Carla

Documentary filmmaker Carla Gutierrez still remembers the moment her obsession with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo began more than two decades ago. “I hadn’t seen her art until I was a freshman in college,” says Gutierrez, a film editor who makes her directorial debut with the new documentary “Frida.” “Then I found one piece, one painting in a book in the library. “It was of her standing between the United States and Mexico,” she says. “You can see her full body – we actually use that painting in the film. And I was a pretty…

Nearly 60 actors and public figures, including British actress Charlotte Rampling and former French first lady Carla Bruni, have signed an open letter claiming that French actor Gerard Depardieu is the victim of a “torrent of hatred.” Depardieu, who was previously charged with rape in 2021, is currently facing a new sexual assault allegation after a French actress, Hélène Darras, filed a police complaint claiming he groped her in 2007. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the actor in an interview,…

Image: BBCIf you thought Miriam Margolyes’ the Meep was the apex of Doctor Who’s creepy little guys, then either good or bad news: things are going to get so much creepier littler and guy-er this Christmas.Although we still have two more 60th anniversary specials to look forward to, the BBC has lifted the lid on “The Church on Ruby Road,” Doctor Who’s first Christmas Day special since 2017. The episode marks the formal debut of Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor, as well as his first companion, Ruby Sunday, played by Millie…

Carla Bley, the American jazz composer-pianist celebrated for boldly avant-garde work as well as her uplifting and beautiful takes on the genre’s mainstream, has died aged 87.Her death was announced by longtime partner and musical collaborator Steve Swallow, who said the cause was complications from brain cancer.Bley’s impish, blithe yet pointed approach to her craft meant she recorded right across the jazz spectrum, from straightforwardly lovely piano pieces (the likes of Lawns became standards and hits on streaming…

The films of Catalan writer-director Carla Simón could almost – almost – serve as tourist ads for the life bucolic. In her 2017 debut, Summer 1993, a young girl discovers the countryside for the first time, while her follow-up, Alcarràs – which won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the 2022 Berlin film festival – is set on a peach farm, where children run wild between multigenerational family meals in the sun. Yet, joyous as Simón’s two features are, they are built on a hard foundation of bitter reality. In Alcarràs, a…