Hollywood
Cannes Film Festival honours Ingrid Bergman in official 2015 poster
MUMBAI: The 68th Festival de Cannes has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman with this year’s poster, following on from Marcello Mastroianni in 2014.
The festival will be held from 13 – 24 May, 2015.
Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman was a modern icon, an emancipated woman, an intrepid actress, and a figurehead for the new realism. She changed roles and adoptive countries as the mood took her, but never lost sight of her quintessential grace and simplicity.
This year’s poster captures the actress, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini and Ingmar Bergman, and starred opposite Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck, in all her beauty, her face lit up by a calm serenity that seems to herald a promising future.
Liberty, audacity, modernity – values also shared by the Festival, year after year, through the artists and films it showcases. Bergman, who was president of the Jury in 1973, encouraged this journey.
“My family and I are deeply moved that the Festival de Cannes has chosen to feature our magnificent mother on the official poster to mark the centenary of her birth. Her outstanding career covered so many countries, from the smallest European independent films to the greatest Hollywood productions. Mum adored working as an actress: for her acting was not a profession but vocation. As she put it, ‘I didn’t choose acting, acting chose me,’” said Isabella Rossellini.
Based on a photograph by David Seymour, co-founder of Magnum Agency, Hervé Chigioni, who also created for last year’s remarkable Festival poster, was once again behind this year’s image, with his graphic designer Gilles Frappier.
Hollywood
Paramount eyes $24bn Gulf support to fund Warner Bros Discovery merger: Reports
Sovereign funds line up funding as media giants chase streaming scale
NEW YORK: Paramount Skydance is in talks to secure nearly $24 billion in equity commitments from Gulf sovereign wealth funds to support its planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a WSJ report.
The funding push comes as Paramount Skydance advances its proposed $110 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, which carries an equity valuation of $81 billion and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
At the heart of the financing plan are three major Gulf investors. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is expected to contribute roughly $10 billion, while the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based L’imad Holding are likely to make up the remainder.
Crucially, the proposed investments are structured as non-voting stakes. This means the Gulf backers would not have direct control in the combined entity, a move designed to ease regulatory concerns in the United States. Paramount executives reportedly do not expect the deal to trigger scrutiny from bodies such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States or the Federal Communications Commission.
If completed, the merger would bring together a formidable portfolio of entertainment and news assets, including CNN and CBS. The combined entity aims to better compete in a fast-evolving media landscape where streaming platforms are steadily pulling audiences away from traditional television.
The deal reflects a broader shift in global media, where scale is increasingly seen as essential to survive the streaming wars. By pooling content libraries, technology and distribution, Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are betting on size and synergy to drive future growth.
The involvement of deep-pocketed Gulf investors also underscores the growing role of sovereign wealth in shaping global media consolidation, particularly at a time when high-value deals demand equally large financial backing.
With shareholder votes and regulatory milestones still ahead, the proposed tie-up remains one of the most closely watched media deals of the year. If it clears the final hurdles, it could redraw the competitive map of the global entertainment industry.
