Singer D4vd could be facing the death penalty after being charged Monday with first-degree murder by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in connection with the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered body was discovered inside an abandoned Tesla in the Hollywood Hills last year.
L.A. District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a press conference Monday that the 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Burke, faces a first-degree murder charge with special circumstances, including lying in wait; committing the crime for financial gain; and murdering a witness. He was also charged with a second count involving lewd acts with a child, as well as dismemberment of the 15-year-old girl’s body.
“These charges include the most serious charges that a D.A.’s office can bring,” Hochman said.
In September, a severely decomposed body was discovered at a Los Angeles impound lot inside a vehicle registered to Burke in Hempstead, Texas. Police said the remains were placed inside a bag in the Tesla’s front trunk.
The dismembered body was later identified as the missing Inland Empire teen. A decomposed head and torso were found in a cadaver bag inside the Tesla, according to court documents; additional dismembered body parts were discovered in a second bag inside the vehicle.
Rivas had been missing since April 24, 2024 — nearly 18 months before her remains were discovered at Hollywood Tow on Sept. 8. She was identified after the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner noted a tattoo on her right index finger reading “Shhh…,” prompting her mother to contact the office.
Burke was named a suspect by Los Angeles homicide detectives in November. He was arrested in Hollywood on Thursday on a probable cause warrant and is being held without bail. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
“The determination on whether or not the district attorney’s office will seek the death penalty will be made at a later time,” Hochman said.
The Hollywood Reporter was unable to reach Burke’s attorneys at Berk Brettler LLP on Monday. Last week, following his arrest, the singer’s attorneys said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” in a statement.
Burke was in the midst of a string of dates on the d4vd Withered 2025 World Tour when Hernandez’s body was identified in a car registered in his name. A Seattle concert scheduled that day was canceled, and the remaining tour dates were soon scrapped.
As d4vd, Burke broke out on TikTok and SoundCloud in 2022, leading to a rapid rise that included opening for SZA and performing at Coachella ahead of his debut album. He amassed more than 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify and signed with Darkroom/Interscope.
His debut album, Withered, released in April 2025, notably featured vocals largely recorded on an iPhone in his sister’s closet, as he told The Hollywood Reporter last year.
Out in Fiji, Benjamin “Coach” Wade was a popular pre-game winner pick among the press — a calmer, more introspective version of the Dragon Slayer who seemed poised for a deep run on Survivor 50. That calm didn’t last. In his exclusive exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter below, Coach explains where the game slipped away, how old instincts crept back in and why he believes he may never be meant to win Survivor.
***
Before the first Tribal Council of season 50, a lot of us in the press had you pegged as a potential winner. You were my winner pick. In pregame, you were really introspective and seemed like Coach 2.0, but we saw the Dragon Slayer come back pretty quickly. What changed from that pregame zen to that traditional Dragon Slayer game that we ended up seeing?
I’ll tell you. I had amassed an enormous army of real connections with people, real conversations. You can’t name a single person out there that didn’t want to play with me. Kamilla, Charlie, Mike — who very easily could have been Final Four. I set that spot to be the nucleus of every single beach that I was on. And even when we merged, Emily came up to me and we had a really good conversation. I had one commodity coming into that game, and that’s my word. When I say I’m going to do something, I do it. People misconstrue my honor and integrity. It’s not about getting through the game without lying because that’s impossible. I tried to do it in Tocantins and failed. It’s more about I’m going to vote the way I say I’m going to vote.
You can’t find a single time where I went into a vote saying, “This is what I’m going to do.” And then I did something different. That’s my commodity. When Ozzy tried to erode that commodity, I stood up for myself. But I was at the nucleus of everything and had this huge army that was systematically being picked off, unbeknownst to anybody knowing that it was the group that I was assembling. So that kind of unraveled me a little bit. What really happened was when we went to the “Blood Moon,” I made a huge mistake in forgetting that Colby didn’t have a vote. Colby and Joe asked me to throw a challenge before the merge, that last one. They said, “We got to get Colby’s vote back and we got to get out Aubrey or maybe Tiffany.” I said, “That goes against what I think as a competitor, so I can’t do that.” In hindsight, maybe we should have, but I forgot that Colby didn’t have a vote.
So we’re up there on the pegs (of last week’s challenge) and I couldn’t go longer. Dee turns around and looks at me and says, “Coach, I got you. ” I said, “Dee, are you sure?” She was like, “Yeah, I got you, Coach.” So I stepped off. Then in the moment where Colby says, “Coach, we’re screwed.” I said, “No, we’re not, man. We still got the votes. It’s you, me and Cirie.” He was like, “Coach, I don’t have a vote.” I say the F-bomb. You can see it on TV. They bleep it out. That’s the moment I realized I made a huge mistake, so it really derailed me because I then went and played very messy with Dee and scrambled and didn’t want Colby to go home.
Then I was like, “Frick, Colby just went home. So all right, let me be calm and cool. Let me reconnect with the people.” Then we get into the Dee vote and it’s a very simple one. I said, “All right, let’s go. Let’s vote Dee.” It was just a group of us. It was not me running the show. Then we said, “Well, who’s going to go second?” I think it was me, Jonathan and Joe having a conversation. The three of us agreed we needed to have Tiffany out because she’s Dee’s best friend. So we came up with that decision and then it was like, “who’s going to vote for who? How are we going to split the votes?”
You’re talking about all returning players. You’re going to go into a vote and not split it? If you have the numbers, that’s Survivor 101. And they refused to do it. I couldn’t believe it. So I started getting agitated because again, it was based on fear. I had already made some mistakes. I saw people leaving that were in my greater alliance and I thought, I cannot go home tonight. We could have been sitting here last week and you would’ve been saying, “Well, why didn’t you fight harder to convince people to split the votes?” I would’ve said, “Nobody wanted to split the votes, so I just put my tail between my legs.” That’s not me.
The other thing is that I am a performer. There’s this time, 10-12 days in, where I start thinking, “I have to make sure that I take this to the next level and that what I say does not end up on the cutting room floor.” So I think that there’s a little bit of that.
I’m a big believer in destiny. I’m not a religious man, but I’m deeply spiritual. I don’t think that I’m meant to win Survivor because I think that it would go so to my head. My ego would be getting so big — bigger than it already is — that it would be to the detriment of who I am as a character and the impact that I have on people. It doesn’t surprise me that you guys said that [I was a potential winner], but I’m very comfortable with what happened. I did not compromise myself. I think the farther I went in the game, maybe I would’ve had to betray people and change my votes up and compromise that part of my game.
Chrissy Hofbeck and Benjamin “Coach” Wade on Survivor 50.
After the challenge, you were told to lay low by Chrissy. How much did you actually buy into her advice and in hindsight — was she right?
I think there’s a middle ground. It started with Rizo the episode before. It does show that I have grown. I better have grown as a man — but in Tocantins I would’ve been like, “You’re not telling me what to do.” But I took the advice. I thought it was sound advice for the time. I know that I’ve been aggressive. I know that in order to get the vote split, I had to really throw my weight around. And then it was like, “okay, now let me be calm and let me sit here and let me let the chips fall.” I didn’t spend the whole day in the hammock, but I felt like it was sound advice and it coming from a good place, so I took it.
You were aligned with Ozzy. Did you have a sense that he hadn’t fully let that early Fight for Supplies issue go?
Hats off to him for playing the most strategic game he’s ever played. So congratulations, not coming in the same way that he’s always come in. Cirie, Stephenie, Joe, Jonathan — you could go over most people. They’re coming in the same way they came in last time. Ozzy has evolved strategically and good for him. But I knew that at the end of the day, he and I were not going to be sitting at the finals together. And it was really a matter of who was going to get to the other one first because I imagined him coming down to six, and then cutting him at six.
If you’re curious about my boot order, I was thinking it was going to be Stephenie, Cirie, after Ozzy, whittling it down like that. And then me, Jonathan and Chrissy at the final three. But it was inevitable. Ozzy and I have never had the luxury of starting on the same beach together. So we’re never going to have that day one alliance and that day one trust.
When Cirie came back from Exile, it looked like she shifted the vote onto you and Chrissy. Was that the turning point or were you already in trouble?
I think that was still part of the plan going into tribal, maybe not 100 percent but maybe 50/50 or 60/40 against me. Then Deven’s idol definitely tipped it 10 percent one way. But I did not think I was in trouble. I think Cirie came back and it was interesting because she and I had a talk on the hammock and she said, “Coach, I don’t know what it means for you to be an alliance, but I’ll tell you that for me to be in an alliance, it means that I will fight for you. I fought for you with the Colby vote and I will fight for you until my last dying breath out here.” That level of emotional deception is what made her dangerous in the moment. Hats off to her.
I did send her a text message and she said, “Well, Coach, you got to know that Dee actually said to me that you were going for me for the Colby vote.” Then he said, “But Dee later came back and said that she was lying about that.” It’s like a resting snake. They’re not really dangerous and she really has done some things, but she hasn’t been the strategic mastermind in this game. And in fact, I was sitting there thinking, “Is Cirie overrated?” Then she does something like that and shifts the whole game and you think, “yeah, she is dangerous.”
Coach and Jonathan Young.
You got a pretty memorable sendoff with the Tai Chi, rock formation, the haikus. You even got a song. What was it like for you watching your final episode back, even though you went home?
They’ve really honored me over the years. I have nothing but gratitude for the producers. I’ve got nothing but joyful times and memories, even the bad times. The fact that they don’t have to show any of that stuff. It’s all icing on the cake. They didn’t have to show the nicknames. Now it’s gone viral. And I’m literally having thousands of requests. I’m running this limited nicknaming ceremony on my website and we’ve almost sold out. It’s crazy. And as I said to the producer that did that episode, “You didn’t have to show that. And so thank you for giving me honor all the time in this edit.” Sometimes it’s including eye roll. Sometimes Tiffany’s finally getting airtime by slagging me off and reaming me a new one.
A lot of people should be thanking me because attached to me, good or bad, they’re getting the airtime. I just feel humbled and blessed and honored they have continued to put me up as one of the memorable characters. Five years from now, 18 of these contestants from season 50 will not even be remembered. But they will think of 50. And whether they love me or hate me, they will remember me being attached to this season.
Coach, you’ve always approached Survivor with a sense of mythology and a personal narrative. What story do you think the season ultimately told about you?
That I can be wise, that I can be a big character, I can be eclectic. I think the biggest thing is that I can be joyful, because they really showed my happy side. I’m singing and dancing almost the whole time. I think that that’s the biggest takeaway; but that I can be stupid and that I can have holes in me because I’m older and I’m vulnerable. They can show all of the above. It’s why in the words of the great man himself, “There’s never been a Coach, there will never be another Coach.”
The joyful part really shows where I’m at in life. I have this amazing family. I’ve got a great job, a great career. My kids’ artwork is hanging up behind me. The meaning of life is not what it was 15 years ago. It’s shifted and is different. It’s to have a relationship with the creator of the universe. It’s to have a relationship with the creator of the universe. That’s first and foremost. There’s a spot inside of our soul that will not be filled up with anything other than that, whatever that looks like to you. Number two is to find your soulmate and crush life’s obstacles together and leave a generational legacy through your children. And number three is to keep the magic inside of us that we’ve been born with.
It’s joy, kindness and love. The world wants to beat it out of us, especially when we’re men. And it beat it out of me for a while, but I see it in my kids every day and I protect it in my kids every day. If we give that to everybody that we meet – joy, kindness, and love – the world’s going to change. And in my corner of the world, I do that every day and it has been changed. Whether I’m at the high school or I’m radiating light through these kids that are coming through my program and they in turn are radiating light to the student body, or where I’m conducting the symphony, where I’m coaching soccer. It’s there. It’s a ripple effect and we can all do it. We just have to let go of our ego and our pride.
To close us out, do you have a haiku, quote or a song that sums up your Survivor 50 experience?
I’ll give you a haiku and then I’ll give you a quote. So Walter Savage Landor once said that, “It’s easy to look down on others, but to look down on yourself is the true difficult task.” And I think that’s apropos. It’s easy for people to talk smack online. But when you look at yourself and your introspective and say, “This is not who I want to be, ” then that’s the difficult task and something that I think I’ve done over the survivor journey. A haiku, “Bitter at this time. My heart is downtrodden now. Resilience will come.”
Coach, always a pleasure to talk to you. I look forward to seeing you at the finale in L.A. next month.
You too, brother. I appreciate you.
***
Survivor airs new episodes on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS and Paramount+.
The recent statements by US President Donald Trump and the shuttle diplomacy carried out by senior Pakistani military and government leaders in regional capitals have raised hopes of ending the US-Israel war with Iran through negotiations. This could initially take the form of a “framework agreement” between the United States and Iran to lay the groundwork for a final deal.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump struck an optimistic tone, saying the war was “about to end”, as “almost all” issues had been resolved. The remaining differences would be addressed in talks that he said would resume soon. He also said he might travel to Islamabad if a final agreement were signed there.
Despite Trump’s tendency to make exaggerated statements, his remarks this time appeared to be backed by a series of intensive diplomatic activities in the region. The surprise visit by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials—apparently to convey messages from Washington—suggested that the ground was being prepared for another round of negotiations between the US and Iran.
The messages conveyed were intended to address differences between the two sides over the remaining issues, as well as to discuss efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire in Lebanon.
At the same time, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif embarked on a three-country tour—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye—to brief their leaders on the latest developments in the talks aimed at ending the war.
This also indicates that diplomatic activity was in full swing in preparation for another round of direct talks between Washington and Tehran.
With the ceasefire among the US, Israel, and Iran holding since April 8, the announcement of a 10-day truce between Lebanon and Israel has boosted optimism and was widely seen as a step towards a peace agreement between Washington and Tehran.
Iran welcomed the truce, which received global backing. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran views the truce as part of a broader understanding with Washington reached during talks mediated by Pakistan.
In fact, controversy arose shortly after the ceasefire between the US and Iran was announced, when Iran and Pakistan said it included a truce in Lebanon as part of a broader regional ceasefire, but Trump denied that.
This required talks among Israel, the US, and Lebanon, which culminated in the ceasefire in Lebanon. In response, Iran announced it would allow all commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the remainder of the temporary truce period—before matters became somewhat complicated.
All of this came after negotiations held between the US and Iran in Islamabad on April 12.
These were the highest-level direct talks between them in more than four decades, during which there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries. The dispatch by both sides of high-level delegations indicated their seriousness about finding a way out of the conflict.
Many international media outlets rushed to declare that the talks were inconclusive and ended in failure, as if an agreement on such thorny issues could be reached within just a few hours.
In reality, the Islamabad talks were neither a major achievement nor a failure; the two delegations returned to their capitals to consult with their leaderships in a generally positive atmosphere, and neither side said the talks had collapsed.
The diplomatic option remained on the table for both sides, keeping the door open to the possibility of continuing negotiations. Diplomatic engagement continued through Pakistan, which stepped up its efforts to persuade the two parties to show flexibility and maintain back-channel communications in order to narrow the gaps in their positions.
The Islamabad talks revealed how far apart the two sides’ positions were, as reflected in the 15-point plan put forward by the US and the 10-point proposal presented by Iran.
Tehran’s core demands included guarantees that there would be no future American or Israeli attacks on Iran and its regional allies, the lifting of sanctions, the unfreezing of assets, international recognition of its right to uranium enrichment, and the continuation of its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
The US’s demands included strict Iranian commitments not to pursue nuclear weapons, insistence that Tehran carry out no enrichment, removing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium from the country, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
When the talks ended, the US side claimed that Iran had not responded to its nuclear concerns, while Iran asserted that the American negotiators had made unrealistic demands.
But both sides acknowledged that progress had been made, despite key issues remaining unresolved, including the future status of the Strait of Hormuz. The US proposed sharing the revenue from customs fees for the strait, but Iran rejected the idea.
Subsequent indirect contacts sought to address contentious points on the nuclear issue and the strategic waterway, as Pakistani mediators urged both sides to be more flexible.
These issues are expected to dominate the talks in a second round if it is held, as Pakistani mediators have privately said they made progress on the “contentious issues”, although Iranian officials have expressed a more cautious stance.
The main difference that must be resolved concerns the nuclear issue: the US proposes that Iran carry out no uranium enrichment for 20 years, which it believes would ensure that Tehran does not pursue a nuclear weapons programme.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that it will not build a nuclear bomb, but that it has the right to enrichment for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a party. Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has stated that the talks must recognise Iran’s rights, interests, and dignity if they are to bear fruit.
The question is whether the US would agree to enrichment at less than three percent —far below weapons-grade levels—for five years, as Iran reportedly offered.
As for the other issue related to removing nuclear material, it can likely be addressed through Tehran’s offer to dilute the concentration of its 400kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the lowest possible level inside Iran, while granting the International Atomic Energy Agency full access to verify it.
Iran wants all sanctions lifted, but it will not agree to take its stockpiles out of the country. When Trump recently claimed that Iran had accepted the US demand, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson quickly denied it, saying: “Enriched uranium will not be transferred anywhere.”
The question remains open as to whether the next round of talks will be able to break the deadlock over the nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz. The stakes are high for both sides, which appear to want a way out of the war, but obstacles remain, and Israel could still play a spoiling role and stand in the way of any achievement that might be made. These are difficult hours casting a shadow over the world.
A version of this article was originally published in Arabic by Al Jazeera Arabic.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
US accuses Iranian citizen of brokering arms deals, including for drones and ammunition, with Sudan’s Ministry of Defence.
Published On 20 Apr 202620 Apr 2026
An Iranian national has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Tehran, the US Department of Justice says.
Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested and “charged with … brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan”, the department said in a post on X on Monday.
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US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in an earlier X post that Mafi lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills and “is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016”.
Mafi was arrested on Saturday and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Essayli’s post was accompanied by images of a woman presumed to be Mafi surrounded by federal agents at the airport, a large drone on a tarmac, a woman’s ID image and bundles of cash.
The United Nations recently warned that Sudan is at risk of slipping into “full-scale famine and collapse” as the war between its army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered its fourth year.
A criminal complaint dated March 12 alleged that Mafi and an unnamed coconspirator operated a company in Oman called Atlas International Business, through which weapons and ammunition were trafficked. The company received more than $7m in payments in 2025.
Separately, Mafi and the coconspirator brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese Ministry of Defence, according to court documents.
“In connection with the transaction, Mafi submitted a letter of intent to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’) to purchase the bomb fuses for Sudan,” the complaint said.
Mafi is scheduled to appear in US District Court in Los Angeles on Monday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
Denise Brown, head of the United Nations in Sudan, told the AFP news agency on Thursday that Sudan is facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and weapons from outside sources deserve part of the blame.
The UN has repeatedly called on foreign powers to stop fuelling the war but has not accused specific states.
On one side, the Sudanese army has been backed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and deployed Turkish- and Iranian-made drones.
However, most of the blame has been pointed at the United Arab Emirates, which denies evidence that it has funnelled arms to the RSF, which has been accused of genocide.
J.M. Harper’s documentary “Soul Patrol” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 28th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the first all-Black special forces unit in the Vietnam War, the doc premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“We are so honored to receive this award,” said “Soul Patrol” producer Sam Bisbee, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for “The Perfect Neighbor.” “I’ve always had the best experiences at Sarasota, starting with our film ‘Robot & Frank’ in 2012. The film community there is just so wonderful.”
Despite critical acclaim and winning the Sundance U.S. documentary directing prize, “Soul Patrol” is still seeking distribution. Submarine’s Josh Braun, the film’s sales agent, told Variety that the doc is “on the path” to finding a home.
“Festivals like Sarasota, the Berkshires, the Hamptons, and Woodstock are an important part of the infrastructure,” Braun said. “Particularly for films that haven’t found their deal yet.”
Last month, Braun sold the Sundance 2026 title “Cookie Queens” to Roadside Attractions. The film about the $800 million worth of cookies that Girl Scouts across America sell annually took home the SIFF special jury doc prize.
Rory Kennedy returned to SIFF for the fourth time with her doc “The Trial of Alec Baldwin.” The film is a revealing portrait of Baldwin after the tragic on-set accident on the movie “Rust,” which resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
“We are longtime admirers of the Sarasota Film Festival and its deeply engaged audiences,” Kennedy said. “’The Trial of Alec Baldwin’ is particularly suited to the big screen — where its tension, complexity, and sense of disbelief unfold most powerfully as a shared, collective experience.”
Kennedy said that she has partnered with “a terrific distributor” to release the doc in theaters this fall.
On April 19, after a screening of “In the Hand of Dante,” director Julian Schnabel received the SIFF Achievement in Directing Award. Kenny Anderson received the Achievement in Sport Award.
Libby Ewing garnered SIFF’s narrative feature jury prize for “Charliebird.” The film previously won the Tribeca Festival 2025 Founders Award for Best U.S. narrative feature.
Audience awards went to Ari Selinger’s “On The End” for best narrative film and John H. Cunningham’s “Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers” for documentary.
SIFF awarded “In Plain Sight” the best U.S. narrative short. Best documentary short went to “40 Days In Saratoga” and best animated short was awarded to “My Neighbor.”
“I’m honored to help close out the 28th year of the Sarasota Film Festival by celebrating the exceptional films showcased this year,” said Mark Famiglio, SIFF President and Chairman of the Board. “At its core, the festival exists for the community – to champion diverse voices and the power of storytelling.”
Consisting of 47 features and 39 short films, the festival kicked off on April 10 with a screening of “Deep Water” and concluded on April 19.
When explaining why they chose British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. as the international guest of honor at this year’s Projeto Paradiso National Talent Network gathering in Recife, the initiative’s executive director Josephine Bourgois said it was because Davies Jr’s “My Father’s Shadows” is a film that “could have been made by a Brazilian filmmaker.” This feeling was confirmed over the director’s visit to the Northeastern capital, where he showed his BAFTA-winning film at the imposing Cinema São Luiz.
“I had never seen my skin tone shot like [it],” said director Stefano Volp following the busy Saturday night screening. “‘My Father’s Shadow’ brings such a poetic and honest experience about masculinity, and particularly Black masculinity, to Brazil,” echoed filmmaker Fernanda Lomba. “Akinola bravely and generously weaves a fabulous patchwork of memory, private life, and Nigeria’s history. We have a lot to learn from this filmmaker’s gentle radicality [in Brazil].”
In a conversation with lauded Brazilian screenwriter Jaqueline Souza earlier in the week, the Davies Jr. mentioned how he realized in the last few years that there is a “big bridge between Brazil and Nigeria that maybe a lot of Nigerians are not cognizant of.” “We share a lot within our spirituality, the way we see the world, food, and politically as well.”
‘My Father’s Shadow’
Credit: Cannes Film Festival
Speaking with Variety at the event, the director recalls first visiting Brazil a few years ago and going to Rio de Janeiro to see landmarks such as Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana Beach. “But everybody I met kept telling me I needed to go to Salvador. When I finally visited, it was almost like a psychedelic experience. It was one of the most striking feelings I have ever felt. It was like a fever dream; everything felt so vivid. I was there for maybe four or five days. When people describe ‘My Father’s Shadow’ as a fever dream, this is how I felt about Salvador.”
With “My Father’s Shadow” being released in Brazil at the end of the month, Davies Jr prepared a special treat for the city he felt so connected with: a screening with live score performed by the film’s musicians, Duval Timothy and CJ Mirra. Since the drama is being distributed by Filmes da Mostra, the distribution arm of the Mostra de São Paulo, Davies Jr is also taking the event to the city where he held the Brazilian premiere back in October.
“I remember telling my Brazilian distributors once we struck a deal to show the film in Brazil that it would be incredible to have a proper premiere in Salvador,” adds the director. “I wanted to do something with the film in the city. I wanted to give the audience in Salvador something that felt truly special.” As for the São Paulo screening, the filmmaker called it a “gesture of our appreciation for having the film housed within such a fantastic, prestigious festival.”
The director’s time in Brazil is being captured by a duo of documentarians working on a special short film about how “My Father’s Shadow” resonates in Brazil. Director Lucas Crystal and cinematographer Henrique Alves first approached the British-Nigerian filmmaker at the Mostra de São Paulo, and have been closely following him on his latest visit.
“We thought about making a documentary when we realized that Akinola’s journey through Brazil would mimic that of Brazilians themselves, starting in the Northeast and going all the way down towards the south,” says Crystal. “We felt there was a poetry in this geographical mirroring, and we wanted to tell audiences about this bridge between Brazil and Nigeria, one we didn’t even know existed before meeting Akinola at the Mostra.”
The filmmaking duo says their film will be even more relevant given that Brazil will hold presidential elections at the end of the year. “Akinola’s film is very political and can talk to audiences at this key moment in our political history. We are about to make a choice that will define life for generations of Brazilians,” emphasizes Crystal, with Alves adding that films like “The Secret Agent” and “I’m Still Here” have opened a national appetite for political stories, but there’s still a lack of Black-focused and Black-led political narratives. “As a Black filmmaker, Akinola’s work spoke directly to me in a way Brazilian films haven’t in a while.”
LONDON, ENGLAND: Akinola Davies Jr. accepts the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Award for ‘My Father’s Shadow’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
Getty Images for BAFTA
With such a special connection to the Latin American country, would Davies Jr. ever embark on a Brazilian co-production? “Absolutely, I’d love to,” he says immediately. “It would be incredible to figure out the right relationship. I’ve met incredible Brazilian producers and filmmakers and everybody has been really generous and clever. I am sure when the time is right and the perfect opportunity arises, one hundred per cent, I’d love to work with Brazil. There is a bridge to be built. There is a big Brazilian community in Lagos, so hopefully we can find the right story for co-production. I am completely open to it.”
And the feeling is mutual when it comes to the Brazilian counterparts. Lomba, a filmmaker who works directly with strengthening the presence of Black creatives in Brazilian cinema through Nicho 54, says Davies Jr.’s visit to Brazil is “part of a certain Black zeitgeist, a moment where creative and business connections are heating up between Brazilian and African filmmakers thanks to a shared cultural imaginary. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of a long-awaited collaboration.”
To Davies Jr., being able to connect with the diaspora is even “more important” than he realized while making his film. “The response to the film has been overwhelming. When you make an authentic piece of work, people in the diaspora can resonate with the film regardless of where they are. I think we need to see more of each other’s films. I think there needs to be a lot more collaboration and a lot more sharing of resources, concepts and ideas between filmmakers.”
“I think for so much of the world, especially the Anglophone world, we look towards the U.K. and the U.S. and suddenly that seems to dominate the conversation, but there is a huge underserved Francophone community, there’s a Caribbean community, a Latin American community… We just need to figure out more ways of connecting.”
US President Donald Trump made strong and striking statements regarding the negotiations with Iran. Trump argued that the new agreement being worked on would be “much better” than the previous Iran nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Trump described the previous agreement as “one of the worst deals” for U.S. security, claiming it had pushed Iran down the path of developing nuclear weapons. He asserted that the new agreement would absolutely not allow such a result, and that a deal reached under his administration would guarantee peace and security not only for the Middle East but also for Europe and the U.S.
In his statements, Trump harshly criticized previous administrations, alleging that billions of dollars in cash transfers and economic resources were provided to Iran. The US President argued that these policies further destabilized the region and stated that the current negotiation process would create a stronger global security framework.
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On the other hand, Trump claimed that Iran had fired shots in the Strait of Hormuz, a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. He stated that a French ship and a British cargo ship were targeted in the incident, indicating a rise in tensions in the region.
Announcing that US officials would be traveling to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, to hold talks with Iranian representatives, Trump said the negotiating team would be in the region soon. Commenting on Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, Trump argued that this actually coincided with the blockade imposed by the US and that Iran was suffering the greatest economic losses.
Trump explicitly stated that harsh military options were on the table if Iran did not accept the agreement, saying, “The US can target all power plants and bridges in Iran.”
Crypto asset management company Grayscale has taken a significant step towards developing an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on $HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The company has submitted amendment #1 of its S-1 registration application for “Grayscale $HYPE ETF” to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the documents provided, the Grayscale $HYPE ETF aims to offer investors exposure to $HYPE without directly purchasing the asset. The fund, to be established within a Delaware-based trust, will directly hold $HYPE tokens, and the share price is intended to reflect the value of the amount of $HYPE held. It was also stated that staking income could be included in the fund’s performance under certain conditions.
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If approved, the fund plans to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “GHYP”. However, it must fully meet both SEC approval and Nasdaq listing criteria before it can begin trading. The application states that the ETF shares will not initially have a publicly traded market and will be issued continuously.
According to Grayscale’s application, ETF shares can only be created and redeemed in blocks of 10,000 “baskets” through authorized participants. These transactions can be carried out both in kind (as a form of $HYPE) and in cash. Custody services will be provided by Anchorage Digital Bank, while transfer and administrative transactions will be handled by Bank of New York Mellon.
Circus performer pulls 2,184-pound carriage with his nipples
March 24 (UPI) — A Finnish man used his body piercings to break the Guinness World Record for the heaviest vehicle pulled by the nipples — 2,184 pounds.
BitMine Immersion Technologies added 101,627 ETH or around $235 million worth last week.
It’s the firm’s largest purchase since December and brings its total holdings to nearly 5 million Ethereum, or $11.5 billion worth.
Shares of BMNR are down more than 3% on Monday, but have ticked up nearly 6% in the last month.
Publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies made its largest weekly purchase since December, adding 101,627 ETH valued around $235 million, putting the firm on the brink of topping the 5 million ETH milestone.
The haul pushes the firm’s total holdings to 4,976,485 ETH worth more than $11.5 billion. It also holds 199 Bitcoin, or around $15 million worth, and $1.12 billion in cash as of its Monday update.
“While many believe the crypto winter may last through the fall of 2026, our view remains that the crypto winter is much closer to ending,” said BitMine Chairman Tom Lee in a statement. (Disclosure: Lee is an investor in Dastan, the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.)
Ethereum is down around 1.1% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands at $2,312. The second-largest crypto asset by market cap has jumped 5.4% in the last week.
“As downside tail risks for the U.S.-Iran war diminish, ETH has risen 41% from its early February lows,” said Lee. “In our view, there is a lot of meaning to ETH being the best ‘war-time store of value,’ and to ETH being the asset leading since the war started,” he added.
Last week, the firm reported a net loss of $3.8 billion for the three-month period ending on February 28, 99% of which was attributed to unrealized losses on its Ethereum holdings. BitMine now holds more than 4.1% of the entire ETH circulating supply.
Over the six-month period ending on February 28, the firm had more than $9 billion in reported losses on account of ETH’s slide from its August all-time high mark of $4,946. As it stands, the asset is now trading about 53% off that mark.
BMNR shares are down about 3.3% since the opening bell on Monday and have slightly underperformed ETH in the last month of trading, gaining nearly 3% while ETH has risen 5.5% during the same span.
The firm’s shares have fallen nearly 59% in the last six months of trading ,and are 86% off their 52-week high of $161, recently changing hands at $22.21.
