Dhaka, Nov 2 (UNB) - A photography exhibition titled ‘Humans of ICPD: Faces of Bangladesh’ by photographer Naymuzzaman Prince began at La Galerie, Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) on Saturday.

Planning Minister MA Mannan attended the opening ceremony as the chief guest while UNFPA Bangladesh representative Asa Torkelsson as a special guest.

Nairobi Summit 2019 marks 25 years of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) since its first organisation in 1994 in Cairo. 

As a developing country, Bangladesh has achieved a lot of success in different areas, especially on human rights, population, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and sustainable development. 

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is playing an important role in achieving those improvements. They are working closely together with different stakeholders where the rights of women and girls are key to development.

This photo exhibition puts a human face to the ICPD agenda in Bangladesh, which is expected to generate momentum ahead of the Nairobi Summit to accelerate the progress of the ICPD agenda. Through powerful portraits and vignettes of people from Bangladesh, the exhibition is not only informing key stakeholders about the ICPD Programme of Action’s principles but also highlighting why ICPD is so important if Bangladesh is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Naymuzzaman Khan Prince is a social photographer and visual storyteller, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His main areas of interest are socio-cultural subjects such as women and women rights, culture and identity, worker, health, population and development, environment and climate change, politics and political violence, religion etc.

The exhibition will remain open from 3pm to 9pm (Monday to Thursday) and 9am to 12pm and 5pm to 8pm (Friday and Saturday) till November 12 with Sunday being closed.
 

The inventive, animated Spider-Man remix "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is getting a sequel.

Sony Pictures on Friday set a follow-up to the 2018 Oscar-winning hit for an April 2022 release. Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also celebrated the announcement on Twitter and signaled that they, too, are returning.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" grossed $375.5 million worldwide. Its deconstructionist approach to Spider-Man earned some of the best reviews of any recent superhero film, and won the Academy Award for best animated feature.

Sony and Marvel Studios recently parted ways on "Spider-Man" before making up . Marvel is set to produce the third film in the live-action "Spider-Man" series.

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Ellen Burstyn hoped her Oscar-winning performance in the 1974 film in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" would lead to more Hollywood stories told from a woman's perspective.

It didn't happen quickly, but over the past couple of years there's been an increase in female-driven films and women's voices in the wake of the #MeToo movement that has put a spotlight on sexual misconduct.

The 86-year old actress and long advocate for women calls the impact of the #MeToo movement "a long time coming" and says boundaries of what's acceptable creatively still need to be worked out.

Recently, Burstyn spoke with The Associated Press about changes in Hollywood, highlights of her seven-decade career, #MeToo, bad behavior and her turn as a host for the rebooted "Inside the Actors Studio," which airs on Ovation TV .

An episode airs Sunday in which she interviews Al Pacino.

"When we did the interview, he was - he was Al. He's a genius. He's unpredictable and deep and profound and funny and there's nobody like him," Burstyn said.

Pacino had appeared on the show with host James Lipton in 2006, but Burstyn says she was able to relate to him on a different wavelength.

"Jim was a very skilled interviewer," Burstyn said. "But Al and I have had the same training with the same teacher (Lee Strasberg) and almost the same number of years of career. And so, I can appreciate him in a different way. And it affected the kinds of questions I asked him."

She did leave one thing out — the show's iconic final segment.

"You know we didn't do the 10 questions. Somehow, we just didn't get to it. It was a freewheeling kind of event, and it had its own structure, so I never got to ask him his favorite swear words," Burstyn said.

Burstyn has had roles in iconic films "The Exorcist" and "The Last Picture Show." She starred in "Requiem for a Dream," and "Resurrection." She saw the Martin Scorsese-directed "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" as a gateway to changing attitudes on how women see the world. In the movie, Burstyn played a widowed mother trying to make a new life. The movie was the basis for the TV sitcom "Alice."

"Working with Marty and being able to achieve what I wanted in a film in terms of who would direct, who would be cast in it and how it would be done — the intention of the film, which was to tell her story from a woman's point of view, and Marty succeeded in doing. So that was a huge change," she said.

But perhaps the biggest change she's seen lately in Hollywood has been how women are treated.

"I think there's been behavior by people in power that has long been tolerated that is now being called into question," Burstyn said.  "A line like, 'when you're a star you can do anything with them you want,' is the definition of abuse of power and we should not be surprised if somebody makes a statement like that in relation to a woman that they manifested in other areas too," she said.

Dozens of entertainment industry figures — from actors to network bosses — have been accused of sexual misconduct. Most notably among them is movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who faces a January trial in Manhattan on charges he raped a woman in a hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.

Burstyn applauds justice but thinks that sometimes the boundaries are not overly clear.

"At the same time, I think we have to be careful to not swing the pendulum so far the other way that everybody is afraid to make a creative move. I've seen that happen, you know where somebody is asking permission to touch someone in a scene. I think that's, you know, we have to know what is really acceptable without going too far in restricting (them)," she said.

Burstyn also thinks that some behaviors, inexcusable by today's standards, were at one time acceptable. As an example, she mentioned seeing minstrel shows at the theater as a girl in Detroit.

"It never occurred to me that there was anything wrong with that. That was perfectly, what seemed normal. Now, I realize when I hear when somebody has been caught with a photographer in blackface 40 years ago, that was a different time," she said.

Burstyn doesn't make excuses for inconsiderate behavior.

"Now, it's absolutely — it would be horrendous if somebody did that," she said.

Never heard of a Mandalorian? You're not alone.

Actor Pedro Pascal hadn't either when he started talking to Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni about an ambitious new "Star Wars" series that would become a marquee offering for the Walt Disney Co.'s new streaming service, Disney Plus, which launches Nov. 12.

But Pascal, known for playing Oberyn Martell on "Game of Thrones," knew that this Mandalorian character looked a lot like Boba Fett and that was enough for him. The stoic bounty hunter behind the helmet who made his debut in "The Empire Strikes Back" became a cultish fan favorite and happened to be Pascal's preferred action figure as a kid. When he got out of the meeting and wanted to share the news, he could barely get the words out.

"I was like, 'They want me to be — it's not Boba Fett, but it's like, you remember. They want me to be the coolest looking thing in Star Wars, you know?'" Pascal says, channeling his energy from that day. "It was a big geeky moment."

Pascal and anyone else scratching their heads about how they might have missed this Mandalorian concept can rest easy: It's not even a word that's uttered in the original trilogy. But the idea comes straight from George Lucas himself. He had envisioned a race of warrior peoples called the Mandalore that ended up getting streamlined into one character in the films — Boba Fett. "Star Wars" literature and series like "The Clone Wars" helped keep the Mandalorians alive over the years, and it re-emerged again when Disney and Lucasfilm started thinking about non-Skywalker ideas for the new streaming service where it's primed to get its biggest audience yet.

"The Lion King" and "Jungle Book" director Jon Favreau was enlisted to executive produce and write for "The Mandalorian," which is set in the franchise's Outer Rim five years after "Return of the Jedi" and 25 years before the events of "The Force Awakens." The eight episode series, which will roll out on a near-weekly basis, follows the title character in his bounty hunting adventures.

The world around him is full of seedy and mysterious characters, like Greef Carga, played by Carl Weathers, who leads a bounty hunter guild, and former soldier Cara Dune, played by Gina Carano. As with all recent Star Wars properties, details are being kept as secret as possible.

"I had to cut my finger and sign in blood that I would say nothing about it, not even say I was doing it, that I was part of it. They're very protective of Star Wars, the stories, the Mandalorian, the brand, and it makes sense," Weathers said. "We all want to protect it also."

But from early footage and the nature of the bounty hunting profession, "The Mandalorian" does seem a little darker than your average Star Wars story. It's been described as a Western, leaving it open as to whether the lead characters are good, bad or somewhere in between.

"We can be pulled to any side, any one of us," said Carano. "Even when you begin the journey with the Mandalorian, you aren't sure what side you're on."

Pascal agreed that it's meant to be ambiguous.

"They separate good and evil so perfectly in the world of Star Wars. And in this one it's like we're way more at the center," Pascal said. "We're past those borders, and past those very, very linear, very specific lines of definition."

While Star Wars is no stranger to the small screen, those efforts have mostly been animated. So when initial trailers debuted for "The Mandalorian," in glorious live-action, many observed how movie-like it seemed, as though it would fit right in on the big screen alongside the "Star Wars" spinoffs like "Rogue One" or "Solo." A reported $15 million per episode budget probably didn't hurt.

It's also a gesture of investment into a new phase of the Star Wars universe under Disney. The Skywalker saga is coming to an end with "The Rise of Skywalker," which opens in theaters on Dec. 20, and the next cinematic trilogy is going through its own restructuring with the recent news that its overseers, "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have parted ways with Lucasfilm.

But "The Mandalorian" could help ease the gap as the future is plotted. And Favreau is already at work on a second season.

The involvement of Favreau and Filoni, who directed the pilot and has been behind "Star Wars" projects like "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" has everyone confident in the product.

"They are the Star Wars fans," said Carano. "This is made for (fans) because two of their own are making it."

Miranda Lambert is back, as bold and fun as she ever was, with a new album of rock and punk-influenced country hits that reflect a woman happily cracking jokes on her haters and stepping into a new chapter of her life and career.

"I kind of have my fire back and I'm not so internal and broody as I was four years ago," Lambert said of "Wildcard," her seventh album dropping Friday.

This is her first solo record since putting out the excellent 2016 double album, "The Weight of These Wings," a highly personal and critically acclaimed record that came after her divorce from Blake Shelton and won album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

"I'm 35. I went through a divorce," Lambert said. "I'm thankful that fans allowed me that time to do that. I'm just going through stuff everybody else goes through."

Now Lambert, who surprised many earlier this year by announcing her marriage to New York City police officer Brendan McLoughlin, is returning to the rock 'n' roll sound that she displayed on her 2005 debut "Kerosene" with the help of Nashville producer Jay Joyce. Joyce had played guitar on her first three records, but this was the first time he took the lead as producer for Lambert.

"Writing for this record, I don't know, I felt like the color came back, so the imaging reflects that and the songs reflect that," said Lambert. "Even the wardrobe is a little bit brighter."

Joyce, who has worked with Eric Church, Little Big Town and Brothers Osborne, pushed her out of her comfort zone on songs like "Locomotive," a Joan Jett-meets-Patty Griffin rocker in which Lambert barrels through fuzzed out guitars and harmonica.

"Jay's idea to kind of cut it in a punk way was brilliant and I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but sure enough, we did," said Lambert.

She also wrote with Luke Dick, who has written songs with Dierks Bentley and Kip Moore, and as a side gig, fronts a new wave punk band called Republican Hair. Lambert and her longtime songwriting pal Natalie Hemby would go to his East Nashville house with a cooler of booze and snacks for nighttime writing sessions and Dick would cue up different tracks as inspiration.

He played her a bit of a slick, new wave rock song called "Mess With My Head" that he initially thought might work for his band.

"I'm a kid of the '80s and I gravitate sometimes toward things that I grew up on, whether it's the Cars or Joan Jett or whatever," Dick said. "I've always thought Miranda was the closest thing to Joan Jett country has."

Lambert's natural wit and self-effacing humor come out on songs like "White Trash" or "Pretty Bitchin'" — in which Lambert declares, "I'm pretty from the back, kinda pretty in the face."

"My strong suit as a writer I feel like is sarcasm," Lambert said proudly. "Whether it's sad or happy or fun, I've kind of built a career on being kitschy and a little snide."

She's had to build up that thick skin after years of being hounded by tabloids, whether it was about her marriage and divorce to Shelton, her weight or her subsequent romances. Now she shrugs it off as free press.

"My guitar player who has been with me for 17 years, Scotty Wray, texted me yesterday and said, 'I just read at the Kroger that you're pregnant. Congrats again,'" Lambert said, who noted that the lies spread about her are almost always about her getting pregnant. "Guys, sometimes I just eat cheeseburgers. That's all it is."

But even as Lambert and other female stars of the genre, including Kacey Musgraves, Carrie Underwood and Maren Morris, are putting out the most lauded music of their careers, their music is mostly ignored by country radio, while the airplay charts are churning with dozens of male country artists.

Lambert has been taking out other female artists on her Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars tour for years, has her own female trio, the Pistol Annies, and created a college scholarship for female artists. But the Grammy winner can't wrap her head around radio's lack of support.

"I'm on the road now and I see how much it helps when someone knows your new single," Lambert said. "But also I went through this whole period of 'Weight of These Wings,' and won song of the year and album of the year and I didn't have anything on the radio at all."

Lambert also enthusiastically endorsed Underwood for the Country Music Association's highest prize, entertainer of the year. Garth Brooks, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban and Eric Church will compete with Underwood at the Nov. 13 show.

"I'm a huge fan of everyone in that category," Lambert said. "But if you think about someone who hosted the CMAs pregnant, then started an all-female tour and then had a baby and then went right back on the road three months later... she has a brand, Calia by Carrie Underwood, and it lifts up women. She does Monday Night Football. I just feel like as a whole entertainer of the year should be someone that entertains in all facets of music."

Lambert, who has more CMA Awards than other female artist, is nominated for female vocalist of the year, a trophy she has won seven times, and will be performing her new single, "It All Comes Out in the Wash," which Lambert said kind of sums up her new album.

"The whole theme of the record is it all comes out in the wash," Lambert said. "There are really bad times in everybody's journey, but somehow you're gonna smile again and I think this record reflects that."