"The Tree of Life", Brad Pitt reflects on paternal side, on screen and off (Associated Press, 18 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 18 May 2011

Pitt reflects on paternal side, on screen and off

By DAVID GERMAIN

CANNES, France (AP) -- You won't catch Brad Pitt doing fatherhood in a small way, on screen or in his real family life with Angelina Jolie.

In Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which premiered this week at the Cannes Film Festival, Pitt plays a father of three in a drama that deals with the biggest of questions about our place in the cosmos.

In his home life, Pitt and Jolie are parents of six - three biological children, three adopted. For Pitt, who was childless into his 40s after his marriage with Jennifer Aniston broke up, it all happened in just a few years.

"I know it seems extreme from the outside, but I've always kind of operated this way. When I know, I know, and why mess around?" Pitt, 47, said in an interview.

Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru dies in balcony fall (Associated Press, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 16 May 2011

Olympic marathon champion Wanjiru dies in fall

By TOM ODULA

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Kenyan Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru died in a fall from a balcony after a domestic dispute involving his wife and another woman, police said Monday.

One police official said Wanjiru committed suicide, while another said he jumped to stop his wife from leaving the house after she discovered him with another woman.

The 24-year-old runner died late Sunday after jumping from a balcony at his home in the town of Nyahururu, in the Rift Valley, said John Mbijiwe, the police chief in Kenya's Central Province.

"The fact of the matter is that Wanjiru committed suicide," national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere also said initial reports indicated Wanjiru killed himself, though a local official offered a different account.

Cannes 2011: Neil LaBute turns his macabre hand to Agatha Christie (Guardian, 15 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 15 May 2011
Cannes 2011: Neil LaBute turns his macabre hand to Agatha Christie

American director promises 'a good romp and a cracking yarn' in film version of The Crooked House

By Charlotte Higgins in Cannes

Neil LaBute has carved a career from seriously disturbing plays and films – In the Company of Men, The Shape of Things – that plunge deep into the American male psyche and find it to be damaged, selfish and brutal.
But now the writer and director is turning to a gentler, politer and certainly more English material: Agatha Christie. And, he says, he promises "a good romp and a cracking yarn".
LaBute is to direct a film of Christie's novel The Crooked House, with a screenplay adapted by Julian Fellowes, of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey fame. Though LaBute has ventured into period drama once before – Possession, the AS Byatt novel whose adaptation he directed, flips between the 19th and 20th centuries – he is certainly more associated with dystopian urban fables than the tinkling tea-cups and well-appointed drawing rooms of Christie's classic murder mysteries.

Pirates of Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Johnny Depp steers 'Pirates' into critical seas of Cannes (AP)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 14 May 2011

Depp steers 'Pirates' into critical seas of Cannes

By DAVID GERMAIN

CANNES, France (AP) -- Johnny Depp chuckled when asked if he was worried about the notoriously harsh critics at the Cannes Film Festival, where his new swashbuckler "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" played amid far more sober fare.

Depp said his family - French actress and romantic partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children - are the only critics he needs.

"My family have seen more of my movies than I have. In fact, a lot more, including this one," Depp said at a news conference Saturday before the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel screened. "They've been angels through this process, because I started out secretly testing characters on them to see how the reactions would be. When my daughter was little, we'd be playing Barbies, and I'd start doing these voices. Finally, she just said, `Stop.'

Azerbaijan pair Ell/Nikki wins Eurovision Song Contest (Associated Press, 14 May 201)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 14 May 2011

Azerbaijan wins Eurovision Song Contest

By FRANK AUGSTEIN and MELISSA EDDY

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- A mother of two and an international relations student from Azerbaijan beat out the much-hyped Irish twins and 23 other finalists Saturday to secure their nation's first-ever win in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Nigar Jamal and Eldar Gasimov, who go by the name Ell/Nikki, won 220 points for their classic pop ballad with a catchy refrain, "Running Scared," meaning next year's songfest will be hosted in Baku.

"I'm the happiest man in the world right now," Gasimov, 22, shouted to the crowd of 36,000 who packed the Fortuna Duesseldorf Arena to watch the show.

In the past three years, Azerbaijan has finished in the first 10 at the songfest, but have never before reached the top.

"Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" - Turkish Movie showing the real face of American war in Iraq

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq

Official Website for the Movie

"Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" at the IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase)

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Movie Intro
Valley of the Wolves: Iraq (Turkish: Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak) is a 2006 Turkish action film, directed by Serdar Akar, about a A Turkish commando team which goes to Iraq to track down the US military commander responsible for the Hood event. The film is set during the Occupation of Iraq and includes references to other real events such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the container shipping incident where prisoners were suffocated and shot. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on February 3, 2006, was the highest grossing Turkish films of 2006 and is one of the most expensive Turkish films ever made. It is part of the Valley of the Wolves media franchise, based on the Turkish television series of the same name, and was followed by Valley of the Wolves: Gladio (2008) and Valley of the Wolves: Palestine (2010).
Filmed with a budget of $14 million, Valley of the Wolves : Iraq was the most expensive Turkish film ever made at the time of its release before being surpassed by A.R.O.G..The film grossed $27.9 million at the box office – $25.1 million in Turkey and $2.8 million in Europe.
Opinions of the film greatly varied. While the Wall Street Journal characterized it as "a cross between 'American Psycho' in uniform and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion", Turkey's parliamentary speaker Bulent Arinc described it as "absolutely magnificent".

Cannes: Diana film slams UK royals as 'gangsters' (Associated Press, 13 May 2011)

Courtesy: “Associated Press (AP)”, 13 May 2011

Cannes: Diana film slams UK royals as 'gangsters'

By JILL LAWLESS

CANNES, France (AP) -- A provocative new documentary that made its debut Friday at the Cannes Film Festival claims Britain's royals are racist "gangsters in tiaras" and Prince Philip is a womanizing psychopath.

The movie "Unlawful Killing" revives claims that Princess Diana - adored by millions as the "people's princess" but viewed in royal circles as an embarrassing loose cannon - was murdered by the British establishment. The film was screened Friday for the first time at the festival.

It bills itself as "the antidote to 'The King's Speech'" and depicts the royal family as feudal relics presiding over a network of official cronies at taxpayers' expense. Director Keith Allen says, however, it's "not an attack on the monarchy."

"I don't think it's anti-monarchy," he said. "I think it may be questioning capitalism."

A Child at Sea: Laura Dekker's Quest for a World Sailing Record (Spiegel International, 13 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Spiegel International, Germany", 13 May 2011
A Child at Sea: Laura Dekker's Quest for a World Sailing Record
Fifteen-year-old Laura Dekker aims to become the youngest woman to sail around the world. Despite efforts by Dutch youth welfare officials to prevent the teen from making her record-breaking solo voyage, she is now underway on her yacht, the Guppy. Now her parents are plagued by remorse.
By Cathrin Gilbert
The small dinghy hisses past the wooden pylons and out into the open sea. It's shortly after midnight. The girl at the helm is wearing flip-flops and denim shorts. The lights in the harbor of Kralendijk on the Caribbean island of Bonaire have already faded into the distance when there is a loud thud and the engine suddenly falls silent.
"Nothing to worry about. It happens a lot. I'll fix it," says Laura Dekker. But first she wants to enjoy this "beautiful moment." She lies down on her back and looks up at the sky, gazing at twinkling stars as the rubber dinghy rocks back and forth. All is quiet.

Gilles Jacob: The Man Behind the Success of Cannes (Spiegel International, 13 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Spiegel International, Germany", 11 May 2011
'A Stairway Going Higher and Higher': The Man Behind the Success of Cannes
For over three decades, Gilles Jacob has presided over the Cannes Film Festival, turning it into the world's top celebration of global cinema and himself into the most powerful man in European film. He is not always universally admired in the US, but when he calls, the stars come flocking.
By Lars-Olav Beier
When the stars, the directors, the actors and the actresses have stepped out of their limousines in front of the Festival Palace in Cannes and have made their way through the cheering crowds, when they have survived the frenzy of hundreds of flashing cameras and have climbed the steps to the palace, they have only a few more meters to go before reaching the hallowed halls of cinema. They will have almost made it.
But there is still one man left to pass: Gilles Jacob.

FIFA election campaign thrown into disarray by Corruption charges (Associated Press, 12 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press", 12 May 2011

FIFA election campaign thrown into disarray

By GRAHAM DUNBAR

GENEVA (AP) -- Suddenly, the June 1 election to elect a leader for soccer's governing body has just one campaign theme: corruption.

Just when FIFA President Sepp Blatter hoped he had put the organization's corruption problems behind him, English claims that six members of the executive committee were involved in bribery during World Cup bidding contests have thrown his bid for a fourth term into disarray.

The 75-year-old Blatter is battling Mohammed bin Hammam of Qatar for one of the world's most influential sporting jobs.

The accusations were made in the British parliament on Tuesday, and FIFA fought back on Wednesday, demanding to see evidence to back up the claims against a quarter of the 24-man group that runs world soccer.