Syria Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Ed Meza @edmezavar Aslı Özarslan’s “Elbogen” (“Elbow”), an adaptation of Fatma Aydemir’s award-winning novel of the same name, tells the story of Hazal (played by Melia Kara), a young woman in Berlin struggling to find a job and start a life of her own. After a violent incident on her 18th birthday, she flees to Istanbul, a strange city in a country she doesn’t know and where she is forced to survive. Produced by Jamila Wenske‘s Berlin-based Achtung Panda!, the film premieres in the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus.

Jessica Kiang The kids in Ilkay Idiskut’s third grade class are, as they let you know within about five minutes of Ruth Beckermann‘s delightful Berlin Encounters documentary “Favoriten,” very much their own people. These 25 boisterous, funny, clattering seven-year-olds attend the largest elementary school in Vienna and for the most part hail from migrant family backgrounds from Turkey or Syria or Serbia. Diminutive in form but outsized in personality, they are also, however, eminently recognisable and relatable, and you can find all the various versions of your own grade-school self in one or other of them at some point.

The Strangers’ Case from American filmmaker Brandt Andersen and starring French actor Omar Sy will make its world premiere at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Chime,” a mid-length movie by leading Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi, is among three late additions to the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Special section. The two others are “August My Heaven,” another mid-length picture form Japan, directed by Kudo Riho, and “The Strangers’ Case,” a full-length feature directed by Brandt Andersen which will play as a Berlinale Special Gala presentation. In “Chime” Tashiro, a student at a culinary school, hears voices in his head.

EXCLUSIVE: L.A. and Cairo-based production company Ambient Light Films is upping its support for Middle East and North African indie cinema.

Following the success of the official opening season of Aviva Studios, Factory International has announced a captivating line up for its 2024 spring programme at the city's landmark venue.

“Imagine yourself operating on a patient when you are being attacked by barrel bombs and missiles. Your hands are shaking, the hospital is shaking, soil could go in the patient’s wounds while you are operating and then you have to wait a while until the strike stops and carry on.”

Melbourne City want to take flop Celtic star Marco Tilio back to their club on loan when the Australian transfer window reopens. Celtic reportedly paid £1.5million to land the winger from Melbourne City this summer, where he won three A-League titles in a row.

Both of the region’s MPs voted in favour of sending UK asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Neha Dhupia (“A Thursday”) and Adil Hussain (“Life of Pi”) will star in Egyptian director Ali El Arabi‘s upcoming drama “Blue 52,” about a young Indian soccer fan’s journey as a migrant worker to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. El Arabi’s “Blue 52” chronicles the true tale of a young man named Ashish, who is a fervent soccer fan.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Discovery-owned Eurosport has acquired streaming rights in 54 countries to Olympic refugee documentary “We Dare to Dream” by Waad Al-Kateab, the Oscar-nominated Syrian director of “For Sama.” “We Dare to Dream” is the story of the refugee Olympic team that competed at the 2020 games in Tokyo, which featured stateless athletes from Iran, Syria, South Sudan and Cameroon who swim, run and fight their way to safety in host nations across the world. It’s told through the personal prism of Al-Kateab while she is coming to terms with the reality that she can never return to Aleppo, where she shot “For Sama.” The doc premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June and had an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run at New York City’s IFC Center in October.

A 'thorough and fearless' public inquiry will examine whether any intelligence failures contributed to the 'tragic outcome' of a murdered imam. Jalal Uddin, 71, described by the Home Office as a 'retired imam', was bludgeoned with a hammer in a children's play area in Rochdale on February 18, 2016.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MAD Solutions has acquired world sales rights to OSN’s first-ever original feature, “Yellow Bus,” which world premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. As well as world sales, MAD Solutions will handle Middle East and North Africa theatrical distribution, while OSN will handle all other MENA rights.

Karim Debbagh‘s leading Tangier-based line producer Kasbah Films has secured a raft of U.S. and U.K. projects that will lense in Morocco, including “Lords of War,” the sequel to “Lord of War,” starring Nicolas Cage as the world’s most notorious arms dealer.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Untamed Talent, a management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba, is launching with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions, a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment. Front Row Productions will provide capital and strategic value to support Untamed Talent’s goals to innovate new business models covering the South West Asia and North Africa region, the fastest-growing entertainment market in the world.

Former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba has launched management and production company Untamed Talent, with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions.

Benefits has shared a powerful statement regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine war as well as Armistice Day.On November 9, the band took to their official Instagram account to discuss the current state of the world, specifically the ongoing Israel-Palestine war. “For the last week, we’ve travelled around a chunk of Northern Europe going from major city to major city with absolute ease.

The Red Sea International Film Festival, has unveiled the 26 projects selected as part of its industry-focused Red Sea Souk Market, running from December 2 to 5.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Tom Tykwer’s first feature film since 2016, “Das Licht” (“The Light”), is set to start rolling this month at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin. The X Filme Creative Pool production, about a troubled family who take in a Syrian immigrant as their new housekeeper, is one of a number of projects heading to the renowned studio as business picks up following a lull this year stemming from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

wanted to be Barbie, producers said, which originally gave them pause, since that’s not a Disney character.“We searched through ‘Toy Story’ and found that there was Barbie in Disney, and there was Tour Guide Barbie!” producer Jamie Hammer told People. “So it ended up working out. And Whoopi looked amazing.

Israel expects to launch a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon to destroy Hamas, the country's defence minister said.

Shamima Begum will face a wait to find out whether she has won a Court of Appeal bid over the removal of her British citizenship.

Israeli warplanes have struck targets across Gaza after another small aid shipment was allowed into the besieged Hamas-ruled territory.

Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus have teamed up once more. The two have shared a new version of “Wrecking Ball,” which will be featured in Parton’s new record, “Rockstar.” Dolly Parton, Gloria Estefan, Cyndi Lauper, and more join forces on the single ‘Gonna Be You’From Shakira to Jennifer Lopez: All the stars supporting earthquake victims in Syria and TurkeyA post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton)In a video released on her Instagram, Dolly Parton discussed her experience the first time she heard “Wrecking Ball,” comparing it to Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” which Parton wrote. “When I heard ‘Wrecking Ball’ I almost wept in my car.

Addie Morfoot Contributor John Legend is lending his voice to “We Dare to Dream,” a documentary about the refugee Olympic team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Legend will write, compose and record “Don’t Need to Sleep,” an original song for the docu, which will open theatrically Oct. 20 at New York’s IFC Center.

Israel is braced to invade Gaza as war in the Middle East is set to erupt.

MRC CEO Scott Tenley, alongside founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, are speaking out against the actions taken against Israel by Hamas.

EXCLUSIVE: Rising British actress Leo Hatton has inked with Artists First for management.

The power couple spoke with ET on Thursday at the 2nd annual Clooney Foundation’s Albie Awards in New York City.