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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

‘Outcome’ Film Captures Keanu Reeves’ Character at Center of Image Crisis

(From L) Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, US actor Matt Bomer, US actress Cameron Diaz and US actor Jonah Hill attends the premiere of Apple TV's "Outcome" in New York, on April 6, 2026. (AFP)
(From L) Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, US actor Matt Bomer, US actress Cameron Diaz and US actor Jonah Hill attends the premiere of Apple TV's "Outcome" in New York, on April 6, 2026. (AFP)
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‘Outcome’ Film Captures Keanu Reeves’ Character at Center of Image Crisis

(From L) Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, US actor Matt Bomer, US actress Cameron Diaz and US actor Jonah Hill attends the premiere of Apple TV's "Outcome" in New York, on April 6, 2026. (AFP)
(From L) Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, US actor Matt Bomer, US actress Cameron Diaz and US actor Jonah Hill attends the premiere of Apple TV's "Outcome" in New York, on April 6, 2026. (AFP)

In the dark comedy film “Outcome,” Keanu Reeves plays a Hollywood movie star whose carefully crafted public image begins to unravel when he is blackmailed with a mysterious video that threatens his career.

Reeves portrays Reef Hawk, a beloved film icon who turns to his closest circle - including lifelong friends Kyle and Xander, played by Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer, and ‌his crisis ‌lawyer Ira, portrayed by Jonah Hill - ‌to ⁠contain the fallout. ⁠Hill also directed the film and co-wrote it with Ezra Woods.

As pressure mounts, Reef launches an unconventional apology tour, revisiting people he believes he may have wronged in hopes of uncovering the identity of the extorter.

Hill balances heightened ⁠comedy with moments of emotional reflection, using ‌the premise to ‌explore accountability and authenticity in an era defined by ‌public scrutiny. Reeves said working with Hill on ‌the Apple TV movie brought a distinctive energy to the set.

“Energy, vibrancy, creative yummy,” he described.

Diaz said the film probes what makes an apology ‌meaningful.

“It’s really about the person receiving it,” she said. “Whether it matters is ⁠relative ⁠to their experience."

For Bomer, the story’s focus on friendship resonated during production.

“It made me realize the value of deep friendships that transcend public perception,” he said, adding that the set encouraged creative freedom.

Laverne Cox, who appears as part of Reef’s crisis-management team, said the film poses pointed questions about accountability, highlighting a line delivered by Martin Scorsese in the trailer: “What are you sorry for?”

“Outcome” premieres globally on Apple TV on April 10.

Entertainment

Now It’s All Come Together: Forgotten Beatles Photos Released

The Beatles in New York in 1968. (AFP)
The Beatles in New York in 1968. (AFP)
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Now It’s All Come Together: Forgotten Beatles Photos Released

The Beatles in New York in 1968. (AFP)
The Beatles in New York in 1968. (AFP)

The venue that hosted The Beatles' only concerts in Japan has released long-forgotten photos of the legendary British band six decades after the gigs.

At the height of Beatlemania in 1966, when the quartet was the world's most famous pop group, the Beatles staged five summer performances in Tokyo in front of screaming fans.

Crowds reportedly thronged their hotel, where they stayed in the finest suite.

Then in 2009, more than 100 photos shot during the gigs "were discovered on a shelf" inside an office at the concert venue Nippon Budokan, the arena's operator told AFP.

But the 19 rolls of negative film -- reportedly wrapped in paper and labelled in such a way that it suggested they belonged to Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun -- remained "stored as they were" until recently, the operator in a statement.

However, as the 60th anniversary of the Japan tour approached, the venue operator asked a Beatles expert to examine the negatives, and "his assessment revealed that the photos appear to have never been published" in newspapers or other media.

Among the photos released by the concert venue is a shot of John Lennon smiling beside a Japanese doll that resembles a figurine featuring on the album cover of the 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

The global stars were under tight security during their visit, but the doll may have been purchased during a hurried shopping trip, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said.

The newspaper is investigating who took the photos and why the negatives had been kept in Nippon Budokan despite being wrapped in paper labelled "The Yomiuri Shimbun archives room", it said.

The photos capture "the atmosphere of that one and only Japan tour -- now remembered as a historic event -- as well as various moments from their stay in Japan," the Nippon Budokan statement said.

Entertainment

AI-generated Artists Break Through in Country Music

"Whiskey & Water," a song by Cain Walker featuring Cade Winslow, is one of many AI-generated country music tunes. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
"Whiskey & Water," a song by Cain Walker featuring Cade Winslow, is one of many AI-generated country music tunes. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
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AI-generated Artists Break Through in Country Music

"Whiskey & Water," a song by Cain Walker featuring Cade Winslow, is one of many AI-generated country music tunes. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
"Whiskey & Water," a song by Cain Walker featuring Cade Winslow, is one of many AI-generated country music tunes. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

AI-generated singers routinely rank among the top-streamed country music artists in the United States -- a trend that for now is limited to a genre that industry observers fear is becoming too formulaic.

Breaking Rust, Cain Walker, Aventhis, and Outlaw Gospel have more in common that cowboy hats, denim and leather. They are all completely computer-generated, from their faces to their melodies, said AFP.

And they are all hitmakers.

"That's a phenomenon I didn't see coming," said Jennie Hayes Kurtz of the country music band Brother and The Hayes.

"I thought AI was going to be curing cancer or something."

Many of the AI country tunes tap into the genre's archetype of the lone cowboy: a rugged, taciturn, plain-spoken man who, above all, refuses to apologize for simply existing.

Lyrics are delivered in raspy, gravelly voices that sound as authentic as the real thing.

"It's scary as songwriters," said Kassie Jordan, who forms the singing duo Blue Honey with her husband Troy Brooks.

"We are starting to see a lot of people just putting words into these chatbots and it is writing songs for them," she said. "As a songwriter, it's kind of like, is anyone going to even think I really wrote this?"

Berklee College of Music professor Joe Bennett noted that a sampling of AI singers suggests that the words used to "prompt" AI songs were "not particularly detailed."

None of the producers behind AI-generated music projects responded to AFP's requests for comment.

So how did AI find a place in a genre that is fundamentally rooted in the human experience and storytelling, blending folk, blues, and even gospel influences?

For Bennett, the emergence of modern country music in the early 2000s -- with a highly polished, more pop sound and repeated "melodic shapes" -- is key.

AI models could become adept at replicating such a sound, when fueled with those elements, he explained.

- 'Superficial' -

Once overshadowed by rap and Latin music, and hindered by the industry's shift to digital music formats, country music has nevertheless staged a comeback thanks to a generation of artists with stronger pop, not folk, sensibilities.

Following in the footsteps of country-turned-pop megastar Taylor Swift, today's headliners are more likely to sport baseball caps than wide Stetsons.

Their music breaks genre boundaries, while artists such as Beyonce and Post Malone win fans and sell albums with their crossover efforts.

Last year, country stars Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan were both in the top 10 most streamed artists on Spotify.

Some in the industry believe country's rebirth signifies a dulled-down formula designed to appeal to the widest possible audience.

"The lyrics aren't as deep as they used to be," Jordan said.

"A big portion of popular country music has become kind of shallow, so that is pretty easy to duplicate."

Bennett says the industry must do a better job of identifying AI-generated music, noting that Deezer is the only major streaming platform to clearly label such material.

"We need AI detection," Bennett maintained.

"It will happen, and there is a consumer demand for it."

Hayes Kurtz said there is a large audience of "passive" listeners who don't care whether music is made by AI, but there are also "active listeners" who attend concerts, buy band merchandise, and deeply respect the integrity of the artists.

"That audience seems to really care it the music is made by the actual humans they are going to see," Hayes Kurtz said.

Jordan says she remains optimistic about the future.

"There's another wave of country artists that are coming that is really into doing it the old school way and showing emotion," she said.

"That will be harder for AI to duplicate. That might save the genre."