Variety

Science Saru Studio’s ‘The Ghost in the Shell,’ Bound for Prime Video, Looks to Capture the Future Through Hand-Drawn Visions of the Past

Ahead of the Annecy Animation Festival premiere of “The Ghost in the Shell,” the new adaptation of the famous manga by Masamune Shirow, director Mokochan emphasized the human element that went into making this cyberpunk sci-fi series set in a world where humanity and technology are inextricably linked. “Ghost in the Shell” is set to […]

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Last Viking review – Mads Mikkelsen thinks he’s John Lennon in Von Trier-ish prankster comedy

Danish shaggy-dog story about a man with a dissociative disorder has a fun premise but wastes it on lots of goofy, humourless violenceAnders Thomas Jensen is an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director and veteran of the Dogme 95 years at Denmark’s Zentropa Studios. He now brings us this slapstick-violent black comedy and shaggy dog story of gruesome silliness. It is well acted but relentlessly and bizarrely unfunny. So unfunny as to be almost funny, but not really, in that the unfunniness approache

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Variety

’Batman: Knightfall,’ Starring Anson Mount and Michael Mando, Premieres to Thunderous Applause at Annecy

For comic book fans of a certain age, “Knightfall” is one of the biggest Batman story arcs ever published by DC Comics. The arc is infamous for having the Caped Crusader’s back broken by the super steroid-enhanced genius Bane. It served as a major source of inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” and […]

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘A mermaid brushed her hair while people put objects under her boobs’: discover the tiny secret festivals rivalling Glasto for vibes

Fed up with expensive tickets and omnipresent branding, some festival fans are creating their own anarchic, ticketless events full of glitter and silliness. They explain how it’s donePicture the scene: it’s July 2025 and I’m DJing at a festival called Loveshack. I’m not fretting about losing the crowd to a different stage because there isn’t one: we’re in a barn in the Welsh countryside. The dress-up theme is 90s icons, and below me Joanna Lumley is talking to Andre Agassi while a cop from the B

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

How Slovak Star-Turned-Ambassador and Karlovy Vary Honoree Magda Vasaryova Is Like Eric Cantona

KVIFF calls the Renaissance woman "one of the greatest Slovak actresses of all time," with her award also honoring "the unique artistic connection between the Czech and Slovak filmmakers."

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘The American experiment is clearly ongoing’: Netflix series examines how the US was founded

In a new docuseries, names including Kamala Harris, Al Gore, Mike Pence and Hillary Clinton reflect on America’s originsThe first episode of The American Experiment ends with the song Devil’s Spoke by Laura Marling – the chorus of which has Marling ominously warning, over a rousing folk refrain: “All of this can be broken.”This may seem like a dark message for a historical docuseries celebrating the nation’s founding – particularly ahead of its 250th anniversary. Continue reading...

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Variety

Dieselpunk Animated Series ‘MechWest’ Lands Global Distribution Deal With Toonz (EXCLUSIVE)

Toonz Media Group has signed a worldwide distribution agreement for “MechWest,” an independently produced CG-animated action-adventure series created by Dave Gallagher and produced by AnimSchool Studios. The company is presenting the series to international buyers at the Annecy Animation Festival. Set in the dieselpunk frontier world of Meridian, “MechWest” follows Pearl West, a teenage girl […]

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The best American LGBTQ+ books, chosen by authors

From 20th-century classics to little-known treasures, Michael Cunningham, Hilton Als, Eileen Myles and others share their favorite books about LGBTQ+ life‘Sheer outrageousness’: writers on their favourite LGBTQ+ movie charactersYou could debate what the best American LGBTQ+ book is until the cows come home, but experts at least tend to agree on the first one: 1870’s catchily titled Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania by Bayard Taylor. Compared with the well-worn classics of the Britis

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Kin by Tayari Jones review – a haunting tale of motherlessness

Two friends, united by their missing mothers, come of age in segregation-era America, in a cautionary tale about the limits of loveAnnie and Vernice (or Niecy, as Annie calls her) are “cradle friends”, brought up in their home town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in 1950s America. The protagonists are defined by their motherlessness and their diverging drives to escape their individual tragedies and pre-written destinies. In this haunting novel of motherhood and sisterhood, Tayari Jones writes i

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Dear You review – enjoyable Chinese romdram crosses generations as it tracks down a missing husband

Director Lan Hongchun’s family saga feels like a good old-fashioned novel as it goes in search of a man who has disappeared in ThailandWith a story that ranges from the 1940s to the present and, although mostly set in Bangkok, revolving largely around Teochew-speaking Chinese from Guangdong, this generations-spanning drama feels like a good old-fashioned novel. A romantic beach read, perhaps, the kind in which coincidences and random accidents cause misunderstandings that last for decades until

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Variety

Annecy Winner Upamanyu Bhattacharyya’s ‘Heirloom’ Closes French Co-Production With Condor Films, Lands CNC Grant (EXCLUSIVE)

The Indo-French animated feature “Heirloom” has formalized its French co-production with Paris-based Condor Films and secured the CNC’s Aide aux Cinémas du Monde grant. The period family fantasy marks the debut feature of Upamanyu Bhattacharyya. Bhattacharyya previously won the City of Annecy Award in 2020 for his short “Wade.” Set in Ahmedabad in 1960, “Heirloom” […]

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

I’ve seen Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard 20 times – and it blossoms when tended by the British | Michael Billington

Helen Hunt and Kristin Scott Thomas are leading revivals of the Russian classic whose blend of comedy and tragedy is baked into our own dramatic heritageWhat kind of play is The Cherry Orchard? As a new production starring Helen Hunt and Kenneth Branagh beckons in Stratford, I am reminded that it is a question people have been asking since the play’s inception. Chekhov himself wrote that what had emerged in his play was “not a drama but a comedy, in places almost a farce”. Stanislavski, who dire

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Mamdani Tsunami: What New York’s Stunning Primary Results Mean for Tech and Hollywood (and Democracy)

With DSA and DSA-Aligned Congressional candidates staging three big wins, a new plot twist in our Trump sequel

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Mamdani Tsunami: What New York’s Stunning Primary Results Mean for Tech and Hollywood (and Democracy)

With DSA and DSA-Aligned Congressional candidates staging three big wins, a new plot twist in our Trump sequel

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The American Experiment review – Tom Hanks’ history of the US is absolutely packed with big names

Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence … the heavyweight politicians stack up in this sincere biopic of the United States. It’s so pointedly wholesome it’s like drinking a kale smoothie on a wellness retreatThe Netflix homepage describes The American Experiment to potential viewers unwilling to read more than four words as “Sincere. Informative. Documentary series”. Well, my goodness, is it ever that, that and that! The five, hour-plus episodes about the creation of the United States of Amer

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Karlovy Vary to Fete Double Anniversary With Biggest Czech Drone Show Ever and NobodyListen

The drone spectacular will follow a musical program showcasing a broad lineup of performers, "because in my mind, connections are the embodiment of the festival," says DJ and producer NobodyListen.

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Like a phoenix rising from its ashes’: queer Muslim life in France – in pictures

Camille Farrah Lenain’s tender photo book Made of Smokeless Fire was inspired by grief for her gay uncle Farid. ‘He left without answering the questions I had for him,’ she says Continue reading...

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Family Man by James Lasdun review – the killings that shocked America

Alex Murdaugh’s conviction for the murder of his wife and son was recently overturned. Where does the truth lie?In March 2023, 54-year-old Alex Murdaugh received two life sentences for murdering his wife and younger son at the family’s hunting lodge in Colleton County, South Carolina. Since the early 20th century, three generations of his family had been elected as state prosecutors in the “Lowcountry”, a sprawling stretch of lush, rancid swampland on the southern eastern seaboard, marked by sev

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Hold the Fort review – gory goings-on at the neighbours association get-together

A couple move from the city to a seemingly clean-cut suburb in this enjoyable comedy-horror that breezes through the grisly deaths of characters you won’t care aboutIn this short, sharp, comedy-horror-siege movie, youngish couple Jenny (Haley Leary) and Lucas (Chris Mayers) are the newcomers in a clean-cut – or is it? – suburban neighbourhood, having moved away from the big city. Lucas is a world-class red-flag-ignorer, while in contrast, Jenny is adept at spotting the signs that something is of

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Which 16th-century artist painted on an upside down shopping list? Find out in the Art Fund museum of the year quiz

In the fourth of five quizzes, curators at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge set 10 fiendish questions to test your knowledge of their collections Continue reading...

entertainment  Jun 24, 2026