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Dubai-based sales company Mad World has taken global rights to feminist drama “The Wound,” which marks the directorial debut of Morocco’s Seloua El Gouni, who has experience as a production manager on Hollywood titles such as “A Hologram for the King” and “Men in Black: International.”

“The Wound” (“La Plaie”) stars rising Arab talent Oumaïma Barid, who gained global notice in Sofia Alaoui’s 2023 Sundance title “Animalia.” Barid plays a young woman named Leila who is trying to pursue her passions and ambitions while contending with Morocco’s societal constraints and becomes pregnant in an extramarital love affair.

The promising drama’s Moroccan A-list cast also comprises rising star Brice Bexter; Amal Ayouch (“Eye on Juliet”); Mansour Badri (“Ghosts of Beirut”); Soraya Azzabi (“Billie’s Magic World”); Abdelhak Saleh (“Hounds”); and Sami Fekkak (“Testament: Story of Moses”).

“The Wound” is being produced by El Gouni and Taha Benghalem through their Marrakech-based company Pink Sheep Productions,...

"Aquaman" actor Amber Heard returned to the red carpet one year after her and ex-husband Johnny Depp's defamation trial came to an end. On June 23, Heard promoted her upcoming film "In the Fire" at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy.

Heard was all smiles as she walked the red carpet (which was technically teal) wearing a long, black gown that was accentuated with a cape at the shoulders. The actor wore her blond hair down and in curly ringlets. In photos from the event, Heard can be seen laughing with her costars, including Luca Calvani and Eduardo Noriega, and with the movie's director, Conor Allyn. She also appeared in photos with William "Billy" Baldwin, who attended the festival to promote his animated feature "Billie's Magic World" and stopped to sign autographs for fans.

Since the trial ended in June 2022, Heard had largely stepped out of the spotlight. A jury...

Italy’s Taormina Film Festival kicks off its 69th edition Friday evening against the backdrop of its landmark Teatro Antico amphitheatre with a “Pavarotti Forever” benefit event headlined by Placido Domingo and Vittorio Grigolo.

It’s not the typical opening for a film festival, but it is in keeping with the eclectic programming of incoming artistic director Barrett Wissman, whose interview with Deadline on his plans for the festival can be read here.

Much is riding on the edition, with Wissman being brought in to raise its local and international profile after a turbulent decade, which was compounded by the Covid pandemic.

Topping the bill over the first weekend is the Italian premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny in the presence of Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s the first time a major Disney production has touched down at the festival since Inside Out in 2015. Indiana Jones,...

The 69th Taormina Film Festival boasts an impressive lineup of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Located in the historical Sicilian town – its visibility recently getting an unlooked for boost with the second season of HBO’s ”The White Lotus” – will be hosting a series of screenings. The outdoor Teatro Antico will provide a suitably antique background for the Italian premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, and Mads Mikkelsen in attendance.

The directorial debut of Italian artist Marco Perego, “The Absence of Eden,” will receive its world premiere. The film stars Perego’s wife Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona. The thriller tells the story of an undocumented immigrant fleeing a drug cartel whose path crosses with a U.S. Immigration...

Exclusive: In what will be her first film promotion appearance in a good long time, Amber Heard is set to appear at the 69th Taormina Film Festival for the world premiere of In The Fire. Heard will be in Sicily along with the film’s director Conor Allyn and co-star Eduardo Noriego. The film will premiere June 24 at the Teatro Antico di Taorina. The fest takes place June 23-July 1, 2023 in Sicily.

In the Fire is described as a supernatural thriller that stars Heard as a pioneering psychiatrist who sets out to treat a desperate child at a time when psychiatry is not yet a respected science. Set in 1899, the film follows a 38-year-old American psychiatrist as she arrives on a rich farm in Colombia after being called to solve the case of a disturbed child following increasingly insistent accusations that the child is the devil. While the woman tries to psychoanalyze the child,...

Actor Alec Baldwin claims he “lost five jobs” after a shooting on the set of Rust left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.

In a new interview with CNN, Baldwin said the October 2021 incident has cost him numerous acting roles. “I got fired from another job yesterday…There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane … I’ve been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday we don’t want to do the film with you because of this.”

Alec Baldwin has repeatedly claims he did not pull the trigger that resulted in the shooting on the set of Rust. A recent FBI investigation found that the gun could not have been fired without doing so. He has shifted blame to an armorer/prop assistant and the assistant director who handed him the gun.

The Rust shooting not only left Hutchins dead at...