Emirati feature film Zinzana will have its regional premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 10. The movie, directed by Emirati filmmaker Majid Al Ansari and produced by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, will then be screened cinemas across the UAE during that weekend. The neo-noir thriller stars award-winning Arab actors Ali Suliman as a cop and Saleh Bakri as a criminal in a cat-and-mouse drama. The film had its world premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Texas in September and was also screened at the BFI London Film Festival last month. In its review of the film, under its English title of Rattle the Cage, entertainment trade magazine Variety described it as a "world-class thriller" and said that "production values are such that other filmmakers would do well to study Rattle the Cage for pointers on how to make a single-set drama enforce a relentless grip on audience attention". Zinzana will also be released in Egypt on December 17 and in Lebanon in January. – The National staff
Adele’s latest album set to smash records
Adele's eagerly awaited new album, 25, was released at the weekend and is on track to break the record for first-week sales. Billboard, the music-industry journal that publishes weekly charts, said the album is likely to sell at least 2.5 million copies in the United States. No Strings Attached by *NSYNC is the only other album to debut with sales of more than two million, since tracking began in 1991. It sold 2.4 million copies in its first week in 2000, a year before the launch of Apple's iTunes, which transformed music-buying habits. In a rare move, Adele's label chose not to make 25 available through streaming. It sold 900,000 copies on iTunes in the US on the first day. Adele's previous album, 2011's 21, was the top-seller in the US for two years and is the biggest release in Britain this century. – AFP
The Pitt kids’ new jobs
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt's sons Pax, 11, and Maddox, 14, were given jobs on the set of their mother's new movie, First They Killed My Father, People reports. "Pax is doing a lot of the stills," said Jolie Pitt. "The whole movie is from a child's point of view." The film, which she co-wrote and is directing, is based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Loung Ung, about her experiences as a child living under the deadly Khmer Rouge Regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia. The movie is being filmed in the country, where her adopted son Maddox is from. He is helping with research for the film. Jolie and Pitt have four other children: Zahara, 10, Shiloh, 9, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 7. The family recently visited Abu Dhabi, where Pitt was filming his new film, War Machine. – The National staff
Tony Soprano’s car sold at auction
A car used by fictional mobster Tony Soprano was a hit at auction, selling for nearly US$120,000 (Dh440,730). The white 2003 Cadillac Escalade was used during the final three seasons of hit HBO drama The Sopranos. The SUV was used for some action sequences and exterior shots involving characters including Soprano, played by James Gandolfini. The actor, who died in June 2013, signed the inside of the Escalade in three places. No information was given about the buyer. – AP
Rare art on show in Iran
Some of the world's most expensive and rarely seen modern art, including works by American artists Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, went on display on Saturday in a major exhibition in Iran. They are part of a collection bought in the 1970s by dealers acting for Farah, the wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who fled into exile in 1979, heralding Iran's Islamic revolution later that year. The themes of many of the Western works have been considered too risqué to be publicly shown and have spent much of the past 36 years in storage in the basement of Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art. Among the 42 Western works featured in the museum's three-month exhibition is Pollock's Mural on Indian Red Ground, which was completed in 1950 and is considered one of his best drip paintings. – AFP
Carthage Film Festival opens in Tunisia
The 26th Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia, a showcase for Arab and African cinematographers, opened amid heavy security on Saturday in a country rocked this year by deadly terrorist attacks. A state of emergency was in force in the North African country until early last month, imposed after a killer went on a shooting spree at a Mediterranean resort in June, killing 38 tourists. In March, gunmen stormed the national museum in the capital, killing 21 tourists and a policeman. Festival director Ibrahim Letaief said the event, which runs until Saturday, is an “antidote to violence” as film “tears away the veil of darkness and is the guarantor of the greatest victory over terrorism”. Filmmakers from Africa and the Arab world, Arab movie stars and politicians walked the red carpet at the Bonbonniere theatre on opening night. – AFP
Kabir Khan to show Roshan in new light
Bollywood director Kabir Khan is set to direct superstar Hrithik Roshan in a new movie. The director says the script has yet to be finished but would show Roshan in a "never seen before" role. Khan said: "We have not locked the script. Sajid Nadiadwala will produce, I will direct and Hrithik will act in it. I have given myself a month to explore and think of ideas." Khan, who often makes films about terrorism or India-Pakistan ties, added, "There are certain aspects of Hrithik that really excite me and I would like to explore the aspects that have not been done before." Roshan is shooting his latest movie Mohenjo Daro. – IANS
People hid in dressing room during Paris attack
Two members of Eagles of Death Metal said several people tried to hide in their dressing room during the deadly attack on the venue where they were performing in Paris. The US band was performing at the Bataclan theatre on November 13 when terrorists killed 130 people and wounded more than 350 at several locations in Paris. In a clip released by HBO, band member Jesse Hughes said the killers got into the dressing room and killed everyone except for one person who hid under Hughes' leather jacket. He added that one reason why so many died "is because so many people wouldn't leave their friends". HBO said the full interview will be available on www.vice.com next week. – AP
University revokes Cosby degree
The California State University system is the latest institution to take back an honorary degree from Bill Cosby. The Board of Trustees voted to revoke the honorary doctorate given to him by Cal Poly Pomona in 1992. The Cal State board said that it was taking such action for the first time because Cosby’s conduct was contrary to the values of the university system. Cal State joins at least six other institutions that have revoked degrees in an attempt to distance themselves from the 78-year-old actor and comedian, who is embroiled in dozens of allegations of sexual assault. Cosby has not been charged in any of the cases. He has denied many of the allegations while refusing to comment on others. – AP
