Latest news with #Oui
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The President's Cake' Review: First-Time Iraqi Director Hasan Hadi Delivers One Of The Fest's Genuine Gems
Perhaps the most surprising thing about today's world premiere of The President's Cake in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival is that it isn't in the main Competition at the Grand Lumiere. It is head and shoulders above some of those films I have seen there, but no matter how you find it, this is a true gem and a real discovery from Hasan Hadi. With the right distributor, it could turn out to be Iraq's first nominee for an Oscar. Yes, it is that good, and coming from a country that barely has movie theaters or any history of cinema, that is saying a lot. This is the first major film from Iraq ever to play in Cannes. Set in 1990s Iraq as dictator Saddam Hussein ruled the land, this is a slice of life actually shot in the country and a peek at what life was like then. Hadi grew up there during wartime, and this rather enchanting story is based on his memories of an actual event where schoolchildren have what is called a 'draw day' and one member of each class is chosen to bake a birthday cake for Hussein. The President's Cake centers on 9-year-old Lamia (Banin Ahmad Nayef), who lives in the Mesopotamian marshes with her very independent grandmother, Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat), who has tutored Lamia in how not to be selected. But Lamia somehow becomes the chosen one anyway and, of course, can not refuse the honor. More from Deadline Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews Cannes Film Festival 2025 in Photos: 'Dossier 137', 'Amrum' & 'Sirât' Premieres Oui Production Invests In Momo Film Co's 'Black Sun' Directed By Nelson Yeo - Cannes Market She and Bibi then go about preparing a list of ingredients needed, even though at this time there is a terrible food shortage in the country, and sugar is almost non-existent in Lamia's part of the land. So, with pet rooster Hindi in tow, they journey to the big city, where Lamia also hopes to visit the amusement park. The surprise, though, is Bibi, getting on in years and no longer able to support her granddaughter, uses the trip to essentially give Lamia away. Once the girl gets wind of this, she runs away and is off on an adventure that will change her life, and Hindi's too. Now the subject of a search by authorities and the only distant relatives she has, Lamia finds herself joined by classmate Saeed (Sajad Mohamad Qasem) as she tries valiantly to evade her pursuers, somehow get those cake ingredients and hit the amusement park — all the while with Hindi in tow. Much happens along the way, both sadness and success, as Hadi's film takes us on an adventure Lamia — or we — won't forget, but also one that ultimately does not erase the realities of being a country at war and under severe sanctions from the United States as a retaliation for 9/11, which the Bush administration tried to blame on Iraq. Although this is a small film with its focus on humanity within the country, it takes on extra relevance in showing life under an autocracy where the leader expects complete allegiance at all times, even down to his birthday cakes. With no spoiler intended, I can only say the film's final images have haunted me for weeks since seeing this masterful debut. Young Nayef, tasked with being on camera for nearly the entire movie, is a true find and holds us in her grasp all the way. She is the beating heart of this film, and viewers will not forget her any time soon. Qasem also is enormously effective, as is the casting of the other roles including veteran Khreibat. Hindi is one of the screen's great roosters. For a first film, this one is quite accomplished across the board but especially with the superb cinematography from Tudor Vladimir Panduru. Hadi, among other things, is a 2022 Sundance Lab Fellow and recipient of the 2022 Sundance/NHK Award, SFFILM Rainin Grant and Doha Film Institute grant for this feature debut. He has a promising future. Don't miss this one. Producer is Leah Chen Baker. Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and filmmaker Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) are executive producers in a supportive move to give this worthy film a higher profile. Title: The President's CakeFestival: Cannes (Directors' Fortnight)Sales agents: UTA/WME (North America); Films Boutique (International)Director-screenwriter: Hasan HadiCast: Banin Ahmad Nayef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Rahim AlhajRunning time: 1 hr 42 minBest of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Where To Watch All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies: Streamers With Multiple Films In The Franchise Everything We Know About 'My Life With The Walter Boys' Season 2 So Far
NDTV
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
From Markets In Benin To Michelin Star In France, How Top Chef Georgiana Viou Blends Cuisine Across Continents
Benin: Georgiana Viou calls herself a "UFO", championing free and daring cuisine straddling two continents, from Cotonou's lively street markets to the kitchens of her Michelin-starred restaurant in Nimes, southern France. In the alleys of the historic Saint-Michel market in Benin's bustling economic capital, unchanged since her childhood, Viou goes from stallholder to stallholder. At one she buys bright purple aubergines "like in the south of France", at another four spices and smoked long peppers -- which are often used in traditional medicine. "I'm sure that apart from the preparations they make to treat themselves, the people here have never thought of putting that in food," said Viou, 47, who runs L'Ami restaurant at Cotonou's luxury Sofitel hotel. "I try to look at these products differently." L'Ami opened its doors this year, offering "French bistronomy with a local touch" such as pesto risotto with tchayo (African basil), red mullet with local nere mustard and hibiscus pavlova. Viou, in her trademark felt fedora hat, is keen to push boundaries and blend her two worlds. "It's also interesting for me to win over my public. Little by little, we'll move towards things that get a bit closer to our culinary heritage, while keeping French cuisine as the technical foundation," she said. "I once made a shrimp tartare with raw okra. I know Beninese people called it a scandal," she added. "People don't necessarily get me, they don't necessarily understand. But that's OK... that's my personality, this thirst for freedom but freedom in every sense of the word." Inspiration Born in Benin in 1977, "Gigi" as her friends call her, was inspired by her mother, who ran a small "maquis" or popular restaurant in Cotonou. She described her as "my foundation, my origin" in her recent book " Oui, Cheffe! Du Benin a l'etoile Michelin, itineraire d'une battante" ("Yes, chef! From Benin to Michelin Star: Journey of a Fighter"). In the book, which came out in March, she also recounts difficult moments in her life: a rape at aged 14, secret abortions during her studies, divorce as an adult. When she arrived in France in the early 2000s, she first enrolled in applied foreign languages at the Sorbonne university in Paris. But it was in the southern city of Marseille, where she arrived in 2004, that her passion for cooking gradually became her vocation. Viou, who has three children, entered several amateur contests before taking part in the "Masterchef" competition on French television in 2010, then opened a cooking workshop. Recognition from the industry came at Rouge, her restaurant in Nimes, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2023. Pass It On In the kitchen when AFP visited, she replaced the usual meat dish on the menu with red mullet stuffed with black pudding topped with afiti -- fermented nere seeds. Once crushed, the beans give off a strong smell similar to Maroilles, a cow's milk cheese from northern France. "It's a sort of umami. Once you have that, of course you can add fish or meat. But if you don't, it doesn't matter because it's already going to strongly flavour your dish," said Viou. She then took a blowtorch to add a "smoky" touch, which she describes as being in her "DNA" as she grew up "with the smell of charcoal and smoked fish". As a side, she offers fonio, a popular grain in west Africa which she takes out of a plastic bag roughly closed with sticky tape, brought straight from her last trip to Cotonou. For the sauce she added onion, garlic, pastis and fish guts. "That's Marseille!" she said of the city that has inspired her for the last two decades. "I grew up for 20 years with flavours, aromas, ways of cooking that are etched into me. Coming here to Nimes, I felt that it was time to bring those things back and put them into what I'm doing," she added. The Michelin star isn't the be-all and end-all for her, though. "If this star is just for me to put there and brag about saying, 'Ah, I'm so great, I'm a star', I'm not interested," she said. "I now want to pass on to other people what I've learned." That transfer of knowledge is what she intends to do in her home country. "We don't have a... proper hospitality school, we can't buy tickets to leave. That's OK, I'll come to you. I'll show you a bit of what I know how to do," she said.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Demi Moore reveals which role left her 'absolutely terrified' years before full-frontal Striptease nudity
Demi Moore has revealed her most terrifying role years before she shocked fans by going fully naked in Striptease. The actress, 61, who recently broke her silence on missing out on an Oscar for The Substance, said her breakout role on General Hospital when she was just 19 in 1982 was the first moment she realized her acting dream could come true. Moore played journalist Jackie Templeton on the show from 1982-1983 and the following year she shot to film fame in Blame It On Rio, followed by acclaimed turns in St. Elmo's Fire and in 1986's About Last Night. She told People after being named the World's Most Beautiful Person: 'I think the first big moment that kind of gave me a little bit of encouragement of, wow, this could be possible, is when I got General Hospital because it was a real job on a show that was successful for a soap opera. 'In fact, it was at a heightened state because Elizabeth Taylor had just been a guest on a soap opera. And literally it was a month before my 19th birthday. And so it was like a real job where I was going to be paid and have an actual salary. Meaning that I didn't have to have another job. I could actually live by doing this thing that I loved and hoped I could do. So that was like the first moment to really kick it off.' 'You know, I just was so excited for all of it. But if I'm looking at this photo, I think I was probably a little terrified also.' Moore hasn't shied away from a full frontal nude scene - from playing a dancer in Striptease in 1996 to a 17th century Puritan in The Scarlet Letter in 1995. She's posed for her fair share of nude magazine covers too. Moore appeared on the cover of the January 1981 issue of the adult magazine Oui, taken from a photo session in which she had posed completely naked. In August 1991, Moore appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair seven months pregnant with the second of her three daughters. The following year, Moore again appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair, this time modeling under the title Demi's Birthday Suit. Most recently, she posed nude on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in October 2019. Speaking on her nude scenes in an interview with Variety on Tuesday she said: 'One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I loved my body. 'The reality is, so much of it was me calling in certain projects that would give me an opportunity to help me overcome insecurities about my body. 'It was the same with the Vanity Fair covers; it was not that I loved it — it was about trying to free myself from the space of enslavement that I had put myself in.' Moore recently opened up about her gut-wrenching Best Actress loss — and whether she still believes there's a shot at Oscar gold down the line. The Hollywood legend, who recently spoke out about ex-husband Bruce Willis ' battle with dementia, was widely expected to take home her first Academy Award for The Substance. Instead, the honor went to 26-year-old breakout star Mikey Madison for her gripping performance in Anora. It marked Demi's first real shot at the golden statue after a blockbuster career that saw her rise from Brat Pack royalty to become the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Now, just two months after the emotional night, Demi is reflecting on it all — and setting the record straight about how she really feels. 'I really had the pleasure of getting to know Mikey Madison and think that she did an incredible performance,' Demi began in her candid conversation with Time on Wednesday. 'And really, it's an odd thing for there to be a competition anyway. But if I had won, it would've been a completion to what had started.' As for the possibility of another shot at Oscar glory, Demi didn't rule it out. 'That would be nice,' she quipped. Later, she added, 'I can't say I would be mad at it. The question is should I have won is really maybe certainly not the perspective of how I hold it because I didn't, and I really do subscribe to this idea that everything in life is happening for me, not to me. 'When I look at it through that lens, it allows me to step back and say, "What is this trying to give me?" And in that moment there was a lot was being projected that I would win, and so of course there's disappointment. 'I also immediately recognize that there is something that is greater that I am to be in service to, even if I don't know what that is, if there is a reason.' In an earlier interview with Time, Demi c onfessed she had a feeling she'd lose to Mikey — even before the envelopes were opened. 'I don't know why I knew, but I did,' the actress said.
