Senegal Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Lupin star Omar Sy has hit back at critics of comments he made about differing attitudes to the war in Ukraine and further afield conflicts, saying the attacks against him are simply an example of racism.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

Yesterday’s thrilling World Cup final was watched by a peak of almost 20M viewers across the BBC and ITV as the game drew to an incredible close.

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first titles selected for its Panorama section at the upcoming in-person edition that takes place February 16-26. (Scroll down for the full list)

EXCLUSIVE: UK outfit Make Waves (The Great Green Wall) and science-focused U.S. producer HHMI Tangled Bank Studios (All That Breathes) are teaming on feature-length documentary Blue Carbon (working title), an environmentally-focused musical piece fronted by Grammy-nominated producer and DJ Jayda G with music from Wu-Tang leader RZA and Brazilian artist Seu Jorge.

England’s heartbreaking defeat to France on Saturday became the most-viewed UK TV broadcast of the year so far, peaking with 21.3M viewers on ITV1.

England’s comfortable second round victory over Senegal last night was watched by a peak of nearly 20M viewers on ITV, becoming the most-viewed of the Qatar World Cup 2022 tournament so far in the UK.

With another winning performance at the World Cup, this time defeating Poland in the round of 16, the French national football team also led broadcaster TF1 to yet another ratings record for the year. An average 14.3 million viewers tuned in to see Les Bleus notch a 3-1 victory on Sunday, from the 4pm hour local time. This is the best score for all channels across 2022 and since July 2021. The audience share was 68.9%.

An inspired Lionel Messi performance ended Keanu Baccus’ incredible World Cup journey as the battling Aussies were narrowly beaten by Argentina.

Since it debuted at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury prize, Alice Diop’s first feature Saint Omer has had a robust life on the fall festival circuit. An austere, tightly scripted and subtly acted drama, in which a novelist (Kayije Kagame) becomes fascinated by the trial of an immigrant mother for the murder of her own daughter, the film nevertheless draws deeply on the director’s previous experience as a documentary filmmaker.

UPDATED with latest results: The 2022 FIFA World Cup completed its first round of competition Friday in Qatar, where the last of 16 teams were secured to reach the knockout stage of the world’s biggest sports tournament.

Former Liverpool star El Hadji Diouf has reignited his long-running feud with Steven Gerrard by claiming the current England team is thriving because it isn't beset by internal feuding.

England’s emphatic 3-0 victory over local rival Wales in the Qatar World Cup was seen by a peak UK audience of 18.7M.

The U.S. beat Iran 1-0 in a gutsy must-win game at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, helping the team qualify for the second round of the tournament where it will face The Netherlands in a knockout-stage game this weekend.Christian Pulisic made the difference today with a charging goal in the 38th minute of a dominant first half for the Americans at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha. It was the 22nd U.S. goal for the Chelsea striker, though he was injured during the play and was subbed out at halftime.

The United States began its 2022 World Cup campaign on Monday against Wales, scoring nearly 12M viewers across Fox and Telemundo.

England’s fiery World Cup opener against Iran, which ended 6-2, was watched by a peak of 8M viewers yesterday lunchtime in the UK. The peak was similar to that of host Qatar’s opener with Ecuador.

Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles awards-season event to talk about her film’s visual language, her mother’s own immigrant experience, and casting new Black actors.  

There’s power in hair. Black Panther‘s lead beautician Camille Friend made it her mission to create an authentic and captivating depiction of African and Black American beauty.

Variety examines the Oscar selection process in an array of international markets to see what works, what’s broken and what needs fixing. Despite being over-represented in competition lineups at major festivals like Cannes and Venice, France has had a cursed track record in the international feature film race, and has been overshadowed by smaller countries like Denmark in recent years. The French haven’t been able to claim an Oscar victory in the category since 1993 with Regis Wargnier’s win for “Indochine.” In the past 15 years, only four French films submitted have landed a nomination: Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” in 2020, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Turkish-language film “Mustang” in 2016, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” starring Tahar Rahim in 2010 and Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or-winning “The Class” in 2008. Ironically, some French-language films repping other countries in the international feature race have been more successful, such as Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which was submitted by Austria in 2013 and won. In the upcoming race, France is vying for a nomination with Alice Diop’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Saint Omer,” a politically minded feature debut based on the real-life trial of Fabienne Kabou, a Senegalese immigrant accused of murdering her 15-month-old baby. This year’s Oscar committee, which included the likes of Audiard (“A Prophet”), Philippe Rousselet (“CODA”) and Hengameh Panahi (“Persepolis”), was bitterly split between “Saint Omer,” acquired by Neon’s Super label after Toronto, and “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s romance drama starring Lea Seydoux, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics in Cannes. The heated deliberations ended with a vote, as it almost always does.

MK2 Managing Director Fionnuala Jamison was the focus of the London Film Festival’s second ‘spotlight’ industry talk Wednesday, during which she provided insights on navigating the international film market, including how regional prejudices can impact how films are sold.

Anna Diop and Michelle Monaghan are looking amazing on the red carpet!

X” and “The Black Phone” with Ethan Hawke — which are both set in the ’70s — are now on streaming, as is David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” and Rob Zombie’s take on classic ’60s sitcom “The Munsters.”And you may have missed these foreign films: “The Innocents,” a Norwegian movie about children who misuse their supernatural powers; Austria’s “Luzifer,” which earned lead Franz Rogowski a Best Actor award at Fantastic Fest; Dutch folk horror film “Moloch;” “The Sadness,” an extreme body horror/zombie movie from Taiwan; “Saloum” from Senegal, which The Guardian called “slick gangster horror in wild west Africa;” and “Speak No Evil,” in which a get-together with a couple from Denmark and one from the Netherlands goes horribly wrong. Get in the Halloween spirit with movies about witches, ghosts, zombies, vampires, demons and the scariest monsters of all: Other people.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent YouTube Original doc “The Letter: A Message For Our Earth,” an unprecedented call to action for climate change from Pope Francis, featuring his dialogues with activists from the Brazilian Amazon, India, Senegal and the U.S., launched on Tuesday from Vatican City. The high-profile ecological doc is directed by Emmy-winning director Nicolas Brown (“Serengeti Rules”) and produced by Off The Fence, the company behind Oscar-winning doc “My Octopus Teacher,” in tandem with the Laudato si’ Movement which is a global Catholic climate change organization. Shot in cinematic style, “The Letter” takes its cue from the pope’s landmark Laudato si’ environmental encyclical and interweaves the lives of five main characters, comprising Amazon rain forest tribe chief Cacique Odair “Dadá” Borari; Ridhima Pandey, a young climate activist from India; Senegalese climate refugee Arouna Kandé who is a student in sustainable development; and U.S. scientists Greg Asner and Robin Martin who have developed an innovative technique to map underwater heat waves that kill coral reefs.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Grasshopper Film has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Rewind & Play,” Alain Gomis’ feature documentary on the late jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. The film is set to screen at the 60th annual New York Film Festival later this month, and will open in theaters early next year. The doc uses an interview with Monk in France from 1969, which many would now consider to be deeply problematic, as its centrepiece. In December 1969, Monk arrived in Paris for a concert at the tail end of a European tour. While there, he was invited to appear on a television interview program, where he was to answer questions in an intimate, one-on-one studio stage.

Hello and welcome back to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast!

Alice Diop’s Saint Omer has been selected as France’s entry to the best international film category.

EXCLUSIVE: French director Alice Diop’s breakout feature Saint Omer has secured distribution in a raft of territories for Paris-based Wild Bunch International (WBI) following its Venice Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize win.

X Factor’s Fleur East is swapping singing for the Salsa dance this week as she appears in 2022’s Strictly Come Dancing. While the Sax singer is no stranger to the spotlight, with previous stints on popular UK reality TV, East’s relationship with now-husband Marcel Badiane-Robin is still somewhat drenched in mystery. According to Heart Radio, the two met while East, 34, was working at a nightclub before she shot to fame on X Factor in 2014.

Ben Croll Acclaimed documentarian Alice Diop marks her narrative debut with “Saint Omer,” a pulled-from-the-headlines legal drama that won the Grand Jury Prize and the award for best debut feature at the Venice Film Festival. High profile slots in Toronto, New York, and London are to come — making the French title one of the real breakouts of this fall season. The wrenching film follows Rama (Kayije Kagame), a young novelist covering the trial of an immigrant mother accused of infanticide. With major elements never in doubt – the accused, Laurence (Guslagie Malanda), admits to the act, though she still pleads not guilty – the Venice winner turns around more intimate, philosophical, and unsettling questions.

Tilda Swinton is gracing the red carpet at the 2022 Venice Film Festival!