Europe | France | Arts

Chantal Akerman, Whose Films Examined Women’s Inner Lives, Dies at 65

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Chantal Akerman, the Belgian director whose ruminative, meticulous observation of women’s inner lives, often using long takes, made her a pioneer in feminist and experimental filmmaking, died here on Monday. She was 65. Ms. Akerman’s latest film, “No Home Movie,” is currently showing at the New York Film Festival, which she had been expected to attend. Her most commercial film, “A Couch in New York,” about an apartment swap between a New York psychologist and a young Parisian woman, starring William Hurt and Juliette Binoche, was released in 1996.  Born in Brussels on June 6,
Middle East | Egypt | Arts

Faten Hamama, Egyptian film icon, dies aged 83

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Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, an Arab film icon and Omar Sharif's former wife, died Saturday at the age of 83, their son Tarek Sharif told AFP. Hamama, who was less than 10 when she made her screen debut, appeared in almost 100 films and worked with masters of Egypt's massive film industry, including Youssef Chahine. She often starred with Omar Sharif. Born a Christian, he converted to Islam to marry Hamama and described her as the only love of his life. The couple appeared together in the 1961 movie "River of Love" based on Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." "The Lady of the Arabic s