Latest news with #Normandy
Daily News Egypt
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily News Egypt
Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets
Minister of Culture Ahmed Fouad Henno has announced the launch of a comprehensive national plan to revive the Egyptian film industry. The plan focuses on developing state-owned cinematic assets into modern production hubs equipped with the latest technologies, while also preserving and digitally restoring Egypt's rich cinematic heritage to present it to new generations in high-quality formats that reflect its historical and artistic value. The Minister affirmed that this initiative comes in response to directives from the political leadership to invest in idle cultural assets and enhance their contribution to the creative economy. It also aims to provide a professional production environment that will help restore Egypt's leading position in cinema. Henno explained that the strategy rests on three main pillars: upgrading the infrastructure of studios and cinemas, reactivating idle assets to maximise their cultural and economic value, and establishing a professional national production entity to offer integrated services for creators and investors. As part of this effort, the Holding Company for Cinematic Productions, together with its subsidiary the Cinematic Asset Management Company, has set out an ambitious plan to modernise Cinema City, Studio Nahhas, and Studio Ahram. These facilities will be outfitted with advanced post-production technologies, including editing systems, colour grading, sound mixing, digital archiving, and upgraded fire safety and air conditioning systems. The plan also covers the renovation of sound stages and cinemas such as Miami, Diana, and Normandy. The company has already reopened several previously closed cinemas and has launched renovation work on Miami and Normandy cinemas for the first time in over 25 years. It has also settled disputes with distribution companies and upgraded audio-visual systems. Additionally, the Holding Company is working to establish a national production company to provide professional services in filming, editing, sound mixing, and colour grading. The aim is to support film and television production in Egypt and deliver competitive production models across the Arab world and the wider region. In parallel with modernisation efforts, the Holding Company—working alongside the Heritage Restoration Center for Audio-Visual Media at Media Production City—has digitally remastered several Egyptian cinema classics in high-quality 4K resolution. These titles include The Second Wife, The Sin, The Quail and Autumn, Sunset and Sunrise, The Man Who Lost His Shadow, Umm Hashim's Lamp, The Road, Cairo 30, A Taste of Fear, My Wife and the Dog, Between the Two Palaces, Palace of Desire, My Wife Is a General Manager, The Beggar, The Impossible, People and the Nile, A Crime in the Quiet District, and The Mirage. Ezz El-Din Ghoneim, CEO of the Holding Company, explained that this restoration initiative will help showcase these cinematic treasures on digital platforms and at international festivals, reinforcing Egypt's cultural leadership and its status as a prominent soft power in the region and beyond. Ghoneim added that the company has launched an official website to manage cinematic assets, alongside a dedicated YouTube channel to stream state-owned films. It has also signed a contract with a content protection company to prevent piracy and maximise digital revenues. Looking ahead, the next phase will involve equipping the Cinema City film lab with state-of-the-art restoration equipment, in collaboration with the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority and under the management of the Cinematic Asset Management Company. Given the scale of the project, restoration work will be split between the Heritage Restoration Center at Media Production City and the company's own lab to ensure efficiency and timely delivery. Furthermore, the Holding Company is considering organising a dedicated festival for restored films, featuring public screenings of rare works in their newly digitised formats at specially equipped theatres, complemented by discussions and seminars with critics, writers, and artists connected to these films. The goal is to create an interactive cultural experience that deepens public appreciation for these classics and highlights their enduring place in Egyptian cinematic history.
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
I went to the Canadian-style safari resort in Europe with American bison and new restaurants
IN my best David Attenborough voice, I whisper: 'The majestic bison, shaggy giants of the plains, thunder across the fields in their hundreds.' It's baking hot and I'm rumbling along dusty tracks in an old army truck, my eyes peeled for the large animals. 4 So far, so safari. However, I'm not roaming the Great Plains of North America, where they normally reside, but a little closer to home in the Eawy Forest in Normandy, France. A half-hour drive from Dieppe through ancient villages lies Parc Canadien, home to the largest herd of American bison in Europe. It opened in 1994 when a herd of North American bison were successfully released into the wilds of Normandy. Over the last 20 years, the herd has grown to more than 200. They have now been joined by stags, fallow deer and several packs of wolves. While the jeep tours are only conducted in French — we are given a laminated sheet of information from the desk — English guides can be booked in advance. Before spotting the bison, we trundle through Wolf Temple, a fenced-off part of the park where the wolves reside. There's plenty to do for an afternoon — canoeing down the Varenne River and walking tours around the wolf enclosure and mini farm. You can sample bison burgers, steaks and more at the Canadian -style bar and restaurant, with its log cabin walls and trophy skulls. New for 2025 is fast-food restaurant La Toundra, with sandwiches from £5.20 and full kids' meals with drinks, dessert and a present from £8.65. How to make your safari holiday more affordable - with quieter seasons and budget lodging You can even stock up on bison sausages and terrine from the farm's onsite butchery. Wildlife -spotting aside, a weekend in Dieppe has stacks of appeal. The ferry from Newhaven lands in Dieppe, on Normandy's Alabaster Coast, at 10pm and it's a 15-minute drive to the charming Hotel Aguado, where most rooms overlook the sea. As most places have stopped serving food at this late hour we hit the jackpot at a hole-in-the-wall joint called Big Al And Little Joe. This serves Lebanese-style flatbreads filled with salads, meats and sauces, which we ate al fresco listening to live jazz from the wine bar next door. Saturday is the best day to visit Dieppe, largely because of its brilliant market. Named the best market in France in 2020, the 200 or so stalls wind their way from Quai Henri IV through the town and sell everything from homemade wicker baskets and locally made Neufchatel cheese to fist-sized tomatoes and slabs of nougat. Shopping secured, do as the locals do and stop for a cold beer in Cafe des Tribunaux on Place du Puits-Salé, where Oscar Wilde used to drink. 4 4 Visit Chateau de Dieppe, the town's 15th-century castle overlooking the sea, which has a maritime museum with paintings by Boudin, Lebourg and Pissarro. Don't miss a peek at Les Tourelles gate, the only surviving gate from the medieval ramparts, which were used as a prison during the French Revolution. Dieppe was considered France's first seaside resort some 200 years ago, and while the Belle Epoque architecture has largely been bombed away, it still has the largest seafront lawns in Europe and a grey-pebbled beach packed with locals splashing in the shallows. While bison and beaches are an excellent reason to visit, the highlight for me is dinner at La Marmite Dieppoise, a gorgeous Normandy restaurant just off the main drag. We feasted on oysters, fruits de mer and the house speciality, marmite Dieppoise — a creamy fish stew with turbot, monkfish and scallops pulled fresh from the sea that morning. When it comes to celebrating Anglo-French relations, a weekend in Dieppe is the way to go.
Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
‘Papa' Jake Larson obituary: D-Day veteran and TikTok sensation
TikTok is a way for young people to follow the latest trends, yet one of the social media platform's most popular personalities was a centenarian sharing stories from 1944. When Second World War veterans' events were cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, McKaela Larson started a TikTok account for her grandfather, Jake Larson, an American who took part in the Normandy landings and the Battle of the Bulge. His war tales, shared under Story Time With Papa Jake, attracted 1.2 million followers and more than 11 million 'likes'. The spry Larson appeared in more than 200 posts and relished his late-in-life celebrity, whether responding to fan mail at home from the padded comfort of his reclining chair, making his first trip to Disneyland or throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game — as he did aged 102 in March for the San Francisco Giants.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Happy Valley's James Norton and Game Of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau wage war as BBC drops action-packed first trailer at period drama King & Conqueror
Happy Valley 's James Norton and Game Of Thrones ' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau wage a bloody war in the BBC 's first trailer for blockbuster period drama King & Conqueror. The upcoming eight-part series is set to hit screens this August, and tells the story of the Battle of Hastings, one of the most famous in English history. On October 14, 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, defeated England's Saxon army, killed King Harold II and seized the throne - becoming William the Conqueror. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two allies who were forced to turn on each other after they found out that King Edward the Confessor had promised both of them the crown. In King & Conqueror, James Norton plays Harold of Wessex and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau portrays William the Conqueror. The trailer shows snippets of gripping drama, and offers a glimpse of the deft exploration of the two men. Emily Beecham plays Edith Swanneck who was one of the wealthiest magnates in England before the battle, and may have been Harold's first wife. William the Conqueror's wife, Matilda of Flanders, is played by Clemence Poesy. Other stars in the series include Eddie Marsan as King Edward, Juliet Stevenson as Lady Emma, Jean-Marc Barr as King Henry and Luther Ford as Tostig. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is known for his role as Jamie Lannister, Knight of the Kingsguard, in the hit TV series Game Of Thrones. He also starred in the 2013 horror Mama, The Other Woman, Shot Caller and Nightwatch. Meanwhile James Norton played the notorious criminal Tommy Lee Royce in British crime drama Happy Valley. Other TV shows and films he has starred in include Grantchester, War & Peace and McMafia. It was previously revealed that the makers of the programme shunned England and shot all of its King & Conqueror scenes in Iceland. They used the unlikely locations of a campsite and nature reserve in Iceland, with Film In Iceland, the country's film commission, offering the production generous financial incentives. Productions that shoot in the country can claim a rebate of up to 35 per cent of total costs. Historians accept that the battle could not be filmed there because it was wooded then, but now comprises fields and hedgerows. However, they say that it could have been filmed in an area such as the New Forest. Instead, producers – who include Norton – chose Hjallaflatir, a campsite in the Icelandic nature reserve of Heiomork. The campsite's rocky appearance could hardly look more different to the terrain of the historic battlefield, both now and in the 11th century. From a series spokesperson: 'King & Conqueror is set across multiple European territories – including Normandy, France, Flanders and Norway, alongside England. Iceland was chosen for a multitude of reasons including its variety of landscapes that can represent these different parts of Europe from 1,000 years ago.'
BBC News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
King & Conqueror trailer and new picture released for epic drama starring James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
The trailer and a new picture have been released for King & Conqueror, a new eight-part historical epic coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One this year. The 60-second trailer shows Harold, Earl of Wessex (James Norton) and William, Duke of Normandy (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) as they battle for the throne alongside their respective wives, Edith Swan-neck (Emily Beecham) and Matilda (Clémence Poésy). The trailer also features allies and enemies such as King Edward (Eddie Marsan), Lady Emma (Juliet Stevenson), Morcar (Elander Moore), Gytha (Clare Holman), Tostig (Luther Ford), Queen Gunhild (Bo Bragason) and Godwin (Geoff Bell). King & Conqueror is produced by The Development Partnership, Rabbit Track Pictures, Shepherd Content, RVK Studios and CBS Studios, in association with the BBC. The series is created and written by Michael Robert Johnson with the opening episode directed by Baltasar Kormákur. The series also stars Jean-Marc Barr as King Henry, Elliott Cowan as Sweyn, Bjarne Henriksen as Earl Siward, Oliver Masucci as Baldwin, Indy Lewis as Margaret, Jason Forbes as Thane Thomas, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Fitzosbern, Ines Asserson as Judith, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson as Hardrada and Léo Legrand as Odo. King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country – and a continent – for a thousand years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the English throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown. The 8x60' series is created and executive produced by Michael Robert Johnson and executive produced by James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky for Rabbit Track Pictures, Baltasar Kormákur and Magnus Sigurdsson for RVK Studios, Robert Taylor for The Development Partnership, Dave Clarke and Richard Halliwell for Shepherd Content, Lindsay Martin for CBS Studios, Ed Clarke and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Baltasar Kormákur directed the premiere episode and, as executive producer, has steered the creative across the series. King & Conqueror was acquired by Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition. The BBC has acquired broadcasting rights for the series in the United Kingdom and it is distributed outside of the UK by Paramount Global Content Distribution. King & Conqueror will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One this August. Watch King & Conqueror on iPlayer and add to your Watchlist MF3 Follow for more
