Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: […]

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Dozens of Beatles fans were left stunned after Paul McCartney pulled up alongside their Fab Four-themed tour bus. The Beatle-maniacs spotted the musical legend while aboard the Magical Mystery Tour bus that guides tourists around Liverpool, England, where all four lads grew up. The moment was even more special with drummer Ringo Starr showing up […]

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As the AI infrastructure build-out continues to meet headwinds from concerned citizens, three states recently signed laws ending what had been the largely-standard practice of exempting data center operators from paying sales taxes. Tucked into a state budget passed on June 15th, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs touted that data centers located in the state would […]

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A British bee scientist recently explained that setting up ‘hydration stations’ for bees doesn’t work, as the commonly-proffered mixture of sugar in water doesn’t revive tired bees at all. Bees need our help, says Dr. Richard Comont, the science manager at Bee Conservation Trust, during a time when both sides of the pond are suffering […]

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As Karolina Urbanova broke the log of white pine she was standing on in half with her axe, she notched the 2nd world record for women’s speed lumberjack events she set that day. The 11 inches of white pine was severed in 21.28 seconds, besting the previous time of 24.26. Urbanova is one of a […]

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When GNN reported last week that Canadian and US authorities approved the emergency transfer of some 30 beluga whales from a closed theme park in Ontario, little had been released about how one goes about moving a several ton marine mammal across state boundaries. Then, news broke that 4 of those 30 whales had already […]

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In 2022, India beat long-time spacefarers Russia to become the 3rd nation to see a privately designed and built rocket successfully reach space. Now just 4 years later, and the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace has outdone itself. The company’s new 4-stage Vikram-1 rocket capable of carrying over 770 lbs. of payload aced its maiden flight to […]

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In what is being described as an “important first step,” for marine protections in the island nation of New Zealand, 5 new marine preserves will enter into force next month. Surrounding a district called Otago near the southeastern tip of the South Island, 308 square miles of key marine habitats filled with charismatic species will […]

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Scientists trudging through Nicaragua’s rainforest have identified a “hotbed” of avocado species diversity. The fruit was first transported hundreds of miles to Central America from South America around 5,000 years ago, and the American researchers uncovered genetic traces of this ancient migration in the fruit’s DNA. They suggest some of these species could aid in […]

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A man who was paralyzed from the chest down is now regaining hand and arm control thanks to a double neural bypass surgery—by using a computer to connect his brain with the nerves in his hand and arms. Hardly doomed to becoming a wheeled internet node for the rest of his life, the man has […]

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There are bad films. Then there are worse films. And then some films sit beyond the worst—an unenviable category that Huma Shaikh’s Item proudly occupies. From a poster that screams cringe to a trailer that confirms it, the film ultimately blossoms into a full-fledged cringe fest. Achieving this level of discomfort is no small feat. Item claims to be a film about female empowerment. It also claims to highlight the plight of women labelled “items” for daring to step outside their homes to earn a living. In reality, it does neither. Instead, it operates on two deeply flawed assumptions: that all men are evil and the audience is stupid. Thankfully, neither are all men evil, nor is the audience stupid. That is why most critics endure 142 minutes of cinematic torture—so you don’t have to. After enduring Item, I decided to do a good deed: explaining, in five simple steps, why films like Item deserve to remain in the can. Releasing them actively harms genuine filmmakers—those who know how to pull audiences toward Pakistani cinema rather than push them away. Our industry needs those filmmakers far more than these so-called “items,” which do little for anyone’s mental health. Item should have stayed in the can The film that doesn’t know what it is saying claims to be “a bold and full commercial mainstream feature film” with a “subtle message” exposing society’s hypocrisy—where women are idolised on screen but disrespected in real life. Let’s start with the basics: the film is neither bold nor commercial. It is not even a modern mainstream feature film and looks like something that you might catch on Filmazia while switching channels. If anything, it’s a cringe fest that opens with a mujra masquerading as an item song. At the end of that number, an actor who has been throwing money on the dancer like his colleagues says, “Kia item hai,” and kick-starts a painful journey that lasts more than two hours. The director appears confused about what an “item” even is. When was the last time a successful model was randomly picked to perform an item number without any groundwork? Sadaf Kanwal comes to mind, but she had the personality, grace, and prior acting experience to justify her item number in Na Maloom Afraad 2. Amna Ilyas did something similar in Mehrunisa V Lub U and Chaudhry – The Martyr, but she was already a far more accomplished actress. By contrast, the total of Mahi’s (Aliya Ali) journey is conveyed via a slide that reads: Five Years Later. That’s it, from being advised to try modelling to becoming an item girl—five words on a screen. In my book, that’s neither feminism nor empowerment. It’s lazy filmmaking dressed up as social commentary. The audience isn’t stupid, which is why they will be as bewildered as I was when an office-going girl from a lower-middle-class neighborhood magically transforms into a successful model without a hint of struggle, but with a wig that doesn’t even look well-made. Laziness has never helped any industry Aliya Ali may be a competent TV actress, but as popular TV and film actress Humaima Malick once put it, “a film heroine has to be someone the audience can gloat over and fantasise about.” The refreshments I consumed during the screening had more spark than the film’s item numbers, which were shot on the same stage, performed like a school tableau, and featured dances best forgotten the moment you exit the cinema. Why one of the songs randomly incorporates the James Bond theme is anyone’s guess. In interviews, and a clip that has gone viral due to its insanity, Aliya Ali claimed that during the shooting of the bold songs, the male crew was instructed to look away. Ironically, that may be the most accurate statement made during the film’s promotions, because the songs look as if they were filmed without any supervision at all—as if the choreographer was sleeping, the cameraman was out of the room, and everyone else was, quite literally, “made to look away.” Had the film truly been bold, it would have earned a bolder rating from the censor board, which it didn’t. Worse, the lead performance throughout is so laid-back and so aggressively 1960s that even the dance numbers fail to land. Scenes like the father dying after slapping his daughter, an aunt blaming her niece’s job for her father’s death, a young couple getting stranded in a rest house during a weather calamity, and a girl singing in the mountains with the hero as the sole onlooker should have been killed on paper, as they became irrelevant in the last millennium. Yet they are part and parcel of Item and make you want to check the calendar—only to be surprised that it’s 2025 or 2026, not a year starting with 19, belonging to the 20th century. Pakistani-American actor Azad Khan (Hala, The Vineyard, Mumtaz Mahal) is the film’s lone saving grace, though even he feels misplaced. He would have thrived in a 1960s setup—three-piece suits, rich men falling for courtesans or women with “bad reputations,” and mama’s boys with hearts of gold. Why he chose this project remains a mystery. His unfamiliarity with contemporary Pakistani cinema may have helped the film, but it certainly didn’t help his career. Behroze Sabzwari appears as the girl’s injured father—both physically and mentally—and is granted exactly two scenes, much like his senior co-star Sangeeta Rizvi, who continues to shout her way through roles for reasons unknown. Their banter about a young woman seeking work in a male-dominated world might have felt relevant in the 1960s. In 2025, it feels like the script was written by someone who woke up after a 50-year nap and decided to lecture us on empowerment. There is no place for a terrible soundtrack in 2025 Pakistani cinema owes much to composer M. Arshad, whose work on Jeeva, Chor Machaye Shor, Hawayein, and Salakhain defined an era. Unfortunately, he hasn’t produced anything memorable in the last two decades—and Item makes that painfully clear. The soundtrack sounds ripped straight from the 1990s, complete with the outdated trope of recycling the same sad song with different singers. One of them is Humera Channa, the undisputed queen of ’90s filmi music—but nostalgia alone can’t save a weak composition. M. Arshad’s remake of Bijli Bhari Hai (originally composed by his father, M. Ashraf) feels more personal than professional. While Maan Jao Na paid tribute to the song far more effectively—only to be reprimanded by rights holders—this version collapses under bad choreography, cheap sets, and uninspired vocals. Aima Baig’s Velo Sound Station rendition from five years ago feels more contemporary than this butchered remake. Had the film been named Bijli, it might have seemed relevant, but unlike the original Bijli girl Mumtaz, this one feels like it’s running on an old generator. Scam films like item need to be studied Why call Item a scam film? Because films like this—and there are many—deserve academic scrutiny. How did any investor agree to fund a project that looks unviable to the trained eye? What convinced seasoned actors like Ismat Zaidi and Mariam Mirza to sign on? Why did the filmmakers ignore distributors who surely warned them that releasing the film alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash would be commercial suicide? Every filmmaker believes they are doing something new—at least in their own head. Huma Shaikh seems inspired by Bollywood films like Fashion and Heroine, which critiqued the entertainment industry with depth and craft. What she failed to realise is that replicating that level of filmmaking here may take decades. A smaller, simpler film—a rom-com, perhaps—might have helped her test the waters. Instead, she aimed for Titanic without realising that even James Cameron had to struggle before reaching a point where he could make the award-winning classic. No struggle leads to scam films like Item. Bashir Noman was the real “Item” Watch the trailer closely, and you’ll notice a TV anchor—clearly inspired by Shahzeb Khanzada or Kamran Khan—interviewing Miss Mahi. Frankly, had the director made a film about this man alone, it might have been a hit. Earlier, he appears as a fashion photographer who gets slapped by a novice Mahi and vows revenge for that thapparr. How this vengeful photographer transforms into a prime-time anchor with massive ratings is the most fascinating arc in the film—sadly unexplored. Perhaps Item 2 will be his story: a journey from nobody to somebody, hopefully told with more substance than a lonely Five Years Later slide. In the end, the film concludes with a brain-fade moment: women should study martial arts if they want to survive in a male-dominated world. It may be one of many things they could do, but presenting it as the only solution exposes the mindset behind Item. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer Omair Alavi is a freelance contributor who writes about film, television, and popular culture

How many times are we going to watch this same story play out? Bollywood takes a slice of Pakistan’s history, strips away the political context, sprinkles in some glossy action, and wraps it up in familiar patriotic overtones. With the release of Dhurandhar on December 5—very loosely based on Karachi’s Lyari gang war—audiences on both sides of the border found themselves trapped in yet another round of déjà vu. The film, stacked with high-profile actors, has sparked mixed reactions. But for once, the divide is not between India and Pakistan—people within each country are split among themselves. Pakistanis quickly clocked the propaganda, but many were also frustrated with their own entertainment industry for refusing to tell the stories that actually belong to them. Content creator Bilal Hassan, better known as @mystapaki, summed up the conflicted reaction perfectly. “It is very, very well-made. Action sequences fantastic, Akshaye Khanna’s acting was… I wanted to be upset at it, but I couldn’t be upset at it,” he said. But when the anti-Pakistan dialogue crept in toward the end, he didn’t hold back: “If that isn’t propaganda, I don’t know what it is.” For Hassan, the issue isn’t the politics, it is ownership. “I grew up seeing the Lyari gang wars. Chaudhry Aslam’s house was in front of my school. When there was a bomb blast on top of his house, my school’s windows broke. That’s how close to home this story was for me.” And that’s precisely why watching someone else tell it—again—stung. “We won’t tell this story. Why? Because our politicians will get dirty. Our government will get dirty. So instead, we choose to just greenlight shitty scripts like Love Guru.” Indian audiences were not blind to the messaging either. Actor Hrithik Roshan praised the storytelling but disagreed with its politics, stressing the “responsibilities filmmakers should bear as citizens of the world” when handling sensitive histories. Film critics and social media users echoed the sentiment. “When propaganda starts looking like a spy blockbuster with catchy songs, people forget to question it,” wrote one X user. Viewers were also frustrated by the caricatured depiction of Karachi: bomb blasts, relentless violence, and a Lyari that looks more like an action-movie set than a real neighbourhood with a complicated history and decades of resilience. BBC Asian Network journalist Haroon Rashid posted a video titled “The Karachi you see in Dhurandhar v/s the Karachi I saw last week,” contrasting the film’s chaos with the city’s food, music, and everyday warmth. Some Pakistanis reflected on their own role in consuming this content. “We forget things very easily. For us, entertainment is important no matter how much India bans and boycotts us… But we are always promoting their stuff full of propaganda against us,” wrote one user. Then there were the smaller inaccuracies that didn’t escape notice: “Someone needs to tell them that no one, absolutely no one wears shalwar kameez with half sleeves in Pakistan,” joked another. And once again, social media spiralled into the same cyclical debate—propaganda, misrepresentation, why Pakistanis still watch these films, why Bollywood keeps making them. It’s the same conversation that resurfaces every time, almost like a script of its own. But there’s a point people like @mystapaki keep returning to: Pakistan isn’t telling its own stories, and the vacuum leaves room for others to narrate our history on our behalf—messily, inaccurately, and often with a political agenda. The fatigue is certainly real. Audiences seem tired not just of Bollywood’s formulaic portrayals, but of the predictable online storm that follows each release.

The 30th day of the 39-day World Culture Festival at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, concluded with Mega Musical Concert 3.0 and a session with creators of film Kamli. The concert marked Meesha Shafi’s return to Karachi’s stage after a long time.  “You have made my heart happy,” Meesha announced to the crowd during her performance.“I am performing in Karachi after many years, and it’s an absolute pleasure to be here and party with you all.” She added that such festivals are a “much-needed and wonderful initiative.” The concert included several other performances featuring Faris Shafi, Meesha Shafi, Sahib Pashazade from Azerbaijan, Darabu, and Pakistan’s emerging artists Gizri and Junoon Elia Lawn packing the crowd to its capacity. Read more: ‘World Culture Festival 2025’ set to kick off with the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi Earlier in the day, a discussion on Pakistani film Kamli, released in 2022, was held with director Sarmad Khoosat and writer Dr. Umair Ahmed in the panel. Arts Council President Muhammad Ahmed Shah and Noor-ul-Huda Shah attended the session too. Sarmad expressed gratitude for the audience’s appreciation of the film, saying that he is happy people connected with it. “Art never divides; it brings us together and this festival is proof of that,” he added.  He reflected on Pakistan’s cinematic past, noting that cinema was once a thriving cultural force and stressed the importance of experimentation and music in storytelling. “When you talk about culture and heritage, music becomes essential,” he said. Noting that he took the ownership of including six songs for Kamli.  The director discussed the themes of migration and relationships. Stating that no one leaves their home without a reason. He believes decline happens because of relationships or circumstances. During the discussion, he added that cinema should move people.  Lastly, Sarmad mentioned his preference for personally messaging close friends rather than making public social-media posts. Announcing the release of another project in 2026 that he hopes to bring before the audience in the same lowkey manner.

For Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, Disney’s animated buddy cop comedy, Zootopia 2, has a healthy message about the importance of confiding in others for emotional support. Quan, who voices Gary De'Snake — a pit viper determined to help his family — told Reuters, “I grew up in a very traditional Chinese family and was taught to really internalize a lot of my feelings and not share them.” However, the Everything Everywhere All at Once actor added that it’s unhealthy to keep emotions bottled up. For him, the sequel creates an avenue for people to explore the importance of sharing their experiences to foster empathy. Zootopia 2 continues the story of the highly acclaimed 2016 film Zootopia, which follows rookie police officer rabbit Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, and the con artist fox named Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman, as the unlikely pair team up to investigate the disappearance of predator animals. The sequel picks up where the first film left off, quickly sending Judy and Nick on their latest adventure to uncover the truth surrounding the new reptilian character, Gary De'Snake. It is co-directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, who also worked on the first film. The voice cast includes actor Idris Elba as Chief Bogo, the Zootopia police chief, singer Shakira as the pop star gazelle named Gazelle, and newcomers Patrick Warburton as Mayor Brian Winddancer, a stallion, and Fortune Feimster as the beaver named Nibbles Maplestick. In Zootopia 2, Judy, the overachieving bunny, and Nick, the laidback fox, must come to terms with their differences to become a stronger team. For Bateman, the core of what the movie is conveying is that “differences can be a plus” for those who have the courage and curiosity to be with someone unlike themselves. Echoing Bateman, Howard felt that Judy and Nick needed to show both the pros and cons of a new professional partnership.

Bollywood’s latest anti-Pakistan propaganda film Dhurandhar has triggered strong backlash after its trailer release, with much of the criticism coming from Indian social media users. The trailer portrays Karachi’s Lyari as a war zone, showing Ranveer Singh as a RAW agent entering 'hostile' Pakistani territory, while Arjun Rampal appears as a Pakistani intelligence officer. Rampal's character, Major Iqbal, also known as the 'Angel of Death' is shown to be obsessed with "making India bleed." Actor R. Madhavan plays Ajay Sanyal, a character inspired by India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. In the story, Sanyal is convinced that Pakistan, particularly the Lyari district, needs to be infiltrated to tackle terrorism, with Lyari portrayed as the "heart of terrorism in the country." The film also uses Pakistani political imagery, including a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rally, photos of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, and party flags, drawing further scrutiny. Observers in Pakistan note that India’s anti-Pakistan narrative appears to be intensifying, particularly with Bollywood casting Sanjay Dutt as the late SSP Chaudhry Aslam and Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait, choices widely mocked online. Set for release in early December, Dhurandhar has already become a source of embarrassment for Bollywood, as viewers, including many in India, criticise its distortions, sensationalism, and unrealistic portrayal of Pakistan. Bollywood seems to be following the trend of Indian nationalism, where every aspect of Pakistans history has to be touched in some way by India. The Lyari gang wars were a strictly internal, domestic dispute that sprang in the slums of Lyari between rival gangs with rival political opposition. Rehman Dakait, Arshad Pappu, Chaudhry Aslam and Uzair Baloch were real individuals who shaped the history of Karachi, who were a personafication of the intricate ethnic and political lines that dominate Karachi. They represent a darker, more tumultour time of this city's history when dead bodies lay scattered and blood flowed in rivers. The pain of the Lyari gang wars is not for India to appropiate. No credit of this city's history should be handed over to Indian simply because they put the banner "based on true events" at the start of every movie. The Indian film industry has exhausted every aspect of their own history they could touch, and then the more recent history that they cannot touch. So whats left for them is to take our internal struggle, imagine their role in it, and posit themselves as our masters.

Lux Style Awards is gearing to return to a physical stage in Karachi in December. This year’s ceremony theme, Mirror the Magic promises new collaborations, a renewed vision and an event that celebrates “Pakistan’s creative spirit” for the world to see, according to a press release issued on Friday.  This will be the award show’s proper comeback after being halted twice. In 2020, the LSAs opted out as the Covid-19 pandemic staggered global events. Unilever instead donated the ceremony’s budget to the Akhuwat Foundation to support fashion industry workers affected by lockdown closure. The brand later acknowledged the winners of the 19th edition online. Then, in 2025, the awards were disrupted again, following heightened India–Pakistan tensions in May. The winners of the 23rd Lux Style Awards were announced digitally again, with no formal ceremony.   This year, the LSAs are introducing a new award category dedicated to digital content creators, to honour a space that has grown considerably after the lockdown. “As an audience-driven platform, the 24th Lux Style Awards introduced this category to acknowledge their growing impact on the creative economy and their role in shaping the future of storytelling,” said Samir Sultan, general manager of Personal Care, Unilever Pakistan. The show is aiming for “infused collaborations between real and reel achievers,” a phrase that likely points towards influencer crossovers and pop culture mash-ups.  The organisers promise a broader reach this year, with nominations to be announced in the following weeks.

For Ariana Greenblatt, learning magic tricks at The Magic Castle clubhouse in Los Angeles was the best part of starring in the third installment of the American heist film, Now You See Me: Now You Don't. "Before opening hours, we would spend a couple hours in there and just learn as much as we possibly could in the time given, and it was so much fun," the former Disney Channel star said of the month the actors spent at the home of the Academy of Magical Arts learning illusions seen in the film. "It's so weird. I feel like we have newfound skills, which is my favorite part of this job," said Greenblatt, who received several film award nominations for her role in Barbie. The new film, directed by Ruben Fleischer, features returning actors Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher and Morgan Freeman, along with newcomers Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Rosamund Pike and Greenblatt. The film, distributed by Lionsgate and opening in US theaters on Friday, continues the story of The Four Horsemen as they reunite to recruit three skilled illusionists for a high-stakes robbery of the world's largest "queen diamond" from a crime syndicate. "We learned so much, a lot of card tricks," said Sessa, whose debut in The Holdovers earned him the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. "Ariana did a lot of pickpocketing (in her role), and she was constantly trying to use me as her prop to practice on." For franchise veteran Franco, the magic tricks he learned over years of working on the films paid off. "We're playing the greatest magicians in the world. So, as an audience, when you're watching us, you want to believe that we're actually doing some of these tricks," he said. "Our director, Ruben, encouraged us to learn as much as we could to make it look as real as possible," he added, noting that his card-throwing skills have become especially advanced. It was important to Fleischer and the cast that the illusions looked convincing. "The director really wanted to make sure that the magic was real, that it wasn't just computer-generated effects, which meant for us as actors, practicing every day, the tiniest little hand moves," fellow franchise veteran Eisenberg said.

Romaisa Khan has joined Pakistani celebrities that are calling out the film industry for untimely payment for their work. Agreeing that we cannot deny that late payments exist in the industry, she shared her take on the matter in a recent interview.   “I feel like it’s your own money and you shouldn’t have to beg for it time and again,” said Romaisa. The Hadsa actor shared that it is something she struggles a lot with herself. “I often don’t get paid because of this because I feel so hesitant and shy to ask for it. I just let it go and my friends and family are angry on my behalf.”  The actor’s statement was part of a bigger problem that many industry professionals like director Mehreen Jabbar, veteran actor Mohammed Ahmed and actors Ahmed Ali Butt, Ramsha Khan, Nadia Afgan, Yasir Hussain and Alizeh Shah have pointed out.  Previously, Mahira Khan had shed light on the struggles of technicians in the film industry back in September. Taking to her Instagram story, she reminded us of the scale of the problem. “Imagine, if senior actors and hit maker directors go through this,” she said. “Just imagine what technicians go through.” Before that, Mehreen had burst the bubble of those harbouring the impression that a career in the television industry equates to a thriving bank account in July. “Our drama industry has progressed a lot, and there has been a very high viewership,” she said during an interview. “But behind the scenes, there is a lot of compromise and this industry operates in a very unprofessional way. That is the sad part.” Then, Mohammed thanked Mehreen for starting the conversion back in July. Taking to Instagram, he said: "Mehreen has spoken very clearly about the system and the drama industry, and it makes me so glad. She said plainly what I have been quietly saying for years." The Cake actor said that a delay of three to four months is extremely normal. Backing up Mehreen's beggar analogy, Mohammed continued, "You have to pretty much clasp your hands together and beg them to pay you. Then they dispense a cheque your way, all the while giving the impression that they are doing you a massive favour, just because they have decided to pay you. In every project, I feel their aim is to make actors beg for money. It destroys your dignity." Ahmed slammed the industry's recurring issue with late payments too. "Late payment is an industry standard," he said in an Instagram story in July. "Production houses, television channels and corporate sponsors all have a 60 to 90-day payment clause, and that too is hardly ever met on time." He added, "There are a few rare people who will pay you on time, otherwise everyone will make sure that you have to beg for your money, and that too in installments." On a lighter note, the actor said, "Work for YouTube. Be your own boss."

The director of Israel's entry for the 2026 Oscars about a Palestinian boy's quest to see the sea hopes it will help arouse compassion in his homeland during so much conflict. Prospects for lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians have rarely looked so bleak after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, two years of war in Gaza and surging settler violence in the West Bank. However, director and writer Shai Carmeli-Pollak has taken heart from the reception to his film The Sea which won Israel's top film prize so was automatically submitted for the foreign-language Oscar prize to be decided in March. "I met the audience that came to watch it and it was amazing that people could be emotional and sometimes shed a tear for this story while violence and atrocities happened not far from here," Carmeli-Pollak said in an interview this week after a viewing. The Sea tells the story of Khaled, a Palestinian boy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who fears growing up without seeing the sea and makes the perilous journey alone and without travel papers into Israel to try to reach the coast. He had recently been turned away at a checkpoint on a school trip to the sea, and his sudden disappearance from home leads his father, an undocumented labourer in Israel, to risk arrest by setting out in search of him. The Sea won Best Picture at September's Ophir awards, the Israeli equivalent of the Oscars, prompting condemnation from Culture Minister Miki Zohar, who pulled funding from the ceremony over the movie's portrayal of the Israeli military. Israel's government since 2022 has been among the most right-wing in its history, adamantly opposed to Palestinian statehood and committed to expanding settlement in the West Bank. The 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people, has hardened many Israelis towards Palestinians and made criticism of the army more sensitive. "Compassion and love" Carmeli-Pollak and the Israeli-Palestinian producer of The Sea, Baher Agbaria, said it was important to make films that helped people hear each other's stories. "I hope that the film will open other channels - channels of compassion and love - and give other ways that we can live together in this place," he told Reuters. Agbaria said it felt surprising to bring a Palestinian story to mainstream cinemas in Israel against the backdrop of the war. "Because (of) what is happening this is time also for this film, you know, for this kind of story, to listen to the others," he said. The film was released in cinemas in Israel in July and is still running. At the 2025 Oscars, an Israeli-Palestinian film No Other Land, about the Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community in the West Bank, won the documentary feature film award, also angering Israel's government. Carmeli-Pollak, a longtime peace activist, said that even though the government did not want him to represent Israel, he was proud to be part of a community of filmmakers who chose to honour The Sea. "I represent every people, like both Israelis and Palestinians, that aspire for peace and for equality and for living together in a different way than this government is working for."

For director Nia DaCosta, adapting the acclaimed 19th century play Hedda Gabler into her 2025 film Hedda was like forging a “self-insert fanfiction.” “What would it be like if I were there or like literally any Black woman?” DaCosta recalled asking herself. Beyond the desire to see a lead actor who looked more like herself in the period story, DaCosta fell in love with the role of Hedda in the play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1890. The Candyman director loved debating the character Hedda with her friends and interrogating the motives of the fictional literary woman. Hedda is set in 1950s England and follows the titular character Hedda Gabler, played by Tessa Thompson, as she navigates dissatisfaction in her marriage to George Tesman, portrayed by Tom Bateman, and explores her complex feelings toward Eileen Lovborg, played by Nina Hoss. The film arrived in theaters on October 22 and will be available for streaming on Prime Video on Wednesday. Thompson feels her role as Hedda is career-defining, not just for the spotlight it shines on her, but for its substance. “The provocation of the material” demands that people unearth something in themselves, she said, adding that it took bravery to go to some of the psychological places the character took her. Similarly, Hoss felt that playing Eileen and exploring the struggles and successes of queer women in the 1950s was a worthy role. Eileen and Hedda have a romantic past that Hoss was interested in exploring. “What was the dance with them before?” Hoss said of how she tried to imagine their backstory prior to the film's events. “And what is it that draws Eileen back into the room, facing Hedda and kind of provoking her again? They both feel, it’s still not done," she said.