Arts & Entertainment

With its characters herding cattle through an austere, dusty landscape, “The Harvesters” bears a passing resemblance to a Western. But the setting of the movie, which won critical acclaim for its first-time director in Cannes, is not the Wild West but South Africa, and its cowboys are Afrikaners, a community that thrived in the apartheid era but now faces an uncertain future.

The story follows teenage boy Janno, the oldest child and only son in a God-fearing family whose life and sense of self are thrown into chaos by his parents’ decision to foster an orphan, Pieter, a 13-year-old child recovering from drug addiction and life as a rent boy.

Writer-director Etienne Kallos, a South African, but not an Afrikaner, was drawn to the story of a community in a “post-post-colonial” world that finds itself increasingly isolated.

“They are overlooked, I would say, in many ways,” Kallos told Reuters in Cannes.

“They are under-represented, especially because the only thing people think about is apartheid. But there’s so much more going on.

“The new generation of Afrikaners was born completely outside the apartheid regime and they’re moving towards some sort of a new Africa and don’t know what that is yet.”

There is a sense of identity under threat, both for the community and for Janno himself, played by newcomer Brent Vermeulen, whose deep feelings for his best friend do not fit with the macho rugby-playing culture.

Screen Daily said: “This assured feature debut effectively hints at a churning savagery beneath the surface, which is every bit as unforgiving as the stark landscape.” That landscape, in Eastern Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, with its mesas, striking flat-topped mountains, was the starting point for Kallos.

“I set out to make a film about place,” he said. “We worked hard to somehow capture … a grandeur that the landscape is bigger than the people. “I wanted to feel the landscape was more important than the characters or more powerful than the characters.”

“The Harvesters” (“Die Stropers”) is in competition in the “Un Certain Regard” section at the Cannes Film Festival that runs to May 19.
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Gold-medal Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and dozens of other women who spoke out about sexual abuse by Larry Nassar will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at this year’s ESPYS.

The July 18 show in Los Angeles honors the past year’s best athletes and moments in sports. Alison Overholt, a vice president at ESPN, says the women have shown “what it truly means to speak truth to power.”

More than 250 gave statements in court when Nassar was sentenced for sexual assault in January and February. They said the sports doctor molested them while they sought treatment for injuries.

Michigan State University announced a $500 million settlement with Nassar’s victims Wednesday. He assaulted females at his campus clinic, Lansing-area home, area gyms and major gymnastics events.

The ESPYS will be broadcast live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET from the Microsoft Theater.
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In his home in Marrakech, artist Lahcen Iwi brings out a cutter and gets to work, slicing up squares of used tires to craft his sculptures.

From dragons to unicorns, Iwi creates his artwork out of tires he collects from landfill sites and scrapyards.

The Moroccan artist believes that there is something noble in recycling tires, “injecting art” into an object that would otherwise be harmful to the environment.

“It is a good message for humanity,” he said.

A single sculpture can take Iwi anything from a week to two months to make.

He sells his art and previous works have gone on display in exhibitions in France.

 
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A love story between a wealthy young Mumbai businessman and a countrywoman who comes to work as his servant will challenge Indians’ preconceptions about class, said first-time feature director Rohena Gera as she presented her film in Cannes.

Sir is not typical Bollywood fare, as it shines a light on social prejudice and gender roles. The two characters do not get to explore their possible feelings for one another as social norms put a romantic relationship out of reach.

“I think, at least in India, it will probably make people quite uncomfortable,” Gera told Reuters.

“I think that’s a good thing because I think it begs the question: Why are you uncomfortable? … If we raise those questions and we start talking about it, I think we can take a step to actually resolving some of it.”

Gera, whose film screened in Critics’ Week, a side-event of the Cannes Film Festival, acknowledged the difficulties for a woman to make movies in a predominantly male world.

“Sometimes we are all interested in what we’re interested in, men or women, and when men are decision-makers they tend to decide what is interesting for all of us,” she said.

Sir received broadly positive reviews, with Hollywood Reporter’s Jordan Mintzer saying that despite as times feeling more televisual than cinematic, “Gera has nonetheless crafted a warmly nuanced look at love in a place filled with constraints and contradictions.”

The Cannes Film Festival runs to May 19.
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Like most everyone else with a taste for fairy tales, Germans love the spectacle of a royal wedding. But since the country’s last emperor, Wilhelm II, was forced to abdicate in 1918, Germans haven’t had a monarchy of their own to fuss over and so have adopted Britain’s royals as surrogates.

It should come as no surprise then that German tabloids, television stations and social media have buzzed with the latest details of Prince Harry’s fast-approaching marriage to American actress Meghan Markle — from the wedding guest list and the bridal dress to the loaded family dynamics and the lemon elderflower cake.

Three German TV stations — ZDF, RTL and n-tv — plan to broadcast and livestream the event. Dozens of German correspondents are accredited to be on the ground in England for Saturday’s wedding, and networks have enlisted “royal household experts” to help explain the intricacies of the ceremony to viewers at home.

Some 79 international broadcasters, including outlets from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, are planning to report on Markle and Harry’s wedding. More than 5,000 U.K. and foreign media and support staff have credentials to cover the action in Windsor, a town 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of London that is home to St. George’s Chapel and Windsor Castle, where the ceremony and reception are taking place. 

Americans in particular — some 46 U.S. broadcast affiliates will cover the wedding — are obsessing because the bride is one of their own. The E! TV entertainment network plans to devote five hours of air time to the wedding that matches a California girl with a British prince.

But fans in Los Angeles, Markle’s hometown, will have to be up early to watch the service — which begins at noon in England and 4 a.m. in the Pacific Daylight Time zone. Plenty of other action in Windsor — including the arrival of celebrity guests, the first glimpse of the bride in her dress and other pre-ceremony hoopla — will take place hours earlier.

As for Germany, public Television ZDF did not want to speculate on how many viewers may tune in. When Harry’s brother, Prince William, married Kate Middleton in 2011, 3.1 million Germans watched the nuptials live. When Harry and William’s parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, tied the knot in 1981, some 9.3 million Germans were glued to their TVs.

Several restaurants and coffee shops in Berlin are offering specials along with public viewings of Saturday’s royal wedding. At the German capital’s famous Bristol Hotel, guests will be able to sip tea and munch on British biscuits as the couple makes their marriage vows. Nearby, the Berliner Kaffeeroesterei cafe plans to serve wedding cake with raspberries and tea for 24.95 euros ($29.40) while the celebration is being screened in the cafe’s library room.

Elfriede Regner, a 73-year-old retiree from Berlin, said she watched both Charles’ and William’s weddings and will spend Saturday in front of the TV as well.

“There’s no way in the world I’m going to miss this wedding,” Regner said as she walked past the city’s main train station with an umbrella in hand despite the sunny weather.

“Just like a real Brit,” she joked.
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Amsterdam unveiled far-reaching plans Wednesday to rein in tourism, reflecting the dissatisfaction of many residents who feel the city’s historic center has been overrun.

The leading Green-Left and other parties negotiating a new municipal government after March elections vowed to return “Balance to the City,” in a document of that name seen by Reuters.

“The positive sides of tourism such as employment and city revenues are being more and more overshadowed by the negative consequences,” including trash and noise pollution, the document said.

Changes the document outlines include curtailing “amusement transportation” such as multiperson “beer bikes”; cracking down on alcohol use in boats on the canals; further restricting Airbnb and other home rentals; and a large tax hike.

The plans announced Wednesday also include creating an inventory of all commercial beds in the city to try to cap various sectors, such as those on cruise ships and in hotels.

“I’m very happy that the city is now finally taking action, because residents have been asking for it for a very long time,” said Bert Nap of neighborhood organization d’Oude Binnenstad, in the historic center.

“What I’m worried about is that this package of measures is so drastic that there will be a lot of lawsuits and political resistance, which will cost a lot of time.”

He said the city was suffering from too many visitors in general, which had the effect of changing the character of the center into one big tourist attraction. He also said some unruly, drunken tourists were making the city center an unattractive place for local residents.

Edgy lure

With a population of around 800,000, the city expects 18 million tourists in 2018, an increase of 20 percent from 2016 levels, many drawn by an edgy atmosphere generated by readily available soft drugs and the “red light” sex zone.

Anti-tourist and anti-expatriate sentiment have been steadily on the rise in Amsterdam, as both are blamed in part for helping drive housing prices increasingly out of the reach of ordinary Dutch people.

The average apartment in Amsterdam cost 407,000 euros ($475,000) in 2017, an increase of around 12 percent from 2016 levels, according to national real estate association NVM.

The change of emphasis has already started from national government over the past years, to try to dissuade visitors from the more earthy pastimes the city is famous for.

Advertising campaigns have focused on the city’s canals, the Anne Frank House and the museums packed with the greatest works of Van Gogh and Rembrandt.

Legislators have helped the rebranding, shutting a third of the city’s brothels in 2008 and starting a program in 2011 to close marijuana cafes located near schools.

“Amsterdam is a city to live and work in — it’s only a tourist destination in the second place,” the municipal document said.
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Young boys who were forced to beg on the streets for Islamic teachers have turned their suffering into art, as they join more than 1,000 artists showing their work at Africa’s biggest and oldest biennale art exhibition in Senegal this month.

Some 50,000 child beggars known as talibe live in religious schools called daaras in the West African nation, according to rights groups, who say some were trafficked from neighboring countries and many are beaten and abused.

“Being in the daara was like being in prison,” read one caption for an image of a sorrowful eye peering through a row of fingers. “My friend’s hands represent the feeling of being locked up.”

All of the photographs in the “Look at me” exhibition – which is part of the Dakar Biennale, known as Dak’Art, founded in the 1990s – were taken by and of street children living in a nearby shelter run by Samusocial, a charity.

Most children who come through the shelter are former talibe, while others escaped forced labor or family disputes, said Samusocial, which provides medical care and shelter while attempting to reunite them with their families.

“For me, the color red is like pain,” said another caption, describing a photograph of a boy, known as D.D., wrapped in a colored cloth. “I put it in the background because it’s in the past.”

In plastic sandals and bright T-shirts, the boys walked down the street together to visit the exhibition. They gazed wide-eyed at the photos printed larger than they are.

“I am happy,” said D.D., 16, who worked in a sewing shop for several years where he was regularly beaten. “I didn’t expect to see this,” he said of his photograph.

Samusocial often uses art and music to help the children build confidence and open up, said director of operations Isabelle Diouf.

“These children need beautiful things. It takes them out of the realities of the street a little and makes them want to move forward,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Spanish photographer Javier Acebal, who worked with the children on the exhibit, said he hopes it will change viewers’ perceptions of beggars.

“When you’re walking down the street you think you know about these children, but in fact you know nothing,” he said. “They say they want to be like normal kids. I hope people start to think about that.”
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DJ Khaled has reason to be grateful – he’s been nominated for a leading six trophies for the BET Awards.

The nominations for next month’s ceremony were announced Tuesday night. Among the awards Khaled was nominated for include album of the year for “Grateful” and video of the year for “Wild Thoughts” which featured Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.

Other top nominees include Migos and SZA, both of whom were nominated for four awards.

Bruno Mars, Drake, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Cardi B, and Chris Brown are also up for key awards.

Recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Kendrick Lamar is among the nominees for best album, and he’s got competition from himself, for his “Black Panther” soundtrack.

The blockbuster is also nominated for best movie along with “Girls Trip” and “Wrinkle in Time,” among other films. Tiffany Haddish is nominated for best actress along with the likes of Issa Rae and Lupita Nyong’o, while Michael B. Jordan faces off against Chadwick Boseman and more for best actor.

Venus and Serena Williams are among the nominees for sportswoman of the year while LeBron James and Steph Curry are among the sportsman of the year nominees.

The BET Awards will air live on BET on June 24 from Los Angeles.
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Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth — err, game.

Henry David Thoreau wrote those words — most of them — in his seminal book, “Walden.” They make up the objective of a video game that seeks to translate his exploits in the woods of Concord, Massachusetts, into a playable digital reality.

“Walden, a Game” is adapted from the book and launches Tuesday on PlayStation 4. It has been available on computers for almost a year.

“Obviously it’s an odd or unique idea for a game,” said Tracy Fullerton, who conceived the idea and led the team that created it at the University of Southern California’s Game Innovation Lab.

Fullerton told The Associated Press that “Walden” is one of her favorite books, and she thinks its meaning —  a tale of escaping technology to appreciate nature — is topical today.

“It seemed to be a kind of game that he was playing,” Fullerton said. So she created one to mimic it.

Fullerton acknowledges the irony of trumpeting nature in a video game but said she hopes the game will be more contemplative than others.

Players drop in with a half-built cabin on the shores of Walden Pond. From there, they can essentially decide everything they do over eight seasons (Thoreau thought a year was better divided into eight parts than four), which takes six hours of real time.

They can finish building the house and toil in the fields, or they can venture out into 70 acres of virtual nature.

The objective is to find the right balance between survival — players can’t die, but they can faint — and fulfillment. As players seek more inspiration from nature, interacting with animals and trees, the actual game world becomes more colorful and more physically beautiful, Fullerton said.

The team at USC spent more than a decade creating the game, she said. Team members consulted literature and history experts to ensure the accuracy of its portrayals, and the game’s sound designer recorded all of its audible elements in the real Walden woods.

It’s available for free for teachers, and a curriculum is available online, but Fullerton said the game’s primary purpose is entertainment.

Joseph Simpson, a software developer from Ohio, said he reads Walden every year and discovered the game while reading about Fullerton.

“I immediately, without hesitation, bought it and started playing it,” he said. Simpson said the essence of the book has been implemented into the game in a way that doesn’t corrupt it with too many objectives or missions.

“I may not have to read Walden this year because I can play the game,” he said.

Experts on the textual version of “Walden” also were intrigued.

Robert Hudspeth, a former president of the Thoreau Society and an English professor at the Claremont Graduate University in California, said he has heard of the game but hasn’t played it.

“I will say, however, that anything that might spark an interest in Thoreau’s writing is welcome,” Hudspeth said. “If playing a game stimulates the players to go to the books, then I’m all for it!”
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Jason Isbell leads the nominees for the Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards with nominations in four categories, thanks to his critically acclaimed album “The Nashville Sound,” which earned him two Grammy Awards earlier this year.

Also among the nominations announced Tuesday are country singer Margo Price and folk singer Brandi Carlile, who each got nods for artist, song and album of the year.

Also nominated for artist of the year is folk singer-songwriter John Prine. Mary Gauthier earned a nomination for album of the year for her veteran inspired record “Rifles & Rosary Beads.”

The 17th annual awards show will be held on Sept. 12 in Nashville, Tennessee.
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