Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi given new prison sentence

28 October 2026 at 19:56

Charges against him are unclear after return to Iran despite being sentenced last year for ‘propaganda activities’

An Iranian court has handed the award-winning film director Jafar Panahi a new prison sentence of five years and one month and ordered the seizure of all his assets.

The 66-year-old, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year for It Was Just an Accident, was sentenced in absentia, his lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told the Iranian news outlet Emtedad. The court also imposed a two-year travel ban and barred him from using social media for two years, Nili said.

Bafta trustees may have broken charity law by accepting free guest tickets

World news | The Guardian

By: Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

28 October 2026 at 14:44

Chair of membership council says legal advice obtained at own expense suggests offences could have been committed

Bafta trustees may have breached charity and company law by accepting free tickets for guests at the organisation’s awards ceremonies, the chair of its membership council has claimed.

Michael Pritchett told members at Bafta’s annual general meeting that legal advice obtained at his own expense suggested offences could have been committed by trustees who approved the charity’s accounts, which stated that no trustees had received remuneration or benefits.

Why 'You Can See Everything' is captivating audiences

PBS News Hour - The Latest

By: Jeffrey Brown · Solveig Rennan Sandbulte

24 October 2026 at 01:25

"You Can See Everything," the documentary co-directed by Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder, is a breakthrough success. It follows Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted founder of Theranos, just weeks before she goes to prison. The intimate access and the questions it raises are the talk of this fall movie season. Jeffrey Brown sat down with Alissa Wilkinson for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Dream of Birds – documentary

The Guardian

By: Ekaterina Ochagavia and Lindsay Poulton

13 October 2026 at 12:00

What happens when a forest loses its birdsong? Following clues hidden in the sounds birds make while asleep, Argentinian physicist Gabriel Mindlin uncovers a hidden extinction – not of species, but of memory – and sets out to revive vanished melodies before they disappear forever. Part detective story, part cutting-edge science, Mindlin’s mission leads him to the dusty 1960s archives of Buenos Aires naturalist, confirming that some songs no longer echo in the biosphere. So he deploys “robot tutors” to see whether young birds can learn and spread the old songs once again.

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