DW News Africa with Christine Mhundwa, May 29, 2025 – DW – 05/29/2025
05/29/2025
May 29, 2025
'DW gets exclusive access to areas close to the frontline in DRC. People living there tell us about their struggles as tensions heighten with the return of former President Kabila after two years in exile. Plus, a medical mystery in northern Nigeria with millions of cases of chronic kidney disease. And the first ever Nigerian film makes it to the Cannes Film Festival. We've got the film's story'.
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DW
2 days ago
- DW
DW News Africa with Christine Mhundwa, May 29, 2025 – DW – 05/29/2025
05/29/2025 May 29, 2025 'DW gets exclusive access to areas close to the frontline in DRC. People living there tell us about their struggles as tensions heighten with the return of former President Kabila after two years in exile. Plus, a medical mystery in northern Nigeria with millions of cases of chronic kidney disease. And the first ever Nigerian film makes it to the Cannes Film Festival. We've got the film's story'.
DW
3 days ago
- DW
Did Mozart have friends? – DW – 05/28/2025
Mozart had many admirers and would no doubt have countless followers on Instagram today. But did he have real friends? Or did he live solely for music? All is explored at the Mozart festival in Würzburg. If the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were a child prodigy today, he would probably have millions of followers and "friend" requests on social media. But even in the 18th century, Mozart's father Leopold warned his son against false friends — people who envied him, but also flatterers who only told him what he wanted to hear. This year's Mozartfest Würzburg , which started this week and runs through June 22, is about Mozart's friendships. The festival in Würzburg is the oldest and largest Mozart festival in Germany, held every year at the Würzburg Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The festival's motto this year, "But through sound: friend Mozart," refers to one of his quotes, and how music was his main form of expression — and connection. "A true friendship requires trust and mutual understanding," says artistic director Evelyn Meining, adding that even millions of followers on social media platforms cannot replace such a relationship. His 'dearest friend': A representation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn playing together Image: picture-alliance/Leemage The child prodigy without friends? Mozart caused a sensation in the mid-18th century as a so-called wunderkind. He traveled with his father through Europe for years, captivating court nobles with his talent on the violin and piano. But there was no time for close friendships with his peers. "Of course, the family was very focused on itself; the bond was particularly strong in the early 1760s," Meining told DW. Even later, one cannot imagine Mozart hanging out with friends at cozy dining events. "These were more likely relationships built within a musical context: colleagues, musician friends, teachers, patrons or orchestra musicians from the bands," explains Meining. It's through Mozart's musical talent, evident at a very young age, that the English language acquired the word 'wunderkind' Image: akg-images/picture alliance Artistic friendships at the Mozartfest Artistic friendships also play a special role among the performers at the Mozartfest this year. The opening event featured friends Nils Mönkemeyer (viola) and William Youn (piano), accompanied by the Ensemble Resonanz under conductor Riccardo Minasi. Mönkemeyer and Youn met through music. They love Mozart's works, but they also wanted something more modern for their performance. They therefore commissioned Manfred Trojahn, who has made a name for himself with modern operas, to write a new piece: "Trame lunari," a double concerto for viola, piano and chamber orchestra that facilitates an unusual combination of instruments. "Trame lunari" translates roughly as "moon phantoms." "There are many color changes in the piece, many nuances of lighting, and that's what the title refers to," Trojahn told DW. He appreciates the transparency of Mozart's music. "My composition should by light and transparent, just like Mozart's works," Trojahn explains. Mönkemeyer and Youn are a well-rehearsed team. They performed sometimes extremely delicate sounds with nuance and sensitivity. The Mozart Festival's opening concert with Nils Mönkemeyer, playing viola, and William Youn, at the piano Image: Mozartfest/Foto: Dita Vollmond Joseph Haydn, the fatherly friend Mozart is still considered a role model for many musicians today. He himself had role models such as the composer Joseph Haydn and Bach's son, Johann Christian Bach, whom he admired for his elegant, light music. Joseph Haydn was 24 years older than Mozart. They developed a friendly father-son relationship, and Mozart wrote in letters that Haydn was his "dearest friend." In 1785, he dedicated six string quartets to Haydn, to whom he handed the scores, saying they were his "children." Wax portrait reliefs of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn Image: Oskar Anrather/picture-alliance/brandstaetter images The horn player Joseph Leutgeb was also one of Mozart's close friends. Mozart wrote humorous taunts into his scores, such as "For you, Mr. Donkey." Mozart was also friends with Anton Stadler, one of the best clarinetists of his time. He composed a clarinet quintet and a clarinet concerto for him. Later, as Mozart became increasingly ill and lonely, he wrote that music was essentially his only friend. The 'false friends'? And what about the false friends Mozart's father worried about? One of them appears in Milos Forman's 1984 film, "Amadeus": Antonio Salieri is portrayed in the movie as a mediocre composer and as Mozart's adversary, scheming behind Mozart's back and even poisoning him. The story of Mozart and Salieri's alleged rivalry has been brought to the screen through the 1984 film 'Amadeus' Image: Leemage/dpa/picture-alliance Although this narrative has long since been refuted, it remains a popular belief. Evelyn Meining wants to dispel such clichés at the Mozartfest: "Salieri was not a vicious competitor. That's all untrue," she says. Nor was he a failure living in Mozart's shadow, but a respected court composer. "Mozart and Salieri held each other in high esteem," Meining adds. The 'Black Mozart' Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is also portrayed as Mozart's rival in literature and in the film "Chevalier" (2022), directed by Stephen Williams. Born in Guadeloupe in 1745, the son of a white French nobleman and a Black slave, he came to France as a child. He made a name for himself early on as a violinist and composer. Joseph Haydn later composed for Bologne's own orchestra. Bologne was also considered for the position of director of the Academie Royale de Musique, but racial discrimination prevented his appointment. The violin duel between Mozart and Bologne depicted in the film "Chevalier" never actually took place. It is questionable whether Bologne, nine years older than Mozart, even had direct contact with him as a young musician. As composers who were active at the same time and were celebrated artists in their circles, it has simply been since assumed that they were competitors, explains Meining. Even the label "Black Mozart" for Joseph Bologne only came about posthumously. Composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) Image: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/picture alliance Friendships yesterday and today The festival's "Mozart Laboratory" hosts discussions on the topic of friendship, with a focus on artistic associations and social networks. "Because, of course, we are in the midst of a revolutionary social transformation, strongly driven by new digital developments such as the internet, social media and AI," says Meining. To counteract this, there will also be concerts held in private homes, where like-minded people can come together and perhaps rediscover music as a "medium of friendship." Who knows, the event might lead to new friendships. This article was originally written in German.
DW
4 days ago
- DW
Beyond Trump's film tariffs: Is Hollywood really in decline? – DW – 05/27/2025
Fewer films are being made in the US. But will tariffs alone bring back productions to LA in the face of a more globalized industry? When Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 100% tariff on any film "produced in foreign lands," a globalized US film industry began to panic. Shares in major production companies like Netflix and Disney immediately fell due to an assumed rise in costs when productions can no longer profit from cheaper overseas locations. In recent decades, American films and TV series have benefited from generous tax incentives for shooting in Europe, Canada or Australia, making Hollywood locations comparatively expensive. At the same time, the film and content industry has become highly decentralized, with international co-productions able to share resources and access funding across multiple countries. Trump pushes levy on foreign-made films To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Stars deride tariffs proposal in Cannes While lacking detail about whether the tariffs will only apply to "movies" or also TV series, Trump's threat to heavily tax foreign content within the massive US market was widely criticized during last week's Cannes Film Festival. American director Wes Anderson, in Cannes to launch his new film "The Phoenician Scheme," wondered how the tariffs could ever work when applied to intellectual property as opposed to physical goods. "Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn't ship that way," the filmmaker said at a press conference. Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, who accepted an honorary Palme d'Or in Cannes, said of Trump's film sanctions: "You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it." Meanwhile, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, an Indian actor, filmmaker and Bollywood star, said on social media that a 100% tariff on foreign movies could mean that "India's struggling film industry will collapse entirely." Is Hollywood's decline overstated? In a post on Truth Social announcing the film tariffs, Donald Trump claimed that "the movie industry in America is dying a very fast death." On-location filming in Hollywood has declined around 34% in the last five years, according to Film LA, a film industry publication. While many film workers have lost their jobs as a result, the slowdown isn't only due to incentives to shoot in foreign locations. The COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic downturn and a months-long strike by actors and writers in 2023 have also caused Hollywood to grind to a halt. The actors' and writers' strikes of 2023 had a significant economic impact on Hollywood Image:As budgets tighten, films might not be made without co-productions that take advantage of incentives in foreign regions, says Stephen Luby, a lecturer in film at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia. "US productions which have taken advantage of tax incentives in places like Australia to make their films offshore, do so because the films are less expensive to make that way," he told DW. "Perhaps they may not get made without pursuing this pathway." While actor-director Mel Gibson is helping to advise Trump on the tariffs and ways to "make Hollywood great again," his latest film, "The Resurrection of the Christ," will be shot in Rome and across southern Italy. There is currently a slight US trade deficit in entertainment content, meaning more is imported than exported — $27.7 billion (€24.35 billion) versus $24.3 billion in 2023. But according to Jean Chalaby, a professor of sociology at the University of London, this balance is driven by streamers like Netflix who do not officially export US-made content like "Stranger Things," but distribute it internationally via their own US-based platform. Meanwhile, hit series like "Adolescence" and "Squid Game" that are acquired from overseas are counted as imports, even if they are US assets that earn Netflix "hundreds of millions of dollars" in subscription fees, Chalaby noted in an article for The Conversation. "The US-based entertainment industry has never been so dominant globally," he added, despite the trade deficit. The US also remains the world's largest film and TV exporter, even as Hollywood faces more competition from content hubs like South Korea. "If implemented, these tariffs will certainly have far-reaching consequences for the film and TV industry," Chalaby concluded. "But they are unlikely to make anyone more prosperous." 'Squid Game' made a lot of money for US-based Netflix, yet much of the production was outsourced to South Korea Image: Yonhap/picture alliance Tariffs could mark a content trade war Sections of the local film industry support Trump's intention to bring productions back to the US, including the union representing actors, the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. So too the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a US film industry group that represents studios from Disney to Netflix, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros, agrees that more content should be made in the US and supports the principle of tariffs. MPA wants to weaken the local content quotas and tax incentives that attract productions to other countries. In February, when Trump announced his broader tariffs, he singled out protectionism in the EU film market, where US streamers are required to include at least 30% of European content in their programming within EU member states. Under the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive, these states can also demand that the likes of Netflix and Disney be obliged to fund local productions — which the streaming giants have tried to avoid through legal action. Others in Hollywood question Trump's tariffs logic, and his commitment. "The tariff thing, that's not going to happen right? That man changes his mind 50 times," said US director Richard Linklater in Cannes at the opening of his film "Nouvelle Vague." At that same press conference, the discussion surrounding Trump's tariffs led Zoey Deutch, who stars in Linklater's film that was shot in Paris, to praise Hollywood's history and culture: "It would be nice to make more movies in Los Angeles," she said, almost nostalgically. "I just finished doing a movie there and it was magical." Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier
