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'The Red Suitcase' directed by Fidel Devkota has been selected for the 80th Venice Film Festival.

The Nepali film, which portrays the impact of foreign employment in Nepali society, was selected for the festival under the Horizon category, said Devkota.

This is the third Nepali film that made it to the Venice Film Festival after 'Kalo Pothi' and 'Seto Surya'. Both of the films had foreigners as producer and cinematographer.

'The Red Suitcase' has become the first Nepali film completely made by a domestic production group to be selected in the Venice Film Festival.

Director Devkota wrote the screenplay of the film that features artists such as Saugat Malla, Bipin Karki, Pravin Khatiwada and Shristi Shrestha among others.

The Venice Film Festival will be held from August 30 to September 9 in Venice, Italy.

 

Tina Turner, the pioneering rock’n’roll star who became a pop behemoth in the 1980s, has died aged 83 after a long illness, The Guardian reported.

She had suffered ill health in recent years, being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and having a kidney transplant in 2017.

Turner affirmed and amplified Black women’s formative stake in rock’n’roll, defining that era of music to the extent that Mick Jagger admitted to taking inspiration from her high-kicking, energetic live performances for his stage persona.

After two decades of working with her abusive husband, Ike Turner, she struck out alone and – after a few false starts – became one of the defining pop icons of the 1980s with the album Private Dancer. Her life was chronicled in three memoirs, a biopic, a jukebox musical, and in 2021, the acclaimed documentary film, Tina. 

In a statement on Wednesday night, her publicist Bernard Doherty said: “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.”

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on 26 November 1939 and raised in Nutbush, Tennessee, where she recalled picking cotton with her family as a child. She sang in the tiny town’s church choir, and as a teenager talked – or rather, sang – her way into Ike’s band in St Louis: he had declined her request to join until he heard her seize the microphone during a Kings of Rhythm performance for a rendition of BB King’s You Know I Love You, according to The Guardian.

After her vocal talents became apparent, Ike gave her the name Tina Turner – and trademarked it in case she left him and he wanted to replace her in his act. He quickly became abusive: when Turner tried to leave the group early on after having got a sense of his mercurial character, he hit her with a wooden shoe stretcher.

She made her recorded debut under the name with the Ike and Tina Turner single A Fool in Love in July 1960, which broke the US Top 30 and started a run of respectable chart success. But it was their live performances that made them a sensation. Ike toured the Ike and Tina Turner Revue aggressively on the Chitlin’ Circuit – including in front of desegregated audiences, such was their commercial power. In 1964, they signed to Warner Bros imprint Loma Records, which released their first album to chart: Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show.

In the second half of the 60s, the duo were courted by many of rock’s biggest names. Phil Spector produced the 1966 single River Deep – Mountain High; they supported the Rolling Stones in the UK and later the US, and stars including David Bowie, Sly Stone, Cher, Elvis Presley and Elton John came to their Las Vegas residency.

They were a chart-making, Grammy-winning force in the 1970s – a run that came to an end when Turner left Ike, who had been consistently violent and unfaithful, in 1976. Her last single with the group was Baby, Get It On, from the 1975 film adaptation of the Who’s rock opera Tommy, in which she starred as Acid Queen, a character of the same name of her second solo album, The Guardian reported.

In the divorce, finalised in 1978, Turner came away with just two cars and the rights to her stage name. “Ike fought a little bit because he knew what I would do with it,” she said in the documentary Tina.

Turner, who had already released two solo records, continued pursuing a solo career, though it would take until she released her fifth album, 1984’s Private Dancer, for her to supplant the old image of the shimmying rock’n’roller – and escape premature relegation to the oldies circuit – with one of a powerful, mullet-sporting, leather-clad pop icon.

The number of Nepali films being nominated and screened at international film festivals continue to rise, with "The Secrets of Radha" being the latest one. After 'Kalopothi', and 'Seto Surya' many films have been selected for the festivals while some have even won different awards. Released last year, 'The Secrets of Radha' is currently participating in various festivals. Directed by Suwanar Thapa, this film has been nominated for the 'La Femme Independent Film Festival' being held in Cannes, France. According to director Thapa, it has been nominated in seven categories including script, direction, acting and cinematography. "La Femme Independent Film Festival" has been organized since 2005 with the aim of giving space to female filmmakers and female characters. "The aim of our Festival is to support all women to work in the field of cinema, to screen all the films that discuss stories or issues about or for women or made by women", says the official website of the film festival. Actress Shristi Shrestha is playing the lead role in the film 'The Secrets of Radha', based on a story of women's endurance. The festival is coming to a close on May 23.  

Young folk singer Arjun Sapkota has released a new song titled ‘Bammai Jani Railaima’. Its official video was unveiled on the singer’s YouTube channel on Thursday. This folk-flavored song features singers Arjun and Shantishree Pariyar. The song is getting a good response from the audience with around 500,000 views as of Tuesday. The song is also gaining popularity on Tiktok. “The responses have also been very good. We are very happy,” said Sapkota. Lyricist Shiva Hamal has penned the song that has Sunil Pariyar as the arranger. The song has Kajish Shrestha as the choreographer and director, and features Divya Neupane, Badal Ghimire and Krishtal Sapkota along with Arjun. Ajay Regmi is the videographer whereas Deepak Bista has done the edits. Sapkota has popular numbers like ‘Banki Chari’, ‘Dui Duna Char’, ‘Pachayuri Lisio’ and ‘Ae Thuli’ to his credit.