France
France says head of Islamic State in Sahara has been killed
France’s president announced the death of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara’s leader late Wednesday, calling Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi’s killing “a major success” for the French military after more than eight years fighting extremists in the Sahel.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that al-Sahrawi “was neutralized by French forces” but gave no further details. It was not announced where al-Sahrawi was killed, though the Islamic State group is active along the border between Mali and Niger.
“The nation is thinking tonight of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all of its wounded,” Macron tweeted. “Their sacrifice is not in vain.”
Rumors of the militant leader’s death had circulated for weeks in Mali, though authorities in the region had not confirmed it. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim or to know how the remains had been identified.
Read:US airstrike targets Islamic State member in Afghanistan
“This is a decisive blow against this terrorist group,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted. “Our fight continues.”
Al-Sahrawi had claimed responsibility for a 2017 attack in Niger that killed four U.S. military personnel and four people with Niger’s military. His group also has abducted foreigners in the Sahel and is believed to still be holding American Jeffrey Woodke, who was abducted from his home in Niger in 2016.
The extremist leader was born in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and later joined the Polisario Front. After spending time in Algeria, he made his way to northern Mali where he became an important figure in the group known as MUJAO that controlled the major northern town of Gao in 2012.
A French-led military operation the following year ousted Islamic extremists from power in Gao and other northern cities, though those elements later regrouped and again carried out attacks.
Read: Islamic State degraded in Afghanistan but still poses threat
The Malian group MUJAO was loyal to the regional al-Qaida affiliate. But in 2015, al-Sahrawi released an audio message pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
The French military has been fighting Islamic extremists in the Sahel region where France was once the colonial power since the 2013 intervention in northern Mali. It recently announced, though, that it would be reducing its military presence in the region, with plans to withdraw 2,000 troops by early next year.
News of al-Sahrawi’s death comes as France’s global fight against the Islamic State organization is making headlines in Paris. The key defendant in the 2015 Paris attacks trial said Wednesday that those coordinated killings were in retaliation for French airstrikes on the Islamic State group, calling the deaths of 130 innocent people “nothing personal” as he acknowledged his role for the first time.
Talha new Bangladesh Ambassador to France
The government has appointed Khondker M. Talha, currently serving as the Director General of East Asia and Pacific Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the next Ambassador of Bangladesh to France.
Talha is a career foreign service officer of the 15th batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Foreign Affairs Cadre, said the MoFA on Thursday.
In his overseas assignments, he served at Bangladesh Permanent Missions to the UN in New York and Geneva where he was elected to the bureau of a number of UN and International Organisations.
Read: GSP+ probably to be way forward in post-LDC period: EU Ambassador
He was also posted to Bangladesh Missions in Tehran and London in his diplomatic career.
In his earlier stints at the headquarters, he served as the Chief of Protocol and also worked at South Asia and Multilateral Economic Affairs Wings in various capacities.
Talha holds a Masters degree in Economics from Dhaka University, an MBA from IBA, Dhaka University and another Masters in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University, Melbourne.
Europe gives dire warning as Kabul evacuation deadline looms
European nations offered stark warnings Thursday about the waning days of a massive airlift to bring people out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with a British official saying an “imminent attack” could target Kabul’s international airport.
France said it would halt its evacuations Friday while Denmark said its last flight had already left Kabul’s airport, which has seen thousands throng around it in the days since the Taliban took the capital.
Read:US says 1,500 Americans may still await Kabul evacuation
Overnight, new warnings emerged from Western capitals about a possible threat from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, which likely has seen its ranks boosted by the Taliban freeing prisoners across the country. Already, military cargo planes leaving Kabul airport have launched flares to disrupt any potential surface-to-air missile fire as fleeing Afghan troops abandoned heavy weapons and equipment across the country in their collapse following America’s withdrawal of troops.
British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the BBC on Thursday there was ”very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack” at the airport, possibly within “hours.”
Heappey conceded that people are desperate to leave and “there is an appetite by many in the queue to take their chances, but the reporting of this threat is very credible indeed and there is a real imminence to it.”
Read: What's happening with Afghanistan evacuations?
“We will do our best to protect those who are there,” he said. “There is every chance that as further reporting comes in, we may be able to change the advice again and process people anew but there’s no guarantee of that.”
Outside of a missile attack, troops have been worried about the uncontrolled, teeming crowds outside the airport. While the Taliban and others have tried to control them, there’s no formal screening process on the way the airport as there was under Afghanistan’s former government. That means someone carrying a suicide bomb could slip through — or an explosives-laden vehicle could barrel through.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a security alert warning American citizens away from three specific airport gates, but gave no further explanation.
Senior U.S. officials said the warning was related to ongoing and specific threats involving the Islamic State and potential vehicle bombs. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing military operations.
Read: US troops surge evacuations out of Kabul but threats persist
French Prime Minister Jean Castex told French radio RTL on Thursday that “from tomorrow evening onwards, we are not able to evacuate people from the Kabul airport” due to the Aug. 31 American withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Danish defense minister Trine Bramsen bluntly warned: “It is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul.” Denmark’s last flight, carrying 90 people plus soldiers and diplomats, already had left Kabul.
Europe’s summer tourism outlook dimmed by variants, rules
Chaos and confusion over travel rules and measures to contain new virus outbreaks are contributing to another cruel summer for Europe’s battered tourism industry.
Popular destination countries are grappling with surging COVID-19 variants, but the patchwork and last-minute nature of the efforts as the peak season gets underway threatens to derail another summer.
In France, the world’s most visited country, visitors to cultural and tourist sites were confronted this week with a new requirement for a special COVID-19 pass.
To get the pass, which comes in paper or digital form, people must prove they’re either fully vaccinated or recently recovered from an infection, or produce a negative virus test. Use of the pass could extend next month to restaurants and cafes.
Read:Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
Italy said Thursday that people will need a similar pass to access museums and movie theaters, dine inside restaurants and cafes, and get into pools, casinos and a range of other venues.
At the Eiffel Tower, unprepared tourists lined up for quick virus tests so they could get the pass to visit the Paris landmark. Johnny Nielsen, visiting from Denmark with his wife and two children, questioned the usefulness of the French rules.
“If I get tested now, I can go but then I (could) get corona in the queue right here,” Nielsen said, though he added they wouldn’t change their plans because of it.
Juan Truque, a tourist from Miami, said he wasn’t vaccinated but took a test so he could travel to France via Spain with his mother.
“Now they are forcing you to wear masks and to do similar kind of things that are impositions to you. To me, they are violations to your freedom.” he said.
Europe’s vital travel and tourism industry is desperate to make up after a disastrous 2020. International tourist arrivals to Europe last year plunged by nearly 70%, and for the first five months of this year, they’re down 85%, according to U.N. World Tourism Organization figures.
American, Japanese and Chinese travelers aren’t confident it will be possible to visit and move freely within Europe, the European Travel Commission said. International arrivals are forecast to remain at nearly half their 2019 level this year, though domestic demand will help make up the shortfall.
The U.K.’s statistics office suspended its monthly international passenger data, because it said there aren’t enough people arriving “to provide robust estimates.”
The United States this week upgraded its travel warning for Britain to the highest level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Americans to avoid traveling to the country because of the risk of contracting COVID-19 variants, while the U.S. State Department raised its alert level to “do not travel” from the previous less severe “reconsider travel” advisory.
The recommendations are constantly under review and not binding, although they may affect group tours and insurance rates. Britain’s warning has fluctuated several times this year already.
Some countries are showing signs of a rebound, however.
Read:Challenges remain despite Europe meeting 70 pct vaccine delivery goal
Spain, the world’s second-most visited country, received 3.2 million tourists from January to May — a tenth of the amount in the same period of 2019. But visits surged in June with 2.3 million arrivals, the best monthly figure since the start of the pandemic, although still only 75% of the figure from two years ago.
Spain’s secretary of state for tourism, Fernando Valdés, credited the European Union’s deployment in June of its digital COVID-19 vaccine passport for having a “a positive impact” on foreign arrivals. That, and the U.K. move to allow nonessential travel, “allowed us to start the 2021 summer season in the best conditions,” he said.
The EU app allows the bloc’s residents to show they’ve been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from the virus.
In Greece, where COVID-19 infections are also rising sharply, authorities have openly expressed concern that slowing vaccination rates could hurt the struggling tourism industry, a mainstay of the economy. Authorities have tightened restrictions for unvaccinated tourists and residents, banning their entry to all indoor dining and entertainment venues.
Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis urged the travel industry to put on a brave face.
“It’s very important that we do not give the impression that we have lost control of the pandemic,” Georgiadis said last week.
Some countries sparked chaos with last-minute changes to entry rules.
Denmark’s decision to upgrade Britain to its “red” list of countries with tighter travel restrictions threw London resident Richard Moorby’s vacation plans into disarray.
Moorby originally planned to go to Copenhagen in August to meet up with his Danish wife and their two children visiting his in-laws — like they did last summer. But under current rules Moorby wouldn’t have been able to travel separately because he’s not Danish. They planned instead to travel together, which they thought would be allowed even after the change — but they missed the announcement’s fine print prohibiting non-Danes from “red list” countries including the U.K. from visiting without a worthy purpose, which doesn’t include tourism.
“It was going to be a bit of a non-holiday anyway,” Moorby said. But “it went from, ‘We’d have a nice holiday in Denmark,’ to ‘well, maybe I can just about get there,’ to ‘I can’t even travel’.”
Meanwhile, the U.K. government unexpectedly announced that travelers coming from France would still have to self-isolate for up 10 days because of worries about the beta variant, frustrating travelers and angering the tourism industry and French government.
Read:France requires COVID pass for Eiffel Tower, tourist venues
Emma and Ben Heywood, the British owners of adventure travel company Undiscovered Montenegro, said booking inquiries are surging after the U.K. government said in the same announcement it would stop advising against travel to countries on its “amber list” and dropped the self-isolation rule for returning travelers.
The couple said bookings last summer plunged to 10% of their usual level but now they’re at 30% and rising fast. Montenegro has a relatively low infection rate and relaxed entry requirements.
“It’s so hard keeping everybody up to date with what’s required to go where, with so many countries and so many different rules involved,” said Ben Heywood.
“It’s a total minefield. Half the emails I’m fielding now are people saying, ‘We definitely want to come. What do we need to do?’
France requires COVID pass for Eiffel Tower, tourist venues
Visitors need a special COVID pass to ride up the Eiffel Tower or visit French museums or movie theaters from Wednesday, the first step in a new campaign against what the government calls a “stratospheric” rise in delta variant infections.
To get the pass, people must show they are either fully vaccinated, have a negative virus test or proof they recently recovered from an infection. The requirement went into effect Wednesday at cultural and tourist sites, following a government decree.
President Emmanuel Macron wants to rush through legislation to mandate the pass for restaurants and many other areas of public life, as well as requiring that all health workers get a jab. The lower house of parliament starts a debate on the bill Wednesday.
Also read: France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes
It has prompted resistance in some quarters, and anti-vaccination protesters are planning a demonstration Wednesday.
France’s daily infections dropped sharply in the spring but have shot up again over the past two weeks, and some regions are re-imposing virus restrictions. The government is worried that pressure will grow on hospitals again in the coming weeks.
Also read: Eyeing variant, France mulls tighter limits for UK tourists
France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes
Over 100,000 people protested across France on Saturday against the government’s latest measures to push people to get vaccinated and curb rising infections by the delta variant of the coronavirus.
In Paris, separate protest marches by the far-right and the far-left wound through different parts of the city. Demonstrations were also held in Strasbourg in the east, Lille in the north, Montpellier in the south and elsewhere.
Thousands of people answered calls to take to the streets by Florian Philippot, a fringe far-right politician and former right hand of Marine Le Pen who announced earlier this month that he would run in the 2022 presidential election. Gathered a stone’s throw away from the Louvre Museum, protesters chanted “Macron, clear off!”, “Freedom,” and banged metal spoons on saucepans.
Read:Deadly flooding, heatwaves in Europe, highlight urgency of climate action: WMO
While Philippot has organized small but regular protests against the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Saturday’s demonstration drew a larger and more diverse crowd of people broadly disaffected with politics: yellow vest activists angry over perceived economic injustice, far-right supporters, medical staff and royalists.
They denounced the government’s decision on Monday to make vaccines compulsory for all health care workers, and to require a “health pass” proving people are fully vaccinated, have recently tested negative or recovered from the virus in order to access restaurants and other public venues. President Emmanuel Macron’s government is presenting a draft law Monday to enshrine the measures.
“I will never get vaccinated,” Bruno Auquier, a 53-year-old town councilor who lives on the outskirts of Paris. “People need to wake up,” he said, questioning the safety of the vaccine.
While France already requires several vaccinations to enter public school, Auquier pledged to take his two children out of school if the coronavirus vaccine became mandatory. “These new measures are the last straw,” Auquier said.
The government warned of the continued spread of the delta variant, which authorities fear could again put pressure on hospitals if not enough people are vaccinated against the virus. The pandemic has cost France more than 111,000 lives and deeply damaged the economy.
During a visit to a pop-up vaccination center in the southwest, Prime Minister Jean Castex exhorted the French to stick together in order to overcome the crisis.
“There is only one solution: vaccination,” he said, stressing it “protects us, and will make us freer.”
At the Paris protest, a manual worker in his sixties expressed bitterness about jobs in his sector sent offshore. A 24-year-old royalist said he was there to demand “the return of God and the King.”
Read:Europe floods shows need to curb emissions, adapt
Lucien, a 28-year-old retail shop manager, said he wasn’t anti-vaccine, but thought that everyone should be able to do as they please with their own body. “The government is going too far,” he said. His 26-year-old friend Elise said, “I am vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and polio. But the COVID vaccine is just too experimental.”
While a majority of French health care workers have had at least one vaccine dose, some are resisting the government’s decision to make vaccination compulsory for all staff in medical facilities.
At Saturday’s Paris protest, a 39-year-old green party supporter and hospital laboratory worker said she might resort to buying a fake vaccination certificate to avoid losing her job. A health care worker dressed as the Statue of Liberty called it “act of violence” to force people to get vaccinated.
In Montpellier, more than 1,000 people marched to the train station, chanting “Liberty!” and carrying signs reading “Our kids aren’t Guinea pigs.” Security officials closed the main entrance to travelers and a dozen police officers took posts in front.
The Interior Ministry said 114,000 people took part in protests nationwide.
Overnight on Friday, vandals ransacked a vaccination center in the southeast. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked prefects and police chiefs to reinforce security for elected officials, after several complained they had received threats in recent days over the latest anti-COVID measures.
Vaccine hesitancy is considered widespread in France, though appears to have faded somewhat as 36 million French people have gotten coronavirus vaccine doses in recent months. Millions more have gotten injected or signed up for vaccinations since Monday’s announcement.
Read:Rescuers race to prevent more deaths from European floods
French health care workers have until Sept. 15 to get vaccinated. The requirement for COVID passes for all restaurants, bars, hospitals, shopping malls, trains, planes and other venues is being introduced in stages starting Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the French government announced tightened border controls starting Sunday, but also said it would allow in travelers from anywhere in the world who have been fully vaccinated.
That now includes people who received AstraZeneca’s Indian-manufactured vaccine. The move came after a global outcry over the fact that the European Union’s COVID-19 certificate only recognizes AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Europe.
French rush to get vaccinated after president’s warning
More than 1 million people in France made vaccine appointments in less than a day, according to figures released Tuesday, after the president cranked up pressure on everyone to get vaccinated to save the summer vacation season and the French economy.
Some bristled at President Emmanuel Macron’s admonition to “get vaccinated!” immediately, but many people signed up for shots, accepting that getting injected was the only way to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic life.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal, noting the latest virus surges from South Africa to South Korea, and vaccine shortages in many poorer countries, appealed to his compatriots Tuesday to “look at what’s happening in the world.”
Read:Malaysia shuts vaccination center after 204 staff infected
Macron also announced that special COVID-19 passes will be required starting in early August to enter restaurants and shopping malls and to get on trains and planes. The announcement raised questions and worries among foreign tourists and as residents of France planning vacations.
An app that centralizes France’s vaccine appointments, Doctolib, said Tuesday that 1.3 million people signed up for injections after Macron gave a televised address Monday night. It was a daily record since France rolled out coronavirus vaccines in December. People under age 35 made up most of the new appointments, Doctolib said.
Macron said vaccination would be obligatory for all health care workers by Sept. 15, and he held out the possibility of extending the requirement to others. Around 41% of the French population has been fully vaccinated, though the pace of shots being delivered has waned as summer vacations approached.
Government spokesman Attal insisted the vaccine mandate wasn’t meant to “stigmatize” reluctant health workers but to limit risks to the vulnerable populations they care for.
Some residents said the government’s vaccine push makes them feel safer. At a vaccine center Tuesday in Versailles, finance worker Thibault Razafinarivo, 26, said, “I have a newborn baby at home, and we don’t want to take any risks.” A 23-year-old who works in radiology said she wants to protect her family and her patients.
Read:Death toll rises to 92 in blaze at coronavirus ward in Iraq
Others, though, expressed frustration at the idea of mandatory vaccines or needing passes to go to a café.
“I’m getting vaccinated because I want to have a social life and go on holidays,” law student Marius Chavenon, 22, said, adding: “I don’t think vaccination should be compulsory. We live in France, we should be able to do what we want.”
In Paris, nurse Solene Manable said, “There are many health workers who don’t want to get vaccinated because we don’t know much about the vaccines.” But she said she understood “many people who are getting vaccinated to be able to go back to restaurants,...to be able to have a normal life again.”
Some people said they’re now getting vaccinated because Macron also announced that France will start charging money for some virus tests, which up to now have all been free for anyone in French territory.
To get the COVID pass that will soon be required in all restaurants, people must have proof of vaccination or recent virus infection, or a negative test from the last 48 hours.
Read:US COVID-19 cases rising again, doubling over three weeks
Restaurant and bar unions demanded a delay for the passes, and government officials were meeting with industry representatives Tuesday. Restaurant workers expressed concern with enforcing the requirement and fear it could scare customers away after all French eating establishments stayed shuttered for nine months from the pandemic’s onset.
Health Minister Olivier Veran defended the new rule, saying, “The question is: It’s lockdown or the health pass.”
He also welcomed the renewed vaccine interest, saying on BFM television Tuesday: “That’s thousands of lives saved.”
More than 111,000 people with the virus have died in France.
Cannes Film Festival 2021: Movies and Filmmakers under the Limelight
The curtain of Cannes Film Festival 2021 is finally going to unveil on July 7 at the Palais De Festival Center in Cannes of France. It will continue till its grand finale on July 17 when the winner of Palm d’Or will be announced. After its founding in 1946, Cannes Film Festival has been recognizing films of new styles around the world every year.
Pierre Lescure, the French journalist and TV executive elected as president in 2014, is remaining as the president. Thierry Fremaux, who became the general delegate of the festival in 2007, is coordinating the entire event.
Movies Lineup in Cannes Film Festival 2021
Official Selection
In Competition
1. Leos Carax’s ‘Annette’
2. Ildiko Enyedi’s ‘The Story of My Wife’
3. Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Benedetta’
4. Mia Hanse’s ‘Bergman Island’
5. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Drive My Car’
6. Sean Penn’s ‘Flag Day’
7. Nadav Lapid’s ‘Ahed's Knee’
8. Nabil Ayouch’s ‘Casablanca Beats’
9. Juho Kuosmanen’s ‘Compartment No 6’
10. Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy’s final part ‘The Worst Person in the World’
11. Catherine Corsini’s ‘The Divide’
12. Joachim Lafosse’s ‘The Restless Ones’
13. Jacques Audiard’s ‘Paris' 13th District’
14. Saleh Haroun’s ‘Lingui’
15. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ‘Memoria’
16. Justin Kurzel’s ‘Nitram’
17. Bruno Dumont’s ‘France’
18. Kirill Serebrennikov’s ‘Petrov's Flu’
19. Sean Baker’s ‘Red Rocket’
20. Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’
21. Julia Ducournau’s ‘Titan’
22. Nanni Moretti’s ‘Three Floors’
23. Francois Ozon’s ‘Everything Went Well’
24. Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Hero’
Read Greatest Love Stories in Celluloid: Hollywood’s Best Romantic Movies of All Time
Un Certain Regard
1. Arthur Harari’s ‘Onoda’
2. C.B Yi’s ‘Money Boys’
3. Justin Chon’s ‘Blue Bayou’
4. Gessica Geneus’s ‘Freda’
5. Alexey German Jr.’s ‘House Arrest’
6. Hafsia Herzi’s ‘Bonne Mere’
7. Tatiana Huezo’s ‘Prayers for the Stolen’
8. Valdimar Johannsson’s ‘Lamb’
9. Semih Kaplanoglu’s ‘Commitment Hasan’
10. Kogonada’s ‘After Yang’
11. Eran Kolirin’s ‘Let There Be Morning’
12. Kira Kovalenko’s ‘Unclenching The Fists’
13. Youhann Manca’s ‘La Traviata, My Brothers And I’
14. Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s ‘Women Do Cry’
15. Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s ‘Rehana Maryam Noor’
16. Sebastian Meise’s ‘Great Freedom’
17. Teodora Ana Mihai’s ‘La Civil’
18. Na Jiazuo’s ‘Gaey Wa'r’
19. Eskil Vogt’s ‘The Innocents’
20. Laura Wandel’s ‘Playground’
Read Suman Ghosh’s Film Searching for Happiness is to Feature in London Indian Film Festival 2021
Out of Competition
1. Nicholus Bedos’s ‘OSS 117: From Africa with Love’
2. Emmanuelle Bercot’s ‘Peaceful’
3. Ani Folman’s ‘Where is Anne Frank’
4. Han Jae-rim’s ‘Emergency Declaration’
5. Todd Haynes’s ‘The Velvet Underground’
6. Cedric Jimenez’s ‘Bac Nord’
7. Valérie Lemercier’s ‘Aline, The Voice Of Love’
8. Tom McCarthy’s ‘Stillwater’
Read Rehana Maryam Noor: The Bangladeshi Film in the prestigious list of Cannes
Cinema De La Plage
1. Justin Lin’s ‘Fast and Furious 9’
Midnight Screening
1. Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s ‘Bloody Oranges’
2. Audrey Estrougo’s ‘Supremes’
3. Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s ‘Tralala’
Cannes Premier
1. Mathieu Amalric’s ‘Hold Me Tight’
2. Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow’
3. Marco Bellocchio’s ‘Marx Can Wait’
4. Samuel Benchetrit’s ‘Love Songs For Tough Guys’
5. Arnaud Desplechin’s ‘Deception’
6. Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘Jane’ by Charlotte
7. Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Front Of Your Face’
8. Eva Husson’s ‘Mothering Sunday’
9. Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Evolution’
10. Gaspar Noe’s ‘Vortex’
11. Ting Poo and Leo Scott’s ‘Val’
12. Oliver Stone’s documentary JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass
Read Female filmmakers of Bangladesh have made their mark in the industry
Special Screening
1. Karim Ainouz’s ‘Mariner of the Mountains’
2. Shlomi Elkabetz’s ‘Black Notebooks I and II’
3. Nadav Lapid’s ‘The Star’
4. Sergei Loznitsa’s ‘Babi Yar. Context’
5. Noemi Merlant’s ‘Mi Iubita Mon Amour’
6. Andrew Muscato’s ‘New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization’
7. Maxim Roy’s ‘The Heroics’
8. Wen Shipei’s ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’
9. Ye Ye’s ‘H6’
10. Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura
Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ‘The Year of the Everlasting Storm’
11. Mark Cousins’ The Story of Film: A New Generation
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Cinema for the Climate
1. Marie Amiguet’s ‘Velvet Queen’
2. Cyril Dion’s ‘Animal’
3. Louise Garrel’s ‘The Crusade’
4. Rahul Jain’s ‘Invisible Demons’
5. Zhao Liang’s ‘I Am So Sorry’
6. Aissa Maiga’s ‘Above Water’
7. Flore Vasseur’s ‘Bigger Than Us’
Short Film
1. Marija Apcevska’s ‘North Pole’
2. Samir Karahoda’s ‘Displaced’
3. Casper Kjeldsen’s ‘In the Soil’
4. Mohammadreza Mayghani’s ‘Orthodontics’
5. Adrian Moyse Dullin’s ‘The Right Words’
6. Diogo Salgado’s ‘Through the Haze’
7. Carlos Segundo’s ‘Sideral’
8. Tang Yi’s ‘All the Crows in the World’
9. Jasmin Tenucci’s ‘August Sky’
10. Wu Lang’s ‘Absence’
Read Best Bengali Thriller Movies in 2021
Cinefondation
1. Sacha Amaral’s ‘Billy Boy’
2. Carina-Gabriela Dasoveanu’s ‘Love Stories on the Move’
3. Theo Degen’s ‘The Salamander Child’
4. Natalia Durszewicz’s ‘Beasts among Us’
5. Huang Menglu’s ‘The Cat from the Deep Sea’
6. Lina Kalcheva’s ‘Other Half’
7. Mya Kaplan Habikur’s ‘Night Visit’
8. Auden Lincoln-Vogel’s ‘Bill and Joe Go Duck Hunting’
9. Aleksandra Odic’s ‘Frida’
10. Anna Podskalska’s ‘Red Shoes’
11. Gonzalo Quincoces’s ‘The Fall of the Swift’
12. Rodrigo Ribeyro’s ‘Cantareira’
13. Oliver Rudolf’s ‘Fonica M-120’
14. Oskar Kristinn Viginsson’s ‘Free Men’
15. Adele Vincenti-Crasson’s ‘King Max’
16. Lukas Von Berg’s ‘Saint Android’
17. Yoon Daewoen’s ‘Cicada’
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Cannes Classic
1. Marcel Camus’s ‘Black Orpheus’ of 1959
2. Vojtech Jasny’s ‘The Cassandra Cat’ of 1963
3. Henri Duparc’s ‘Dancing in the Dust’ of 1989
4. Philippe de Broca’s ‘Dear Louise’ of 1972
5. Masahiro Shinoda’s ‘Demon Pond’ of 1979
6. Marta Meszaros’s ‘Diary for My Children’ of 1983
7. Krzysztof Kieslowski’s ‘The Double Life of Veronique’ of 1991
8. Orson Welles’s ‘F for Fake’ of 1973
9. Roberto Rossellini’s ‘The Flowers of St. Francis’ of 1950
10. Zdravko Velimirovic’s ‘The Fourteenth Day’ of 1960
11. Peter Wollen’s ‘Friendship’s Death’ of 1987
12. Jacques Doillon’s ‘The Hussy’ of 1978
13. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s ‘I Know Where I’m Going’ of 1945
14. Bill Duke’s ‘The Killing Floor’ of 1985
15. Max Ophuls’s ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ of 1948
16. Raoul Peck’s ‘Lumumba, Death of a Prophet’ of 1990
17. Kinuyo Tanaka’s ‘The Moon Has Risen’ of 1955
18. David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’ of 2001
19. Oscar Micheaux’s ‘Murder in Harlem’ of 1935
20. Gilles Grangier’s ‘Not Delivered’ of 1957
21. Ana Mariscal’s ‘The Path’ of 1958
22. Pietro Germi’s ‘Path of Hope’ of 1950
23. Tengiz Abuladze’s ‘Repentance’ of 1987
24. Alain Resnais’s ‘The War Is Over’ of 1966
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Latest Documentary
25. Yves Jeuland’s ‘All About Yves Montand’
26. Javier Espada’s ‘Bunuel, A Surrealist Filmmaker’
27. Andre Bonzel’s ‘Flickering Ghosts of Love Gone’
28. Francesco Zippel’s ‘Oscar Micheaux - The Superhero of Blck Filmmaking’
29. Pascal-Alex Vincent’s ‘Satoshi Kon: The Dream Machine’
30. Mark Cousins’ ‘The Storms of Jeremy Thomas’
31. Mark Cousins’ ‘The Story of Film: A New Generation’
Parallel Sections
International Critics’ Week
Feature Films
1. Simon Mesa Soto’s ‘Amparo’
2. Omar El Zohairy’s ‘Feathers’
3. Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s ‘The Gravedigger’s wife’
4. Clara Roquet’s ‘Libertad’
5. Elie Grappe’s ‘Olga’
6. Laura Samani’s ‘Small Body’
7. Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre’s ‘Zero F*cks Given’
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Short Films
1. Manolis Mavris’s ‘Brutalia, Days of Labour’
2. Zou Jing’s ‘Lili Alone’
3. Hao Zhao & Yeung Tung’s ‘An Invitation’
4. Nicolai G.H. Johansen’s ‘Inherent’
5. Andrei Epure’s ‘Intercom 15’
6. Elinor Nechemya’s ‘If It Ain’t Broke’
7. Marie Larrive’s ‘Noir-Soleil’
8. Ian Barling’s ‘Safe’
9. Jimmy Laporal-Tresor’s ‘Soldat Noir’
10. Jela Hasler’s ‘On Solid Ground’
Special Screenings
1. Constance Meyer’s ‘Robust’
2. Vincent Le Port’s ‘Bruno Reidal, Confession of a Murderer’
3. Samuel Theis’ ‘Softie’
4. Sandrine Kiberlain’s ‘A Radiant Girl’
5. Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s ‘Anais in Love’
6. Leyla Bouzid’s ‘A Story of Love and Desir’
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Films for Invitations
1. Pablo Giles’ ‘Bisho’
2. Jorge Sistos Moreno’s ‘La Oscuridad’
3. Indra Villasennor Amador’s ‘Pinky Promise’
4. Mariano Renteriia Garnica’s ‘A face covered with kisses’
Directors Fortnight
Feature films
1. Jonas Carpignano’s ‘A Chiara’
2. Payal Kapadia’s ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’
3. Clio Barnard’s ‘Ali & Ava’
4. Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s ‘Clara Sola’
5. Yassine Qnia’s ‘A Brighter Tomorrow’
6. Miguel Gomes’ ‘The Tsugua Diaries’
7. Manuel Nieto Zas’ ‘The Employer and the Employee’
8. Anais Volpe’s ‘The Braves’
9. Haider Rashid’s ‘Europa’
10. Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher’s ‘Futura’
11. Radu Muntean’s ‘Intregalde’
12. Panah Panahi’s ‘Hit The Road’
13. Vincent Mael Cardona’s ‘Magnetic Beats’
14. Luana Bajrami’s ‘The Hill where Lionesses Roar’
15. Anita Rocha da Silveira’s ‘Medusa’
16. Rachel Lang’s ‘Our Men’
17. Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s ‘Murina’
18. Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s ‘Neptune Frost’ 19. Emmanuel Carrere’s ‘Between Two Worlds’
20. Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis’ ‘The Tale of King Crab’
21. Jean-Gabriel Periot’s ‘Returning to Reims (Fragments)’
22. Joanna Hogg’s ‘The Souvenir Part II’
23. Shujun Wei’s ‘Ripples of Life’
24. Ely Dagher’s ‘The Sea Ahead’
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Special Screenings
1. Frederick Wiseman’s ‘Monrovia, Indiana’
2. Joanna Hogg’s ‘The Souvenir Part I’
Short and Medium Length Movies
1. Eddie Alcazar’s ‘The Vandal’
2. Andreea Cristina Bortun’s ‘When Night Meets Dawn’
3. Mathilde Chavanne’s ‘Simone Is Gone’
4. Diego Marcon’s ‘The Parents’ Room’
5. Alberto Mielgo’s ‘The Windshield Viper’
6. Yoriko Mizushiri’s ‘Anxious Body’
7. Lois Patino and Matias Pineiro’s ‘Sycorax’
8. Sebastian Schjaer’s ‘The Sidereal Space’
9. Peter Tscherkassky’s ‘Train Again’
Summing up
Like previous years, Cannes Film Festival 2021 will also be filled with the marching sounds of the new brilliant filmmakers. Despite the notion of its bringing the European films as art films, World filmmakers will get some tips to come out of the orthodox films and meet the new film appetite of the cinephiles.
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Swiss beat France on penalties at Euro 2020
The Latest on soccer’s European Championship:
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Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved a penalty kick from Kylian Mbappe in a penalty shootout to knock France out of the European Championship.
Switzerland won the shootout 5-3 after a 3-3 draw through extra time.
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France and Switzerland are headed to a penalty shootout in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
The match ended 3-3 after 90 minutes and neither team was able to score in extra time.
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France and Switzerland are headed to extra time in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
Mario Gavranovic scored the equalizer for Switzerland in the 90th minute in Bucharest.
READ: Belgium edges Portugal, reaches quarterfinals at Euro 2020
It’s the second match of the day to go to extra time. Spain and Croatia were also even at 3-3 after 90 minutes. Spain ended up winning 5-3 in Copenhagen.
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England coach Gareth Southgate is deciding whether to include Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell in the squad to face Germany at the European Championship after a week in self-isolation.
The players had to split from the rest of the England squad after being deemed close contacts following a conversation with Chelsea teammate Billy Gilmour after the match against Scotland. Gilmour later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mount and Chilwell were able to do fitness work away from the rest of the England squad on a training field.
England hosts Germany at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday in the round of 16.
Southgate says “it’s really complicated because there’s the physical periodization you want for a game like this.”
Mount started two group games at Euro 2020 before missing last Tuesday’s win over the Czech Republic while isolating.
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Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal scored in extra time to give Spain a 5-3 win over Croatia and a place in the European Championship quarterfinals.
Spain gifted Croatia a bizarre own-goal in the first half and then threw away a 3-1 lead but Morata made it 4-3 when he controlled a cross with one deft touch in the 100th minute and sent a shot past goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Oyarzabal doubled the lead three minutes later.
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Mislav Orsic had pulled one back for Croatia in the 85th and Mario Pasalic equalized in injury time.
Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon’s massive blunder gave Croatia a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when he failed to control a long back pass.
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Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko says he’s concerned about Sweden’s threat at set pieces in their match in the round of 16 at the European Championship.
Ukraine’s two losses at Euro 2020 came with a header from the Netherlands after a cross and from Austria scoring on a corner kick.
Shevchenko says “definitely we have to be really careful at set pieces. Sweden is a team that uses set pieces really well.”
Sweden has not yet scored from a free kick or a corner and coach Janne Andersson has noted the absence.
Andersson says Sweden has a bit of a height advantage “so we are hoping that we are able to take advantage of that” against Ukraine in Glasgow.
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Croatia and Spain will play extra time in the round of 16 at the European Championship.
Mario Pasalic scored for Croatia in injury team to make the score 3-3 in Copenhagen.
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The captains of Germany and England will wear rainbow armbands in the round of 16 at the European Championship.
The England team says the move by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and England striker Harry Kane is “to mark the end of Pride month.”
UEFA had looked into whether Neuer breached regulations by not wearing the official armband in the opening two games of Euro 2020. But Germany later said UEFA accepted its argument that the rainbow armband is a symbol of diversity and can therefore be categorized as a “good cause.”
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Spain scored a bizarre first-half own-goal against Croatia in the round of 16 of the European Championship after a massive blunder by goalkeeper Unai Simon.
Simon failed to control a back pass in the 20th minute and the ball trickled slowly into the net.
Spain had dominated play until then but the goal gave Croatia a 1-0 lead.
It was the ninth own-goal so far at Euro 2020.
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Unbeaten and underestimated Sweden has quietly progressed into the round of 16 at the European Championship with a coach who says he no longer yells at players because it doesn’t make them better.
The Swedes will next face Ukraine in the round of 16 on Tuesday in Glasgow.
Sweden coach Janne Andersson says “to yell at people is rarely something that helps them so I don’t believe in that way of working.”
He says he prefers to “explain to them where they are doing things wrong and how they can improve.”
Andersson did have a confrontation with the Poland coaching staff during Sweden’s 3-2 win last week. Andersson says to yell at opponents is “a different thing.”
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Belgium coach Roberto Martinez says Kevin De Bruyne’s injury is not serious and he will remain with the squad at the European Championship.
De Bruyne was replaced early in the second half of Belgium’s 1-0 victory over Portugal on Sunday in the round of 16. De Bruyne hurt his left ankle after being tackled from behind by Portugal midfielder João Palhinha.
Martinez says it’s too early to know if De Bruyne will be available for Friday’s quarterfinal match against Italy at Euro 2020.
The Belgium coach says Eden Hazard also doesn’t have a serious injury. The playmaker was replaced late in the match because of a muscle problem.
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A health official in Finland says he hopes soccer fans in the country won’t travel to neighboring St. Petersburg for Friday’s European Championship quarterfinal match in the Russian city.
The Finns saw a spike in coronavirus cases that has been traced to soccer fans returning from Russia. Finland played two of its group matches in St. Petersburg but the team has been eliminated from the tournament.
Helsinki University Hospital doctor Markku Makijarvi says “I hope that it is now clear to everyone that the rest will be watched from Finland.”
More than 200 cases of the virus have been reported among people who have arrived from neighboring Russia in recent days and nearly 500 people have been quarantined. Health officials say these cases either were soccer fans or people who took part in the traditional mid-summer celebrations.
At least 2,000 Finns are estimated to have traveled to St. Petersburg for the earlier games.
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Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand says he expects captain Simon Kjaer to be able to play in the team’s quarterfinal match against the Czech Republic at the European Championship.
Kjaer had to exit Saturday’s game against Wales in the round of 16 after getting his right thigh wrapped in the second half. Hjulmand says Kjaer is still undergoing treatment but that the center back should recover in time for Saturday’s game in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Hulmand says ”they’re working on Simon and we all think he’ll be ready.”
Hjulmand says he has ”no reason to believe” that he won’t have all his players available.
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World Cup champion France will play Switzerland for a spot in the quarterfinals at the European Championship.
The French team lost in the Euro 2016 final before winning the World Cup three years ago. They finished first in their group at Euro 2020 but won only one match.
The game against the Swiss will be played in Bucharest.
Spain will take on Croatia in Copenhagen in the early match.
Spectators injured by parachuting protestor
UEFA says “several people” are being treated in the hospital for injuries caused by a protestor who parachuted into the stadium before France’s 1-0 victory over Germany in Munich.
UEFA says “law authorities will take the necessary action” for what it called a “reckless and dangerous” act.
Debris fell on to the field and main grandstand when the parachutist got tangled in wires carrying an overhead camera.
France coach Didier Deschamps was filmed ducking into the team dugout.
READ: Ronaldo scores 2, Portugal beats Hungary 3-0 at Euro 2020
The protestor had the slogan “KICK OUT OIL!” and “Greenpeace” written on it.
Mats Hummels scored an own-goal and France beat Germany 1-0 at the European Championship.
The experienced defender was attempting to stop Lucas Hernández’s cross from reaching France forward Kylian Mbappé when he diverted the ball into his own net in the 20th minute.
Both teams had chances to score. İlkay Gündoğan wasted Germany’s best opportunity of the first half when he couldn’t direct his shot on target.
France twice put the ball in the net in the second half but both were called back for offside. Mbappé sent a curling shot inside the far post midway through the half and then set up Karim Benzema for another late in the match.