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'Ibrahim' by Algerian Samir Guesmi Wins Big at Angoulême Francophone Film Festival

Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
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'Ibrahim' by Algerian Samir Guesmi Wins Big at Angoulême Francophone Film Festival

Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.

"Ibrahim," a feature film by French-Algerian director Samir Guesmi has won four awards at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival including the Best Film and Best Direction awards.

The movie's plot centers on Ibrahim, a young man who tries to regain his father's trust after he made some bad friendships which embarrassed his migrant conservative father.

The festival, which finished its shows on Wednesday at the city of Angoulême, was among the most awaited cinema events in France, especially after the cancelation of the Cannes Festival because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The event offered a great opportunity to bring together French cinema figures after months of separation and postponement. Reporters who covered the opening and closing ceremonies had to recognize the actors and actresses from behind face masks that hid their features, but the blue eyes of actress Isabelle Adjani were charming enough to reveal her identity.

She partook in the festival as the star of "Soeur" (sisters), a movie directed by Yamina Benguigui. In the film, Adjani's character almost depicts her own story. She plays the role of Zahra, an Algerian theater actress whose childhood struggles are provoked after she meets Riyad, her brother who went with their father to France 30 years ago after their parents' divorce.

The festival screened 60 movies from France and other French-speaking countries including Belgium, Morocco, and Algeria. The 13th edition of the event attracted 23,000 spectators despite the coronavirus fears.

Samir Guesmi started his career as an actor before working in direction and scriptwriting. He is one of many Moroccan migrants of the second generation who succeeded in France. Guesmi was raised in a family of eights brothers and sisters. His father was a construction worker and his mother was a servant in a nursery.

He wasn't a brilliant student at school, but his fondness of theater was his passport to a profession that exposed his artistic talents, which he enhanced by joining the Studio Pygmalion, and then Tanya Balashova's Theatre School. After many roles on stage, Guesmi found his way to the big screen, and won many prizes including the best actor award at the Amiens International Film Festival for his part in "Malik le maudit".

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Entertainment

Kanye West's Planned Russia Concerts Cancelled, Organizer Says

FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
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Kanye West's Planned Russia Concerts Cancelled, Organizer Says

FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo

Two concerts by ‌US rapper Kanye West in Russia that had been scheduled for October have been cancelled, the show's organizer, Say Agency, said.

West, who is also known as Ye, had been due to perform in St Petersburg. However, a week after the concerts were announced in mid-August, the venue due to host them said it had never signed a contract with the organizers, a separate Moscow-based company.

The ‌shows had ‌remained in limbo ever since, ‌with ⁠organizers providing no clear ⁠confirmation of whether they would go ahead.

"Friends, it is with sincere regret that we inform you that the YE concerts in St. Petersburg will not be able to take place on the scheduled dates. We will issue an official ⁠statement regarding the status of the project ‌and our future plans ‌in the near future," Say Agency posted on Telegram ‌on Wednesday.

West has faced concert cancellations and ‌performance bans in several European countries this year following a series of past antisemitic remarks, including praise for Adolf Hitler, and the use of Nazi imagery.

In January West ‌apologized for the remarks, which he attributed to an undiagnosed brain injury and ⁠untreated bipolar disorder.

Had ⁠the concerts gone ahead, West would have become one of the biggest international music stars to visit Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.

The planned gigs had drawn criticism from some Russian pro-war military bloggers, who questioned the appropriateness of hosting a US performer while Washington continues to provide military and financial support to Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the planned shows, calling them unacceptable and citing what she described as the West's "glorification" of Hitler.

Entertainment

Kenneth Branagh Examines the Scars of Iraq War in 'Atonement'

Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Kenneth Branagh Examines the Scars of Iraq War in 'Atonement'

Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Screenwriter Reed Van Dyk was leafing through a magazine one day in 2012 when he came across an article about the human cost of war that stopped him in his tracks.

He knew that one day he would have to bring it to the screen, but he did not feel he had the leverage in Hollywood to tackle such a weighty issue.

"I wasn't in a position to make a film about this back then," he told AFP.

That all changed after his short film "DeKalb Elementary" won critical acclaim and earned an Oscar nomination in 2018, so he went back to the New Yorker article and began work on "Atonement," which goes on limited release on Friday.

The film, based on the magazine piece, begins in 2003, when the lives of an Iraqi family and a war veteran became tragically intertwined in a Baghdad under fire.

Mariam Khachaturian, played by Hiam Abbass, and her family are trying to reach their home when their two vehicles are fired on by a Marine unit that believed it was under threat.

Three passengers die in the shooting, including Mariam's husband.

Eventually, the widow tries to leave the war behind by moving to the United States with her daughter.

Marine Lou D'Alessandro (Boyd Holbrook) also wants to move on, but the consequences of what he was involved in continue to haunt him.

The only way he feels he might be able to exorcise his demons is to seek out Mariam.

"I was so touched by this piece of writing and the story and all these characters and the way that their lives had intersected very tragically, and then by some miracle, they all intersect again a decade later," Van Dyk said.

In the movie, Lou and Mariam sit face-to-face in California, brought together by the efforts of Michael Reid (Kenneth Branagh), a journalist who had interviewed both of them about the war.

"I was very drawn to the idea of that complexity, and very drawn to the idea of being this witness at this remarkable meeting over years with two people trying to process the enormous pain and loss of very different kinds," Branagh told AFP on the sidelines of the Toronto International Film Festival.

"And then the really compelling drama of this immensely difficult thing, meeting again to feel, discuss, forget, forgive," said the British actor, whose character is inspired by journalist Dexter Filkins, author of the original article.

- 'A new context' -

"Atonement" arrives in US theaters days after the US formally ended its decades-long mission in Iraq, but with the country again at war -- this time with Iran.

"I was pulled to write about and explore these trio of people, and so that was in spite of the fact that you know it wasn't a story that headlines were echoing at the time of my writing," Van Dyk said.

But "as we're making the film, the world has sort of backslid into war everywhere. So it brings a new context to all of our work."

For Holbrook ("Narcos"), portraying the tormented Lou was "a fantastic experience," but also an intimidating one.

"The preparation for a film like this is everything, and for me it was life altering," he told AFP.

"It was something that I had to really find and discover in myself, the empathy and the courage that [his character] Lou had."

Abbass ("Blade Runner 2049" and "Succession") said she had wanted desperately to do justice to Mariam.

"I wanted to take her place and shout out my feelings and my anger towards why this should happen," she said.

"Why on Earth we keep going all the time, causing these pains to people, whoever they are, whatever they are, whatever nationality they come from, whatever conflict we're talking about."

Entertainment

Paramount Gets Court Green Light on Warner Bros Deal, Names Mattel’s Kreiz Co-CEO

The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Paramount Gets Court Green Light on Warner Bros Deal, Names Mattel’s Kreiz Co-CEO

The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)

A US judge entered an order on Wednesday allowing Paramount to close its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros, ending a months-long holdup, as the company named Mattel's Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO to help run the combined business.

US District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved a Sept. 21 settlement with a California-led group of 12 states that had sued to block one of the largest media mergers in history, saying it would create a media behemoth ‌capable of driving up ‌film and TV prices.

Under the settlement, the combined ‌company ⁠must release at least ⁠30 films a year in US theaters for five years and spend an extra $300 million a year on US production. Falling short of the film quota could force it to sell Miramax.

It must also negotiate basic cable deals separately for the two companies' channels and create a board of journalists to oversee CBS News and CNN.

Groups opposed to the merger objected strongly to the settlement, with some ⁠urging the court to reject it.

Martínez-Olguín called the deal ‌a "reasonable factual and legal resolution," saying objectors' ‌hopes for the decree "to reach farther – to achieve more – do not rise to the level ‌of legal violations" warranting rejection.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice ‌said the settlement "resolves our antitrust concerns..., protects competition and consumer choice, and centers the needs, concerns, and futures of California workers".

The companies said in a late Wednesday statement that the deal is expected to close on October 6.

The companies also settled a Writers Guild ‌of America antitrust lawsuit, agreeing to pay $17.5 million to the guild's health fund and maintain WGA staffing levels at CBS ⁠News for five ⁠years.

MATTEL'S KREIZ TO BECOME CO-CEO

Separately, Paramount said Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz will join on October 5 and become co-CEO when the deal closes alongside chairman and CEO David Ellison, running day-to-day operations and integration.

Kreiz, Mattel's CEO since 2018, turned the toymaker's brands into films, TV shows and games, delivering "Barbie," Warner Bros' highest-grossing film ever.

The hire gives Ellison, whose background is on the creative side, a seasoned operator who steered Mattel through the pandemic and tariffs, as Paramount aims for more than $6 billion in savings from the merger.

Before Mattel, he spent much of his career in TV and digital media, co-founding Fox Kids Europe and running "Big Brother" producer Endemol.

He later ran YouTube network Maker Studios, which he sold to Disney in 2014.