Switzerland Showbiz Latest News and Updates

2 min read Nemo, the 24-year-old Swiss non-binary artist, touched down at Zurich Airport to a hero’s welcome after winning Eurovision 2024 with their powerful song “The Code.” Hundreds of fans, waving flags […]

On paper, it looks mad as a loose wheel. A largely Spanish-language musical about a Mexican druglord having a sex change, featuring onetime Disney teen star Selena Gomez as a gangster’s wife: nobody could deny director and writer Jacques Audiard’s giddy determination to do something different, but how could Emilia Pérez be anything but a hot mess? But here is it is on the screen, a musical marvel. Of course it’s crazy, but Audiard has set up his impossible conjuring trick and made it work.

Annika Pham Unspooling May 18 as part of an overall Swiss Focus at the Marché du Film, Solothurn Film Festival Goes to Cannes marks the first collaboration between the long-standing Swiss festival and the Cannes market, but also a first for many of the talents and producers carefully picked for the event. Two of Switzerland’s top documentary filmmakers Jacqueline Zünd, winner of a 2019 Crystal Bear nominated for “Where We Belong,” and Nicholas Steiner, director of “Above & Below”, ranked among Variety reviewer Peter Debruge’s Top 10 films of 2015, are set to attract buyers, sales agents and programmers’ attention with their star-stubbed fiction debuts.

AC/DC kicked off their huge European stadium tour in Germany last night (May 17), marking their return to touring for the first time in 8 years.The tour, in support of their 2020 comeback record ‘Power Up’, began at the 62,000-capacity Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen and was the first featuring new bassist Chris Chaney, who is best known for his tenure in Jane’s Addiction. He replaced Cliff Williams after he retired from touring.Their setlist was almost identical to the one in their comeback gig at Power Trip Festival in October, albeit with the order of some of the songs changed.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent On Sept. 12, 2022, the day before Jean-Luc Godard died by assisted suicide at 91 in his home in Rolle, Switzerland, the Godfather of French New Wave completed his final 18-minute film, “Scénarios,” which premieres on today in Cannes. “Scénarios” — which comprises two components called “DNA, Fundamental Elements” and “MRI, Odyssey” — is followed by “Exposé du Film Annonce du Film ‘Scènario,’” a 34-minute, behind-the-scenes doc about the making of Godard’s last short.

Annika Pham The Swiss/French “Dog on Trial” is set to disrupt, move and entertain the Croisette from what is revealed in a first clip from sales outfit MK2 Films, exclusively shared with Variety. The film world premieres at Cannes Un Certain Regard May 19. Writer/actor-turned-director Laetitia Dosch, who delivered what Variety reviewer Peter Debruge called a ‘blazing-wildfire performance’ in the 2017 Camera d’or winner “Jeune Femme”, is herself taking a chance this year on the coveted award. Meanwhile Cosmos the Dog (aka Kodi in the film) will battle for the leather dog collar Palme Dog win.

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner will serve as jury president at the upcoming Locarno Film Festival, running August 7-17. 

Nearly one million people across Great Britain, including 83,903 living in Scotland are currently receiving £81.90 each week in Carer’s Allowance. However, many of those claimants may not be aware of several changes in circumstances that must be reported to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or risk losing their benefit entitlement.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed a slew of international territory sales on its resistance epic “William Tell,” Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play. WME Independent represents domestic rights.

Jack Dunn Paramount+ has unveiled a teaser for its seventh “South Park” streaming special, “South Park: The End of Obesity,” which premieres May 24 in the U.S. and Canada, and May 25 in Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In “The End of Obesity,” weight loss drugs take the quiet mountain town of South Park by storm.

Paramount+ announced on Wednesday that South Park: The End of Obesity, its latest South Park exclusive event, will premiere in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, May 24, debuting in the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria the following day.

Olly Alexander has expressed his gratitude after competing in Eurovision 2024, saying that receiving zero public points was “iconic”.The Years & Years frontman represented the UK with his song ‘Dizzy’ at this year’s competition, which took place in Malmö, Sweden. He finished 18th out of 25 countries – earning 46 points from the jury, but none from the voting public.Nemo clinched victory for Switzerland at Eurovision 2024 with their track ‘The Code’.

Alex Ritman Paris-based sales house Charades has sold the Argentinian Western-inspired documentary “Gaucho Gaucho” across much of Europe. The film — which won a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at CPH:DOX — has landed deals with Tandem (France), Filmin (Spain), Selmer Media (Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark), M2 (Romania, Poland, Hungary. Ex-Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria), Praesens (Switzerland) and Bantam Films (Benelux).

Eurovision this year “until the last second”.This year’s song contest has seen multiple controversies arise in the build up to the finale, which aired last Saturday (May 11).On top of the shock disqualification of Dutch entry Joost Klein, Eurovision organisers the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) had faced significant criticism for the inclusion of Israel amidst the Israel-Palestine crisis.Additionally, there were reports of a “crisis meeting” between four countries and the EBU just hours before the finale was due to begin. These four countries were later revealed to be the United Kingdom, Portgual, Ireland, and the eventual winner of this year, Switzerland.Now, Norway’s entry Gåte have spoken to Norwegian media about their own threat to pull out.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Zurich and Berlin-based distrib DCM has nabbed Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” ahead of its May 20 world premiere in Cannes, where its screening in competition. Written by Gabriel Sherman, “The Apprentice” follows Donald Trump’s real estate career in New York during the 1970s and ’80s and his relationships with lawyer Roy Cohen (Jeremy Strong), wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) and father Fred Trump (Martin Donovan).

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.This year’s competition, which was ultimately won by Switzerland’s Nemo, was surrounded by controversy for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.A statement shared by the EBU to both The Mirror and The Irish Times read: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both onsite and during their broadcasts. We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.It continued: “The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.A post shared by European Broadcasting Union (@ebu_hq)“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”The statement’s release comes after the slew of controversies that took over this year’s edition of the song contest.

Eurovision entrant Windows95Man quickly drew comparisons to a famous Bart Simpson moment when the singer took to the stage this weekend.Windows95man – real name Teemu Keisteri – performed at the song contest’s grand final at Malmö Arena, Sweden on Saturday (May 11), where Switzerland’s Nemo ultimately won.Dressed in a Windows 95 cap and T-shirt for his song ‘No Rules!’, Windows95man was seemingly naked from the bottom half down and kept up the illusion with some help from the cameramen and his dancers.He even faked a NSFW ‘reveal’ to the live crowd before his denim shorts were lowered down for the outfit chance.While behind-the-scenes pictures reveal that the singer was wearing a pair of skin-coloured modesty underwear, the stunt reminded viewers of the famous moment in The Simpsons Movie where Bart is skateboarding naked through town – and also protected by a series of objects before a brief reveal.“In case you have missed Finland’s performance at the Eurovision song contest tonight, it was pretty much a butt naked inspired Simpson episode and people loved it,” one X user wrote.“This is basically every Simpsons episode that involves nudity,” another wrote.BBC commentator Graham Norton also gave his take on the gag, telling the audience (via Yahoo!): “I would normally find a song like this quite resistible, but I have to say when I was in the arena for the semi-final the other night, I really liked the silly, I just really embraced the silly and it was joyful and lovely… and distracting and great.“You’ve seen quite a lot of male nudity tonight… well, stand by for some more!” he added.

Rylan Clark has shared his surprise as his return to the small screen came amid a busy weekend for the star. The TV and radio presenter has spent a couple of weeks in Sweden thanks to his involvement with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Jamie Lang Swiss production company Contrast Film has appointed former Disney, Global Screen and Blue Entertainment executive Anke Beining as its new commercial managing director. Beining brings with her a strong and diverse history of industry experience. She studied political science in Germany, Switzerland and the U.S.

John Oliver took the first part of Last Week Tonight to talk about the Eurovision Song Contest and highlighted the act from Finland, known as Windows95man.

EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis has sold to key independent buyers in Europe’s top five territories, we can reveal.

Eurovision entry Iolanda’s video was reportedly replaced with previous footage due to “pro-Palestine motifs” on her nails.Last night’s contest saw Swiss entry Nemo crowned as its first nonbinary winner in a year marked with controversy due to the EBU’s struggle to enforce its political neutrality clause. This was especially notable in the inclusion of Israel this year, due to their role in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

TV favourites Robert Rinder and Rylan Clark are teaming up for the ultimate Brits abroad trip. The old friends joke that they are "complete opposites" and have very different approaches to travel - but put their differences aside for an epic tour of Europe in a new BBC series.

Olly Alexander has broken his silence following his night representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. And while, at the time of writing, he hadn't spoken about his experience or subsequent defeat, he has shown his class by showing support to the winning act.

Olly Alexander, Britain's Eurovision Song Contest entrant for this year, has shared his thoughts following the nightmarish event in Sweden.

Olly Alexander‘s dad has said he was “surprised” that his son’s song ‘Dizzy’ received the dreaded ‘nul points’ from the public at last night’s Eurovision.Despite high hopes for this year’s UK entry, Alexander finished in 18th place out of 25 countries with 46 points, a position he only achieved thanks to his jury score.Now, his dad David Thornton has shared his thoughts, saying that Eurovision still offered a “fantastic learning experience” for Alexander [via BBC].“I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Thornton. “To me it’s a real surprise the public didn’t sort of connect with that song, though the juries gave it a really good score.”He added: “He’s had a wonderful time out there.

Eurovision winner Nemo hit out at the competition’s “double standard”, branding its organisers as “unbelievable”, moments after their victory.The Switzerland entrant won the contest last night (May 11) in Malmö, Sweden with their song ‘The Code’, after topping the jury vote and coming in fifth in the public vote.Nemo’s victory is the first for the country since Celine Dion picked up the win in 1988 with ‘Ne partez pas sans moi’. They are also the first ever non-binary winner in the competition’s history.During their appearance at the post-show press conference, Nemo took the opportunity to criticise the way that the contest was run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), making specific reference to their policy of not allowing non-binary flags into the arena.“I had to smuggle my flag in because Eurovision said no, but I did it anyway, so I hope some people did that too,” they said.

Eurovision viewers have had their say after Switzerland came away victorious at the 2024 edition of the contest last night (May 11), with jokes, memes and hot takes galore.Switzerland’s representative Nemo fought off tough competition from the likes of Croatia, Ukraine and France with their song ‘The Code’, which blended elements of pop, rap, drum n’ bass and even opera and told the story of how they realised they were non-binary.Nemo also became Eurovision’s first-ever non-binary winner, which was a particularly meaningful moment for many viewers. “Europe changed tonight. It’s a different place for us non binaries now.

Bambie Thug has spoken out against the EBU during post-Eurovision interviews, claiming that they don’t fully represent “what Eurovision is”.The self-described ‘ouija-pop’ artist came sixth in the annual contest, which was won by Switzerland representative Nemo. At the end of their performance, they proclaimed “Love will triumph over hate!”The Cork singer has also faced significant challenges throughout the competition due to their pro-Palestinian stance. It was revealed they were forced to remove the words ‘ceasefire’ and ‘freedom for Palestine’ in a medieval script from their costume due to Eurovision’s political neutrality clause.

Eurovision Song Contest, with entrant Nemo taking the crown for their performance of ‘The Code’.Nemo’s victory marks Switzerland’s first Eurovision win since 1988, when Celine Dion competed with ‘Ne partez pas sans moi’. They are also the first ever non-binary winner of Eurovision.Quickly becoming a frontrunner, ‘The Code’ incorporated elements of pop, rap, drum ‘n’ bass and even opera to tell the story of how Nemo discovered that they were non-binary.