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Varieties

300 Artists Sign Open Letter Opposing Israel Participation in Venice Film Festival

Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
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300 Artists Sign Open Letter Opposing Israel Participation in Venice Film Festival

Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)

Around 300 filmmakers have signed an open letter opposing two Israeli films set to screen at the Venice Film Festival, held from 28 August to 7 September 2024.
Among the signatories are Italian filmmaker Enrico Parenti, actors Niccolò Senni, Simona Cavallari and Chiara Baschetti, in addition to a number of Arab filmmakers and actors — including two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad and actor Saleh Bakri.
It seemed awkward to show two Israeli films at the Venice Film Festival while the war in the Gaza Strip was still in full swing, particularly that the festival administration had earlier opposed Russian participation because of the war in Ukraine.
The letter by filmmakers and artists is aimed at Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men). The director is known for films that address the issue of the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis. His new film is set against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza.
The second is Amos Gitai’s Why War. The latter stars French actors Irene Jacob, Mathieu Amalric and Micha Lescot. It is a fictional movie filmed against the backdrop of current events in Gaza. However, reports said that it does not address it directly.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the open letter is entitled No Artwashing at 81 Mostra Del Cinema di Venezia.
“We, the undersigned artists, filmmakers and cultural workers, reject complicity with the Israeli regime of apartheid and oppose the artwashing of its Gaza genocide against Palestinians at the 81st Film Festival in Venice,” the letter said.
It added, “Two films screening at the Festival—Of Dogs and Men and Why War—were created by Israeli production companies that are complicit in whitewashing Israel’s oppression against Palestinians.”
In another paragraph, the letter said the Venice Film Festival has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.
“This silence outrages us deeply. As art and film workers around the world, we call for effective and ethical measures to hold apartheid Israel to account for its crimes and system of colonial oppression against Palestinians,” it wrote.
The festival has not issued any reaction or comment. But any response will likely include denying the festival’s support for what is happening in Gaza and its adhering to the separation between art and politics.
In recent years, the Venice festival had faced similar but less important protests when it decided to screen films by directors Roman Polanski, Luc Besson and Woody Allen, who have been accused of sexual harassment on multiple occasions.
At the time, Venice Film Festival boss Alberto Barbera defended his decision, stating that he is “a festival director, not a judge.”
But the protest by filmmakers opposing the screening of two Israeli films constitutes an uncommon development. Therefore, the festival must find justifications beyond those mentioned earlier.
Danny Rosenberg's Of Dogs and Men is about a young girl searching for her missing dog in the midst of the ongoing war.
Amos Gitai's Why War, a movie considered by some Arab critics to be a left-wing anti-government film, is said to be more of a backstory than a report on the present events although it builds on them.

 

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Varieties

Chinese University Tells Students to 'Fall in Love' During Spring Break

FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
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Chinese University Tells Students to 'Fall in Love' During Spring Break

FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

A Chinese university is urging students to "enjoy the flowers, fall in love" during their mid-term break, an unusual directive in a nation obsessed with getting good grades, as authorities seek new ways to spur marriages and domestic consumption.

"See the flowers and enjoy romance" is the theme for the spring holidays from April 1 to 6, the Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Aviation said on its official Wechat account.

Tuesday's notice exhorting teachers and students to put down the books came about two weeks after China said it would introduce spring and autumn holidays for schools, ⁠in addition to the ⁠traditional times of summer and winter.

Authorities have said they will also encourage staggered paid leave to enable workers to travel in off-peak seasons.

Provinces such as Sichuan and eastern Jiangsu, along with cities like Suzhou and Nanjing, have unveiled plans for spring breaks, most set for April or ⁠early May.

China seeks to boost domestic consumption by encouraging travel and leisure activities among its population of 1.4 billion. Authorities also hope more free time will set the stage for births to reverse a worrisome trajectory of decline.

In 2025, the population fell for a fourth consecutive year, as the birth rate dropped to a record low, with experts warning of further decline.

Beijing also issued a guideline on Tuesday to promote child-friendly development, the powerful state planner, the National Development and Reform ⁠Commission (NDRC), said ⁠in a notice.

According to Reuters, it called for coordinated efforts to bring about "child-friendly cities", by improving public services in areas from education and health to travel, sports and recreation.

Society needs to have enough time and money to raise children, said James Liang, the co-founder of Chinese travel company Trip, who called for more such initiatives.

"Greater efforts are needed to educate young people on the social and personal benefits of raising larger families," added Liang, who is also a prominent demographic expert.

The government could establish a broader support framework by reallocating resources and boosting financial assistance, he said.

Varieties

Trespasser Caught in Viral Hippo Moo Deng's Thai Zoo Pen

Trespasser Caught in Viral Hippo Moo Deng's Thai Zoo Pen
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Trespasser Caught in Viral Hippo Moo Deng's Thai Zoo Pen

Trespasser Caught in Viral Hippo Moo Deng's Thai Zoo Pen

A Thai man broke into the zoo enclosure of Moo Deng, an endangered baby pygmy hippo and internet sensation, police said Wednesday, as the zoo filed a trespassing complaint.

Moo Deng -- whose name translates as "bouncy pork" -- has gained global attention thanks to social media videos showing her adorable antics, drawing tens of thousands of visitors and boosting zoo ticket sales.

Khao Kheow Open Zoo, about a two-hour drive from the capital Bangkok, said a Thai national had unlawfully entered the animal's pen on Tuesday.

Footage of the close encounter released by local media showed a man wearing a tank top, shorts and sandals inside the enclosure and recording Moo Deng with a tablet.

Zoo staff took about 10 minutes to remove the man from the pen, which also houses Moo Deng's mother, local media reported.

"The individual entered a restricted animal area," the zoo said in a statement.

It would "pursue legal action without exception" and added that Moo Deng was unharmed but "slightly startled" by the incident.

Police told AFP the intruder, a man who visited the zoo with his grandnephew, had wanted a closer look at the animal.

"We have initiated a trespassing case," said local investigating officer Athiwat Siralertthakorn.

No arrest has been made so far, he added.

Under Thai law, trespassers face up to one year in jail, a fine of up to 20,000 baht ($618) or both.

The pygmy hippo calf, which marked its first birthday in July, has inspired merchandise and memes since first going viral online in 2024.

Moo Deng has even featured in a beauty campaign by cosmetics giant Sephora, highlighting her glowing, peach-toned face.

Varieties

‘Hexagonal Diamond’… Harder Than the Real Thing

Researchers may have created a substance slightly harder than natural diamonds. (Shutterstock)
Researchers may have created a substance slightly harder than natural diamonds. (Shutterstock)
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‘Hexagonal Diamond’… Harder Than the Real Thing

Researchers may have created a substance slightly harder than natural diamonds. (Shutterstock)
Researchers may have created a substance slightly harder than natural diamonds. (Shutterstock)

Chinese scientists claim to have created the long theorized hexagonal diamond, stronger than the real thing, and only found until now at sites of meteorite impacts.

The commonly found cubic diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth and is used widely as jewellery, precision cutting tools, and high-performance semiconductors.

Hexagonal diamonds are rare and potentially tougher, but their actual existence has long been debated.

“As no solid experimental evidence has been provided to prove its existence, the physical properties of hexagonal diamond remain largely unexplored,” wrote researchers in the study published in the journal Nature and reported by The Independent.

The study describes the creation of this elusive form of carbon in the lab.

Researchers from China’s Henan Key Laboratory of Diamond Materials and Devices described how they made a bulk piece of pure hexagonal diamond using extreme pressure and heat.

In the study, scientists placed a highly ordered form of graphite between anvils made of tungsten carbide and applied 20 gigapascals of pressure, which is around 200,000 times the pressure of our atmosphere.

The process was carried out at temperatures between 1,300C and 1,900C, researchers said.

When pressure was applied from the top of the stacked carbon layers, it led to the formation of a millimeter-sized piece of pure hexagonal diamond, according to the study.

“Here we report the synthesis of millimeter-sized, phase-pure hexagonal diamond from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG),” researchers wrote.

Scientists then used X-ray diffraction, a technique that bounces X-rays off atoms to map their positions, to prove that the sample was structurally pure hexagonal diamond.

They also used advanced microscopy to clearly see the unique hexagonal stacking patterns of the carbon atoms.

Researchers tested the mechanical properties of their newly formed material by pressing a diamond tip into the sample to assess how much it resisted scratching or denting.

The hexagonal diamond sample had a hardness of around 114 gigapascals, compared to many natural diamonds, which have a hardness of around 110 gigapascals.

This suggests researchers may have created a substance slightly harder than natural diamonds.

“These findings resolve the long-standing controversy on the existence of hexagonal diamond as a discrete carbon phase and provide new insight into the graphite-to-diamond phase transition, paving the way for future research and practical use of HD in advanced technological applications,” they wrote in the study.