Continental Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Christopher Vourlias The fight for diversity and inclusion takes center stage at this year’s European Film Market, which will host a day-long event Feb. 20 as part of a concerted, pan-European effort to open more doors in the continent’s screen industries.

Christopher Vourlias Africa’s growing screen industries are making their mark on the global stage, with three titles in the main competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, but how to unlock the continent’s still-untapped potential was a question on the minds of many at a conference hosted on Saturday by the European Film Market. A partnership between EFM and Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, AfroBerlin was launched to give a platform to filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora and “to find a place where they can share stories and experiences and be heard,” said Kolong, who also organizes the Cannes Film Festival’s AfroCannes industry showcase.

Lionsgate will open its fourth Las Vegas attraction later this year, the John Wick Experience, in a partnership with immersive entertainment district AREA15.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated immigration epic “Io Capitano” is gaining traction in movie theaters across the African continent, and will soon be touring villages in Senegal with the director in tow as part of an itinerant cinema initiative called Cinemovel. Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s latest feature — the title for which translates to “Me Captain” — narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave the Senegalese capital of Dakar to go to Europe.

There’s another Game of Thrones spinoff now in the works!

Todd Gilchrist editor Ian McShane is 81, but you’d never know it watching him in “American Star.” Also a producer of director Gonzalo López-Gallego’s new film, the English actor plays Wilson, a seasoned assassin who visits the Canary Islands’ Fuerteventura for a job, but instead unexpectedly becomes involved in the life of a French expatriate (Nora Arnezeder) and the lonely child of a vacationing couple (Oscar Coleman). From the first scene, McShane dances across the screen with the same effortlessness of a performer a quarter of his age as his character reckons with an escalating series of disruptions to a sequence of events whose outcome is inevitable: someone dying of a bullet from his gun.

Nicky Devlin knew Bojan Miovski was top level when the striker looked right at home against Eintracht Frankfurt and PAOK on Aberdeen’s Conference League adventure. Now the Dons full-back is praying the 16-goal hitman sticks around at Pittodrie to help fire the Dons back into the Euro zone next season.

Laurence Fishburne has joined the cast of The Witcher in a major role!

Anna Marie de la Fuente With the exception of Nigeria’s Nollywood, which produces an average of 2,500 films a year, Africa’s “potential as a film powerhouse remains largely untapped” despite great strides in production, according to a Unesco report. Brazil’s Spcine, the city of São Paulo’s film-TV body, is hoping to change the status quo.

Lacoste trackies were a favourite, as were Lois jeans and anything cashmere. Smart cameras and jewellery were always easy to sell on too.

Having a wander around a pretty village on a crisp winter’s day and rounding off your trip with a visit to a cosy pub is a wonderful option to kick off the New Year.

Naman Ramachandran In a landmark judgement that could change the face of global soccer forever, Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday that sport’s leading bodies, the UEFA and FIFA, has “acted contrary to competition law” in their efforts to block the launch of a European Super League. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed to the Commercial Court in Madrid by the European Superleague Company against FIFA and UEFA.

Nicholas Weinstock The first time I went to Ghana, I was 19 years old and volunteering to build a health clinic in a rural village. It was the early ‘90s, I was a teenaged lunatic, and everything bad that could have happened to me did: I got malaria; I was beaten up by soldiers on the border with the Ivory Coast — but I also encountered wonderful people and stunning and moving and unforgettable experiences and friendships.

Pep Guardiola said his Manchester City players would need to lift themselves as soon as possible as they aim to be crowned champions of the world next week.

Manchester United and Liverpool were both in European action during the week but the latter should go into Sunday's clash the fresher despite playing two days later.

RTL Group is selling its Dutch business RTL Nederland for €1.1B ($1.2B) in cash.

Football is heading to South America. Earlier this week, the NFL announced plans to play its first match in South America. The game will be played in Brazil, and follows various NFL matches hosted in European countries.

A parent’s worst nightmare…

Slipknot have announced a brand new UK and European tour to celebrate 25 years as a band.

EXCLUSIVE: Gersh Agency bosses have backed a new African streamer with a seven-figure investment.

Ben Croll World premiering out of the Marrakech Film Festival ahead of a wider and promising festival run, Luck Razanajaona’s “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story” will offer the cinema of Madagascar its most prominent international showcase in nearly three decades. The feat didn’t come easy — or quickly — for the Malagasy filmmaker, who graduated from Marrakech’s ESAV film school in 2011 and then spent more than a decade crafting award-winning shorts while developing his first feature.

The National Grid will pay some households money or offer bill discounts for reducing energy usage today as temperatures dip below freezing.

Happy Valley‘s James Norton and Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are teaming up for a new drama series, King and Conqueror!

Hunter Ingram SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the film “Australia” and the limited series “Faraway Downs,” now streaming on Hulu. Fifteen years after the release of his 2008 epic romance “Australia,” Baz Luhrmann still struggles to find the right words to sum up its production. In this particular interview, he settles on one –– “fraught.” While shooting the film on location across its namesake continent, the native Australian director tried not to take it personally when the set-trained horses contracted a rare equine flu, or when the portion of the outback where they were filming received its first major rainfall in 150 years. But one thing after another repeatedly delayed production, and tested the cast and crew’s resilience.

Amazon has announced a major change to its packaging service across all of Europe, including the UK.

In a sneak peek of tonight's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! episode, Jamie Lynn Spears is seen suspended 70 feet in the air for a nerve-wracking Bushtucker Trial. The Zoey 101 star was voted to take on the Climb of Cruelty challenge, after repeatedly breaking down in tears in camp over missing her two children back home in the US.

The president of the SFA has launched an impassioned defence of VAR and claims Scottish referees are doing "amazing'" despite concerns over video replay.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Thomas “Eromose” Ikimi, director of the Tribeca Film Festival player “88,” has been tapped to write a new drama about a fierce wildlife preservationist and activist. Eromose will write the screenplay for “Manaka,” a story inspired by the organization Saving the Wild and its founder Jamie Joseph. The Zimbabwean-born South African founded the charitable foundation to help protect rhinos from poaching, as well as to tell authentic stories about frontline workers protecting the species from going extinct.

After a close call mid-week, Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor says his players must 'earn their stripes' when they return to Women's Super League action when they welcome Brighton and Hove Albion to the Joie Stadium on Sunday, November 12.