The 50th edition of the Deauville American Film Festival concluded on Saturday, September 14, 2024. Actress Natalie Portman was honored for her entire career by receiving a Deauville Talent Award just before the announcement of the winners of this edition. Natalie Portman received this prestigious award from the hands of actress Isabelle Adjani, who delivered … Continue reading “Deauville 2024: and the winners are…”
King Henry VIII is such an overwhelming character in British culture that his six wives tend to be reduced to a footnote of history. A new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London puts the women in the spotlight. Henry VIII had a famously tumultuous love life. In fact most British schoolchildren learn the … Continue reading “Henry VIII’s Six Wives”
The Deauville American Film Festival will take place from 6 to 15 September in Normandy, giving us a glimpse of some great films to be released over the next few months. The 50th edition of the festival will pay tribute to actor Michael Douglas and present a selection of 50 American films that have changed … Continue reading “Hollywood sur Mer”
Lee Miller was one of the rare women war correspondents in World War II, photographing and reporting on D-Day, the liberation of Europe and some of the first images of Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. An exhibition celebrates her reporting of the siege of Saint-Malo in August 1944, before a biopic arrives on cinema screens, … Continue reading “Lee Miller: Photographing World War II”
Britain’s Women’s Prizes for 2024 have been awarded. The prize for fiction goes to American author V. V. Ganeshananthan for Brotherless Love, set during the Sri Lankan civil war. And the non-fiction prize, awarded at the same time this year, goes to Canadian author Naomi Klein for Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, about … Continue reading “Women’s Prize Winners 2024”
Rosalind Franklin is one of the invisible women scientists that litter history. Her work was integral to the discovery of the structure of DNA but only the two male scientists James Watson and Francis Crick are remembered for the achievement. A play in Paris looks at Franklin’s career. The Rosalind Franklin Affair is the last … Continue reading “The Rosalind Franklin Affair on Stage”
A new TV film shines the spotlight on a trailblazer in U.S. politics: Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first, and only, woman to run for the Presidential nomination. Regina King plays “Fighting Shirley”, who faced, and faced up to, obstacles all through … Continue reading “Shirley Chisholm the Woman Who Ran for President”
Monkey Man is a new departure for Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel: he co-wrote, directed and stars in the film inspired by Indian mythology and reality, which plays homage to the action movies he adores. The title and the film are inspired by the Hindu monkey-faced demigod Hanuman. The film does share themes with both … Continue reading “Monkey Man: Indian Mythology Meets Action Movie”
If you happen to be in Cambridge between now and the end of the summer, don’t miss the University Library’s exhibition about 20th century crime fiction with artefacts and first editions from the likes of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. Crime fiction is by far the most popular form of fiction in … Continue reading “Murder by the Book”
Dick Turpin was a highway robber in early 18th-century England. Unlike Robin Hood, he didn’t rob the rich to give to the poor. But he became a legend thanks to early “tabloid media”: broadsheets and penny dreadfuls. A new TV series takes a humorous look at the historic criminal. Dick Turpin could be considered as … Continue reading “Your Money or Your Life!”
