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Dany Boon to Make First Film on Confinement During Pandemic

Dany Boon to Make First Film on Confinement During Pandemic
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Dany Boon to Make First Film on Confinement During Pandemic

Dany Boon to Make First Film on Confinement During Pandemic

The first film about confinement amid the pandemic is being written, and many other similar productions are expected to follow. The brain behind the idea is the French producer and actor Dany Boon known for his popular high-grossing movies. In an interview with the RTL television, he announced he is currently writing a movie about a residential building whose inhabitants are confined in order to avoid the Covid-19 infection.

Boon, 53, who was born to an Algerian father, is one of the most popular actors in France. In 2008, he starred and directed a movie named "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Sticks), which was seen by 20.5 million people, hitting an unprecedented number of views in the history of French cinema.

During the interview, Boon said the confinement weeks inspired him to make a new movie, and that he and his wife Laurence Arné are currently working on the script. They are taking advantage of their free time to create a fruitful work, he explained. The French director said he was surprised he managed to accept isolation and adapt to it in an unexpected way especially that his life was all about travel, work, festivals, and big events. Earlier this year, right before the coronavirus outbreak, he partook in the "Festival du film de comédie de l'Alpe d'Huez 2020", during which he introduced his latest movie "Le Lion" (The Lion).

Boon was also prepping to shoot a new movie this summer named "The Palm", however, the pandemic made him postpone the project and gave him a new idea. Like any other citizen in this world, the actor has spent confinement weeks with his small family waiting for life to return to normal, despite the persisting concerns linked to the virus.

The new movie highlights the daily life issues of the inhabitants of a Parisian residential building who found themselves banned from leaving their apartments. Each one of them has his own story, from the owners of small shops on the ground floor to the low-income residents living in the small rooms on the roof. The shooting is set to kick off once the lockdown ends, so the movie becomes ready for screening before the end of 2020.

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Excitement and Joy at Ljubljana Zoo after Birth of 3 Siberian Tiger Cubs

A visitor watches the Siberian tiger cubs with their mother on a screen at the zoo in Ljubljana. AP
A visitor watches the Siberian tiger cubs with their mother on a screen at the zoo in Ljubljana. AP
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Excitement and Joy at Ljubljana Zoo after Birth of 3 Siberian Tiger Cubs

A visitor watches the Siberian tiger cubs with their mother on a screen at the zoo in Ljubljana. AP
A visitor watches the Siberian tiger cubs with their mother on a screen at the zoo in Ljubljana. AP

A zoo in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana has presented its newest residents: three Siberian tiger cubs who were born there under two weeks ago.

The Siberian tiger is one of the world’s most endangered big cat species, with experts estimating that about 500 remain in the wild. Their survival is threatened primarily by habitat loss and poaching.

Zoo workers said the cubs were born to mother Arisa and father Ussuri, which arrived in Ljubljana in 2004, after careful planning and much hoping, The Associated Press reported.

“We were not really expecting, but hoping, working on it because we have a good breeding pair,” she said. Though the couple were introduced to each other at the right time “we weren't completely sure,” she added.

“So we were also a bit surprised and of course very happy,” Strus said.

Breeding wild animal species in enclosed spaces is known to be hard and often does not succeed.

The cubs, born on May 27, are highly vulnerable and need to be isolated from others except their mother, but zoo staff and visitors have been able see them on a screen streaming live video footage.

Visitors could be seen smiling as they watched the mother with her babies on the screen. Barbara Gallaido, from San Francisco, said the sight was “really fabulous.”

“I’ve seen tigers in the wild in India, but not like this, not with cubs,” she said. “It was really great.”

Arisa is a first-time mother at the age of 4, Strus said. She appears to be doing very well so far.

“She is constantly licking them (cubs,) breastfeeding them and they are resting together,” she said. “So far so good. But ... we still need to wait and see what will happen.”

According to Strus, tiger cubs open their eyes and begin hearing about two weeks after birth. She said the mother is expected to bring them out of the den for the first time when they are one month old.

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New Study Finds That We Can Multitask

New research challenges the long-held belief that the human brain isn’t set up to be able to multitask. (Getty Images)
New research challenges the long-held belief that the human brain isn’t set up to be able to multitask. (Getty Images)
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New Study Finds That We Can Multitask

New research challenges the long-held belief that the human brain isn’t set up to be able to multitask. (Getty Images)
New research challenges the long-held belief that the human brain isn’t set up to be able to multitask. (Getty Images)

Researchers have long said that the human brain is not set up to multitask — but new research is challenging that understanding.

Experts previously explained that when we believe we’re multitasking, we’re actually just quickly switching between tasks. That’s because the area of the brain that manages thinking, the prefrontal cortex, can only really handle one thing at a time, according to The Independent.

But another region of the brain involved in memory lends a helping hand over time, new research has shown. When people needed to perform image sorting tests over the course of weeks, the tests initially activated the prefrontal cortex and later activated the temporal cortex.

Over time, the brain is remodeled, Maximilian Riesenhuber, a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University School of Medicine, explained in a statement. The prefrontal cortex passes responsibility to the temporal cortex and is free for “whatever else you want to do, increasing your capacity.”

“What we show is that the circuitry actually changes so the brain can do two things at once,” he said. “This really is true multitasking.”

The researchers wanted to understand why people need to focus when learning a task for the first time and can also do other things simultaneously when they become experienced. For example, long-time drivers are able to listen to music and engage in conversations.

Men and women in the small study were trained to sort morphed images of cars into two categories using an image-sorting app, completing more than 30,000 trials over the course of 5-10 weeks.

The researchers scanned their brains before and after they completed the trials, revealing the change.

“Previous studies have shown that parts of the temporal cortex can be activated by particular object categories in experienced observers – birds, cars, even Pokémon – but a limitation of all of those studies is that they only looked after people became experts,” Patrick Cox, an assistant professor of psychology at Lehigh University, said.

He added: “The strength of this study is that it is longitudinal: We measure before and after training, so we can see that extensive training essentially put a category-selective area in the temporal lobe that was not there before.”

It’s unclear why right now. However, multitasking has been linked to experiencing stress and other mental health impacts, Brown University Health points out. That’s part of why experts say it could actually hinder productivity.

“This is unlocking a whole new set of questions,” he said. “What is the source of that variability? We don’t know yet.”

Varieties

Parisians Will Get a New Chance of Seine Swimming

People gather on the banks of the Seine River as the sun sets amid a severe heat wave in Paris, France, May 26, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather on the banks of the Seine River as the sun sets amid a severe heat wave in Paris, France, May 26, 2026. (Reuters)
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Parisians Will Get a New Chance of Seine Swimming

People gather on the banks of the Seine River as the sun sets amid a severe heat wave in Paris, France, May 26, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather on the banks of the Seine River as the sun sets amid a severe heat wave in Paris, France, May 26, 2026. (Reuters)

Swimmers will for the second year be able to cool off at designated points along the Seine River in Paris this summer, authorities said Friday, as well as along the Marne River in the suburbs.

In Paris, the swimming season was to open at three official bathing sites on July 4, the mayor's office said.

The Seine reopened to swimmers last summer for the first time in a century, after Paris poured more than a billion euros ($1.15 billion) into a years-long effort to making the waters clean enough to use in the 2024 Olympics.

Sites this year will again include the Bras de Grenelle near the Eiffel Tower, the Bras Marie -- a short walk from Notre-Dame -- and Bercy, on the eastern side.

Some 100,000 people last year queued to jump in, the city said, despite a slow start to the season with rain disrupting the water quality.

Some 50,000 swimmers jumped into the Marne River in the eastern suburbs last year.

The bathing spots in Joinville-le-Pont, Champigny-sur-Marne, Saint-Maur-des-Fosses and Maison-Alfort would again welcome swimmers. A fifth spot would be added this year at Neuilly-sur-Marne northeast of Paris.

French authorities warned against swimming in parts of the rivers without lifeguards.