Film – War Watch

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‘We wasted a lot of lives’: CIA spymaster’s caution over past Iran intervention resurfaces from beyond the grave
ByPhilip Oltermann European culture editor April 20, 2026

A documentary about Peter Sichel – the ‘Jewish James Bond’ who died in 2025 – includes striking mea culpas about the cost and efficacy of US involvement in the Middle EastIn New York social circles, he was known as the “Jewish James Bond”: a refugee fr…

Read More ‘We wasted a lot of lives’: CIA spymaster’s caution over past Iran intervention resurfaces from beyond the grave
Africa | Albert Camus | Algeria | Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Books | Crime films | Culture | Donald Trump | Drama films | Europe | Film | Film adaptations | France | François Ozon | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

The Stranger review – lustrously beautiful and superbly realised modern take on the Camus classic
ByPeter Bradshaw April 7, 2026

François Ozon’s adaptation of the 1942 novella L’Etranger passionately honours the original text while bringing a contemporary perspective to its themes of empire and raceA heatstricken reverie of violence and mystery unfolds in this film, a numb ecsta…

Read More The Stranger review – lustrously beautiful and superbly realised modern take on the Camus classic
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Oscars | Oscars 2026 | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | US news | World news

Ben Jennings on the Oscars – cartoon
ByBen Jennings March 12, 2026

Continue reading…

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Berlin film festival | Culture | Donald Trump | Europe | Film | Gaza | Germany | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

Berlin film festival organisers to hold crisis talks amid Gaza rows
ByPhilip Oltermann and Deborah Cole in Berlin February 25, 2026

Emergency meeting called to discuss festival’s ‘future direction’ after series of controversiesThe organisation that manages the Berlin film festival is to meet for talks amid reports that its American director faces dismissal after a series of rows ov…

Read More Berlin film festival organisers to hold crisis talks amid Gaza rows
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Comedy | Culture | Documentary films | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestine | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Stage | World news

Palestine Comedy Club review – roving performance collective finds light in darkness
ByPeter Bradshaw February 25, 2026

This portrait of a multi-ethnic comic troupe could do with more unpicking, but its reflections on the grind of war, life on the road and the reactive nature of comedy are insightfulIt must surely, sometimes, seem to everyone involved that the name shou…

Read More Palestine Comedy Club review – roving performance collective finds light in darkness
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Lebanon | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

‘A love letter to Beirut’: Lana Daher on sifting 20,000 sources and 70 years of film to make Do You Love Me
ByYassin El-Moudden February 19, 2026

Remembering and documentation are radical acts in Lebanon, a country with a tumultuous history and no national archive. Daher’s effervescent cultural collage is a direct challenge to collective amnesiaAt one point in Lana Daher’s film Do You Love Me, a…

Read More ‘A love letter to Beirut’: Lana Daher on sifting 20,000 sources and 70 years of film to make Do You Love Me
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Jafar Panahi | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

Oscar-nominated co-writer of It Was Just an Accident released from Iranian prison
ByAssociated Press February 17, 2026

Mehdi Mahmoudian released 17 days after arrest for signing a statement condemning Iran’s supreme leader and regime’s protest crackdownMehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated cowriter of It Was Just an Accident, has been released from an Iranian prison 17…

Read More Oscar-nominated co-writer of It Was Just an Accident released from Iranian prison
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Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton among those to condemn Berlinale’s ‘silence’ on Gaza
ByNadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent February 17, 2026

At least 80 film-makers and stars sign open letter after German festival jury president Wim Wenders says they should keep out of politicsMore than 80 current and former participants of the Berlinale, including Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McKa…

Read More Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton among those to condemn Berlinale’s ‘silence’ on Gaza
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | No Other Land | Nuclear weapons | Oscars | Palestine | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | West Bank | World news

Brother of No Other Land co-director injured as Israeli settlers again attack family home
ByJulian Borger in Masafer Yatta February 17, 2026

Hamdan Ballal says violence on West Bank as bad as ever, nearly a year after his Oscar-winning film shocked the world The co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land has said his home and family have come under renewed attack, almost a year after th…

Read More Brother of No Other Land co-director injured as Israeli settlers again attack family home
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‘It’s a protest movement behind windows’: tribute to the Iranians risking their lives to film dissent
ByDeborah Cole February 17, 2026

Inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising that gripped Iran in 2022, two film students created a documentary, Memories of a Window, about onlookers who anonymously record footage as proof of state violenceFootage that went viral from Iran in late 2…

Read More ‘It’s a protest movement behind windows’: tribute to the Iranians risking their lives to film dissent