Seven Charged Following Robbery On ‘Lupin’ Set

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTwo-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi and his French producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy are denying reports that the Iranian auteur has been sentenced and found guilty on a charge of plagiarism pertaining to his latest film, “A Hero.”Farhadi’s former student Azadeh Masihzadeh has accused the filmmaker of stealing the idea for “A Hero” from a documentary she made during a filmmaking workshop held by Farhadi in 2014 in Tehran.“A Hero” is about an earnest-looking man named Rahim who, while on furlough after being imprisoned for debt, returns a lost handbag full of gold coins — an act that appears to make him a good samaritan. However, the story ends up being more complicated.

A man died following a punch during a drunk argument with another man which spilled out onto the street, a trial has heard. Robert Payne, 60, had been drinking with Jamie Kennedy, 24, before the pair began arguing inside Mr Payne’s home in Derker, Oldham, it was said.

School pupils and students across Scotland have now entered into their Easter holidays this week.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentRussian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov — the director of Cannes competition titles “Leto” and “Petrov’s Flu” — has left the country following the end of a three-year travel ban, and has arrived in Paris.A picture of the iconoclastic Russian helmer popped up on social media on Wednesday. In the pic, Serebrennikov wears a T-shirt that reads “I turn the TV off,” which alludes to the propaganda flooding Russian TV since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb.

LOS ANGELES -- Foo Fighters have canceled all upcoming concert dates following the death of the band's drummer, Taylor Hawkins.The rockers had been scheduled to play at the Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday as well as spring dates at the Beale Street Music Festival; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; Columbia, Maryland; Raleigh, North Carolina; Daytona Beach; Charlotte, North Carolina; the Boston Calling Music Festival; and summer dates in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and the UK.“It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother,” the band said in a statement Tuesday.Hawkins died Friday during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50.“We’re sorry for and share in the disappointment that we won’t be seeing one another as planned,” the band's statement read.

Youth Cultural Bonus was officially approved last Wednesday (March 23) by Spain’s council of ministers in hopes of restoring cultural and creative industries that have suffered during the ongoing pandemic.Recipients will have one year to spend the digital voucher, a €200 (£170) spending cap on live events and festivals, a €100 (£85) cap for physical products such as vinyl, and a €100 cap for digital products. Food, textbooks, and instruments can’t be bought using cultural vouchers.The official Spanish government website states: “Following the example of nearby countries, such as France or Italy, where similar initiatives are already being practised for young people who turn 18, the Youth Cultural Bonus is intended for those people who reach the age of majority in the calendar year in which it is requested.”The statement continued: “The Youth Cultural Voucher project seeks to facilitate universal and diversified access to culture for young people, generate new habits of cultural consumption and strengthen existing ones, create new audiences, stimulate demand and reduce the negative impact caused by the pandemic on various cultural sectors in our country.”They also shared that they hoped the vouchers would “promote loyalty that generates the habit of consuming cultural products in young people so that, as adults, they continue to consume cultural products regularly.”Similar plans to increase cultural spending have taken place in both France (€300) and Italy (€500).

Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is refusing to get too carried away after Portugal moved to within one victory of reaching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAmazon Prime Video is continuing its mission of commissioning “local for local” shows as its European operation becomes more entrenched.Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios for Europe, told a packed Series Mania session in Lille on Thursday that her regional staff across the continent aren’t looking for international ideas, but rather location-specific conceits.“If we’re commissioning a big show in Spain, I need it to be a hit in Spain,” said Brown. “Lots of people come to us saying, ‘We have a great international show,’ and that doesn’t really work for us.

brazen daylight attack on the French film crew of “Lupin,” a Netflix series about a burglar. Last month, a gang of about 20 hooded thieves threw fireworks at the crew and made off with about $330,000 worth of equipment.Three of the accused robbers, who are between 13 and 21 years old, are being held in custody while four are under judicial supervision.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe suspected robbers of the Netflix shoot of “Lupin” were arrested by police on March 9 near Paris just under two weeks after the dramatic heist, according to local reports. Part 3 of “Lupin” was shooting on the outskirts of Paris in Nanterre with Omar Sy when approximately 20 people who had their faces covered broke onto the set after throwing mortar fireworks on Feb. 25.

With the Easter holidays just around the corner, our favourite destinations are relaxing Covid entry requirements and the need for PCRs.

EXCLUSIVE: The Amazing Spiderman, 500 Days of Summer and Disney’s Snow White director Marc Webb has been set to direct supernatural thriller Day Drinker.

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films is finalizing a deal to acquire North American rights to Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, starring Kate Hudson, breakout Korean actress Jeon Jong-seo and Craig Robinson.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s TV industry will make history at Series Mania Forum 2022, with its biggest panel and sneak peek series presentation presence ever at a major TV market. The Spanish conference attendance – alongside Finland’s panel spread – also weighs in as the biggest from any single country at the upcoming edition of the most important co-production event for scripted TV series in Europe.Series Mania Forum runs on-site over March 22-24 in Lille, northern France, under the larger Series Mania Festival umbrella.Organized by ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, the country’s export and inward investment board, the Spanish pavilion at the Lille Grand Palais will host a record-breaking delegation for Spain of around 20 companies and more than 50 executives. That’s a sign of just how much Series Mania has grown as an industry forum in the last few years, and of Spain’s ambition to ramp up exports of Spanish movies and TV content via a Spain AVS Hub plan whose total investment through 2025 is tabbed at $1.8 billion in state incentives and government-engineered financing.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Documentaries about the conflict in Ukraine, the Cuban migrant situation and the Palestinian refugee crisis were among top winners at MiradasDoc, Spain’s foremost documentary film festival which wrapped its 15th edition on March 12. Based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, the festival was an in-person event running March 4-12, while its market (March 8-11) remained virtual for the second consecutive year.The best international documentary prize went to “Option Zero” (“La Opcion Cero”) by Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltran while the best debut feature award was extended to “Trenches” by French journalist Loup Bureau who has covered the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Syrian War and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Donbas region. “Trenches” follows the intrepid young men and women who are fighting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region.