Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.
Grassroots of Home: Tom Jones joins small-gig kick-start for UK live music scene
Tom Jones and Rag’n’Bone Man are the star names in a line-up of singers scheduled to give more than 300 concerts at grassroots venues across Britain this summer, helping to kick-start a live music industry shut down during COVID-19. The National Lottery is contributing 1 million pounds ($1.38 million) towards touring and production costs for the Revive Live Tour, which it launched on Wednesday along with UK charity Music Venue Trust.
Female-led Cannes jury hopes for end to gender debate
Women will outnumber men on the Cannes Film Festival jury this year – but members including French actress Melanie Laurent said on Tuesday they dreamed of a time when female representation would no longer be newsworthy in the cinema industry. The world’s biggest movie festival, along with rival showcases in the likes of Venice, has long come under scrutiny over the low number of women directors in the running for top awards or in positions of influence.
Chanel splashes plenty of color at haute couture live show
Colorful flowers, sequins, and feathers adorned Chanel’s Impressionist-inspired haute couture show in Paris on Tuesday, held in front of a live audience as COVID-19 restrictions ease in France. Celebrities including film director Sofia Coppola and French actress Carole Bouquet mingled in the courtyard of the Palais Galliera fashion museum, where an exhibition on Chanel’s founder, Gabrielle Chanel, is currently on show.
Balenciaga makes a striking comeback in a couture show
Balenciaga presented embroidered evening gowns and luxurious oversized casual looks for its first haute couture collection in more than 50 years in Paris on Wednesday, in one of the most anticipated fashion shows of the week. Creative director Demna Gvasalia dressed models in yellow and pink bathrobe-like coats, loose black trouser suits, and embellished evening gowns. There were also voluminous satin coats and more casual looks made up of jumpers, jeans, and jackets.
Charlotte Gainsbourg confronts showbiz lineage in an intimate documentary
Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg’s first outing as a film director nearly fell at the first hurdle, she said, when her mother Jane Birkin, the driving force behind the documentary, got cold feet. Gainsbourg, whose late father Serge Gainsbourg is a singer-songwriting legend in France and beyond, has long tried to break away from the shadow of her famous parents. The 49-year-old said she first flirted with the idea of talking to Birkin on the video to explore a certain reserve between them.
Spike Lee tells Cannes Black people still ‘hunted down like animals’
Director Spike Lee on Tuesday denounced the state of race relations in the United States three decades after he first shook audiences in Cannes with films on bigotry and violence, drawing parallels with the 2020 killing of George Floyd. Lee, the first Black person to head up the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, said little had progressed since ‘Do The Right Thing’ premiered on the French Riviera in 1989 – a Brooklyn-based tale of spiraling racial tensions and police brutality with a startling resonance now.
Universal movies to move to Peacock streaming service on quicker timeline
Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures will send new movies exclusively to the company’s Peacock streaming service no later than four months after they debut in theaters, the company said on Tuesday. Universal movies currently go to AT&T Inc’s HBO TV channel and the HBO Max streaming service about six months after they hit cinemas.
Marion Cotillard, Jodie Foster lead Cannes glamour in red carpet return
Decked out in a shimmering silver Chanel gown, Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard helped kick off Cannes’ comeback on Tuesday as movie stars from far and wide descended onto the red carpet for the French cinema showcase. The world’s biggest film festival is marking its return after skipping 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in slightly more subdued form, with fewer attendees and parties over the 12-day whirlwind of film premieres.
Bollywood’s ‘tragedy king’ Dilip Kumar dies at 98
Dilip Kumar, who won worldwide fame playing tragic heroes in Bollywood films, died on Wednesday aged 98 and was cremated with state honors in India. Fans crowded outside the crematorium in suburban Mumbai where the actor’s body was taken, hoping to catch one last glimpse of the star of “Devdas” and “Mughal-E-Azam”, whose family had moved from what is now Pakistan when he was a child.
Rock legend memorabilia in ‘A Century of Music’ up for auction
Memorabilia from emblematic 20th-century musical events and acts such as the Woodstock Festival, the Beatles, Van Halen, and Lynyrd Skynyrd are up for grabs in an online auction next week. Surprising items include former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s saxophone, and the doors from New York’s Hotel Chelsea where Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Jerry Garcia once lived.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
