livus

A breath of fresh air in terms of cinematic innovation, aesthetics, and content. Yorgos Lanthimos directs and co-writes this film with Tony McNamara, providing numerous moments of entertainment while also provoking thought. The film liberates itself entirely from societal constraints, aiming to rediscover the primal sense of wonder inherent in childhood exploration. “It’s a charming attraction to purity, to something that remains untarnished”, reflects Emma Stone on the film. “It’s a desire to reclaim a part of ourselves reminiscent of our past innocence, urging us to rediscover that purity within.”

New research from CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, and the University of Toronto in Canada, estimates up to 11 million metric tons of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor. The article, "Plastics in the deep sea—A global estimate of the ocean floor reservoir," was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers.

Scientific data was used to build two predictive models to estimate the amount and distribution of plastic on the ocean floor—one based on data from remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and the other from bottom trawls. Using ROV data, 3 to 11 million metric tons of plastic pollution is estimated to reside on the ocean floor.

Kyrgyzstan recently finished repatriating women and children who were detained in Syria and Iraq for having been connected with men who fought with al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS). This has been hailed as the end to Central Asia’s struggle with large-scale jihadism, but the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan and the ongoing Israel–Hamas war have the potential to generate another wave of militancy.

The returning Kyrgyz nationals are currently undergoing a long and complex rehabilitation and reintegration process, though one that has been broadly successful across the region.

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) has declared its solidarity with civil society groups and student protesters demonstrating against the torture of a Papuan man, Defianus Kogoya, by Indonesian troops in West Papua last February.

The torture was revealed in a video that went viral across the world last month.

PANG said in a statement that peaceful demonstrations came after the video was circulated showing Defianus Kogoya bound in a water-filled barrel, being beaten and cut with knives by Indonesian soldiers.

Tesla has canceled the long-promised inexpensive car that investors have been counting on to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker, according to three sources familiar with the matter and company messages seen by Reuters.

Feeling thwarted by the 404, I suddenly remembered there are plenty of curated feeds over in Collections for us to browse. Have updated one of mine to reflect newer communities.

Its multiple story threads and attempts to satirise India’s government sit awkwardly with the action, but there’s much to admire in Dev Patel‘s frenzied, ultraviolet genre spectacle....Shot and choreographed with a kineticism that never veers too far into the sleekly balletic, the fight scenes here are often enthralling and genuinely bruising. They retain a necessary sense of life-or-death consequence and of the frenzied amateur using every survival tool at his disposal. When Patel’s character stabs an opponent, he drives the blade in not with his hands but with his teeth. You wince, but at the same time, you want to applaud.

Here’s your first look at Christian Bale’s suited-up as Frankenstein in actress-turned-filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on the classic monster with The Bride, her forthcoming feature at Warner Bros. 

Gyllenhaal shared the first look of Bale today on her Instagram, alongside an image of Jessie Buckley as “The Bride.” 

Bale and Buckley star in the pic alongside Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. The film’s logline reads: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aid of Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police, and a wild and radical social movement.

The movie is being produced by Emma Tillinger Koskoff (Academy Award-nominee The Joker, The Irishman, The Wolf of Wall Street), Gyllenhaal, Talia Kleinhendler (The Lost Daughter), and Osnat Handelsman-Keren (The Lost Daughter). EPs are Courtney Kivowitz (The Lost Daughter) and Carla Raij (Maestro, The Fablemans).

The pic will mark Gyllenhaal’s second directorial effort following The Lost Daughter, her screen adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name, starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Jessie Buckley. The film was nominated for three Oscars: Best Actress (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Buckley), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Gyllenhaal).

The French Senate on Tuesday endorsed a Constitutional review project bearing significant modifications to the local electoral rules for New Caledonia, but with amendments. The text passed with 233 votes in favour and 99 against.

It aims at modifying the conditions for French citizens to access a special list of voters for the elections in New Caledonia's three provinces and the Congress.

Since 2007 the electoral for those local elections was described as "frozen" to only allow persons residing in New Caledonia before 1998.

However, the French government and its Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin introduced earlier this year a new text for a "sliding" electoral roll allowing citizens who had been residing in New Caledonia for an uninterrupted ten years to access the local roll.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight is launching a new People’s Choice audience award at its upcoming edition, running alongside the main festival from May 15-26.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced $6 million in humanitarian assistance to those affected by conflict in Gaza and Sudan during his ongoing visit to Egypt. “There are huge and urgent humanitarian needs in both Gaza and Sudan, and it is important that New Zealand continues to make its contribution to international efforts to meet them,” Mr Peters says.

On a visit to Cairo, during which he has met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Minister Peters announced New Zealand would commit: $2 million to the United Nations 2720 Mechanism for Gaza, which prioritises, accelerates and maximises the impact of aid flows into Gaza to help meet urgent needs; and $4 million to support lifesaving humanitarian protection and assistance for conflict-affected Sudanese communities in Sudan and its neighbouring countries, including Egypt.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s planning minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka was Monday appointed as the African nation’s first woman prime minister, state television announced. An economist, she takes over as prime minister from Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, following President Felix Tshisekedi’s sweeping re-election on December 20.

Tshisekedi officially triumphed with 73.47 percent and the vote passed largely peacefully in a country long torn by violence and instability.