Category: Entertainment

Swiss-Kenyan director Damien Hauser’s dystopian fable “Memory of Princess Mumbi,” set during 2093 in an imaginary Africa created with the use of artificial intelligence, scooped the Golden Tulip Award at the Istanbul Film Festival on Sunday.

Set in the futuristic African country of Umata, “Memory of Princess Mumbi” is a playful meta-fiction that is part romance, part mockumentary and revolves around a love triangle between a film director named Kuve, an aspiring actress and a prince.

The film’s Istanbul Film Festival victory marks the first time a feature made with AI has won the top award at a prominent film festival.

In an interview with Variety, Hauser readily admitted he could have never made the film without using AI, even as he, paradoxically, set out to “make a movie that AI could never make.” “Memory of Princess Mumbi” launched last September from Venice’s independently-run Venice Days section before traveling widely, including to Toronto and Zurich.

The Istanbul festival jury, headed by Scottish director David Mackenzie (“Fuze”), awarded the event’s special jury prize to Chinese arthouse darling Bi Gan’s six-part epic “Resurrection,” in which a movie monster drifts through China’s 100-year history. “Resurrection” previously won the 2025 Cannes Jury Special Prize.

Istanbul’s best director honors went to French duo Romane Gueret and Lise Akoka’s coming-of-age drama “Summer Beats,” while the screenplay prize went to Austrian filmmaker Markus Schleinzer and his co-writer Alexander Brom for Sandra Hüller-starrer “Rose.” In this historical tragedy, Hüller plays a 17th-century woman living as a man.

Turkish films took the acting honors. The best actress prize went to İnci Sefa Cingöz for her role as a tormented young woman in first-time director Pinar Yorgancioglu’s drama “Those Who Whistle After Dark” Kemal Burak Alper took actor honors for Nuri Cihan Özdoğan’s “Dead Dogs Don’t Bite,” which mixes social drama and gangland war film tropes. 

The 45th Istanbul Film Festival, which ran April 9-19, marked a revamped edition of Turkey’s top film event and market. Artistic director Kerem Ayan has made the festival more global under a new format that mixes Turkish and international works in the main competition, while also driving local cinema by still having other sections dedicated solely to Turkish works.

The festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), also had a vibrant edition of its Meetings on the Bridge market component being relaunched under the new leadership of former Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival chief Başak Emre and Pınar Evrenosoğlu.

And the winners are…

GOLDEN TULIP COMPETITION

Golden Tulip Best Film – “Memory of Princess Mumbi,” directed by Damien Hauser

Special Jury Prize – “Resurrection,” directed by Bi Gan

Best Director – Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, “Ma frère” (“Summer Beats”)

Best Screenplay – Markus Schleinzer and Alexander Brom, “Rose”

Best Actress – İnci Sefa Cingöz, “Those Who Whistle After Dark”

Best Actor – Kemal Burak Alper, “Dead Dogs Don’t Bite”

Special Mention (to all animals in films) – “Hen,” directed by György Pálfi

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Best Short Film – “Gravity,” directed by Dalya Keleş

Special Mention – “Love and the Others,” directed by Sitera Değirmen

NEW VISIONS

Seyfi Teoman Best Film Prize – “32 Meters,” directed by Morteza Atabaki

Best Cinematography – Ziya Demirel and Yusuf Tan Demirel for “The Greatest Funeral Hits”

Best Editing – Morteza Atabaki for “32 Meters”

Best Actress – Esra Dermancıoğlu for “The Greatest Funeral Hits”

Best Actor – Burak Dakak for “About My Mom”

Best Supporting Actress – Çağdaş Ekin Şişman for “The Greatest Funeral Hits”

Best Supporting Actor – Özer Keçeci for “The Greatest Funeral Hits”

Best Art Direction – Elif Öner for “Dump of Untitled Pieces”

Best Music – Efe Demiral for “Dump of Untitled Pieces“

INDEPENDENT AWARDS

International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI)

Golden Tulip Competition – Best Film – “Rose of Nevada,” directed by Mark Jenkin

Directors Association of Türkiye (FİLM-YÖN)

Best Director (in memory of Osman Sınav) – Sunay Terzioğlu “Bonds, Roots and Passions”

Association of Documentary Filmmakers in Türkiye (BSB)

Documentary films from Türkiye – Best Documentary – “2m2,” directed by Volkan Üce

Turkish Association of Film Critics (SİYAD)

“Dump of Untitled Pieces,” directed by Melik Kuru

 
When it comes to TV news, winning viewers’ trust is out, and making them passionate about what they watch is in.

A media consultancy that had a hand in creating the format that ultimately became “Good Morning America” is warning TV-news organizations that they need to blow up their old models as soon as possible, or risk saying “good night” to audiences and ratings.

Magid, a media consultant that has worked for decades with TV networks and stations, believes local and national TV-news organizations need to start giving viewers more context, depth and emotional reassurance, rather than relying on breaking news and dozens of star anchors and correspondents.

“We’ve fully arrived in the ‘context’ era, and we are completely out of the ‘breaking news’ era,” says Jaime Spencer, Magid’s chief operating officer, during a recent interiview. “It doesn’t mean that breaking news isn’t important. It’s an expectation. It’s just become a completely functional attribute that doesn’t drive brand loyalty or consumption.”

Instead, the executive says, news broadcasters need to think about what will keep viewers they’ve already acquired watching for longer periods of time, rather than trying to get as many people to watch as possible. That means focusing more intently on new kinds of attributes.

“The brands that are succeeding and the brands that will succeed are aligning around these sort of attributes of ‘insightful,’ ‘thoughtful,’ ‘reassuring,’ ‘timely,’ ‘calming,’ ‘innovative,’” he says. Words that have less relevance to viewers include “’balanced,’ ‘explanatory,’ ‘trustworthy,’ ‘essential,’ ‘substantive,’ ‘reliable,’ ‘confident,’ ‘accurate,’ ‘clear.’ I mean, some real tenets of journalism,” says Spencer.  “It’s not that they’re not important as fundamentals, but brands built around those things are going to be really unlikely to break through” in the future.

Magid delivers its recommendations as TV-news grapples with some severe challenges. Advertisers remain wary of the format, worried that appearing alongside a vociferous anchor or a scene tied to news about war or climate change will turn off potential customers. Younger viewers, meanwhile, are turning more readily to digital venues like TikTok or YouTube and spending more time with influencers who don’t always have a formal journalism background or understand the ethics of newsgathering or reporting.

Others say TV news retains its power. A new report from VAB, a trade organization that represents TV networks in discussions with Madison Avenue, says more people from key consumer niches — people between 35 and 54, people who make over $100,000 a year and adults who are employed full-time — are watching more TV news than they did last year. The report is based on the findings from a December 2025 survey of 2,319 U.S. adults. The report suggested these niches are more likely to go to TV news first over social media for breaking news coverage.

Indeed, TV news is poised for a pick up. Consequential elections like the 2026 midterms are typically catalysts for broader viewing of news programs.

Over the longer run, however, news organizations need to promote themselves as places to get more understanding and reassurance, says Spencer, not as backers of trustworthy, reliable information. “If you’re just looking to monetize and grow an audience, trustworthiness isn’t really a part of that anymore. In fact, those that are more confirming of my personal beliefs are more likely to get attention to get consumption, to have brand connection.”

More major news outlets are working to create communities out of current viewers. Fox Nation, the streaming service backed by Fox News, spotlights lifestyle programming, documentaries, even stand-up comedy, along with the news programs from its flagship cable outlet. Versant’s MS NOW has unveiled plans to launch a new streaming service that aims to play to fans of its personalities and programming.

In such a moment, Spencer says, viewers put more faith in individual anchors, influencers and creators than in news brands, and polarizing perspectives drive more passion from audiences. He points to examples such as Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive political host, and MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow, as well as conservative host Dan Bongino and Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Just as digital influencers can gain massive audiences without well-appointed studios and dazzling visuals, so too can news outlets, Magid suggests. “There is no correlation between overhead costs and perceived quality,” he says, and traditional broadcasters can gain by emulating that model. Magid has begun recommending that local news organizations try to bet on one main “quarterback” rather than developing dozens of different news stars.

And news outlets need to think about bringing in a devoted audience, rather than the largest. “The goal is to get one more of something, right? One more commercial break, one more minute of consumption, one more page view, one more episode of this seres.” says Spencer. “Creating that emotional connection and trying to hold you longer through that one thing is  likely a better path to monetization than to try to get more.” In a dikfferrt era, the idea was that :”if we have something for everyone, then surely everyone will come, right?” he asks. Today, he says. “It just doesn’t stand up.”

Catherine O’Hara didn’t just have notes for the writers of “Schitt’s Creek” — she would rewrite entire scenes “from top to tail,” according to Dan Levy.

O’Hara died on Jan. 30 in her Los Angeles home after a brief illness. She was 71. On Monday’s episode of podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” Levy recalled working with his friend and co-star on the award-winning sitcom

O’Brien told Levy, “I remembered thinking it was such a nice thing for Catherine to have that role during that last decade of her life, where she was playing someone who was beloved, because people love the character and they’re really getting to see yet another way that she’s really funny. … It was such a nice thing for her that you made happen.”

Levy responded: “She made it happen. I just made sure that I was prepared. That’s really what it came down to. Like so much of Moira Rose was Catherine.” He recalled Seth Rogen once telling him that O’Hara would send emails the night before a shoot that said “Gentlemen, some thoughts about the scenes we’re shooting tomorrow,” and “it would be a full top-to-tail rewrite.”

“And as soon as he said it, it was like: I got those emails. The ‘gentleman’ — it always started with ‘gentlemen, some thoughts’ — and then it was an unbelievable rewrite of the scene. And that is what the amazing, all the great Catherine roles were when she found collaborators that wanted to give her that platform,” Levy said.

Levy continued, “You know, because she had so much to offer, and she was so, the way that she thinks is so on another level that as a writer, you can’t get into her head. So all you can really do is set the table, wait for the email, ‘gentlemen, some thoughts,’ read the scene and say, ‘Fuck yeah.’ You know, and like, just be prepared.”

Levy also revealed that he often stops and watches clips of O’Hara from the show when he sees them online.

“The crazy thing about it is that I’m still like, you know, I go on Instagram and her face is there and Moira’s clips from the show are all over the place,” Levy said. “And I, every time I see her — even though I wrote the thing — I stop and I watch, and I’m watching not for anything that I did, but I’m watching because she is impossible not to watch. And she’s impossible not to love and she’s, it’s impossible not to laugh with her in anything she does. And it’s, it is like an unimaginable loss. She was just an irreplaceable talent and an irreplaceable person.”

On the podcast, O’Brien asked Levy if he owns the costumes from “Schitt’s Creek,” noting that Sarah Jessica Parker owns the dresses from “Sex and the City.”

Levy responded: “Are you fucking crazy? Do you understand how little that show cost? We had to sell every piece of clothing to pay off the debts that the show had, even in our sixth season. We got no cash. It was like slim pickings from the very beginning, and then incremental sort of, I think it’s like a standard 15%, whatever it is, that your budget can increase, but 15% on like a pile of shells and a feather is not giving you much.”

Although they had to sell most of the “Schitt’s Creek” wardrobe, Levy said, he kept four “looks” from his character, as well as O’Hara’s Moria Rose and Annie Murphy’s Alexis. “Unfortunately, my dad’s suits, we can just buy in a store. So I have some,” Levy said. “The retrospective will be small, but I do have some of the looks.” Said O’Brien, “So the museum is going to be like a little nook in a mall.” To which Levy replied, “It’ll be a corner.”

O’Hara starred in “Schitt’s Creek” alongside Dan Levy, Eugene Levy and Annie Murphy. The show followed a wealthy family who became penniless overnight after falling victim to fraud. “Schitt’s Creek” premiered on Canadian broadcaster CBC in 2015 and ran for six seasons until 2020. In the U.S., the series is available to stream on HBO Max.

Dan Levy had previously said he was considering a “Schitt’s Creek” sequel series before O’Hara’s death.

Watch Levy’s appearance on SiriusXM’s “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” at this link.

A new Martin Scorsese film titled “Aldeas, the Final Dream of Pope Francis” is set to launch with a private screening at the Vatican on Tuesday, which marks one year since the pontiff’s death.

Scholas Occurrentes, a global Catholic educational movement founded by the late Pope Francis, has released some first-look images from the film that Scorsese and his team shot across Italy, Indonesia, the African country of Gambia and Vatican City. According to its synopsis, “Aldeas” features Pope Francis’ last, never-before-seen testimony, recorded shortly before his passing.

“At its heart is a film in which entire communities come together to create and share their own stories, including a return by Martin Scorsese to his grandfather’s village in Sicily, where he works with local young people to make a film of their own,” the synopsis says.

“Aldeas” is described as “a powerful convergence of Pope Francis’ and Martin Scorsese’s visions of art, spirituality and humanity,” moving “beyond traditional cinema, transforming storytelling into an act of resistance, identity and purpose, and positioning film as a force for a new culture.”

The film’s promotional materials go on to say that “Aldeas” is rooted in Pope Francis’ vision and was described by Francis as “an extraordinarily poetic and deeply transformative project, because it reaches the very root of human life: our sociability, our conflicts and the very essence of life’s journey.”

The statement continues: “Pope Francis understood that cinema would play a fundamental role in making the culture of encounter a reality. Working from the peripheries, the project creates space for people to tell their own stories, celebrating cultural diversity while fostering intercultural and intergenerational dialogue. It is a new kind of cinema, born from a new kind of education, helping shape a new culture.”

On April 21, exactly one year after Pope Francis’ passing, “Aldeas” will be screened just a few steps from where he lived and where his life came to an end.

“This film is a tribute to the Holy Father,” Scorsese said in a statement. “It honors his memory by embodying the spirit of his ministry and his dream of creating an ever more human culture. At this moment in history, I believe that is not only a dream, but a necessity.”

In an interview last June with Variety at the Taormina Film Festival Scorsese spoke about the Sicilian component of this project “In a way I think that for me that [Sicilian connection] combined with the religious experiences, it has propted a curiosity and a search as to my own identity. As to who I am,” he said.

“Aldeas” is produced by Aldeas Scholas Films in association with Scorsese’s own Sikelia Productions and Massive Owl Productions. Producers include Scorsese, Teresa Leveratto, Ezequiel del Corral and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, with Lisa Frechette, Romilda de Luca, Ariel Tcach and Ariel Broitman serving as executive producers. 

Directors Clare Tavernor and Johnny Shipley, together with producer Amy Foster, lead the creative team. Acclaimed cinematographers Ellen Kuras and Salvatore Totino also contributed to the film. 

The project features collaborations with internationally recognized artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, including actor Babou Ceesay, actress Happy Salma and Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, representing Africa, Asia and Europe, respectively.

The film and the broader project are independently financed by international sponsors and donors, ensuring that all proceeds are reinvested in sustaining and expanding the initiative globally.

LBI Entertainment and Double Agent are handling sales on “Aldeas.”