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Maimouna Doucouré, a French director of Senegalese origins who grew up in a social housing project in Paris and started her career with a screenwriting contest, isn’t one to buckle under any type of pressure or challenge.

She certainly didn’t dwell on the misguided backlash to her film “Cuties.” The controversy was provoked by Netflix’s promotional material for her Sundance prizewinning feature debut, which aimed to shed light the sexualization of children. In her sophomore outing, “Hawa,” Doucouré embarked on another challenging project, a modern-day fable boasting a cast entirely made up of non-professionals, including the celebrated Malian singer-songwriter Oumou Sangaré, astronaut Thomas Pesquet and popular singer Yseult.

As with “Cuties,” which earned Fathia Youssouf a Cesar award for best promising actress, the Amazon original film “Hawa” is headlined by Sania Halifa, a newcomer who delivers a robust performance. Halifa, a teenager with albinism, plays the title role,...

A bold celebration of taking up space in places you’re told you don’t belong, “Hawa” is a crowd-pleasing fable with a fluffy heart, fierce spirit and disarming sense of humor. These qualities also define the titular heroine of Maïmouna Doucouré’s lovely sophomore feature, co-written by Doucouré, Alain-Michel Blanc, Zangro and David Elkaim. Hawa is both sensitive and fearless while she roams the streets of Paris on a life-defining quest with her dependable scooter and unapologetic blonde afro, seeing the world through her idiosyncratic coke-bottle glasses as she earns the help and goodwill of a parade of strangers.

Don’t be alarmed by the crowded group of writers here — despite the many cooks in the kitchen, “Hawa,” under the baton of Doucouré, is as coherently envisioned and tightly structured as movies come. You might recall the gifted Doucouré’s name and recognize her style from her debut “Cuties,...

Russia has always prided itself on being first for a number of space exploration milestones, and today it can count itself as the first country to launch a film crew into space.

This morning at 1.55am Pt, actor Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and veteran Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov blasted off to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft where Shipenko and Pereslid will be filming segments for The Challenge. Russia’s Channel One broadcasted the launch today and offered livestreams in multiple languages across its platforms.

The project will be the first feature film shot in outer space, beating Tom Cruise and Elon Musk’s upcoming $200M action adventure with NASA and Space X, which has director Doug Liman at the helm.

The Challenge is a collaboration between Russian space agency Roscosmos, public broadcaster Channel One and Yellow, Black and White. Russia’s Central Partnership will distribute the title,...

Coldplay appeared on The Tonight Show to showcase the acoustic rendition of their recent single “Higher Power.” Accompanied by a group of backup singers, including host Jimmy Fallon at one point, Chris Martin and crew gave the song a pared-down, intimate take.

The performance follows this week’s release of the acoustic version of “Higher Power,” a new single the band originally dropped last month. Originally a synth-pop track produced by hitmaker Max Martin, the acoustic version of “Higher Power” is instead built around rich guitar songs and the harmonies...

Coldplay have released an acoustic version of their new single “Higher Power,” which the band dropped last month.

Originally a synth-pop track produced by hitmaker Max Martin, the acoustic version of “Higher Power” is instead built around rich guitar songs and the harmonies between Chris Martin and his backup vocalists. “You’ve got a higher power/Got me singin’ every second, dancing every hour,” they sing during the hymn-like track’s chorus.

The band first premiered the song in May and were joined by French Esa astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the premiere livestream.

Coldplay have released an official music video for their recent single, “Higher Power.”

Directed by Dave Meyers, the song follows Chris Martin as he wanders around a dystopian-looking planet named Kaotica (the local alien language, “Kaotican” is featured in the video and across the “Higher Power” artwork). Despite the gloomy setting, Martin soon finds himself running through an elaborate dance routine with a group of aliens portrayed by Seoul’s Ambiguou Dance Company.

“The video is a metaphor for how, right now, we all feel alienated, far removed from our world,...

Coldplay will livestream their first TikTok concert next week in support of Red Nose Day 2021, as Billboard reports. The event takes place May 24th at 2 p.m. Et.

Their TikTok concert arrives ahead of the official 2021 Red Nose Day on May 27th; the annual fundraising campaign works to end child poverty. In 2015, the band also lent their support to Red Nose Day when they participated in “Game of Thrones: The Musical,” a comedy video in which Coldplay attempted to adapt HBO’s epic fantasy-drama for the Broadway stage.

“Red Nose...

Coldplay performed their new single “Higher Power” during the 2021 Brit Awards on Tuesday in London. The band, who opened the awards show, delivered the song at sunset while on a barge in the River Thames.

Mirroring the group’s official video for the song, their set included dancing alien holograms. Their performance also featured colorful smoke and fireworks as Chris Martin buoyantly danced around and sang the Max Martin-produced track on a purple-and-blue lit platform.

Last week, Coldplay premiered the video in space. They first shared it with French Esa astronaut Thomas Pesquet,...

Coldplay have released their new song, “Higher Power.” The band premiered the track and video in space, first sharing it with French Esa astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is on board the International Space Station.

The visual features the band performing as alien holograms dance around them. “You’ve got a higher power/Got me singing every second/Dancing every hour,” Chris Martin sings on the chorus. “Oh, yeah/You’vе got a higher power/And you’re rеally someone/I want to know.”

Prior to its premiere, Coldplay linked up with Pesquet for a conversation.

Washington, Jan 31 (Ians) SpaceX is targeting April 20 for the launch of the second crew rotation mission for NASA that will launch four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station.

It will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Programme, NASA said in a blog post.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and Esa (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will join as mission specialists.

The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The crew is scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, living and working as part of what is expected to be a seven-member crew.

Crew-2 also is expected to arrive at the...

Festival doc activity included the Marche’s Doc Corner and a buzzy Doc Day that welcomed European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The Cannes L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) documentary award has been presented to Stefano Savona’s Samouni Road.

The $5,900 priz is presented by Lascam (the French-speaking authors’ society) and its president, Julie Bertuccelli, in collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival, with the support of Ina (French National Audiovisual Institute) and, new for this year, Audiens.

The jury – headed by director Emmanuel Finkiel – praised the Directors’ Fortnight entry for its “intelligent way of filming, the right distance in its point of view,...

The event brings together documentary professionals and filmmakers to debate the future of the documentary.

Exploration(s) is the theme of the third edition of Doc Day which takes place on May 15 in Cannes.

The lively event brings together documentary professionals and filmmakers to debate the future of documentary and showcase the work of various directors.

A keynote speech by astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency will open the event. It will include a presentation on the multi-format documentary project about his mission in space, which encompasses virtual reality experiences Being An Astronaut (Part 1 & Part 2).

The morning events...