Hollywood
French director Agnes Varda to receive the Pardo d’onore Swisscom at 67th Locarno Film Festival
NEW DELHI: Renowned French director Agnes Varda is set to receive the Pardo d’onore Swisscom during 67th Locarno Film Festival.
The Festival is being held from 6 to 16 August and Varda will be present at the Festival to interact with her fans at a public conversation. Varda is the second woman to be awarded the Pardo d’onore, following Kira Muratova in 1994.
The Festival del film Locarno’s tribute to her will be accompanied by screenings of a selection of her films: the features Cleo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 ? 7, 1962), The Creatures (Les Créatures 1966), Lions Love (…and Lies) (1969), Documenteur (1981), Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, 1985), The Gleaners and I (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse, 2000) and The Beaches of Agnes (Les Plages d’Agn?s, 2008), the short film Oncle Yanco (1967), as well as the five episodes of the TV series Agn?s de ci de l? Varda (2011).
After working as a theater photographer, Varda began directing in 1954 with the feature-length film La Pointe Courte, with Philippe Noiret. The film, which was edited by Alain Resnais, made an immediate impact as one of the most influential works from the French young generation whose tastes and characteristics soon became defined as the Nouvelle Vague. With a career spanning a range of techniques and styles, fiction and documentary, Varda established herself as one of the most important figures in French and world cinema.
Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian said, “I am particularly delighted to welcome Agnes Varda to Locarno and be able to retrace her career in the program. Both narrator of, and witness to, so many of the events that marked the 20th century, Varda has made formal experimentation and freedom an invariable hallmark of her work. As much in her best-known films (Cléo de 5 ? 7, Sans toit ni loi) as in those that deserve rediscovery (Lions Love (…and Lies), Documenteur), in her fiction films featuring famous actors as in her documentaries (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse), Agn?s Varda reminds us that film is a creative act that implicates the subject behind the camera –or directing it – both emotionally and politically. At a Festival that aims to be the home of independent cinema, awarding the Pardo d’onore to Agn?s Varda is not only a well deserved recognition of a major figure in modern cinema but also a clear signal of a route to follow.”
The Pardo d’onore, supported by Swisscom for the sixth consecutive year, is the Festival del film Locarno’s acknowledgement of a major filmmaker in contemporary cinema. Previous recipients include masters of such distinction as Samuel Fuller, Jean-Luc Godard, Ken Loach, Sidney Pollack, Abbas Kiarostami, William Friedkin, JIA Zhang-ke, Alain Tanner and, in 2013, Werner Herzog.
Hollywood
Disney chair confident CEO Josh D’Amaro will ‘rise to the occasion’ in Trump–Kimmel row
Board backs new chief as ABC controversy tests leadership early on
NEW YORK: The Walt Disney Company has placed the responsibility of handling the escalating dispute between Donald Trump and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel squarely on its new chief executive, Josh D’Amaro.
Speaking at a business conference in Oslo, Disney chair James Gorman said it would be up to the CEO and his team to determine the company’s response to the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He noted that such challenges are not uncommon for large corporations and require careful handling at the leadership level.
The row intensified after both Donald Trump and Melania Trump publicly called for Kimmel’s dismissal following remarks made on his show. The comments, which referenced the First Lady, sparked backlash in the days leading up to a security incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Kimmel addressed the issue on-air, clarifying that his joke was intended as a reference to the couple’s age difference and not an incitement to violence. He also expressed sympathy for those affected by the incident and reiterated his stance against violent rhetoric.
Despite mounting pressure, Gorman refrained from offering specific guidance on the future of the show or the host. Instead, he voiced confidence in D’Amaro’s leadership, describing him as “world class” and capable of navigating the situation effectively.
The episode presents an early and high-profile test for D’Amaro, who stepped into the top role just last month. How Disney balances editorial independence, public sentiment and political pressure will likely shape not just the outcome of this controversy, but also the tone of its leadership in the months ahead.
