According to their PR department, the decision to proceed with the project stems from Cartier’s history of empowering women with the boldness to be themselves.

“Ocean’s 8”, which opened in Thailand last week, is the newest entry in the successful “Ocean’s” franchise. It’s directed and co-written by Gary Ross and stars Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, with Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter. Set partly at New York City’s star-studded annual Met Gala, the target of the con is the Toussaint – a legendary diamond necklace, made by Cartier, to be worn by actress Daphne Kluger (played by Anne Hathaway).

The refined jewellery brand was a challenge and a thrilling venture for the jeweller, which was asked to create a very specific parure for the film’s ultimate heist.

For this very special order, Cartier mobilised the resources of its High Jewellery workshops situated rue de la Paix in Paris. The best jewellers were required to accomplish this feat in no more than eight weeks, a demanding task on top of their everyday assignments. This is how, for a dreamlike creation designed for cinema, Cartier dedicated the best of its trade and resources and flew the necklace from Paris to New York.

Cartier was also the exclusive on-site jeweller during filming at the Metropolitan Museum. For five consecutive nights, jewellery was loaned to those making cameo appearances in the movie with pieces ranging from Cartier Collection to current New or High Jewellery, as well as watches and accessories.

Prominently featured in the film, the Cartier Mansion, a New York City landmark, became the location of major scenes. For two days, the Mansion was closed to enable filming and its Salons were transformed into cinema sets. The exterior of the Mansion on 52nd Street is also featured in the film.

The necklace, known as the Jeanne Toussaint, is a tribute to Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier’s Creative Director in the 1930s whose role was decisive in establishing the Maison’s stylistic identity. Above anyone else, she was the first woman to embody Cartier’s bold and fearless spirit. Throughout her career, she favoured Indian style as a source of inspiration amongst others, paying homage to the splendour and opulence of the Maharajas.

The original necklace was designed in 1931 for the Maharaja of Nawanagar by Jacques Cartier. Described as “the finest cascade of coloured diamonds in the world,” it included the Queen of Holland, a blue-white diamond weighing 136.25 carats. For Jacques Cartier it was “a superb realisation of a connoisseur’s dream.”

This jewel no longer exists; however, Cartier preserved in its archives a design drawing and photographs of the piece and its owner. The creation sketch was used as a reference for the realisation of the Toussaint necklace, which plays a pivotal character in the story.

The necklace was adjusted to Anne Hathaway’s measurements and reduced by 15 to 20 per cent of the original size, as it was initially designed for a man. Dismountable bezels were devised to successfully adapt the jewel to match Hathaway’s proportions. Thanks to their expertise, when the actress wore it for the first time in New York, the necklace fit her perfectly.

For the film – in which the Toussaint is comprised of flawless, colourless diamonds – the coloured diamonds were replaced with zirconium oxides, a natural material, mounted on white gold.

The necklace had to be solid enough to withstand frequent manipulations during filming. Meticulous attention was paid to the finishing of the settings and polishing, as close-ups would not allow for any imprecision. The Jeanne Toussaint Necklace meets in all aspects the Cartier High Jewellery requirements in terms of craftsmanship and excellence.

An Apple statement Friday offered few details about the role for Winfrey, who hosted a hugely popular talk show before leaving to start her own production company and devote time to philanthropic efforts.

“Together, Winfrey and Apple will create original programs that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world,” the statement said.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

The news suggested Apple — which reportedly is investing $1 billion in content — is push forward as part of its effort to create a platform to challenge rivals like Netflix and Amazon in internet-based video.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the deal includes films, television shows, smartphone applications and books that can be distributed through Apple.

Apple has deals with other stars including director Steven Spielberg and actresses Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

The move comes after Netflix signed a deal with former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to produce shows for that platform.

It also comes as traditional TV operators scramble to bolster their position against an expected online onslaught.

AT&T on Thursday closed an $85 billion deal for media-entertainment giant Time Warner, giving the telecom-broadband group a strong position in both content and delivery.

The story centres on 25-year-old Thomas who loses his legs while deployed in Afghanistan. At the local rehabilitation centre, he is angry, bitter and desperate to get back on his feet. He meets Sofie, an ascending ballerina from the Royal Danish Ballet who is helping a relative regain strength after a long-term sickness. Thomas desperately wants to get back into the field and feels a growing impatience as he fails to progress as fast as he would like. When Sofie offers to help him with a more intense rehabilitation plan, he accepts. Despite their differences they develop a special bond and a mutual affection. Thomas’ spirit is uplifted. Sophie’s dream is achieved when she is selected to dance in New York. She now has to make a tough decision between the rehabilitated Thomas and her promising ballet career. The movie created waves at many international film festivals, and was one of three movies nominated by the country for the Oscars in 2017.

The film is in Danish with English subtitles and rated 18+.

The screening is supported by the Embassy of Denmark, who will serve drinks and snacks, after the screening. Danish ambassador Uffe Wolffhechel will introduce the film.

The screening will be held at River City Forum room on the second floor of River City Bangkok. Book a seat by emailing rcbfilmclub@gmail.com or fill in the form at https://goo.gl/forms/dRsMIbNZgp9rNhcr1

For more information, please call (02) 237 0077-8 extensions 622 and 701 or Facebook: River City Bangkok.

The move by Comcast, which is the largest US cable provider and also owns the NBCUniversal media group, opens up a new round of competition for the prized assets being shed by the Murdoch family empire.

The deal, if approved, would merge Comcast-owned Universal Studios and the NBC television network with Hollywood rival 20th Century Fox, Fox’s cable entertainment networks and international TV businesses.

“These are highly strategic and complementary businesses and we are in our minds the right buyer,” said Comcast chairman and chief executive Brian Roberts in a conference call.

Roberts said Murdoch had built “one of the world’s great media and entertainment companies,” and that its history is similar to that of Comcast’s.

With the deal, Roberts said Comcast would stay on track “to build the entertainment company of the future.”

Roberts said the all-cash bid is nearly 20 percent richer than the $52 billion stock offer from Disney, and said Comcast would match the Disney offer of a $2.5 billion fee if the deal fails to win regulatory approval.

“We are highly confident in our ability to finance the transaction, and our offer includes no financing-related conditions,” Comcast said in a letter to Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James.

The statement pointed out that Comcast and Fox had been in talks before the Murdochs reached the deal with Disney, which is being submitted for a shareholder vote July 10.

The new offer is likely to prompt a response from Disney, and force the Murdochs to review their position on the tie-up with Disney, which owns the ABC television networks ESPN and is a major Hollywood player.

– The new landscape –

The news comes a day after a federal judge approved a massive $85 billion takeover by telecom-broadband giant AT&T or media-entertainment conglomerate Time Warner that could reshape the media and communications landscape.

The court approval ended a heated antitrust battle, and suggested Comcast would be able to clear any regulatory hurdles to a deal with Fox.

Comcast said any antitrust concerns should be eased by Tuesday’s court ruling on AT&T and that its offer “should be as or more likely to receive international approvals, given our relatively small presence outside the US.”

“We believe yesterday’s decision in the AT&T case supports our confidence,” Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh said on the conference call.

The deal became possible when Rupert Murdoch, 87, and his sons decided to slim down the media empire, leaving them with a “New Fox” that includes the Fox News Channel, the Fox broadcast network and sports cable operations.

Comcast if successful would be able to expand beyond US borders to new markets in Europe and India.

Included in the sale is Fox’s 39 percent stake in the British pay TV operator Sky. Murdoch has sought full control of Sky but has faced opposition from regulators in Britain.

Comcast earlier this year made an offer of $30.7 billion in cash for Sky, in a move welcomed by the British firm.

The dealmaking comes with traditional media pressured by new business models from Netflix, Amazon and others. During the AT&T antitrust trial, executives maintained they need more scale and better data to compete with online services.

Whoever wins the battle for Fox assets would also get its 30 percent stake in Hulu, the online platform created by media groups to challenge Netflix and Amazon.

Comcast and Disney each own a 30 percent stake in Hulu and Time Warner holds 10 percent.

John Bergmayer of the consumer group Public Knowledge said any Comcast deal should face scrutiny, especially in light of the expiration of provisions from its 2011 takeover of NBCU.

“Without the protections of the consent decree, Comcast will already have the ability to harm its rivals, raising prices for consumers,” Bergmayer said.

Bergmayer said the deal raises “significant antitrust and regulatory concerns” and added that “further consolidation is the last thing consumers need.”

The 36-year-old Bamba, who most recently appeared in “Black Panther,” is one of 700,000 “Dreamers” — immigrants brought illegally to America as children who were protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“For a while, I wanted to share my story but I was paralyzed in fear,” he said in an interview with AFP as he picked up a human rights award in Los Angeles from the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I just didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. I didn’t want to put my career on the line, and even my family on the line.”

Bamba’s family fled political instability in the west African state of Ivory Coast in 1993 and he arrived in the US when he was 10.

Bamba then spent his teenage years between New York’s South Bronx and Richmond, Virginia.

The young French speaker learned English quickly and got into New York’s Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, driving taxis to pay the fees.

It was during the college applications process, when Bamba was thinking about financial aid, that his parents revealed they had no legal status in the United States.

They were eventually granted political asylum, but Bamba was 21 by then — too old to share the new rights they had won.

– ‘A lot of fear’ –

Despite his undocumented status, the aspiring star began picking up acting jobs and has appeared in more than two dozen television shows such as “Law and Order,” “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

In 2016, he secured a recurring part as a human rights activist and secret celestial torturer in NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” and has since appeared in small roles in two comic book blockbusters — “Black Panther” and “Suicide Squad.”

Like thousands in his situation, Bamba felt like his world had collapsed when President Donald Trump canceled the DACA program last year, leaving Dreamers vulnerable to deportation at any moment.

The court system has ordered that the scheme continue, but the uncertainty surrounding their status remains.

“It has really been volatile. There’s so much uncertainty in our communities. There’s a lot of fear and we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he told AFP.

“Most of us have families, degrees, have careers, have made our lives here, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen month to month.”

Bamba had told very few people of his citizenship status but decided to speak out in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in November of last year.

“I have a wife and a daughter. She’s one-and-a-half years old. Back in November, that really spurred my decision,” Bamba told AFP.

“I looked at her and I wanted her to know her father stood for something and stood for her, especially right now when families are being torn apart at the border.”

– Black cloud –

Bamba says friends and colleagues have been incredibly supportive since he “came out,” and his fears that it would nix his career turned out to be unfounded.

He told the LA Times his biggest worry was being hauled off set by immigration officials during a shoot. He works a lot in Canada or elsewhere abroad but always worries about getting back into the United States.

The Republican-led Congress failed earlier this year to pass immigration reform proposals, including one championed by Trump that would have resolved the legal status of 1.8 million migrants.

Lawmakers are working on a new solution that would include measures to boost border security and reform legal immigration but, for the time being, the uncertainty is a black cloud hanging over the Dreamers.

“I’m still being vocal but, to my surprise — I guess this was a little naive of me — I thought we would have a solution by now. I thought we would have a Dream Act passed by now,” said Bamba.

“I thought, with the government shutdowns and all those things that happened, that we would have something on the table. So the fact that we don’t have anything helps me know that the fight continues and that I have to continue to do my part.”

With an all-star cast led by ever-popular Sandra Bullock and supported by Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna, the Warner Bros. film was Hollywood’s latest experiment — after “Ghostbusters” — in replacing an all-male cast with female stars.

The result: one of the top 10 openings of the year so far, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, and a better debut than the three earlier “Ocean’s” editions made by Stephen Soderbergh and starring a male principal cast.

The latest chapter stars Bullock as Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean — played by George Clooney in the Soderbergh films — as she assembles a gang of talented women to plan a seemingly impossible diamond heist from a glamorous gala in New York.

In second place was last weekend’s leader, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” starring Alden Ehrenreich as a young version of the swashbuckling space pilot. The Disney film took in $15.7 million, roughly half its previous weekend’s total.

Third spot went to “Deadpool 2” from 20th Century Fox, at $14.1 million. This latest in Fox’s X-men series stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role. Its worldwide ticket sales have surpassed $650 million.

In fourth was a new film, “Hereditary,” at $13.6 million, the best opening ever for A24, the indie production house behind “Moonlight,” “Lady Bird” and “The Disaster Artist.”

The horror film, about a family haunted after its matriarch dies, stars Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne. Its decent opening came in spite of an R-rating and a D+ audience rating from CinemaScore.

In fifth was “Avengers: Infinity War,” from Disney-owned Marvel, at $7.2 million.

With a cast including Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson, the superstar-rich extravaganza is now a mere $500,000 away from becoming the fourth movie in history to cross the $2 billion mark worldwide.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Adrift” ($5.3 million)

“Book Club” ($4.3 million)

“Hotel Artemis” ($3.2 million)

“Upgrade” ($2.4 million)

“Life of the Party” ($2.2 million)

The award is given to an individual who has had a remarkable career that spans a wide spectrum of films in multiple genres and languages. Kher, who also directs and produces, has two National Awards under his belt. He continues to be a stalwart in Bollywood even as he makes his presence felt internationally, having given some memorable performances in Hollywood as well. With an illustrious acting career spanning more than 500 films in several languages and many plays, IIFA is recognising Kher’s immense contribution to Indian cinema.

“Thank you IIFA for acknowledging my achievements in cinema. I am privileged to be a part of our film industry, which has been so generous in showing of love and warmth for me. My 34 years of work has helped me achieve great milestones and at a time when actors my age are offered the Life Time Achievement Award, I prefer to ride on another 34 years exploring new and exciting opportunities both at home and abroad. I am humbled and happy to be the recipient of this award instituted by IIFA. With every such award comes a sense of responsibility which I promise to be committed to, in our industry and also, as a representative of our country in the international arena,” Kher said in a press statement.

IIFA Weekend & Awards 2018 will bring together a host of events and engagements across various aspects including business and entertainment with the highlight being the IIFA Awards from June 22-24 at Siam Niramit Theatre.

Visit http://www.iifa.com for more update.

Bourdain committed suicide while in France filming an episode of his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel program “Parts Unknown”, the network said Friday.

French authorities said Bourdain died by hanging at a luxury hotel, the Chambard, in the village of Kaysersberg in the Haut-Rhin region of Alsace.

“At this stage, we have no reason to suspect foul play,” prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel said.

CNN said Bourdain’s body was found in his hotel room by his close friend Eric Ripert, the French executive chef of New York restaurant Le Bernardin.

Bourdain’s sudden death drew tributes from around the world — from the current as well as former US presidents to celebrated chefs to ordinary people who vicariously joined him on his globe-trotting travels.

“Anthony was my best friend,” Ripert said on Twitter. “An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous.”

“His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller,” CNN said in a statement.

“His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much.”

President Donald Trump said Bourdain was “quite a character” and described his death as “very sad”.

“I’m devastated, I couldn’t believe it, he was one of the best at it for all the shows. Every Sunday I enjoyed watching him,” said Norbert Wirsching, a patron at Le Bernardin restaurant.

A gifted storyteller, Bourdain promoted haute cuisine and street food alike in his travels, encouraging viewers to “eat and drink with people without fear and prejudice”.

“We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook?” Bourdain said in a 2014 Peabody Award acceptance speech.

“And everywhere in the world, we go and ask these simple questions. We tend to get really astonishing answers.”

‘To make us a little less afraid’

Bourdain delighted in introducing people to new cuisines. In one episode of “Parts Unknown”, he showed president Barack Obama how to slurp Vietnamese noodles at a restaurant in Hanoi.

“He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together,” Obama said in a tweet. “To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him.”

After a start washing dishes in a restaurant, the New York-born Bourdain gradually rose through the ranks to become a chef.

His 2000 best-seller “Kitchen Confidential” introduced readers to the workers toiling anonymously behind the scenes in American restaurants, many of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants.

The book kicked off his celebrity career and led to his becoming a television host, starting with “A Cook’s Tour” on the Food Network.

He went on to host a show called “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel before moving to CNN.

On the network, anchors struggled to hold back tears as they reminisced about their late colleague and urged people faced with despair or who know people struggling with depression to call a suicide hotline.

CNN anchor John Berman remembered Bourdain as a “human contradiction”.

“He loved food. He wrote about food. He lived food. He thought we obsessed about food too much,” Berman said.

“He once said to me, ‘I wish people would stop taking pictures of food and have more sex.’ You know, because what he really wanted to do was to show people life.”

‘Beyond devastated’

Bourdain rhapsodised about the joys of food and drink but was candid about his struggles with own demons, including alcohol and drug abuse and depression.

He leaves behind a young daughter Ariane, from his relationship with his ex-wife Ottavia Busia.

He had been dating Italian actress Asia Argento since 2017 and became an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement after she revealed she had been sexually assaulted by the movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

“I came out of a brutal, oppressive business that was historically unfriendly to women,” Bourdain said in an interview in January with “The Daily Show”.

“I knew a lot of women, it turned out, who had stories about their experience, about people I knew,” he said.

Argento said she was “beyond devastated” by his death and asked for privacy both for herself and his family.

“His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds,” Argento said on Twitter. “He was my love, my rock, my protector.”

Bourdain’s death comes just days after the suicide of another American celebrity, 55-year-old handbag designer Kate Spade.

“Success does not protect you from depression. It doesn’t protect you from suicide,” Jodi Gold, director of the Gold Center for Mind Health and Wellness, said on CNN.

According to statistics released on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control, the suicide rate across the United States has risen 30 percent since 1999, and nearly 45,000 people took their lives in 2016.

Suicide presents a “growing public health problem”, with significant increases in 44 of the 50 states, said the CDC report.