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
Paramount Skydance secures financing for Warner Bros Discovery deal
Debt syndication and new loans push $111 billion merger closer to close
WASHINGTON: Paramount Skydance has taken a major step towards its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, securing fresh financing and completing the syndication of its bridge loan facility.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company confirmed that the bridge facility has now been distributed among a group of 18 banks, reducing total commitments to $49 billion from an earlier $54 billion. The move spreads risk across lenders and signals growing confidence in one of the year’s largest media deals.
Alongside this, the company has finalised permanent financing arrangements, including $5 billion in senior term loans and a $5 billion revolving credit facility. A previously planned $3.5 billion credit line has been dropped as part of the restructuring.
The loans are secured against key assets, including Paramount Global, Skydance Media and Warner Bros post-merger, underlining the scale and complexity of the transaction.
The financing push follows a competitive bidding process earlier this year, which saw interest from players such as Netflix before Paramount Skydance emerged as the frontrunner. The deal, valued at $111 billion, is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Adding to the momentum, the company has also secured significant equity backing, including investments from Middle Eastern funds, with support from billionaire Larry Ellison, who has guaranteed the equity portion of the transaction.
Commenting on the development, Paramount Skydance chief strategy officer Andy Gordon said, “Our successful debt syndication and new debt facilities represent another important milestone towards the completion of our acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.”
Once completed, the combined entity is expected to carry net debt of just under $80 billion, reflecting the sheer scale of the merger.
As Hollywood continues to consolidate in the streaming era, this deal could reshape the competitive landscape, with Paramount Skydance betting big on scale, content and financial muscle to take on global rivals.
