Latest news with #Ifta
Irish Examiner
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Ukrainian-language film Sanatorium to represent Ireland in Oscars international category
Ukrainian-language film Sanatorium has been selected by the Irish Film and Television Academy (Ifta) to represent Ireland in the International Feature Film category at next year's 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The documentary film, directed by Galway-born filmmaker Gar O'Rourke, is set in Kuyalnik Sanatorium, a crumbling wellness centre near Odessa in Ukraine, where "staff and visitors are determined to have a holiday away from the outside world, a moment in their lives to 'restore' themselves" despite the war raging in the country. At the facility, guests can avail of the therapeutic treatments from the Soviet-era, including a mysterious mud which is said to cure infertility, chronic ailments, and a myriad of other health issues. The fly-on-the wall work has already garnered much acclaim on the festival circuit: it won Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh, and screened at festivals in Copenhagen, Switzerland, Edinburgh, and Melbourne. The film was produced by Venom Films with Ifta-winners Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman, along with Samantha Corr. It was co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine and made with support from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe. It will released here on September 5. Gar O'Rourke said it was a privilege to be representing Ireland "on the biggest stage in world cinema". "This was a film that set out to show the power of healing, the resilience of community, and above all the strength of the Ukrainian spirit in the face of such traumatic time," he said. 'Sanatorium' has already garnered much acclaim on the festival circuit: it won Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh, and screened at festivals in Copenhagen, Switzerland, Edinburgh, and Melbourne. Producers Andrew Freedman, Ken Wardrop and Samantha Corr said being selected by Ifta was "an honour" and "a huge recognition of the dedication of Gar O'Rourke, John Murphy and everyone who helped bring this story to the screen". "Most of all, it salutes the resilient community of Kuyalnik Sanatorium outside Odessa — where even in the shadow of war, people come to heal, to laugh and to show extraordinary humanity," they added. Sanatorium follows in the footsteps of An Cailín Ciúin, nominated for an Oscar in 2023, and Kneecap, shortlisted for an award last year. The shortlist for the International Feature Oscar will be announced on December 16. The final five nominees will be announced on January 22. The 98th Academy Awards take place on March 15.
Saudi Gazette
31-05-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Grand Mufti: Performing Hajj without a permit is a sin
Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars and Head of the General Presidency for Scholarly Research and Ifta Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh, stressed the need to fully adhere to the instructions issued by the relevant authorities, most notably obtaining an official permit to perform the rituals. This was delivered in a directive to Muslims wishing to perform Hajj this year. The Grand Mufti emphasized that performing Hajj without a permit constitutes a grave violation of Islamic law, as it violates the system and the public interest. He warned that violating the instructions issued by the relevant Hajj authorities constitutes a clear violation of the orders of the ruler and is contrary to the Islamic Shariah. "Anyone who performs Hajj without a permit is guilty of a religious sin, as this harms public order and undermines the objectives of Islamic law, which are aimed at preserving order, preventing chaos, and achieving the interests of the servants." The Grand Mufti also urged all pilgrims to ensure they receive the health vaccinations prescribed by the Ministry of Health, emphasizing that preventing diseases and epidemics is a religious duty and a religious responsibility, especially during a season when Muslims flock from all over the world. He emphasized the importance of full cooperation with security and health authorities and adhering to their instructions, warning that "negligence in implementing instructions may expose the pilgrim to legal accountability and undermine the purpose of Hajj, which is worship, security, and safety." He praised the great efforts made by the Saudi government, under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in facilitating the performance of the rituals and providing all necessary resources to ensure the safety and security of the guests of God. Meanwhile, the Grand Mufti received fatwa seekers at the headquarters of the General Presidency of Scientific Research and Ifta in Makkah. He assigned a number of scholars and sheikhs to answer pilgrims' inquiries during the Hajj season. These scholars include Sheikh Abdulsalam Al-Sulaiman, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars and member of the Permanent Committee for Ifta, at mobile number (0504222205); Sheikh Jibril Al-Basili, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars and official for Ifta in the Asir Region, at mobile number (0506741787); and Sheikh Abdullah Al Tayyar, official for Ifta in the Qassim region at mobile number (0556377792). The list of scholars also includes: the Fatwa official for the Makkah region Sheikh Muhammad Bazmoul on the number (0553480005), the Fatwa official for the Jazan region Sheikh Muhammad Shaiba,on the number (0504577218), and the General Department of Fatwa's number on the WhatsApp (0535256603).
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Trauma of the Troubles: ‘I threw my first petrol bomb when I was nine. I felt like a man after that'
When Alessandra Celesia was making The Flats, her riveting new film about the New Lodge complex, in Belfast, as its residents confront the intergenerational trauma of the Troubles, she decided to embrace their view of her as the 'mad Italian journalist'. 'It's a bit like a joke, but my husband says they needed an Italian because we love talking about our problems and trying to get to the bottom of our souls,' says Celesia, who spent six years filming there. 'Whereas in Belfast – and this is something I adore about Belfast – people try to make a joke and not let the pain in. They think everybody else's pain is bigger than theirs. 'That was difficult in the beginning – convincing people that wasn't the case, that we were interested in the internal wounds of an entire generation. I remember I was told, 'We had one psychologist after the war: he was called Dr Smirnoff.' My husband explained they meant the vodka. It's a bit funny, but it's also a way to talk about self-medication and mental health.' A marriage of personal testimonies, reenactments and archival footage that won an Ifta this year to go alongside its prestigious Dox award, from Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, The Flats is an intimate, poignant and occasionally funny depiction of locals grappling with the legacy of conflict in an area that the documentary describes as 'a republican enclave among the most heavily impacted areas of the Troubles'. READ MORE It became a stronghold for the Provisional IRA, with frequent violence and sectarian tensions. The New Lodge Six shooting of 1973, when six Catholic men were killed, remains a poignant collective memory. One of the residents, Joe McNally, is still processing the murder of his favourite uncle by the Shankill Butchers. As a teenager he channelled his grief and anger into civil unrest against the British army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. 'I threw my first petrol bomb when I was 9½,' he says. 'I felt like I was a man after that. Five years later I was in the heart of making, organising and throwing them.' [ 'It's been retraumatising': Families of six men shot dead by British soldiers seek truth 50 years on Opens in new window ] 'I was always really fascinated by the architecture,' Celesia says. 'It's not peculiar to Belfast. It's the kind of social housing that makes a constant variation of stories possible. I needed to be there for a long, long time for them to trust me. 'When I started to go there I was brought in by a friend who worked there as a social worker. We were knocking on doors. That's when I found Joe. At the beginning I met a lot of people who knew exactly what to say to journalists. But I'm not really a journalist. I just have curiosity. 'And when I met Joe I thought, Oh, here we have someone who is a natural actor and is poetic enough to try something else.' Something else includes dramatic re-creations. Unlike Joshua Oppenheimer's startling use of docudrama in The Act of Killing , in which former leaders of Indonesian death squads restage their mass killings from the anti-communist purge of 1965-66, Celesia concentrates on smaller details. Joe 'directs' a 12-year-old local boy, Sean Parker, in the role of young Joe as he dramatises his uncle's funeral. 'I didn't study cinema,' Celesia says. 'I come from theatre. I still work with a theatre company. I'm lucky enough, because in Belfast there is a very strong tradition of political and community and amateur theatre. A lot of theatre groups were used to allow the communities to say what had happened and as a kind of healing process as well. 'A couple of months before we started shooting, I don't know why it came into my mind, but I thought I could find a coffin. A friend of mine had a chipped coffin that was very cheap. I arrived with the coffin, not sure if it would work. But Joe and the others made it their own. 'The guy in the coffin is actually my son Liam. That was another key to me being accepted. Nobody else wanted to go into the coffin. My friend in Naples says it's good luck, but nobody thinks that in Belfast.' Two local women, Jolene Burns and Angie B Campbell, similarly relive the events that allowed them to escape domestic abusers. Those incidents happened a generation apart; the pair now bond over tanning-bed sessions. They also play Joe's grieving mother and granny during the funeral scene. Jolene also featured in The Bookseller of Belfast, Celesia's portrait of a local bibliophile, John Clancy, from 2012. Makeup artist Abbey O'Reilly with Jolene Burns in The Flats, directed by Alessandra Celesia 'In Italy we had the actress Anna Magnani,' Celesia says, referring to the tough, magnetic, Oscar-winning star of Roma, Open City and The Rose Tattoo. 'She was an important mirror image for me. She's like the woman of New Lodge. I followed Jolene immediately from when she was so young. She doesn't care about politics. She's an animal of survival. She has all the tools. If I'm ever lost in the jungle I want to be lost with her. She will make sure I survive.' Celesia, who lives between Northern Ireland and Paris, arrived in Belfast almost three decades ago, just before the Good Friday peace agreement. Unit she her husband, the writer, director and producer John McIlduff, and his west Belfast family, she had gleaned what she knew about the conflict that dominated the North mostly from television. 'I come from a mountain village in Italy,' she says. 'I was totally naive. I remember being around 15 or 16 and listening to U2. For us they represented a far, exotic world. We were very interested in Ireland as a generation. And it's funny: I realised when you talk to people under 50, they don't remember any of it.' New Lodge is a difficult area to become embedded in. It is the North's fifth most deprived area overall and second in terms of income deprivation, according to the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure . Joe threatens to go on a hunger strike to protest against the drug dealers we see circling the block. 'Rule number one, if you don't go and put your nose in their business, it's okay,' Celesia says. 'We always had the porter or someone who would say hi. I never felt unsafe. High-rise public housing flats in the republican New Lodge district of North Belfast, July 21st, 1972. Photograph:'It's really like two parallel worlds. There were families living there before, but then they realised the flats were too small and the windows were too dangerous for kids, so they've moved the families out and mostly single men in, including some drug addicts and unemployed. 'I've seen a couple of situations. Burning the bonfires on August 8th, they built one that was maybe 10 metres from the flats. It was huge. That was the only time my husband said, 'You come back home now'.' During one of the film's most memorable sequences, Jolene is astonished to learn that she is entitled to an Irish passport and, theoretically, shorter queues at the airport. The exchange that follows flags a bewildering generational divide: Joe is of an age to recall sectarian murders and quote the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands – 'Our revenge will be the laughter of our children' – while the younger Jolene is affected by inherited trauma without knowing its political and ideological context. 'There was another scene that is not in the finished film,' Celesia says. 'I was filming some young kids, maybe 14 years old. And we went on the roof of the flats where you have all the pictures of the hunger strikers and their names. They were discussing the murals, and they thought they were the architects of the flats. They have in them the capacity of hate and anger when they talk about something that is related to the conflict. But what is this faith based on? It's very complicated. It's good that they have forgotten, but they've forgotten so much they don't even know who they are.' The Flats is in cinemas from Friday, May 23rd
Al Manar
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Manar
Israeli Occupation Forces Continue Aggression in West Bank's Tulkarm, Ramp Up Home Demolitions
For the 39th consecutive day, Israeli occupation forces continue their assault on the city of Tulkarm and for the 26th day on Nur Shams refugee camp, carrying out large-scale demolitions, infrastructure destruction, and military reinforcements. Israeli forces began on Thursday morning demolishing several residential buildings in the Al-Manshiya neighborhood of Nur Shams, following demolition orders issued a day earlier for 17 homes. The demolitions, under the pretext of constructing a new road to alter the camp's geographic landscape, targeted properties belonging to several Palestinian families. 🎥 VIDEO: Israeli occupation forces demolish 17 homes in Nur Shams camp in Tulkarem, leaving widespread devastation. — Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) March 6, 2025 Residents were given just two hours to enter the camp and retrieve their belongings, yet occupation forces obstructed the evacuation process, firing live rounds to intimidate them. Since the onset of the assault, Nur Shams camp has faced relentless attacks, with Israeli forces repeatedly raiding homes, forcibly displacing residents, and turning houses into military outposts. The camp has suffered extensive infrastructure devastation, including the destruction of homes, shops, and vital facilities through demolitions, bombings, and arson. In recent days, Israeli bulldozers have razed more than 11 homes as part of a broader scheme to carve out a road from the camp's main square to Al-Manshiya. Meanwhile, in Tulkarm refugee camp, Israeli forces maintain a strict siege, preventing entry and exit while conducting raids on abandoned homes, looting their contents, and forcibly evacuating residents, particularly in the Al-Matar neighborhood. Witnesses report that Israeli bulldozers continue to tear up roads, destroy property, and seal off streets with dirt barriers, including the camp's main northern entrance, which has suffered unprecedented destruction. The occupation has also reinforced its military presence with fuel tankers and additional troops, positioning forces in front of residential buildings seized on Nablus Street, a key route connecting Tulkarm and Nur Shams. This has severely disrupted civilian movement. Additionally, Israeli occupation forces have seized multiple homes in the eastern Tulkarm neighborhoods of Dhanaba and Izbat Al-Jarad, expelling their residents and converting them into sniper posts and military bases. Armored reinforcements have also been deployed from checkpoints at Tulkarm's southern and eastern entrances, leading to further incursions into the town of Anabta and the city's southern entrance before returning to their original positions. With precise & venomous timing, the israelis storm the town of Anabta in Tulkarm in armoured jeeps & military vehicles minutes before Ifta began — Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) March 5, 2025 The ongoing assault has so far resulted in the killing of 13 Palestinians, including a child and two women—one of whom was eight months pregnant—alongside dozens of injuries and arrests. The offensive has also displaced more than 9,000 people from Nur Shams and 12,000 from Tulkarm refugee camp.
The Independent
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Saoirse Ronan among Irish stars in eye-catching gowns at Ifta awards
Saoirse Ronan and Nicola Coughlan were among the Irish stars who stepped out in eye-catching gowns for the Irish Film and Television Academy (Ifta) awards. Ronan, who won best lead actress in a film for her starring role in addiction-recovery drama The Outrun, looked elegant in a strapless sky blue dress for the ceremony at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on Friday. The actress, 30, accessorised with a simple pair of dark-toned drop earrings and her hair pulled back into a low bun. Bridgerton star Coughlan wore a black gown with billowing sleeves, ruffle detailing and sparkly black straps on the shoulders. Coughlan, who was up for best actress in a drama for her role as Penelope Featherington in the hit Netflix period drama, paired the outfit with a black Kate Spade bag. Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy wore a navy double-breasted suit jacket over a white shirt and black tie which was haphazardly tied. The Oppenheimer star won best lead actor in a film for his starring role in the historical drama Small Things Like These. Bad Sisters stars Sarah Greene, Eva Birthistle and Sharon Horgan walked the red carpet together on Valentine's Day. Greene wore an all-black outfit of black leather jacket over trousers and a high-neck top, while Horgan wore a deep purple dress with high leg splits. Birthistle leaned into the day of romance with a scarlet strapless gown and matching red heels. Their Apple TV+ black comedy series won three awards. Ruth Negga also opted for a black gown which featured sheer cap sleeves. She paired it with a white bag. Members of rap trio Kneecap, Mo Chara and Moglai Bap, dressed casually in black hoodies and trousers while fellow member JJ O'Dochartaigh wore a suit and his signature Irish flag balaclava. Their self-titled Irish language film won four awards after receiving 17 nods in various categories across the Iftas.
