising component to support the Institute’s work. Vicente said that it has been a challenging few years for the Institute, financially.

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Sundance is not just a festival, after all. The non-profit institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981, provides year-round support to emerging filmmakers with labs, fellowships and mentorship.

“The festival is this amazing platform to celebrate and share with audiences,” Vicente said. “But really, as Robert Redford says, the engine, the most important work we do happens year-round.”

Filmmaker Sophie Barthes, whose film “The Pod Generation” is among the opening night selections, attributes her career to the Sundance Institute. Her first short film debuted at the festival almost 20 years ago, marking the beginning of a relationship that continues to this day. Over the years, she participated in the director’s lab, the composers’ lab and the writers’ lab. It’s also where she debuted her first feature, “Cold Souls,” with Paul Giamatti, in 2009.

“I wouldn’t be here without Sundance,” Barthes said in a recent interview. “They helped my career so much. I had like 50 advisers, the best of the best in the industry. It was like a film school on steroids. For filmmakers it’s the best thing that can happen to you because once you enter the family, they help and support you.”

Her film “The Pod Generation” is a futuristic satire about a New York couple (played by Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) who use an “artificial womb” to get pregnant. She wanted to explore not-so-far-off advancements like artificial gestation and AI therapy and poke at ideas like detachment parenting.

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“It’s a satire about the fact that we’ve lost so many of our instincts because of this modern life, we’re trying to reinvent the wheel and it becomes very comical,” Barthes said. “I think it’s very funny to explore the psychology of parents, especially in New York.”

She hopes the film raises a debate about our relationship to technology. It will also be part of the “beyond film” conversations taking place in Park City outside of the cinemas throughout the week. Subjects range from how to cross-over from television to film, with “Flight Attendant” director Susanna Fogel whose “Cat Person” is premiering at the festival, to representation, with Randall Park and Marlee Matlin. There will be conversations about making your first feature and even burnout, with Majors, food writer Ruth Reichl and graphic novelist Adrian Tomine. Many of the sponsors, from Acura to Adobe, are also hosting timely conversations as well about climate change in movies, reclaiming trans narratives, building inclusive productions and even getting into Sundance.

The festival has continued to evolve over the past few years. Though in-person was the priority, they also committed to a hybrid format. This year some 80 films will be available to watch online for ticketholders. The digital package, Vicente said, sold out very quickly.

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Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

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Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

Noorul Hassan, a popular TV show host and a veteran TV actor known for his versatile roles in several drama serials over the last two decades, has joined the star cast of the Turkish drama serial Selahaddin Eyyubi, which is a combination of action, historical drama and adventure.

A private TV channel will soon telecast Selahaddin Eyyubi in the Urdu language. 

Previously, this drama serial is being telecast by a Turkish TV channel at 9pm every Monday.

This drama serial is based on the life of the inspiring Muslim ruler and military commander Sultan Selahaddin Eyyubi.

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Turkish actor Ugur Gunes is playing the role of Sultan Selahaddin Eyyubi in the drama serial also featuring Pakistani actors Adnan Siddiqui, Humayun Saeed, Kashif Ansari, Junaid Ali Shah and others.

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Aamir Khan to appear on ‘Kapil Sharma Show’ for 1st time

Aamir Khan to appear on ‘Kapil Sharma Show’ for 1st time

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Aamir Khan to appear on 'Kapil Sharma Show' for 1st time

Bollywood icon Aamir Khan will make his debut appearance in an interview with comedian Kapil Sharma.

He recently filmed an episode for Netflix’s upcoming series, “The Great Indian Kapil Show,” as teased in a newly released promo.

Despite having shared public interactions previously, this marks the first time the two stars have collaborated professionally.

According to NDTV’s report last year, during the trailer launch event of “Carry on Jatta 3,” Aamir Khan questioned why he hadn’t been invited to Kapil’s show yet.

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In response, Kapil innocently stated, “I’ve always approached him amidst crowds and requested him to join our show. However, he often mentioned being occupied with other engagements.”

Aamir, the lead actor of “Ghajini,” then assured, “I’ll definitely make it, but please avoid calling me around my movie releases. I prefer not to promote them and would rather entertain.”

Nearly a year later, he has fulfilled his promise.

This is a significant gesture from Aamir, who typically refrains from interview appearances unless it’s for promotional purposes.

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US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

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US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

American artist Richard Serra, whose enormous steel sculptures coated with a fine patina of rust decorated landscapes and dominated oversized galleries in the world’s finest museums, died on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. He was 85.

The artist died at his home on New York’s Long Island of pneumonia, the Times reported, citing his lawyer, John Silberman.

Born in San Francisco in 1938 to a Spanish father and Russian mother, Serra grew up visiting marine shipyards where his father worked and also labored in steel mills to support himself in his youth, according to his San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum biographies.

Despite the large scale of his works, artistically he was considered a minimalist, letting the dimensions of his art relative to the viewer, rather than elaborate imagery, make its point.

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After studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University, he moved to New York in 1966 where he began making art from industrial materials such as metal, fiberglass and rubber.

Though he would later become quite popular, one of his 1981 works was so poorly received that it was removed from public view in Lower Manhattan, ARTnews said.

“Tilted Arc,” a 120-foot (36-meter) bar of steel, is today “remembered as one of the most reviled works of public art in the city’s history. It was ultimately taken away because people hated it so much,” ARTnews said.

He made a breakthrough in 1969 when he was included in “Nine Young Artists: Theodoron Awards” at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

After traveling to Spain to study Mozarabic architecture in the early 1980s, his work gained renowned in Europe and with solo exhibitions at major museums in Germany and France.

Serra’s work was especially appreciated in his father’s native Spain, where the Reina Sofia museum offered a 1992 retrospective of his work and he had an exhibit dedicated exclusively to his work at the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.

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A 2002 New Yorker magazine profile entitled “Man of Steel” described him as a “stocky, powerful-looking man with a large head, a fringe of close-cropped gray hair, and black eyes whose intense stare reminds you of Picasso’s.”

That same piece told of Serra’s self-realisation that he was not a painter, after seeing Diego Velazquez’s 1656 work “Las Meninas” in the Prado museum in Madrid.

“It pretty much stopped me,” Serra said. “Cezanne hadn’t stopped me, de Kooning and Pollack hadn’t stopped me, but Velazquez seemed like a bigger thing to deal with. That sort of nailed the coffin on painting for me.”

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