YCLOAK

Manchester, England — Taylor Swift came out top at the 2024 MTV EMAs on Sunday, walking away with best artist, best U.S. act, best live act and best video for “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone). 

Swift, who is currently finishing up her Eras tour on the other side of the Atlantic, thanked the fans for the bounty of prizes via video message. 

The U.K. show opened with an acrobatic Benson Boone suspended in the air on a gold grand piano performing his viral hit “Beautiful Things” and latest release “Slow it Down.” Boone also accepted his first EMA for best new act. 

South African newcomer Tyla gave Swift a run for her money picking up three awards for best afrobeats, best R&B and best African act. 

Tyla performed her smash hit “Water” for the EMA audience at the Co-op Live, Manchester, flanked by a host of dancers, as well as singing energetic new track “Push 2 Start.” 

British singer Rita Ora, who hosted the show for a record third time, paid tribute to former One Direction star Liam Payne, who died last month after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires. 

Ora had a close relationship with the singer and the pair recorded a song together in 2018, “For You (Fifty Shades Freed).” She addressed the audience saying, “I want to take a moment to remember someone. Liam Payne was one of the kindest people I knew.” Her voice broke as she asked the crowd to take a moment to remember Liam saying, “He had the biggest heart and he left such a mark on this world.” 

Hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes was awarded the EMAs global icon award from British rapper Little Simz telling the crowd that in 34 years of professionally recording this was his first award from MTV and it felt incredible. The 12-time Grammy Award nominee, who has more than 10 million album sales under his belt, performed a mega medley of his greatest hits “Break ya Neck,” “Touch it” and “Put Your Hands Where the Eyes can See” accompanied by dancers wearing tracksuits with giant dragon heads. 

Shawn Mendes gave an intimate and heartfelt performance and also received the award for best Canadian act. Sabrina Carpenter picked up the honors for best song for her hit “Espresso,” while Ariana Grande was crowned best pop act and Eminem took away best hip hop act. 

U.K. duo Pet Shop Boys were honored with the inaugural Pop Pioneers Award for their contribution to pop music and closed out the show accompanied by local orchestra Manchester Camerata with a cover of David Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes” followed by their iconic hit “West End Girls” in celebration of the song’s 40th anniversary. 

Other performers on the night included K-Pop quintet Le Sserafim, Mexican singer and rapper Peso Pluma, English singer and songwriter Raye, multi-platinum singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, American powerhouse Teddy Swims, Mexican rock sisters the Warning. 

LL Cool J, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, mother-and-daughter musicians Neneh Cherry and Mabel and TV and film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lucien Laviscount all presented awards. 
…

New York — “Venom: The Last Dance” has not been a blockbuster in North American theaters. But in a lethargic fall moviegoing season, even a so-so performing superhero sequel can rule the box office for three straight weeks.

For the third weekend in a row, “Venom: The Last Dance” was the No. 1 movie at the box office, collecting $16.2 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It fended off a pair of new challengers in the Hugh Grant horror thriller “Heretic” and the feel-good holiday movie “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

With the election Tuesday, the major studios opted not to put any new releases into theaters. That allowed Sony Pictures’ “Venom: The Last Dance,” the third entry in the Tom Hardy-led franchise, to hold its position.

While “The Last Dance” hasn’t been a huge hit domestically — opening below expectations in late October — it has thrived overseas, grossing almost triple what it has in North America. The “Venom” sequel has grossed $279.4 million internationally, bringing its global total to $394.2 million.

“Heretic” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” were neck and neck for second place. Counting only Friday-Sunday ticket sales, the edge went to “Heretic,” which debuted with $11 million. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” though, factored in $2.2 million in sneak-peak screenings from last weekend to claim a reported opening gross of $11.1 million.

A24’s “Heretic,” directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, follows two Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who knock on the door of a man (Grant) they’ll regret trying to evangelize to. Though “Heretic” has been critically acclaimed for the darkest turn yet by Grant, audiences were less impressed, giving it a “C+” CinemaScore. Regardless, with a budget under $10 million, “Heretic” will easily turn a profit.

“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” released by Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company, which specializes in Christian entertainment, is about six siblings with a bad reputation who take over the local church pageant. The film, an adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s 1972 children’s book directed by Dallas Jenkins, did well with audiences, who gave it an “A” CinemaScore. It, too, was modestly budgeted at about $10 million.

In its seventh week of release, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” continues to show little rust in theaters. It landed in fourth place with $6.6 million, bringing its domestic haul to $130.2 million and its worldwide gross to $292 million.

Sean Baker’s acclaimed “Anora,” starring Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn sex worker, expanded into wide release. The Neon film, an expected best-picture contender, collected $2.4 million in 1,104 theaters. Its four-week total stands at $7.2 million.

The papal thriller “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes, continues to perform exceptionally well for an adult-oriented drama. The Focus Features release, in its third weekend of release, added 487 theaters and dipped a modest 19% to earn $4.1 million. It has collected $21.5 million. Similarly, A24’s “We Live in Time,” starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, has stayed strong, grossing $2.2 million in its fifth weekend for a $21.8 million total.

Overall ticket sales, though, remain sluggish. Box office is running about 11% behind last year, according to Comscore. In the last two weeks, overall ticket sales are down about 50% from the pre-pandemic average, according to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

The good news for theaters: The next few weeks are lined up for several big new releases, including the Amazon MGM Christmas comedy “Red One” (Nov. 15), Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II” (Nov. 22), Universal’s “Wicked” (also Nov. 22) and the Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana 2” (Nov. 27).

“Better late than never is the rule of the day and we can expect some positive success stories coming out of the Thanksgiving corridor, which looks to be on par with some of the biggest such frames over the past many years,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.

Before opening in U.S. theaters, “Red One,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, kicked off in 75 overseas markets, collecting $26.6 million. The film carries a hefty price tag of about $250 million to make.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, are: 

1. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $16.2 million. 

2. “Heretic,” $11 million. 

3. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $8.9 million. 

4. “The Wild Robot,” $6.7 million. 

5. “Smile 2,” $5 million. 

6. “Conclave,” $4.1 million. 

7. “Anora,” $2.5 million. 

8. “Here,” $2.4 million. 

9. “We Live in Time,” $2.2 million. 

10. “Terrifier 3,” $1.4 million. 
    …

NEW YORK — For some television viewers, size apparently does matter.

Forget the 165-centimeter TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than 2.4 meters diagonally. That’s wider than a standard three-seat sofa or a king-size bed.

Supersize televisions only accounted for 1.7% of revenue from all TV set sales in the U.S. during the first nine months of the year, according to market research firm Circana. But companies preparing for shoppers to go big for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa have reason to think the growing ultra category will be a bright spot in an otherwise tepid television market, according to analysts.

The 38,100 televisions of at least 246 centimeters sold between January and September represented a tenfold increase from the same period last year, Circana said. Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, doubled the assortment of hefty TVs — the 19 models range in price from $2,000 to $25,000 — and introduced displays in roughly 70% of its stores.

“It’s really taken off this year,” Blake Hampton, Best Buy’s senior vice president of merchandising, said.

Analysts credit the emerging demand to improved technology and much lower prices. So far this year, the average price for TVs spanning at least 246 centimeters was $3,113 compared to $6,662 last year, according to Circana. South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung introduced its first 249-centimeter TV in 2019 with a hefty price tag of $99,000; it now has four versions starting at $4,000, the company said.

Anthony Ash, a 42-year-old owner of a wood pallet and recycling business, recently bought a 949-centimeter Sony for his 1,300-square-meter house in Bristol, Wisconsin. The device, which cost about $5,000 excluding installation fees, replaced an 216-centimeter TV in the great room off his kitchen. Ash now has 17 televisions at home and uses some to display digital art.

“We just saw that the price was affordable for what we were looking for and thought, ‘Why not?'” he said of deciding to upsize to the Sony. “You get a better TV experience with a bigger TV. You’re sitting watching TV with a person on TV that is the same size as you. You can put yourself in the scene.”

The amount of time that many people spend staring at their cellphones and tablets, including to stream movies and TV shows, is another factor driving the growth of widescreen TV screens. Overall TV sales revenue fell 4%, while the number of units sold rose 1% from the January through September period, Circana said.

Most people only invest in a television every seven years, but when they do, they typically choose bigger ones, according to Rick Kowalski, the senior director of business intelligence at the Consumer Technology Association. In the past 15 years, the size of flat-panel TVs that were shipped to U.S. retailers and dealers grew an average of one inch a year, Kowalski said.

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the elongation trend as people spent more time at home. In fact, screen sizes increased an average of 5 centimeters in both 2021 and 2022, and 216-centimeter TVs began gaining traction with consumers, Kowalski said. Shipments of 249-centimeter TVs to the U.S. are picking up pace this year, and models as huge as 279-292 centimeters are on the market right now, he said.

“You get better resolution over time,” Kowalski said. “You get better picture quality. And so just over time, it’s easier to produce those sets and improve the technology.”

Best Buy’s Hampton said a benefit of a colossal TV is the viewer can watch multiple shows at once, an experience he described as “incredible.”

“If you’re watching YouTube TV content or ‘ NFL Sunday Ticket,’ you can actually get four screens up, and that’s four 48-inch (122-centimeter) screens on it,” he said.

Manufacturers are also adding new features. Samsung said it designed its 249-centimeter lineup with a component that analyzes what the viewer is watching to increase sharpness and reduce visible noise across every scene.

James Fishler, senior vice president of the home entertainment division of Samsung’s U.S. division, said the way people watch TV and experience content is shifting.

“It’s even more so about watching TV as a shared experience,” Fishler said. “They want to host a watch party and gather around their TV to watch the big game, or set up a cinematic movie experience right at home. ”

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, its Sam’s Club division, and Chicago retailer Abt Electronics, also say they are expanding their TV ranges to meet customer demand for supersize screens.

TV industry experts say these monster TVs are beginning to encroach on home theater projectors, which create a 254- to 305-centimeter image that is less sharp and require rooms with blackout curtains or without windows.

“A dedicated viewing room for watching movies was exclusively the purview of projectors,” Andrew Sivori, vice president in the entertainment division of LG Electronics, another Korean manufacturer. “But you can get a much better viewing experience with direct TV.”

Retailers and TV makers said the buyers trading up range from millennials and members of Generation X to the tech-native Gen Z crowd. But as Jon Abt, co-president of Abt Electronics said, “It’s still a niche business.”

“A lot of people just don’t have the space to put one of those in,” he added.

Before dreaming big for the holidays, shoppers therefore should make sure a 249-centimeter TV will fit. Best Buy said its Geek Squad team asks if stairwells and entry halls are large enough to accommodate delivery and installation. An augmented reality feature on the Best Buy app that allows customers to see if products are the right size has been especially helpful for XXL TVs, the retailer said.

But for those worried about having the space for viewing, the good news is that the recommended distance for a 249-centimeter TV is actually just 1.8-3.6 meters feet from the seating area. The rule of thumb is to multiple the diagonal length of the TV by 1.2 to determine the ideal viewing distance, Samsung’s Fishler said.

If bigger is better in the TV department, how big can they go?

“I think we’ll have to wait and see,” Fishler said.
…

MEXICO CITY — Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her family’s chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of a lake that, later drained, would one day become Mexico City.

Food from these islands has fed people for hundreds of years, but the chinampas are under threat from urbanization. The produce grown here doesn’t fetch much money, and many families are abandoning the ancient practice to rent out or sell their land for more lucrative uses such as soccer fields.

“People don’t want to farm anymore,” said Garduño. “They don’t see it as a necessity, they don’t want to produce, and people don’t want to buy the products.”

Some of those remaining, like Garduño, are banding together to preserve and promote the traditional use of the chinampas.

“None of this can exist without human hands, the hands of those who worked here and created the chinampa a thousand years ago,” she said on a recent morning as the smell of celery growing nearby filled the air.

The gardens crisscrossed by canals in the capital’s southern Xochimilco borough are built up from layers of dredged soil, held together by tall, thin ahuejotes — a kind of willow tree — planted around their perimeter. Xochimilco has more than 2,500 acres of protected land owned by generations of local chinamperos, as those who farm the islands are known.

Garduño’s earliest memories of her family’s chinampa came from peering through her grandparents’ window at the plot of land and watching canoes weave in and out of the canals. Even then, she saw how the chinampas were deteriorating under pressure from urbanization and as some farmers began to drop the practice.

When her grandfather died in 2010 and her uncles didn’t want to carry on, Garduño took it upon herself to learn and conserve generations of farming. Her neighbors and relatives were skeptical at first, but she bought land for her own chinampa from a friend’s uncle in 2020 and now grows an assortment of produce, including sunflowers, eggplant, and the Mexican marigold “cempasuchil.”

Now the 32-year-old Garduño is one of the growing collective called Chinampa Refuge, started by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and she and other famers encourage chinamperos to preserve their land. They follow ancient growing techniques but are trying new commercial approaches to compete with cheaper produce grown on massive farms elsewhere in Mexico. That includes a special tag — Etiqueta Chinampera — that tells buyers the produce came from a chinampa, and may tout things like water quality or the chinampa’s status as a biodiversity refuge.

“Change comes with educating the new generations,” said Garduño. “Talking about the origins and efforts to conserve and why it’s important to do it.”

Luis Zambrano, an ecologist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has worked in Xochimilco for decades, said the fields are largely self-sustaining. Nourished by the lake, they can produce three to five crops of vegetables a year without the need of chemicals or irrigation, he said.

Moreover, the ecosystem of Xochimilco benefits the sprawling city. Many different species of birds and fish thrive there, and the extensive canals help reduce the city’s overall temperature, he said.

But now, on weekends, it’s common to see more soccer players boating to islands in their jerseys and cleats than farmers tending their crops. The soccer fields stretch for miles along the canals after what Zambrano called “a massive increase” over the past two to three years.

In Xochimilco, many people are reluctant to talk about transforming their chinampas to soccer fields. One landowner who declined to be identified for fear of legal or community backlash said keeping the chinampas productive required more work and financial investment and yielded less revenue. Instead, she has established multiple businesses on her land — a soccer field for weekend games, a food stand and kayaking tours for foreign visitors.

“If you do well (farming) you could earn $5,000 to $10,000 (100,000 to 200,000 pesos) a year,” Garduño said. “In the tourist area you could have that within a couple of weekends.”

But converting the agricultural fields carries ecological impact. While traditional farming methods avoid insecticides and fertilizers, the soccer fields are another story.

“It doesn’t look that detrimental because there’s no construction,” said Zambrano. But “it’s just as damaging because the amount of chemicals that are used, the amount of pollution that is generated is very, very large.”

The chinampas are among the significant features that led Mexico City’s historic center and Xochimilco to be recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO. But any protective measures are up to federal, state and local authorities. Carlos Vasquez, director of the Natural Protected Areas under Mexico City’s Environmental Department, said they are working on proposals to address the soccer fields.

“Many are counter to the conservation of the ecosystems,” he said. “We’re looking to regulate these activities.”

After a long day’s work out in the sun, Garduño and some neighboring farmers congregate under Garduño’s makeshift hut for a feast of chicken and tortillas. They catch up on their tasks and outline what’s left to do.

Juan Ávalos, 63, and his brother Salvador Gonzalez Ávalos, 55, have been working on chinampas all their lives. Their family has several plots in Xochimilco’s San Gregorio neighborhood. A year ago, after some convincing by Garduño, the brothers joined Chinampa Refuge to adopt a more holistic approach to their farming.

Salvador said the approach is a continuous reminder of his family’s legacy in maintaining the ancient practices — something they want to pass on to their grandchildren.

“That’s something we need to work on as grandparents,” he said. “That they integrate themselves with a taste for this earth.” 
…

NEW DELHI — The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in his native India is now in doubt — not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author’s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts to some missing paperwork.

Earlier this week, a court in New Delhi closed proceedings on a petition filed five years ago that challenged the then-government’s decision to ban the import of the novel, which enraged Muslims worldwide because of its alleged blasphemy, just days after its 1988 publication. In a ruling issued Tuesday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency, a bench headed by Justice Rekha Palli said authorities had failed to produce the notification of the ban.

“We have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists,” the judges concluded.

The petitioner, Sandipan Khan, had argued that he couldn’t buy the book because of a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on October 5, 1988, which forbade its import into India, adding that he was unable to locate the notification on any official website or through officials. Khan’s lawyer, Uddyam Mukherjee, said that the court’s ruling meant that as of now, nothing prohibits anybody from importing the novel into India.

“But whether this means it will be sold in bookstores — I don’t know, that depends on the publishers or sellers,” he told The Associated Press.

When reached by phone, several bookstores in the country’s capital were unaware of the news. An employee of Jain Book Agency in New Delhi said that they did not know whether this news meant that the novel would be available again in stores in India, adding that if that was the case, it could still take time and that they would need to hear from the publisher.

“What the ruling does is open up a potential path for the book to become available here,” Mukherjee said, but added that any aggrieved individual, group or the government can also appeal against it.

Rushdie’s literary agent, Andrew Wylie, declined comment to the AP. Rushdie, now a citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, has yet to comment publicly. He has more than 1 million followers on his X account, on which he last posted in September.

Rushdie’s publisher in India, Penguin Random House India, issued a statement Friday called the ruling a “significant new development” and adding that it was “thinking through next steps.”

This week’s ruling adds a new twist to Rushdie’s complex relationship with India, where he was born in 1947, just before the country’s independence. He left as a child and was living in the United Kingdom at the time of his breakout novel, Midnight’s Children, which came out in 1981 and infuriated India’s prime minister at the time, Indira Gandhi, who was satirized in the book. After she sued over a reference to her having caused her husband’s death, Rushdie agreed to remove it, and the case was settled.

When India banned The Satanic Verses, Rushdie condemned the action and doubted whether his censors had even read the novel. In an open letter to then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, published in The New York Times in 1988, he alleged the book was “being used as a political football” and called the ban not only “anti-democratic, but opportunistic.” Over the years, Rushdie has made private trips to India and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007. But five years later, he canceled plans to attend the Jaipur gathering because of security concerns. The festival did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Besides the ban in his native country, The Satanic Verses elicited a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death from Iran’s Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini, forcing the author into hiding in 1989. He gradually resumed a normal life, especially after Iranian officials announced in 1998 that the government had no plans to enforce it. But his relative calm abruptly ended in 2022, when he was stabbed repeatedly onstage by a young assailant during a literary festival in western New York. Rushdie survived the attack, which left him blind in one eye, and wrote about it in the memoir Knife, a finalist this year for the National Book Award.

On Friday, Khan’s lawyer said that his client was an avid book reader driven to find answers after he found out the novel was banned. He filed numerous requests for information with various authorities — and tried for over a year to get a hold of the notification. Mukherjee said Khan was told by authorities that it was not traceable.

“When we realized there was no hope, we proceeded to go to court and challenge the notification,” Mukherjee added.

The court also said that Khan has the right under law to procure this book. So how does he plan to get it now?

“He doesn’t have a clear answer to this yet — if it becomes available in India, he will buy a copy of it,” Mukherjee said. “But he can also potentially buy it from international booksellers online, as it’s no longer illegal to import the book into the country.” 
…

paris — As dusk falls over the City of Light, a new spectacle is illuminating Saint-Sulpice church, a monument whose interiors are even larger than Notre Dame’s — and arguably just as breathtaking. 

The cavernous walls of the neoclassical gem on Paris’ Left Bank are coming alive with 360-degree video projections, sparkling cutting-edge technology and actors, all telling the story of the church and its place in French history. 

Blending centuries of intrigue, revolution and family drama, the show reimagines the Saint-Germain district during the Fronde, the 17th-century civil war, and the lead-up to the French Revolution. 

“Paris Cœur de Lumières” (Paris Chancel of Lights), which runs until November 23, transforms the church’s sprawling 6,000-square-meter (65,000-square-foot) interior into a digital stage through advanced video mapping. 

“From a technological standpoint, it’s a laser scan of the entire building that allows us to reconstruct the space in three dimensions,” director Damien Fontaine explained. 

“We then ‘unfold’ it like origami … and put it back into 3D to be projected as a single unified image. We have over 45 projectors, each covering a part of the vaults, a section of a pillar, or a piece of the nave. It’s … a mosaic of images to form one large picture.” 

Projections transform stone carvings into animated storytellers, while immersive soundscapes, paired with an original score, wrap the audience in a sensory experience. 

The actors brought history to life. Over 350 performers and volunteers, clad in more than 500 historical costumes, move among the audience portraying local families and rivalries, threading personal narratives into the broader history. 

Many of those who volunteered themselves marveled at learning about little known aspects of French history. 

Anne Dubosc, a 65-year-old amateur actress, played Anne of Austria, mother of Sun King Louis XIV. 

“She was a remarkable woman, very involved in politics and religion,” Dubosc said. “I hadn’t realized how important she was. If Louis XIV became the man he was, it was partly thanks to this woman, this mother who was like a tigress, doing everything to protect her son and teaching him to be a great statesman.” 

Performing in Saint-Sulpice, she added, was extraordinary: “It’s exceptional. You lose track of what’s happening, of where fiction ends and history begins.” 

Her historic costume shaped her performance — literally. 

“I have a corset that squeezes me so tightly,” she said. “You realize there’s a very 18th-century way of holding yourself, of carrying your shoulders and neck, which gives a natural majesty. The costume really impacts how you carry your body, and that posture influences your mind, giving character to this woman of state.” 

The production underscored a growing trend in Paris of using light technology to show off the city’s storied church interiors. A similar illuminations display took place at Saint-Eustache church until September, featuring video projections, lighting effects and spatialized electronic soundtrack. 
…

ROME — The Pompeii archaeological park plans to limit visitor numbers to 20,000 a day and introduce personalized tickets starting next week in a bid to cope with over-tourism and protect the world heritage site, officials said Friday.

The move comes after what authorities called a record summer that saw more than 4 million people visiting the world-famous remains of the ancient Roman city, buried under ash and rock following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

The park’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said visitors to the main archaeological site now exceed an average of 15,000 to 20,000 every day, and the new daily cap will prevent the numbers from surging further.

“We are working on a series of projects to lift the human pressure on the site, which could pose risks both for visitors and the heritage (that is) so unique and fragile,” Zuchtriegel said.

Starting November 15 tickets to access the park will be personalized to include the full names of visitors. A maximum of 20,000 tickets will be released each day, with different time slots during the peak summer season.

The park’s management is also trying to attract more tourists to visit other ancient sites connected to Pompeii by a free shuttle bus under the “Greater Pompeii” project, including Stabia, Torre Annunziata and Boscoreale sites.

“The measures to manage flows and safety and the personalization of the visits are part of this strategy,” Zuchtriegel said.

“We are aiming for slow, sustainable, pleasant and non-mass tourism and above all widespread throughout the territory around the UNESCO site, which is full of cultural jewels to discover,” he added. 
…

Washington/Istanbul — Local authorities in Turkey’s metropolitan Istanbul province banned a screening of the LGBTQI-themed movie “Queer” on Thursday because of concerns that it would endanger public peace and security.

The screening of “Queer,” a film directed by Italian director Luca Guadagnino and starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, was scheduled to open a film festival in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district on Thursday. The festival was organized by Mubi, an international streaming platform and film production and distribution company.

Mubi canceled the entire festival, noting “This ban not only targets a single film but also undermines the very essence and purpose of the festival.”

In a statement shared on X, Mubi announced that the Kadikoy District Governor’s Office had notified them of the ban hours before the festival was set to begin.

“The decision states that the film is prohibited on the grounds that it contains provocative content that could endanger public peace, with the ban being imposed for security reasons,” Mubi wrote.

“We believe this ban is a direct restriction on art and freedom of expression,” Mubi added.

The Kadikoy District Governor’s Office has not made a public statement on the ban and has not responded to VOA’s inquiry at the time of this story’s publication.

Rising anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric

The Turkish government has toughened rhetoric against its LGBTQI+ community in recent years, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly calling its members “perverts” or “deviants.”

Authorities have banned pride marches throughout the country since 2015, citing security concerns. At least 15 people were detained in Istanbul in June for taking part in a pride rally.

Yıldız Tar, editor in chief of the LGBTQI news portal KaosGL, does not find the ban surprising considering the government’s anti-LGBTQI stance.

“The reason for the ban on ‘Queer’ is of course that it is a film about LGBTI+ people. When you try to organize any LGBTI+-themed event in Turkey since 2015, you already encounter such bans,” Tar told VOA.

Tar noted that the Kadikoy District Governor’s Office banned the screening of another movie, “Pride,” as part of Pride Month events in June 2023.

The Istanbul festival, which was scheduled to take place November 7 to 10, included a variety of film screenings, talks and performances. According to Mubi, tickets for the festival had sold out days in advance.

Tar views Mubi’s decision to cancel the festival after the ban as “an important and valuable message” and argues that the platform’s decision should be exemplary.

“If LGBTI+ themed films are being censored so openly at this point, then festivals and the world of culture and arts need to raise a very strong voice against this censorship,” Tar said.

Academic and film critic Yeşim Burul also sees the district governor’s ban as censorship.

“We are talking about unacceptable censorship here. It is truly absurd that a district governorship would make such decisions to prevent a film from reaching the audience,” Burul told VOA.

“We, as adults, can decide which film we can and cannot watch. Such festivals are already organized for those over the age of 18, and tickets are sold that way,” Burul added.

The 2024 film “Queer,” with a screenplay adapted from William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel, tells the story of an American expatriate living in Mexico City in the 1950s who establishes an intimate connection with a younger man.

In October, Mubi acquired distribution rights for the film in multiple territories, including Turkey, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Latin America.

Reactions

Several rights groups and organizations reacted to the ban on the screening.

According to the LGBTI+ Rights Commission of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association, the ban is “a continuation of criminalizing LGBTI+ individuals.”

In a post on X, the rights group argued that the ban violates not only domestic law but also the “protection from discrimination” principle of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory.

The Actors’ Union of Turkey called the ban “clearly an application of censorship.”

“The duty of art and artists is to broaden the horizons of societies and offer them new perspectives while telling their own stories,” the union said in a statement published on X. The union also reminded that the law on freedom of expression protects artistic activities in Turkey.
…

AMSTERDAM — Amsterdam police said Friday that five people were hospitalized and 62 arrested after what authorities described as systematic violence by antisemitic rioters targeting Israeli fans following a football match.

The Dutch and Israeli leaders denounced the violence, and condemnation poured in from Jewish groups. Israel’s foreign minister left on an urgent diplomatic trip to the Netherlands. Security concerns have shrouded matches with Israeli teams in multiple countries over the past year because of global tensions linked to the wars in the Middle East.

The Amsterdam police said in a post on X that they have started a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. The post did not provide further details about those injured or detained in Thursday night’s violence following the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Authorities said extra police would patrol Amsterdam in coming days, and security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions in the city that has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.

Earlier, a statement issued by the Dutch capital’s municipality, police and prosecution office said that the night “was very turbulent with several incidents of violence aimed at Maccabi supporters” after antisemitic rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them.”

It was not immediately clear when and where violence erupted after the match.

“In several places in the city, supporters were attacked. The police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli supporters have been injured,” the Amsterdam statement said.

“This outburst of violence toward Israeli supporters is unacceptable and cannot be defended in any way. There is no excuse for the antisemitic behavior exhibited last night,” it added.

The violence erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the football stadium imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli football club.

There were also incidents involving fans ahead of the match. Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that a Palestinian flag was ripped off a building in the center of the city and riot police blocked pro-Palestinian supporters trying to march toward the Johan Cruyff Arena stadium where the match was being played.

Israel initially ordered that two planes be sent to the Dutch capital to bring the Israelis home, but later the prime minister’s office said it would work on “providing civil aviation solutions for the return of our citizens.”

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “the harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” and that Netanyahu “views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity.” He demanded that the Dutch government take “vigorous and swift action” against those involved.

Netanyahu’s office added that he had called for increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on X that he followed reports of the violence “with horror.”

“Completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis. I am in close contact with everyone involved,” he added, saying that he had spoken to Netanyahu and “emphasized that the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted. It is now quiet in the capital.”

Security issues around hosting games against visiting Israeli teams led the Belgian football federation to decline to stage a men’s Nations League game in September. That game against Israel was played in Hungary with no fans in the stadium.

The violence in Amsterdam will lead to a review of security at two games this month being organized by European football body UEFA. France plays Israel at Stade de France near Paris next Thursday in the Nations League and Maccabi Tel Aviv’s next Europa League game is scheduled in Istanbul on November 28 against Besiktas.

Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0. 
…

NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked to rivers and bodies of water across India to pray to the sun god as part of the Chhath festival this week.

In Noida, on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, families gathered at the Yamuna river, which is covered with white toxic foam as a result of pollutants discharged from nearby industries.

Women in brightly colored saris waded into the knee-deep water flecked with blobs of white foam. Some carried a coconut or other fruits as an offering to thank Lord Surya, the god of the sun, for sustaining life on earth as they sought divine blessings.

The Yamuna is considered one of India’s most sacred rivers, and Hindu devotees have continued to use it despite warnings about the toxic foam. A court in Delhi on Wednesday forbade worshipers from performing rituals on the bank of the heavily polluted river over health and safety concerns, local media reported, yet thousands gathered on Thursday and Friday at the river banks to immerse themselves in the river and drinks it water.

From the financial capital Mumbai to Hyderabad in the south and Guwahati in the east, thousands of men, women and children did the same.

The Chhath festival, celebrated after the Hindu festival of Diwali, originated in the country’s eastern states, with large celebrations in Bihar and Jharkand, and extends to Nepal. Over the years, it has grown more popular across India, often introduced as migrants from eastern states mark the festival away from home.

The rituals, which stretch over four days, include a holy dip in the river and a period of fasting and abstaining from drinking water. On the last two days, devotees stand in the waters to pray to the sun as it rises and sets, with some families camping out overnight along the banks. 
…

BUENOS AIRES — Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction who died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires last month, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

Prosecutor Andrés Madrea charged the three suspects, whose identities were not revealed, with the crimes of “abandonment of a person followed by death” and “supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics,” the prosecutor’s office said. Madrea also requested their arrest to judge Laura Bruniard, who ruled the three cannot leave the country.

Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo, in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.

Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.

Investigators said hours after Payne’s death that he was by himself when he fell. But the prosecutors’ office said Thursday that one of the people charged was often with the singer during his time in Buenos Aires. The second is a hotel staffer who allegedly gave Payne cocaine during his stay between October 13 and 16. And the third is a drug dealer.

The charges in Payne’s case bear some resemblance to the U.S. cases stemming from the death of Friends star Matthew Perry a year ago. The actor’s personal assistant and a longtime friend are among those charged with helping supply him with ketamine in the final months of his life, leading up to his overdose on the anesthetic.

Three young men were similarly charged in the opioid-overdose death of rapper Mac Miller in 2018.

Local authorities gathered, among other pieces of evidence, Payne’s cellphone records, material for forensics and testimonies. They are yet to unlock the singer’s personal computer – which is damaged – and other devices that were seized.

Payne’s autopsy showed his injuries were neither caused by self-harm nor by physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious.

Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the chances of Payne dying by suicide.

One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne — like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson — pursued a solo career.

The singer had posted on his Snapchat account that he traveled to Argentina to attend Horan’s concert in Buenos Aires on October 2. He shared videos of himself dancing with his girlfriend, American influencer Kate Cassidy, and singing along in the stands. Cassidy had left Argentina after the show, but Payne stayed behind. 
…