After breaking box-office records in India and overseas, and its screenplay being added to the Oscars library, the Bollywood film Happy New Year, which filmed extensively in Dubai, has been selected for the 14th Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco. It will be screened on Jemaa El Fna Square on December 6, the day of the official royal dinner hosted by the president of the Festival Foundation, Prince Moulay Rachid. The film's director, Farah Khan, and stars Abhishek Bachchan and Boman Irani will attend the screening. With ticket sales totalling more than 350 crore rupees (Dh208 million) worldwide, with more than 200 crore rupees net in India, HNY is the highest-grossing film of the year in India. Khan said: "I'm delighted that HNY is being showcased in Marrakech. Marrakech has become a festival of repute and it's an honour to take our film there." – The National staff
Hunger Games protesters held
Police in Thailand detained three students at the opening of the latest Hunger Games movie on Thursday, where opponents of May's military coup have adopted the film's three-finger salute as a sign of defiance. The military-imposed government has banned the gesture, which symbolises rebellion against totalitarian rule in the films. One cinema chain in Thailand's capital cancelled all screenings of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 after a student group planned an anti-coup protest outside one of its theatres. Activists said police had pressured the chain into scrapping the showings. Two students were detained outside a cinema, and a third was led away by police from a shopping mall cinema after raising the three-finger salute in front of a billboard for the film. All three were released without charge. Five students were briefly detained in north-eastern Thailand on Wednesday after they stood and gave the salute during a speech by the coup leader and appointed prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha. – AP
Jolie plans to give up acting
Angelina Jolie says she plans to give up acting after "a few more" films and switch her focus to directing. Jolie, 39, was speaking on the red carpet with husband Brad Pitt at the premiere of her new movie, the Second World War prisoner-of-war epic Unbroken, in Sydney. It was her second time behind the camera after the critically acclaimed 2011 film In the Land of Blood and Honey, and she said directing was now her passion and her future. "I'll do a few more, but I'll be happy to let that all go at some point," she told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I love directing, I'm much happier directing." – AFP
Oz Lion costume up for sale
Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion costume from the classic film musical The Wizard of Oz is up for sale. The costume will be auctioned with other Hollywood memorabilia tomorrow in New York by Bonhams. The outfit has been authenticated as the one worn by Lahr in the 1939 film, according to a Bonhams' catalogue. The headpiece includes a sculpted likeness of the late actor. A secondary costume used in the film was sold at auction recently for close to $1 million, said a spokesman for the costume's seller, James Comisar. – AP
Syrian talk show claims 70-hour broadcast is world’s longest show
A youth channel owned by Syrian state television claims to have broken the record for the longest non-stop chat show ever broadcast, with a programme that lasted for 70 hours. The hosts, Areej Zayat and Reine Neilah, broadcast the From Syria With Love show on the Talaqi channel from 9pm on Tuesday until 7pm on Friday. The channel, which is based in central Damascus, said it hoped the performance would be recognised by Guinness as an official world record. The current record stands at 62 hours held by a channel in Nepal. "We wanted to send a message through this programme that this country, beset by all kinds of suffering, can send a message of love to the world and that life goes on for the Syrian people," said channel director Maher Al-Khaouli. –AFP
Cosby comedy show in Florida goes ahead as others are axed over sexual assault claims
A stand-up comedy show by Bill Cosby went ahead without incident on Friday, as other shows were cancelled amid the allegations of rape and sexual assault against the 77-year-old comic. Management at the 2,000-seat theatre in Melbourne, Florida, had beefed up security and reporters gathered in case of disruptions caused by protesters, but in the end, the audience laughed along to the show and a lone protester stood outside, holding a sign that read “Rape is no joke”. However, shows in Nevada, Illinois, Arizona, South Carolina and Washington State were cancelled over the weekend as more women come forward accusing the entertainer of sexually assaulting them many years ago. Cosby’s lawyer has said claims are untrue. At least 29 shows remain on his schedule between now and May. - AP
AMA to honour Taylor Swift with new award
Taylor Swift will get a special honour at the American Music Awards. The singer will receive the new Dick Clark Award for Excellence at Sunday's show in recognition of her record-setting sales. 1989, her fifth album, which was released last month, was her third to sell more than a million copies in its first week on sale. Dick Clark's widow, Kari Clark, said "the first time Dick saw Taylor perform, he knew she was something special". Swift will kick off the awards show with a performance of Blank Space, her latest single which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart this week. - AP
Radiohead back in the studio working on new album
Experimental rock icons Radiohead are back in the recording studio and "fumbling" about as they decide on the direction for their next album, guitarist Jonny Greenwood has revealed. "We're currently playing and recording. It's fun," he said. "We've been waiting, all of us, for a long time," Greenwood told BBC radio. He stressed that the album, which will be the band's first since 2011's The King of Limbs, was in the early stages. "Looking Down Avenues is a very kind way of putting the kind of fumbling that we do," he said. - AFP
Billy Joel set to break Madison Square Garden record
Billy Joel will set a record for the most performances by any artist at Madison Square Garden when he plays his 65th show at the venue next summer. The 65-year-old singer will surpass the record set by his former tourmate Elton John with a show on July 1, part of his residency at the New York venue. - AP
Actor and Elvis fan John Stamos turns on Christmas lights at Graceland
Sporting Elvis Presley-style sideburns, US actor John Stamos on Friday helped to turn on a colourful display of holiday lights at Graceland, Presley's former home-turned-museum in Memphis. An avid fan of the King, Stamos joined hundreds of fans who watched yellow, red and blue lights illuminate the large front yard. The actor was joined by young patients from Le Bonheur Children's Hospital at the lighting ceremony. Stamos, best known for roles on TV shows such as General Hospital, Full House and ER, already has close ties to Graceland – his voice is featured on the iPad tour of the museum. He said he also remembers dressing up as Elvis during an episode of Full House, and, while visiting Graceland in the 1990s for a TV special, he even got to play a chord on Presley's piano. "I think the first time I saw him, the word 'supernova' came into my head," Stamos said. "I was just immediately in awe. He had it all. Nobody's had it all. People have good voices, or they're good looking, or their charismatic, or they're good people, but it's the combination." - AP
US daytime talk show The Queen Latifah Show will end next year
Distributor Sony Pictures Television said the final episode will be broadcast in March. The programme was launched in the autumn of 2013 and received a so-so reception. Queen Latifah vowed “to be more loose, more playful, more fun, more provocative” – but it failed to boost dwindling ratings. Viewing figures this season this season were down from last year. The 44-year-old singer and actress will next be seen starring in an HBO biopic of blues legend Bessie Smith. - AP
