Variety Women in Cinema Panel in Cannes to Feature Salma Abu Deif, Kiara Advani, Sarocha Chankimha (Freen), Adhwa Fahad, Aseel Omran, Ramata Toulaye-Sy

Loose Women descended into chaos as two panellists accidentally swore live on air, with Kaye Adams forced to apologise to TV viewers.The hit ITV show returned on Wednesday, 29 May with Kaye, Denise Welch, Janet Street-Porter and Brenda Edwards on the panel. The women discussed modern slang abbreviations to kick off the episode, with Kaye giving examples of modern terms largely used on social media, such as Platty Joobs to refer to the Platinum Jubilee. The panellists weren't impressed by the new words and began to share old slang, while arguing it was better and made more sense.

Loose Women star Stacey Solomon has sparked rumours that she could be leaving the show for good so she can focus on being a full-time mum.The 34 year old - who first joined the daytime TV show's panel in 2016 - made the confession during a heartfelt chat with beauty mogul Caroline Hirons on her Glad We Had This Chat podcast as Stacey admitted how she juggles her hectic workload with her five children. She said: "Every year I have a team meeting with my agent and everyone on the team to say, 'What's your plan? What's your goal?' And this year when they asked me my five-year goal, I was like, I want to be a stay-at-home mum.That is my dream, it's my ultimate dream. I just want to be with my kids." Stacey - who is mum Zachary, 16, Leighton, 12, Rex, six, Rose, four, and one year old Belle, not to mention her role as step-mum to husband Joe Swash's 16 year old son Harry - has a pretty busy family life.

The Match Factory has finalized a raft of international deals for Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender The Substance, following its buzzy premiere over the weekend in the presence of co-stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.

Salma Hayek is celebrating an incredible evening at Cannes. The actress and producer shared a post on social media, recapping some of the highlights of Kering’s Women in Motion event. The program, founded around a decade ago, seeks to highlight inequalities of in culture and the arts.

Self-taught Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi posted a Tweet in 2011 predicting that cinemas would re-open in his country in 2018 after a 35-year ban.

Loose Women star Saira Khan has spoken about working on the show, the reason she quit and the panellists she is still friends with following her departure in a new interview. Speaking to Woman’s Own magazine, the former Apprentice contestant - who was a runner up in the first season of the show back in 2005 – talked about her five years on Loose Women from 2015 until 2020 when she walked away from the series.

Brent Lang Executive Editor IFC Films and Shudder have acquired the North American rights to Spooky Pictures’ and Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s “Menace” out of the Cannes market. The indie labels also nabbed distribution rights to the sci-fi horror film in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in its first Cannes pick-up.

Lise Pedersen Three days after its Critics’ Week world premiere, “The Brink of Dreams” director-producer team of Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir delved into the making of their documentary in an exclusive, behind-the-scenes conversation at the Palais des Festivals. Hosted by the Cannes Docs sidebar of the Marché du Film, the conversation saw the Cairo-based Felucca Films duo offer insider intel and tips on their sophomore feature. Their debut feature, “Happily Ever After,” premiered at IDFA in 2016.

Jamie Lang For one of this year’s Variety Global Conversations Summit at Cannes, a group of leading women actors and filmmakers from around the world joined Variety’s Nick Vivarelli to discuss how they got into the business, what motivates them and some of the groundbreaking roles they’ve played. Egyptian actor Salma Abu-Deif (“El-Asliyyin”) discussed her recent turn in the series “Highest Viewing Rate,” which tells the true story of a girl from a poor family who becomes obsessed with TikTok and uses the platform to escape her daily life.

Katcy Stephan Indian Paintbrush founder Steven Rales has purchased Criterion and Janus Films. The mission and leadership of the companies will not change following the private transaction.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sandhya Suri’s Cannes standout “Santosh” following its world premiere in Un Certain Regard. Metrograph Pictures will distribute the film theatrically, with additional release details to be announced at a later date. MK2 Films represents the movie in international markets.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent A new Saudi Arabian film studio with deep pockets and Hollywood connections is launching from the Cannes Film Festival with a slate of film and TV projects. The Los Angeled-based 3SIX9 Studios – announced at an event on a yacht in the bay of Cannes – is co-founded by actor and producer Daya Fernández, who serves as CEO; Inga V.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed the first international sales for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” ahead of its world premiere on Friday in the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film has been acquired in Italy by BiM Distribuzione and Lucky Red, Benelux by September Film Distribution, Spain by Bteam Pictures, Greece by Ama Films, Hungary by Cirko Film, Norway by Selmer Media, Portugal by Leopardo Filmes, Taiwan by Hooray Films and Turkey by Bir Film.

Lily Gladstone took a break from jury duty at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday to present Ron Howard with Variety’s Profile in Excellence Award. Howard was the guest of honor at the annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute at Lucia Beach, where an array of industry veterans — including The Gotham’s Jeffrey Sharp, Focus Features’ Jason Cassidy, Disney’s Keleigh Thomas Morgan, the Sundance Institute’s Eugene Hernandez and more — donned their best beach chic attire (with sunglasses) to mix, mingle and sip rosé.

It’s a momentous Cannes for Cairo-based film professionals Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab as they mark the 15th anniversary of the creation of marketing and distribution company MAD Solutions and the 10th anniversary of spin-off the Arab Cinema Center (ACC).

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Goodridge has been on a rare journey. Not many in the industry can boast a CV that includes running a trade publication, an international sales company, a film festival and being the producer of multiple Cannes Film Festival movies.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Female stunt performer Wiriya Caesar will step up into the lead performer role in upcoming Thai action film “The 24.” The film project is being launched this week in the Cannes Market by new international sales firm Boz Pictures. Wiriya (aka Porntip Wiriya, aka “Fan”) has previously been a stunt double for Mary-Elizabeth Winstead in “Kate” and Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction,” and has other credits on “Thirteen Lives” and “Hidden Strike.” In “The 24” she will star as an assassin who wakes up with a time bomb strapped to her body. She has clear instructions to kill a hit list of 24 members of the Bangkok underground, with each successful hit buying her more time alive. Caesar is joined in the cast by Japan’s Sakaguchi Tak (“Re:Born,” “One Percenter,” “Versus”), Dan Chupong (“Ong Bak 1 &2,” “Born to Fight”), Sunny Pang (“The Night Comes for Us,” “Headshot” and Gareth Evans’ upcoming “Havoc”) and Simon Kook (“Ip Man 3,” “Mayhem”). The film, which will shoot in the fourth quarter of this year, is written and directed by Lee Thongkham (“The Maid,” “The Lake,” “Kitty the Killer”).

Naman Ramachandran Animation studio Toonz Media Group has unveiled an eclectic slate for the Cannes Film Market. Drawing stories from popular Indian ancient fables and retelling them with a contemporary flavor, “Return of the Jungle” is set in present-day India and revolves around a group of classmates from junior school who must outwit the biggest, meanest bully in the school. A cool and loveable grandpa by their side peps the fourth graders with inspiring stories from the jungle.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s buzzy horror movie starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, has sold to one of France’s biggest distributors, Metropolitan FilmExport, ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Match Factory is handling international sales on the female-powered movie, and MUBI just acquired the rights in North America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America and Benelux, where they will release the film theatrically this year. MUBI has also acquired the movie for Turkey and India.