Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino got red carpet buzz, but who are the top contenders for the prestigious Palme d’Or award on Saturday? A look at the highlights of this year’s film festival.

1. Poor reviews for the opening film

An icon of American independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch, opened the festival on May 14. With his new film, The Dead Don’t Die, the director presented a not-so-serious zombie movie that targets Donald Trump’s America. Bill Murray and Adam Driver play an offbeat cop team, dealing with lots of bloody undead. Tilda Swinton and Danny Glover, as well as music veterans Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, are also in the satirical horror flick. With so many big names, it was a busy premiere on the red carpet, but critics complained about the film’s lack of direction.

2. Quentin Tarantino’s big splash

Only a few days before the beginning of the festival, the organizers were excited to announce the long-awaited film by star director Quentin Tarantino. His new movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was finished in the nick of time — allowing his return to Cannes 25 years after Pulp Fiction won the Palme d’Or.

Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured above in a still from the film), Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie star in drama set in the late 1960s as the hippie movement and Manson Family nightmare gripped Hollywood.

Tarantino’s 10th film, said to be his final one, was the hottest red carpet event of the festival. The movie itself mostly obtained positive reviews, but it’s also a divisive work: For instance, the German judge on the reputed Screen Daily jury didn’t feel it was worth a single star.

Read more: 5 Hollywood stars you probably didn’t know had German roots

3. More competition highlights

Along with Jarmusch and Tarantino, 19 more filmmakers are competing for the top Golden Palm prize awarded on Saturday, May 25.

Among these were star filmmakers like Spain’s master director, Pedro Almodovar, who presented a new melodrama, Pain and Glory. Starring perennial collaborators Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, the work is seen as one of the filmmakers’ best in years and ranks high among the competition’s frontrunners.

Young Ahmed, a film by Belgian brothers and two-time Palme d’Or winners, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is a timely portrait of the radicalization of young Muslim teen, but the film failed to completely convince critics.

From Great Britain, veteran Ken Loach — another one of the nine filmmakers who have won the Palme d’Or twice to date — returned to the festival with his latest working-class drama, Sorry We Missed You.

The US was represented by Terrence Malick, who won Cannes’ top award in 2011 with The Tree of Life. His much-praised A Hidden Life is based on the true story of an Austrian man who chose to resist the Nazis. 

Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan premiered his new romantic drama, Matthias & Maxime, which obtained generally positive reviews without however landing among the favorites. 

French director Abdellatif Kechiche (Blue is the Warmest Color) screened his sequel to Mektoub My Love on Thursday. But it’s a lesser-known director from that country who reaped the most buzz during the festival: Celine Sciamma’s enigmatic drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire is among the top Palm d’Or contenders. 

Another French director, Ladj Ly, also garnered strong praise for his debut feature film, Les Miserables, about rebellion in the notorious suburbs of Paris.

South Korea’s preeminent auteur Bong Joon-ho’s creepy Parasite is also among the top contenders, the film having received a standing ovation that was almost as long as the one given to Tarantino’s film.

China’s Diao Yina’s crime noir The Wild Goose Lake also garnered positive festival buzz.

4. Where were the Germans?

It hasn’t been easy for Germany in recent years. German directors are rarely invited by Cote d’Azur festival organizers, as was the case for 2019. Yet, Germany’s money was represented, with four co-productions receiving German funding. There was also some German-language presence, with the Austrian Jessica Hausner invited to the competition for her film Little Joe. 

In a side event, Werner Herzog’s new drama, Family Romance, LLC, which he filmed in Japan with amateur actors, was also presented.

5. The jury

Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was the head of a prominent jury this year, with fellow judges including actresses Elle Fanning (US) and Maimouna N’Diaye (Burkina Faso), as well as a host of directing celebrities: Alice Rohrwacher (Italy), Enki Bilal and Robin Campillo from France, Kelly Reichardt (USA) and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Read More: https://www.dw.com/en/cannes-film-fest-2019-the-tops-and-the-flops/a-48850069

Karin” Traditional Song and Dance Ensemble is organizing a flash mob “Let’s Dance Kochari” to kick off at 20։20 on Saturday at the Republican square.

The pan-Armenian event is held in celebration of the 150th birthday anniversaries of Armenian composer Komitas and writer and publicist Hovhannes Tumanyan.

The flash mob aims to unite Armenians in Armenia and Diaspora around victorious kochari as a sign of the heroic past and national unity.

Azerbaijani authorities have decided to squeeze the maximum from holding the Europa League final in Baku.

For the first time in history, UEFA organized this year the Europa League Trophy Tour, which provided an opportunity for football fans across Europe to see the trophy. The tour started in Geneva, followed by Seville, Berlin, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris and ended in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku.

According to news.day.az, the cup arrived in Baku on May 18, the next day went to Ganja and then to the village of Cocuq Mercanli.

By the way, Azerbaijani people declared the liberation of this village which has never even been under the control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

For the rural children, who personally saw the Europa League Cup, you can only rejoice. But in general, the desire of the authorities of the country to squeeze the maximum political dividends from a sport event is obvious. Hoewever, the success does not accompanies the venture this time.

The Azerbaijani authorities unofficially banned the entry of Armenian fans to Baku during the final. The Arsneal fans and Armenian MFA were indignant. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, in turn, noted that no one was banned from the entry. According to them,  it is Armenia which uses Henrikh Mkhitaryan for its “provocative purposes”.

The Secretary General of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA), Elkhan Mammadov, expressed deep regret over the decision of Mkhitaryan to refuse to go to Baku. “We are very disappointed with the statement by Arsenal and we feel this decision is unjustified and unwarranted. We have organised many, many sporting events in our country and Armenian athletes have had no issues at all regarding safety and security. They have competed here with no problems and have been treated in a very fair way,” he said.

The actions of the Azerbaijani authorities have already caused a negative reaction, and not only in Armenia. According to Russian journalist Vasily Utkin, “if Azerbaijan decides to host events of such a level, then they should know they are obliged to ensure its normal conduct. And what if an  Armenian of French Armenian is appointed a match commissioner?”

The Europa League finals will be held on May 29 at the Baku Olympic Stadium

Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will stay home when his team plays Chelsea in next week’s Europa League final in Azerbaijan. Reports said the Armenian player feared for his safety on the pitch.

English Premier League club Arsenal said Tuesday that Henrikh Mkhitaryan won’t be part of the squad taking on Chelsea in next week’s Europa League final in Baku.

Long-running tensions between the 30-year-old’s native Armenia and host Azerbaijan reportedly sparked concerns about his security.

“We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our traveling party,” Arsenal said in a statement.

“Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since Armenian separatists seized the territory in the early 1990s. 

‘It hurts me a lot’

Arsenal earlier criticized the decision by European football’s governing body, UEFA, to hold the May 29 final in Baku Olympic Stadium, saying it would be difficult for fans to attend and would put Mkhitaryan’s appearance in doubt.

UEFA said it had worked with Arsenal and done everything possible to ensure Mkhitaryan’s safety in Baku. “While the club acknowledges the efforts that UEFA and the Azeri government have gone to in this matter, we respect the personal decision not to travel with the player,” a UEFA statement said.

It’s not the first time political tensions have led to the midfielder staying home. In October, he missed a Europa League fixture against Azerbaijani side Qarabag. He also did not travel to Azerbaijan with former club Borussia Dortmund to play against Galaba FK in 2015. 

Mkhitaryan, who has scored six goals for Arsenal this season, expressed his disappointment on Twitter: “It’s the kind of game that doesn’t come along very often for us players and I must admit, it hurts me a lot to miss it,” he wrote.

“I will be cheering my team mates on! Let’s bring it home.”

Mkhitaryan captains Armenia’s national side and previously won the Europa League crown in 2017 with Manchester United.

nm/rt (Reuters, AFP)

The Azerbaijan FA has insisted that there is “no issue” over the safety and security of Arsenal attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is likely to be left out of the Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku, The Telegraph reported.

The source reminds that Arsenal are yet to make a final decision on whether to include Mkhitaryan in their squad due to security concerns related to diplomatic

lkhan Mammadov, the general secretary of the Azerbaijan FA, told the Daily Telegraph that Mkhitaryan’s security is “guaranteed” in Baku. “Our government authorities provided guarantees to Uefa for Mkhi to come to Baku, so there is no issue of security and safety,” said Mammadov.

“Even before Arsenal qualified for the final, we received a request from Uefa to provide the guarantees, our state authorities provided all the necessary security arrangements for Mkhitaryan to travel to Baku. All the safety and security is already guaranteed,” Mammadov is quoted by the source.

The newspaper added that the assurances are unlikely to convince Arsenal that including Mkhitaryan in the squad is worth the heightened risk, however. There were similar guarantees ahead of Arsenal’s group stage match in Baku earlier this season, when Mkhitaryan was left behind in London.

Madonna, Gal Gadot, Netta Barzilai and more appear during live broadcast, Iceland unveils ‘Palestine’ sign in Green Room.

Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands won the 64th Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv early Sunday morning. 

“This is to dreaming big, this is to music first, always, thank you!” Laurence told viewers shortly after he won.

A week of Eurovision festivities came to a close on Saturday night with the live broadcast of the grand finale of the song contest. 

After all the votes – from the juries and the televoters – were counted, Laurence was crowned the winner, beating out the 25 other finalists for the top prize. The Netherlands is expected to host the 2020 competition after winning for the first time in 44 years.  Kobi Marimi, who represented Israel with the song “Home” finished in 23rd place out of the 26 acts. 

Among the jury votes, Israel received the highest number of points possible – 12 – from Belarus, and not a single point from any of the other 39 voting juries. 

Hatari of Iceland, the controversial act which was heavily critical of the Israeli government, celebrated the announcement of its public votes by unveiling signs reading “Palestine” and featuring the Palestinian flag as they sat in the Green Room. 

In addition to the 26 competing performances, the extravagant, flashy and impeccable event included a live performance from Madonna, a video message from Gal Gadot, a musical homage to past Eurovision legends and much, much more. 

Just like the first semi-final on Tuesday night, Saturday’s show kicked off with Netta Barzilai, this time in the cockpit of a plane, with Eurovision executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand situated at ground control. Sand OK’d Barzilai’s simulated landing with a hearty: “Kapara alaich!” – the untranslatable Hebrew term of endearment the singer made famous after winning last year. 

“Welcome to the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019,” Barzilai proclaimed, kicking off a air travel-themed musical number welcoming each country to the show. The flashy opening act brought together a colorful mix of Israeli Eurovision performers; Israel’s 1998 winner, Dana International, returned with a musical mashup that included both Omer Adam’s “Tel Aviv” as well as her Eurovision-winning song Diva. Ilanit performed “Ey Sham,” the song she sang the very first time that Israel participated in the Eurovision in 1973. Nadav Guedj also showed up for a few bars of “Golden Boy,” his 2015 Eurovision song. 

Kicking off the grand finale, hosts Erez Tal, Lucy Ayoub, Bar Refael and Assi Azar waltzed on to the stage once again. 

Tal said he was thrilled to see a diverse crowd of people in the Expo Tel Aviv, “and this is a reflection of our own story here in Israel,” he told the millions watching around the world. “We’re a country of people from all over the world who dared to dream and followed that dream to make it come true.”

Azar said it was a “dream come true for us all of us to be hosting this event here in Tel Aviv,” thanking Barzilai for the opportunity to do so. 
  Early in the show Refaeli conducted a short interview with legendary designer Jean Paul Gaultier, who flew in to Tel Aviv to dress both Madonna and Dana International, two women he has worked with in the past. 

Once all 26 acts performed, the interval show began, including Madonna, who performed both “Like a Prayer” and “Future.” During her performance, two figures dressed in white were shown on stage holding hands; one had a Palestinian flag on their back, and the other an Israeli flag. 

Idan Raichel performed his song “Boee,” and Barzilai returned to sing her newest single, “Nana Banana.” 

One of the highlights of the night for diehard Eurovision fans was the “switch song” performance, featuring four Eurovision legends performing each other’s songs: Austria’s Conchita Wurst sang “Heroes” by Mans Zelmerlow of Sweden, Zelmerlow performed “Fuego” by Eleni Foureira of Cyprus, Foureira belted out “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” by Verka Serduchka of Ukraine and Serduchka sang Barzilai’s “Toy.” 

Then Israel’s Gali Atari came out with her 1979 winning song “Hallelujah,” and was joined by all four past performers. 

After being announced the winner, Laurence returned to the Eurovision stage to perform his song, “Arcade,” and close out the contest. 

The theme of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is “Dare to Dream.” But the dream is now over for the 15 nations eliminated from the competition. The remaining 26 entries will battle it out in this weekend’s finale.

After the second semifinal on Thursday in Tel Aviv, the countries selected to advance to Saturday’s finale were Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Malta, Russia, Albania, Norway, The Netherlands, North Macedonia and Azerbaijan.

The eight countries eliminated from the competition were Armenia, Ireland, Moldova, Latvia, Romania, Austria, Croatia and Lithuania. 

With the results of the first semifinal on Tuesday, a total of 20 countries have now been selected by juries and television audiences to go on to compete in the finale. They are joined by the nations that are automatically eligible for the finale: the “Big Five” largest contributors to the European Broadcasting Union — Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — and the host country, Israel. That leaves a total of 26 nations vying to be the 2019 winner.

Thursday’s selections were made with equal weight given to the points awarded by juries of music experts and voting in the participating countries. 

Click on the picture gallery above for a look at the countries participating in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest finale.

“Dare to dream” is the motto of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. For some it’s a big party, others are determined to boycott it. Sarah Hofmann reports from Israel.

Irit Shalev is sitting in the makeup chair at Israel’s private Reshet 13TV station. She is nervous. Once the makeup artist has finished applying eyeliner, she will go on stage to perform Izhar Cohen’s “Ole ole” with her group EuroFalsh— which means she will dance and move her lips to the music.

The audience at the “Potchim Shishi” talk show will sing along because Cohen is a legend in this country. He won the European Song Contest in 1978, and it is thanks to his victory that the small Middle Eastern country hosted the contest the following year for the very first time.

“Having the ESC in Tel Aviv is like a dream come true,” Shalev says — “because we are total ESC fans and because finally, we can reap the awards of years of work.”

The lip-synch group EuroFalsh has been around for 20 years, and they only perform Eurovision songs, dancing and lip-synching to them. As a rule, the ESC is the opposite of mainstream, but in Tel Aviv at the moment, it is everywhere, says Shalev.

The entire city is still decked out in flags from last week’s Independence Day, and these past days, more and more colorful Eurovision posters that read “Dare to Dream” — the official slogan for the 2019 ESC — have popped up. “Tel Aviv with its beaches is sexy and cool,” says Shalev, adding that it’s the “perfect place for the song contest.”

Ultra-Orthodox Jews indignant

The song contest was originally scheduled to take place in Jerusalem, like in 1979. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, however, threatened to protest because the ESC final always takes place on a Saturday evening. It was clear that thousands of people would have to work on Saturday — a taboo for devout Jews as the Sabbath is the holy day of rest.

When it became clear that the ESC’s host, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), was not willing to postpone the final, the Israeli government moved the competition to Tel Aviv, a city famous for its party and start-up scene. There will be a bus service there that Saturday, which is normally strictly forbidden across the country on the Sabbath. Rehearsals will be held all day Saturday, too — reason enough for the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism alliance to put coalition talks with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on hold for the time being.

This is not the government’s only concern in view of a festival expected to attract thousands of tourists to Tel Aviv and present a cosmopolitan peace-loving Israel.

Just days ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest, violence flared between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Sirens did not sound in Tel Aviv, but in Ashkelon and Ashdod — just half an hour by car from Tel Aviv— people were repeatedly forced to flee to the safety of bomb shelters.

Over the course of just two days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired about 700 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, four Israelis were killed and dozens wounded. The Israeli army attacked more than 300 targets in the Gaza Strip; according to Palestinian reports, 25 people were killed. It was a nightmare for the Israeli government, which wants to keep the ESC out of any Middle East news coverage.