Martin Cid's Blog: Martin Cid Magazine, page 158

The movie Banel & Adama will be released on June 7. Trailer

Banel & Adama is a 2023 Senegalese romantic drama film directed by Ramata-Toulaye Sy. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and has been getting international recognition since then.

The film is a scorching romance between two young lovers, Banel and Adama, who live in a remote Senegalese village. They fight for their love and independence in the face of imperious traditions. The film also showcases the beauty of the Sahel region and the environmental challenges the area faces.

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National Gallery Acquires its First Painting by Eva Gonzalès

On the occasion of the artist’s 177th birthday on Friday 19th April, the National Gallery has acquired La Psyché (The Full-length Mirror), about 1869‒70, by Eva Gonzalès (1849‒1883) thanks to three generous legacy gifts from Mrs Martha Doris Bailey, Miss Gillian Cleaver, and Ms Sheila Mary Holmes, and the National Gallery Trust. This is the first acquisition by the Gallery of a work by Gonzalès and the second acquisition of its Bicentenary year. La Psyché has not been seen in public for over seventy years and joins only one other painting by her in a UK public collection, The Donkey Ride, about 1880‒2, at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Gonzalès is the 20th female artist represented in the National Gallery Collection, marking a significant addition. The story of Gonzalès’s reputation, during and after her life, reflects some of the reasons why women artists are not well represented in the National Gallery. These include being offered fewer opportunities in life and the lack of interest shown, consciously or not, in works by women artists by collectors of the era and onwards, from whose acquisitions the National Gallery’s own collection was assembled. 

During her lifetime Gonzalès was an established artist who exhibited multiple times to acclaim at the official Paris Salon. She was the only official pupil of Edouard Manet (1832‒83), with whom she studied from 1869. Gonzalès likely painted La Psyché around the same time that Manet was painting his portrait of her, Eva Gonzalès (1870). That work, in the Gallery collection, was the focal point of the recent exhibition, Discover Manet & Eva Gonzalès. Manet presented her in the unlikely painting outfit of a white gown, touching up an already framed floral still life, as much an allegory of Painting as a practising artist. The acquisition of La Psyché will continue the work started in that exhibition, providing a counterbalance to Manet’s presentation of Gonzalès as somewhere between a serious painter and society beauty, by showing her skills as a talented and lauded painter in her own right. 

Interest in Eva Gonzalès has been growing in recent years. In 1990 a catalogue raisonné was published and her works have been included in exhibitions on women Impressionists in Frankfurt and San Francisco in 2008, in addition to the National Gallery’s own Discover Manet & Eva Gonzalès. 

La Psyché depicts a simple room containing a sofa, a picture on the wall and a full-length mirror, called une psyché in French. A young woman looks at herself in the mirror, grasping a small red flower – the sole spot of bright colour in this subdued painting. Her dress is starkly rendered and her face is delicately modelled in shades of grey brown matching the print on the wall. This subtle monochrome is reminiscent of Manet’s early work but appears to be unique in Gonzalès’s own. The model is Gonzalès’s younger sister Jeanne, who regularly posed for Gonzalès. The restricted domestic scene and reliance on family members as subjects demonstrate the difficulties facing female painters at the time in comparison with their male colleagues. 

Christopher Riopelle, The Neil Westreich Curator of Post 1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, says: ‘Remarkably, this important rediscovery by an artist who captures increasing international attention has been in a private British collection, unseen in public for more than 70 years. We are excited that it has come to the National Gallery. The world of Impressionist studies, and of women artists studies is, if anything, even more excited.’

Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, says: ‘Joining Manet’s portrait of Eva Gonzalès, this work by the artist herself helps to enrich the story the Gallery tells about 19th-century French painting. Eva died young and her works are rare. We are grateful to the legacy givers who have enabled us to buy it.’

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May 17 marks the release of “Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever,” a horror film starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is a Danish film written and directed by Ole Bornedal and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. With Ulf Pilgaard, Fanny Bornedal and Paprika Steen.

The film follows Emma, the daughter of the protagonists of the first film, who takes a job as a night watchman at the very same psychiatric hospital where her parents disappeared 30 years ago. As Emma delves deeper into the mystery of her parents’ disappearance, she unwittingly awakens a powerful demonic entity that had been imprisoned there.

It will be available on Shudder and AMC+ in the United States.

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Pro Trading: Navigate MetaTrader’s Market for Signals & Apps

Foreign exchange (forex or FX) trading signals have been a go-to tool for veterans and beginners alike. For expert investors, it is an avenue to get critical information on potential trading opportunities like entry and exit points, as well as stop loss and take profit levels. Beginner investors also get this much, alongside the added advantage of learning on the go. They get to use these tools while gaining more exposure to the knowledge needed to scale.

The MetaTrader (MT) app is a popular platform where traders can access such tools, but the application doesn’t stop there. It also provides a market for community bonds, the biggest trading bots, indicators, and signals. Here is a detailed overview of the MetaTrader market and all it offers you as an investor in the forex market.

The MetaTrader Market

The MetaTrader market is regarded as the world’s biggest online store for free and paid tools in the forex market. The options available for traders on the app include free and paid trading robots, technical indicators, panels, libraries, and many other utilities. The market features about 2,000 trading robots and indicators for MetaTrader 5 (MT5); there are as many on the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. The products are sorted in order, which makes access easy, as you can sort through the popularity, price, and category of tools you need. There are many other perks of using the MT market, including:

1700+ trading bots and 2,100+ indicatorsFreedom to test out a product before purchasingProduct renting for one month to one yearVarying payment methodsSecure transactions and protected connectionsDetailed overview of all products

MT users can join communities and forums to share ideas and strategies and interact with other traders and developers. The MQL4 community contains articles, forums, and automated trading programs for users. With the number of applications on the platform increasing daily, there is much in store for MT users. To get started, all you have to do is visit the official MT market website, which has applications for MT5 and MT4 users. There is also a search bar to look around.

Signals on MetaTrader Market

Forex signals are triggers or information for investors on actions to take in the market. They provide almost every service a trading bot does, except executing the trades. With forex signals, you get specific instructions like buy or sell orders on a currency pair at a particular time and price. The tool operates based on technical indicators and mathematical algorithms, giving short messages and signs that can help guide your trading decisions. Trading signals on the MetaTrader market are helpful for many market investors because the service is built in and allows traders to copy orders from providers automatically. This instrument is available for MT4 and MT5 users and can be accessed through a desktop or mobile device. The signals are available on the market and range from free to paid options.

Indicators on MetaTrader Market

Indicators and signals are crucial in a successful trading experience and are available for purchase on the platform. The indicators help traders make price forecasts and conduct market analysis. There are about 200 free indicators for MT5 and MT4 users. The paid indicators available on both tools are close to 700. They are all categorized based on popularity and recency. You’ll find the most popular indicators, such as Quantum Trend Sniper, PR Support, and Resistance. A demo option exists to test out this product before making a purchase, which is a plus, especially for beginner traders just finding their way around the market.

Trading Utilities on the MetaTrader Market

This particular tool is helpful for newbie traders. It is composed of various trading programs that help simplify the process. For MT5, there are 115 utilities. You can hover over each one to get more information on what it entails. An example is the Trade Assistant MT5, which helps calculate risk per trade, easily install your orders, manage your orders, and perform other useful functions. MT4 has similar tools, so you can see that almost all the instruments on the MT5 utility are replicated for MT4. There are 163 options for you here, ranging from free to paid.

Libraries on the MetaTrader Market

The library provides easy access to information gathered over a long period. The tools are helpful for research purposes and developers looking to accelerate the development of an application. For instance, GetFFE Events is a library tool that gives news on past and present events, with forecasts and predictions based on these happenings. There are many more like that, and they are also categorized based on free and paid options.

MT Market for Trading Success

As a trading platform, MetaTrader is equipped with the best instruments any forex trader could ask for. It is even more apparent now, considering how much you can get from the online market. Playing smart and following the right trends is one feature many successful traders have harnessed over the years. To get the best from the market, you must know how to make the most of such tools and instruments. Indicators, signals, and communities are your best bet; learn to use them to your advantage.

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“Puppy Love” A Rom-Com on Prime Video: Spring, Love, and Canine Pregnancies Arrive

Puppy Love is a romantic comedy starring Lucy Hale, Grant Gustin and Jane Seymour. It is directed by Nick Fabiano and Richard Alan Reid.

It’s one of those movies where, despite the ice cream tub beside the bed, the girl wakes up even skinnier than before, almost made up, and spectacularly beautiful. He’s a guy whose biggest problem might just be that he’s too nice and nerdy. She’s a mess, and he suffers from something called post-COVID social anxiety. Can you imagine the existential drama of these two attractive but lonely characters in life and love?

Yes, they’re already charming, good-looking, and friendly, but wait – there’s more! She comes across an adorable puppy and he has to take care of an equally adorable female dog to alleviate his anxiety. Can you imagine anything more adorable than this?

You’re not going to believe it, but it’s possible – her puppy and his dog are swept away by love and excess and she (the dog, not the human) ends up pregnant.

And the two owners are stuck in the middle of this mess!

What a complication! You know how these movies go – with all the chaos, contact, and vets discussing pregnancies, a tingling sensation creeps up on the two during spring, surrounded by nature, good feelings, and emotional needs.

Yes, you guessed it! It’s called love.

Puppy LoveAbout the Movie

Are you looking for a movie that reinvents your philosophical convictions or reveals new perspectives on life? “Puppy Love” may not be that movie and it could be a mix of a thousand other movies you’ve already seen. It’s possible that the characters seem so perfect in their imperfection that everything seems overly designed to please. Yes, “Puppy Love” is another romantic comedy that won’t make history in cinema, let alone romantic comedies. But it carries one of those charming plots loved generation after generation, making this type of production a near guaranteed success without much need for script, production, or performance.

“Puppy Love” has everything predesigned and scrutinized from a thousand previous movies: the amusing side characters, the slight imperfections of the leads that make them even more charming, and that soundtrack reminiscent of a cake made of sugar and love.

The intention is clear: to entertain and offend no one, for people to have a good time and forget quickly.

Our Opinion

It’s just another romantic comedy with two good-looking, charming characters who will do anything to ensure, in this case, the puppy’s pregnancy goes well.

No surprises.

Where to Watch “Puppy Love”

Prime Video

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Fifth Part of “The Upshaws” on Netflix: A Sitcom Blast from the Past

The Upshaws is a sitcom starring Mike Epps, Kim Fields and Wanda Sykes.

As if it sprang from an episode of Black Mirror, “The Upshaws” immerses us in a sitcom where everything – and we mean everything – seems to harken back to another era in terms of style, canned laughter, set design, themes, and pace of TV.

“The Upshaws” is a series aimed at taking us back to the golden age of sitcoms – the 80s, dusting off all the old tropes to refreshingly retell the story of this problem-ridden family who navigate their issues with laughter and mutual support.

The series features Mike Epps and Kim Fields and, of course, the shining star, Wanda Sykes, who plays the role of Lucrecia, the sister of Regina and sister-in-law of Bennie. Around them orbit the kids, the new generation, their age differences providing for various types of narratives set around the repair shop.

Additionally, Wanda Sykes is one of the creators of the series, alongside Reina Y. Hicks.

If you have a fondness for 80s sitcoms, this is a prime opportunity to revisit those shows that had us hooked years ago with their easy humor and simple plots encapsulated in brisk 20-minute episodes.

Enjoy.

Where to Watch “The Upshaws”

Netflix

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Bros (2024) A new series on Netflix

Bros is a new Netflix series created and starring Hannan Savyon and Guy Amir.

“Bros” is a Netflix series that skillfully blends comedy, drama, and football into an engaging package. Under different circumstances, it might be classified as one of those light-hearted comedies that, without trying too hard or risking too much, still manages to keep you entertained and leaves you in good spirits.

The story revolves around two friends who accompany their football team to a knockout round, traveling from Jerusalem to Poland. Along the way, they delve into deeper, more significant life matters. Primarily, the series is about friendship and the passage of time.

It merges comedy and drama seamlessly – one friend is ill and has just lost his father. But this series does not strictly fit into either category. It weaves a narrative without leaning heavily on either comedy or drama.

For reasons I hope you understand, we will not delve further into the details or conduct an in-depth analysis of any storyline. However, we do want to highlight that the series primarily deals with friendship, life’s essential elements, life, death, and time.

It’s a relatively simple comedy, where the two main characters often stumble into mishaps. The characters develop well, supported by a smart script. The series hinges more on dialogues and character evolution than its visual style.

It’s not an art house series, nor will it revolutionize your visual perspective: it’s straightforward in this respect, and its narratives lean more towards friendship and brotherhood.

Where to Watch “Bros”

Netflix

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Chiara Dynys. Lo Stile | Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (Italy)

Dom Pérignon of Ca’ Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art of Venice, will host a solo exhibition by Chiara Dynys, “ Lo Stile”, curated by Chiara Squarcina, Alessandro Castiglioni, Elisabetta Barisoni.

Chiara Dynys is one of the most important contemporary Italian artists, whose work has always stood out, characterized by a particular attention to the dialogue with the historical space, both in its architectural dimension as well as in the discursive one. In continuity with this perspective, “Lo Stile” is a site-related exhibition project, conceived specifically for Ca’ Pesaro.

“Lo Stile”, promoted by the Civic Museum Foundation of Venice (MUVE), is an exhibition of great visual power, apparently provocative but eventually revealing the centrality of the form of language in the art.

In deference to a poetics that has always refused any stylistic definition, Dynys reinterprets the linguistic synthesis of Neoplasticism founded by Piet Mondrian (the De Stijl movement), through a series of new immersive environments, in which the light and the materials redesign the story of reality.

Chiara Dynys
Tutto – Love Hate, Bitter Sweet, Heavy Light, 2023 (detail) – methacrylate

The artist writes in this regard: “The reference to Mondrian wants to make explicit my statement that theorm of language, even when style is denied, as in my work, is central.

The installation that gives the exhibition its title is in fact an ambiguous work, which intentionally

takes up the compositions of the theosophist artist but at the same time denies them, because it is made in stone and metal, that is, present and resistant materials, what Mondrian avoided more than anything else.“

“Opposed to this, a group of colored methacrylate books from the “Tutto” series provides further insights on my particular

and contradictory idea of style, while the second large room is entirely occupied by the installation “Gate of Heaven”, where the luminous skeleton of a large door seems to derive from the equally bright curves that spread across the floor according to the progress of the gravitational waves of the universe”.

Thus, the close vision in time and space of these three works speaks of a “style” that can easily deny itself, but only to renew itself: everything becomes “style”,

if the disparate language with which it is expressed, succeeds to become form.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog published by Nomos Edizioni, with texts by the curators and a critical contribution by Angelo Crespi.

Chiara Dynys is one of the most relevant contemporary Italian artists. She participated in numerous exhibition projects in Italy and abroad.

Among the most important institutions that have hosted her work are theMusée d’Art Moderne di Saint- Étienne (1992), the Centre d’Art Contemporain of Geneva (1996), the CIAC – Centre International d’Art Contemporain of Montréal (1997), the Städtische Galerie in Stuttgart (1999), the Cantonal Museum in Lugano (2001 – 2015), the Rome Quadrennial (1986 – 2005), the Bochum Museum, Bochum (2003), the Kunstmuseum Bonn (2004), the Wolfsberg Executive Development Center, Wolfsberg (2005), the ZKM- Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie of Karlsruhe (2005 – 2012), the Franz Gertsch Museum, Burgdorf (2007), Space-1, Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection, LAC, Lugano (2012), Arkhangelskoye – VII Moscow Biennal, Moscow (2017);

ICAE Armenia, Yerevan (2018), the MASI of Lugano (2018) and Italian museums such as the Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (2005 -2023), the Museum of the Twentieth Century in Milan (2012), the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rome (2013), the Correr Museum of Venice (2019), Villa and Collection Panza of Varese (2009 – 2021), the MA*GA Museum of Gallarate (2022).

Nowadays, “Enlightening Grimoires” can be visited as a site-specific installation and permanent donation to the MUVE at the Fortuny Museum, Venice, “Over nature” at Palazzo Maffei Casa Museo in Verona,

“Enlightening Books” at the Quirinale, Rome on the occasion of “Quirinale Contemporaneo” and “Sante subito e fiori” at the Vincenzo Agnetti Archive, Milan. Chiara Dynys also participates in the first edition of “Reggia Contemporanea”, curated by Cristina Renata Mazzantini and Angelo Crespi, at the Villa Reale in Monza.

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Saudi film ‘Norah’ Nominated for Cannes Film Festival 2024

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 17 April 2024 – The Cannes Film Festival announced that the Saudi film “Norah,” supported by the Saudi Film Commission through its ‘Daou’ initiative, has been selected as part of the festival’s Official Selection in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section. The festival will take place in Cannes, France, from May 14 to 25.

Written and directed by Tawfiq Al-Zaidi, the feature film “Norah” clinched the top prize of a funding award from the Saudi Film Commission’s Daou Film Competition, an initiative launched by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture in September 2019 to bolster Saudi film production and nurture the next generation of filmmakers. The film also garnered support from the Quality of Life program, one of the Kingdom’s Vision 2023 initiatives, Film AlUla, Generation 2030, and the Red Sea Film Festival, where it premiered in December 2023.

Set in a remote village in Saudi Arabia during the 1990s and filmed in AlUla, “Norah” presents a poignant narrative about the transformative power of art in inspiring change. It features Maria Bahrawi, Yaqoub Al-Farhan, and Abdullah Al-Sadhan.

This nomination marks a historic milestone for Saudi cinema as “Norah” becomes the first Saudi film to be included in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. “Un Certain Regard” is renowned for showcasing new talent and unconventional narratives, running parallel to the Palme d’Or competition. It serves as a significant international platform that garners attention from filmmakers worldwide, emphasizing the artistic and creative merit of the selected films.

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Zero Gravity Media Films Presents World Premiere of Sci-fi Series CHASER, Now Available on Prime Video, Distributed by Buffalo 8

LONDON – 12th April 2024:  Zero Gravity Media Films is delighted to announce that the world premiere of their new Sci-fi series CHASER will be available from today; available on Prime Video. CHASER is distributed by Buffalo 8.

It will be available on a pay-per-view basis from today.

A hit on the independent festival circuit, CHASER won Best Series at both the Birmingham Film & TV Festival and Star International Film Festival in 2024, and received nominations for Best Series, as well as nominations for Best Actor (Russ Russo), Best Supporting Actor (Daniel de Weldon), and Best Actress (Gia Bay) at Breaking TV Festival 2023 in London. CHASER was a finalist at the Stockholm Film & Television Festival and a semi-finalist at Blow-Up International Arthouse Film Festival.

CHASER is an eight-episode sci-fi drama following the life of struggling film editor, Eddi Sebastian (Russ Russo). Eddi, frustrated with his life and his work, experiences a truly life-changing event as he discovers a mysterious software that lets him cut and edit his life from the past 24 hours. Each half-hour episode sees Eddi drawn further and further into a new, mysterious world – only partly of his own creation – and chronicles the increasingly dark compounding consequences of his editing decisions.

Chaser

This erudite show is part of a wider trend in entertainment towards cerebral science fiction; be it the new Netflix series 3 Body Problem, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2 or Severance or Foundation on Apple – sci-fi that’s less about epic space battles and more about intellect, is very much de rigueur in 2024. This series asks us to consider the ethics of changing the past,  our role in manipulating the choices of others, and the complexities of the butterfly effect where one small change can unleash devastating effects.

Fans of Russo will remember him from previously starring in Ryan Phillippe’s directorial debut Catch Hell, the acclaimed short Victim No. Six, NBC’s Revolution, and feature film An Act of War for which he won Best Actor at the New York-based Take Two Film Festival. Alongside Russo, CHASER features Daniel de Weldon, star of the critically acclaimed horror film Anonymous 616, and Gia Bay, who can be seen on Season 5 of What We Do In The Shadows and as Chozanne Lopez on Diggstown.

The series is written and directed by Daniel Roemer, whose previous work includes the feature film Gray, which received a special screening by Sony Pictures. His short, The Select Fit, on which the series CHASER is loosely based, was distributed by Lionsgate and was a top 20 finalist in Project Greenlight, handpicked from over 12,000 entries by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as winning multiple other awards. CHASER was inspired by Roemer’s love of Donnie Darko, the series Black Mirror, and the work of Darren Aronofsky and Stanley Kubrick. Russo is represented by Eris Talent Agency, Baron Entertainment, and Kreativ Artists, with publicity managed by Studio Matrix, which also represents Daniel Roemer for US publicity and partners with The Ginger Bread Agency for UK publicity. Gia Bay is represented by Kathy Muller Agency, while Daniel de Weldon is represented by Progressive Artists Agency and Barry Krost Management.

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