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PARIS, Dec 28 – French actress Brigitte Bardot has died, her foundation said on Sunday. She was 91 years old. (Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Ingrid Melander PARIS, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Actress Brigitte Bardot shot to international fame dancing the mambo barefoot in "And God Created Woman", her tousled hair and fierce energy radiating a sexual magnetism rarely before seen in mainstream cinema. A global icon was born. At just 21, she scandalised censors and captivated audiences. Her free-spirited performance in the 1956 film, shot by her husband Roger Vadim, marked a decisive break from the demure heroines of the previous era. Brigitte Bardot, often referred to in France simply as "B.B." and whose later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathies, has died at the age of 91, her foundation said on Sunday. The cause was not immediately known. 'SHE FOLLOWS HER INCLINATIONS' Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, Bardot grew up in an upper-middle-class household. She described herself as a shy, self-conscious child who "wore spectacles and had lank hair". By 15, however, she graced the cover of Elle magazine, launching a modelling career that soon led to film. Bardot’s character in "And God Created Woman" was the embodiment of liberated femininity. The controversy only fuelled her appeal. Bardot became a symbol of 1950s and 60s France. Her allure extended far beyond French cinema. At 15, Bob Dylan is said to have written his first song about her, the never-released "Song for Brigitte", while Andy Warhol painted her portrait. Bardot's ability to subvert traditional gender roles made her not just a sex symbol, but a pop culture icon and a touchstone for shifting social attitudes. In 1959, Simone de Beauvoir penned an article for Esquire magazine in which she lionised Bardot's conspicuous sense of freedom. "B.B. does not try to scandalise," the feminist philosopher wrote. "She follows her inclinations. She eats when she is hungry and makes love with the same unceremonious simplicity. "Moral lapses can be corrected, but how could B.B. be cured of that dazzling virtue — genuineness? It is her very substance." De Beauvoir concluded: "I hope she will mature, but not change." 'I'VE BEEN LET DOWN TOO OFTEN' Despite her influence, Bardot found celebrity life isolating. She often spoke of being a prisoner of her own fame, unable to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. "Nobody can imagine how horrific it was, such an ordeal," she reflected decades later. "I couldn't go on living like that." Her personal life was shaped by four marriages, widely reported affairs, and well-documented struggles with depression. On her 26th birthday she was found unconscious at a house on the French Riviera after trying to take her own life. Rumours of another attempted suicide surfaced years later when she mysteriously cancelled a 49th birthday party then appeared in hospital. Alongside her acting, Bardot enjoyed a successful music career. Her collaborations with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, including the erotic "Je t’aime … moi non plus" ("I Love You … Neither Do I"), drew both acclaim and controversy. In the late 1960s she modelled for a bust of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic. But she found little satisfaction in the praise she garnered. "I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous and very unhappy," she told the magazine Paris Match around the time of her 50th birthday. "I've been let down too often. I've had really terrible disappointments in my life. That is why I've chosen to withdraw, to live alone." 'THIS IS MY ONLY BATTLE' Bardot made the last of her 42 films in 1973. Disenchanted with the industry, she declared the world of cinema "rotten" and left public life. "I will have given 20 years of my life to cinema, that's enough," she said in a TV interview at the time. She settled in the fashionable French resort of Saint-Tropez, where she found solace among animals and the Mediterranean landscape. There, she began a passionate defence of animal welfare. "This is my only battle, the only direction I want to give my life," Bardot said in 2013. Her devotion to animals became legendary. In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, auctioning off personal souvenirs the following year to raise funds for her cause. Bardot supported high-profile activists, such as anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, and campaigned vigorously against animal cruelty, at times threatening to leave France over animal welfare disputes. When actor Gérard Depardieu accepted Russian citizenship after a public spat with French authorities, in 2013, Bardot threatened to follow suit if France euthanised two sick circus elephants. For much of the latter part of her life, Bardot lived alone behind high walls in Saint-Tropez, surrounded by a menagerie of cats, dogs and horses. This passion, she often suggested, was an antidote to her disappointing relationships. "I gave my beauty and my youth to men," she once said. "I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals." 'FEMINISM ISN'T MY THING' As her advocacy intensified, so too did the backlash to her political statements. Bardot’s public remarks on immigration, Islam and homosexuality led to a string of convictions for inciting racial hatred. Between 1997 and 2008, she was fined six times by French courts for her comments, particularly those targeting France’s Muslim community. In one case, a Paris court fined her €15,000 ($17,000) for describing Muslims as "this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts". In 1992, she married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, and later publicly endorsed the party's successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen. Bardot called the latter "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century". Yet, for all her polarising views, Bardot’s influence endured, whether in fashion – with media noting regular comebacks of her trademark hairstyle – or through regular documentaries and coffee‑table books celebrating her rare impact on French cinema. Asked by French channel BFM TV in May 2025 if she considered herself a symbol of the sexual revolution, she said: "No, because before me, plenty of wild things had already happened — they didn’t wait for me. Feminism isn't my thing; I like men." In the same interview, she was asked how often she reflected on her film career. "I don’t think about it," she said, "but I don’t reject it, because it’s thanks to it that I’m known everywhere in the world as someone who defends animals." (Additional reporting by America Hernandez;Editing by Olivier Holmey)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Ingrid Melander PARIS, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Actress Brigitte Bardot shot to international fame dancing the mambo barefoot in "And God Created Woman", her tousled hair and fierce energy radiating a sexual magnetism rarely before seen in mainstream cinema. A global icon was born. At just 21, she scandalised censors and captivated audiences. Her free-spirited performance in the 1956 film, shot by her husband Roger Vadim, marked a decisive break from the demure heroines of the previous era. Brigitte Bardot, often referred to in France simply as "B.B." and whose later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathies, has died at the age of 91, her foundation said on Sunday. The cause was not immediately known. 'SHE FOLLOWS HER INCLINATIONS' Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, Bardot grew up in an upper-middle-class household. She described herself as a shy, self-conscious child who "wore spectacles and had lank hair". By 15, however, she graced the cover of Elle magazine, launching a modelling career that soon led to film. Bardot’s character in "And God Created Woman" was the embodiment of liberated femininity. The controversy only fuelled her appeal. Bardot became a symbol of 1950s and 60s France. Her allure extended far beyond French cinema. At 15, Bob Dylan is said to have written his first song about her, the never-released "Song for Brigitte", while Andy Warhol painted her portrait. Bardot's ability to subvert traditional gender roles made her not just a sex symbol, but a pop culture icon and a touchstone for shifting social attitudes. In 1959, Simone de Beauvoir penned an article for Esquire magazine in which she lionised Bardot's conspicuous sense of freedom. "B.B. does not try to scandalise," the feminist philosopher wrote. "She follows her inclinations. She eats when she is hungry and makes love with the same unceremonious simplicity. "Moral lapses can be corrected, but how could B.B. be cured of that dazzling virtue — genuineness? It is her very substance." De Beauvoir concluded: "I hope she will mature, but not change." 'I'VE BEEN LET DOWN TOO OFTEN' Despite her influence, Bardot found celebrity life isolating. She often spoke of being a prisoner of her own fame, unable to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. "Nobody can imagine how horrific it was, such an ordeal," she reflected decades later. "I couldn't go on living like that." Her personal life was shaped by four marriages, widely reported affairs, and well-documented struggles with depression. On her 26th birthday she was found unconscious at a house on the French Riviera after trying to take her own life. Rumours of another attempted suicide surfaced years later when she mysteriously cancelled a 49th birthday party then appeared in hospital. Alongside her acting, Bardot enjoyed a successful music career. Her collaborations with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, including the erotic "Je t’aime … moi non plus" ("I Love You … Neither Do I"), drew both acclaim and controversy. In the late 1960s she modelled for a bust of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic. But she found little satisfaction in the praise she garnered. "I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous and very unhappy," she told the magazine Paris Match around the time of her 50th birthday. "I've been let down too often. I've had really terrible disappointments in my life. That is why I've chosen to withdraw, to live alone." 'THIS IS MY ONLY BATTLE' Bardot made the last of her 42 films in 1973. Disenchanted with the industry, she declared the world of cinema "rotten" and left public life. "I will have given 20 years of my life to cinema, that's enough," she said in a TV interview at the time. She settled in the fashionable French resort of Saint-Tropez, where she found solace among animals and the Mediterranean landscape. There, she began a passionate defence of animal welfare. "This is my only battle, the only direction I want to give my life," Bardot said in 2013. Her devotion to animals became legendary. In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, auctioning off personal souvenirs the following year to raise funds for her cause. Bardot supported high-profile activists, such as anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, and campaigned vigorously against animal cruelty, at times threatening to leave France over animal welfare disputes. When actor Gérard Depardieu accepted Russian citizenship after a public spat with French authorities, in 2013, Bardot threatened to follow suit if France euthanised two sick circus elephants. For much of the latter part of her life, Bardot lived alone behind high walls in Saint-Tropez, surrounded by a menagerie of cats, dogs and horses. This passion, she often suggested, was an antidote to her disappointing relationships. "I gave my beauty and my youth to men," she once said. "I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals." 'FEMINISM ISN'T MY THING' As her advocacy intensified, so too did the backlash to her political statements. Bardot’s public remarks on immigration, Islam and homosexuality led to a string of convictions for inciting racial hatred. Between 1997 and 2008, she was fined six times by French courts for her comments, particularly those targeting France’s Muslim community. In one case, a Paris court fined her €15,000 ($17,000) for describing Muslims as "this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts". In 1992, she married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, and later publicly endorsed the party's successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen. Bardot called the latter "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century". Yet, for all her polarising views, Bardot’s influence endured, whether in fashion – with media noting regular comebacks of her trademark hairstyle – or through regular documentaries and coffee‑table books celebrating her rare impact on French cinema. Asked by French channel BFM TV in May 2025 if she considered herself a symbol of the sexual revolution, she said: "No, because before me, plenty of wild things had already happened — they didn’t wait for me. Feminism isn't my thing; I like men." In the same interview, she was asked how often she reflected on her film career. "I don’t think about it," she said, "but I don’t reject it, because it’s thanks to it that I’m known everywhere in the world as someone who defends animals." (Additional reporting by America Hernandez;Editing by Olivier Holmey)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Ingrid Melander PARIS, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Actress Brigitte Bardot shot to international fame dancing the mambo barefoot in "And God Created Woman", her tousled hair and fierce energy radiating a sexual magnetism rarely before seen in mainstream cinema. A global icon was born. At just 21, she scandalised censors and captivated audiences. Her free-spirited performance in the 1956 film, shot by her husband Roger Vadim, marked a decisive break from the demure heroines of the previous era. Brigitte Bardot, often referred to in France simply as "B.B." and whose later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathies, has died at the age of 91, her foundation said on Sunday. The cause was not immediately known. 'SHE FOLLOWS HER INCLINATIONS' Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, Bardot grew up in an upper-middle-class household. She described herself as a shy, self-conscious child who "wore spectacles and had lank hair". By 15, however, she graced the cover of Elle magazine, launching a modelling career that soon led to film. Bardot’s character in "And God Created Woman" was the embodiment of liberated femininity. The controversy only fuelled her appeal. Bardot became a symbol of 1950s and 60s France. Her allure extended far beyond French cinema. At 15, Bob Dylan is said to have written his first song about her, the never-released "Song for Brigitte", while Andy Warhol painted her portrait. Bardot's ability to subvert traditional gender roles made her not just a sex symbol, but a pop culture icon and a touchstone for shifting social attitudes. In 1959, Simone de Beauvoir penned an article for Esquire magazine in which she lionised Bardot's conspicuous sense of freedom. "B.B. does not try to scandalise," the feminist philosopher wrote. "She follows her inclinations. She eats when she is hungry and makes love with the same unceremonious simplicity. "Moral lapses can be corrected, but how could B.B. be cured of that dazzling virtue — genuineness? It is her very substance." De Beauvoir concluded: "I hope she will mature, but not change." 'I'VE BEEN LET DOWN TOO OFTEN' Despite her influence, Bardot found celebrity life isolating. She often spoke of being a prisoner of her own fame, unable to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. "Nobody can imagine how horrific it was, such an ordeal," she reflected decades later. "I couldn't go on living like that." Her personal life was shaped by four marriages, widely reported affairs, and well-documented struggles with depression. On her 26th birthday she was found unconscious at a house on the French Riviera after trying to take her own life. Rumours of another attempted suicide surfaced years later when she mysteriously cancelled a 49th birthday party then appeared in hospital. Alongside her acting, Bardot enjoyed a successful music career. Her collaborations with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, including the erotic "Je t’aime … moi non plus" ("I Love You … Neither Do I"), drew both acclaim and controversy. In the late 1960s she modelled for a bust of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic. But she found little satisfaction in the praise she garnered. "I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous and very unhappy," she told the magazine Paris Match around the time of her 50th birthday. "I've been let down too often. I've had really terrible disappointments in my life. That is why I've chosen to withdraw, to live alone." 'THIS IS MY ONLY BATTLE' Bardot made the last of her 42 films in 1973. Disenchanted with the industry, she declared the world of cinema "rotten" and left public life. "I will have given 20 years of my life to cinema, that's enough," she said in a TV interview at the time. She settled in the fashionable French resort of Saint-Tropez, where she found solace among animals and the Mediterranean landscape. There, she began a passionate defence of animal welfare. "This is my only battle, the only direction I want to give my life," Bardot said in 2013. Her devotion to animals became legendary. In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, auctioning off personal souvenirs the following year to raise funds for her cause. Bardot supported high-profile activists, such as anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, and campaigned vigorously against animal cruelty, at times threatening to leave France over animal welfare disputes. When actor Gérard Depardieu accepted Russian citizenship after a public spat with French authorities, in 2013, Bardot threatened to follow suit if France euthanised two sick circus elephants. For much of the latter part of her life, Bardot lived alone behind high walls in Saint-Tropez, surrounded by a menagerie of cats, dogs and horses. This passion, she often suggested, was an antidote to her disappointing relationships. "I gave my beauty and my youth to men," she once said. "I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals." 'FEMINISM ISN'T MY THING' As her advocacy intensified, so too did the backlash to her political statements. Bardot’s public remarks on immigration, Islam and homosexuality led to a string of convictions for inciting racial hatred. Between 1997 and 2008, she was fined six times by French courts for her comments, particularly those targeting France’s Muslim community. In one case, a Paris court fined her €15,000 ($17,000) for describing Muslims as "this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts". In 1992, she married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, and later publicly endorsed the party's successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen. Bardot called the latter "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century". Yet, for all her polarising views, Bardot’s influence endured, whether in fashion – with media noting regular comebacks of her trademark hairstyle – or through regular documentaries and coffee‑table books celebrating her rare impact on French cinema. Asked by French channel BFM TV in May 2025 if she considered herself a symbol of the sexual revolution, she said: "No, because before me, plenty of wild things had already happened — they didn’t wait for me. Feminism isn't my thing; I like men." In the same interview, she was asked how often she reflected on her film career. "I don’t think about it," she said, "but I don’t reject it, because it’s thanks to it that I’m known everywhere in the world as someone who defends animals." (Additional reporting by America Hernandez;Editing by Olivier Holmey)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Perry Bamonte, keyboardist and guitarist in The Cure, has died at 65, the English indie rock band confirmed through their official website on Friday. In a statement, the band wrote that Bamonte died "after a short illness at home" on Christmas Day. "It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas," the statement said, adding he was a "vital part of The Cure story." The statement said Bamonte was a full-time member of The Cure since 1990, playing guitar, six-string bass, and keyboards, and performed in more than 400 shows. Bamonte, born in London, England, in 1960, joined the band's road crew in 1984, working alongside his younger brother Daryl, who worked as tour manager for The Cure. Bamonte first worked as an assistant to co-founder and lead vocalist, Robert Smith, before becoming a full member after keyboardist Roger O'Donnell left the band in 1990. Bamonte's first album with The Cure was "Wish" in 1992. He continued to work with them on the next three albums. He also had various acting roles in movies: "Judge Dredd," "About Time" and "The Crow." (Reporting by Danielle Broadway; editing by Diane Craft)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Perry Bamonte, keyboardist and guitarist in The Cure, has died at 65, the English indie rock band confirmed through their official website on Friday. In a statement, the band wrote that Bamonte died "after a short illness at home" on Christmas Day. "It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas," the statement said, adding he was a "vital part of The Cure story." The statement said Bamonte was a full-time member of The Cure since 1990, playing guitar, six-string bass, and keyboards, and performed in more than 400 shows. Bamonte, born in London, England, in 1960, joined the band's road crew in 1984, working alongside his younger brother Daryl, who worked as tour manager for The Cure. Bamonte first worked as an assistant to co-founder and lead vocalist, Robert Smith, before becoming a full member after keyboardist Roger O'Donnell left the band in 1990. Bamonte's first album with The Cure was "Wish" in 1992. He continued to work with them on the next three albums. He also had various acting roles in movies: "Judge Dredd," "About Time" and "The Crow." (Reporting by Danielle Broadway; editing by Diane Craft)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Perry Bamonte, keyboardist and guitarist in The Cure, has died at 65, the English indie rock band confirmed through their official website on Friday. In a statement, the band wrote that Bamonte died "after a short illness at home" on Christmas Day. "It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas," the statement said, adding he was a "vital part of The Cure story." The statement said Bamonte was a full-time member of The Cure since 1990, playing guitar, six-string bass, and keyboards, and performed in more than 400 shows. Bamonte, born in London, England, in 1960, joined the band's road crew in 1984, working alongside his younger brother Daryl, who worked as tour manager for The Cure. Bamonte first worked as an assistant to co-founder and lead vocalist, Robert Smith, before becoming a full member after keyboardist Roger O'Donnell left the band in 1990. Bamonte's first album with The Cure was "Wish" in 1992. He continued to work with them on the next three albums. He also had various acting roles in movies: "Judge Dredd," "About Time" and "The Crow." (Reporting by Danielle Broadway; editing by Diane Craft)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

Dec 26 (Reuters) – Amos Poe, the New York director and screenwriter credited with chronicling the city's downtown punk movement, died on Thursday at 76 after a battle with an aggressive cancer, his wife and daughter said on social media. Poe, diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2022, underwent intensive chemotherapy before moving to home hospice care. “Amos took his last breath today at 3:33 p.m., surrounded by loved ones,” said Claudia Summers, his wife, on Instagram. A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help offset his medical costs, drawing support from the filmmaking community. Emily Poe, his daughter, wrote on Facebook: “We said goodbye today to Amos Poe and the world will never be the same." LEADING CULTURAL FIGURE, HELPED SHAPE PUNK Poe was a leading figure in the so-called No Wave cinema of experimental and low-budget filmmaking in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which has influenced today's world of independent movie making. Poe was a fixture in New York’s downtown cultural scene, helping shape the punk explosion on the Bowery and documenting it on film. His seminal work, "The Blank Generation", along with "The Foreigner" and "Subway Riders", cemented his reputation. In comments to Reuters in 2011, Poe talked about the emergence of No Wave cinema. "Our whole aesthetic, or the way we approached it, was that you didn't necessarily have to have the professionalism or the understanding of making films, you had to have the inspiration and the will to put yourself completely into it." In a 2020 profile titled "His Film Is a Punk Classic, but the Credits Now Roll Without Him," The New York Times said Poe lost control of his music documentary after a dispute with guitarist Ivan Kral. Poe turned to directing his own features, starting with "Unmade Beds", a DIY project starring friends Duncan Hannah, Eric Mitchell and Debbie Harry, followed by "The Foreigner" and "Subway Riders". Alongside contemporaries such as Jim Jarmusch, Abel Ferrara and Vivienne Dick, Poe became a central figure in the No Wave scene. Janus Films paid tribute on X, posting a black-and-white portrait of Poe in a leather jacket with the caption: “Farewell Amos, Prince of New York.” "MY STOMACH AND INTESTINES ARE A COLOSSAL MESS" In 2024, Poe posted from Greece: "My stomach and intestines are a colossal mess. What I needed was to get back to work – but as anyone who's been in intense, unrelenting pain will tell you, it's tiring as hell. So a few weeks, a month in the Mediterranean seemed the right prescription … and here we are. The Mrs. and I." Tributes poured in from across the industry. U.S. indie director Jarmusch, who called Poe a key influence, and Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli, who worked with Poe on "Joey Breaker", shared condolences on social media. (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Rishabh Jaiswal, Preetika Parashuraman and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Neil Fullick)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

Dec 26 (Reuters) – Amos Poe, the New York director and screenwriter credited with chronicling the city's downtown punk movement, died on Thursday at 76 after a battle with an aggressive cancer, his wife and daughter said on social media. Poe, diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2022, underwent intensive chemotherapy before moving to home hospice care. “Amos took his last breath today at 3:33 p.m., surrounded by loved ones,” said Claudia Summers, his wife, on Instagram. A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help offset his medical costs, drawing support from the filmmaking community. Emily Poe, his daughter, wrote on Facebook: “We said goodbye today to Amos Poe and the world will never be the same." LEADING CULTURAL FIGURE, HELPED SHAPE PUNK Poe was a leading figure in the so-called No Wave cinema of experimental and low-budget filmmaking in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which has influenced today's world of independent movie making. Poe was a fixture in New York’s downtown cultural scene, helping shape the punk explosion on the Bowery and documenting it on film. His seminal work, "The Blank Generation", along with "The Foreigner" and "Subway Riders", cemented his reputation. In comments to Reuters in 2011, Poe talked about the emergence of No Wave cinema. "Our whole aesthetic, or the way we approached it, was that you didn't necessarily have to have the professionalism or the understanding of making films, you had to have the inspiration and the will to put yourself completely into it." In a 2020 profile titled "His Film Is a Punk Classic, but the Credits Now Roll Without Him," The New York Times said Poe lost control of his music documentary after a dispute with guitarist Ivan Kral. Poe turned to directing his own features, starting with "Unmade Beds", a DIY project starring friends Duncan Hannah, Eric Mitchell and Debbie Harry, followed by "The Foreigner" and "Subway Riders". Alongside contemporaries such as Jim Jarmusch, Abel Ferrara and Vivienne Dick, Poe became a central figure in the No Wave scene. Janus Films paid tribute on X, posting a black-and-white portrait of Poe in a leather jacket with the caption: “Farewell Amos, Prince of New York.” "MY STOMACH AND INTESTINES ARE A COLOSSAL MESS" In 2024, Poe posted from Greece: "My stomach and intestines are a colossal mess. What I needed was to get back to work – but as anyone who's been in intense, unrelenting pain will tell you, it's tiring as hell. So a few weeks, a month in the Mediterranean seemed the right prescription … and here we are. The Mrs. and I." Tributes poured in from across the industry. U.S. indie director Jarmusch, who called Poe a key influence, and Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli, who worked with Poe on "Joey Breaker", shared condolences on social media. (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Rishabh Jaiswal, Preetika Parashuraman and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Neil Fullick)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Amanda Seyfried acknowledges she knew little about Ann Lee, the 18th-century founder of the Shaker movement, before portraying her in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” a film opening Christmas Day that explores the visionary leader’s quest for equality and communal living. “I was surprised that I didn’t learn about her in my own American history classes,” Seyfried – who starred in "Mamma Mia!" – told Reuters. “This woman is the leader of the Shaker movement.” The Shakers were a Christian movement also known for their celibacy and ecstatic worship to shake off evil. The film, directed by Mona Fastvold and distributed by Searchlight Pictures, follows Ann Lee, proclaimed as the female Christ by her followers. In the movie, Ann Lee aims to establish a utopian society where the Shakers worship through song and dance, based on real American history. Along with Seyfried, the film stars Lewis Pullman as William Lee, Ann’s brother; Christopher Abbott as Abraham Standerin, Ann’s husband, and Thomasin McKenzie as follower and friend of Ann, Mary Partington. Like Seyfried, Pullman didn’t know anything about Ann Lee before working on the film. “The more you learn about her, the more she seems like she should be a pivotal figure in history,” he said. Pullman describes the real Ann Lee as a humanist who advocated for the rights of everyone. For both Pullman and McKenzie, it was impressive to see how Seyfried captured both the pain and the powerful presence of Ann. The film’s musical elements were a key part of the movement's story, as the Shakers used song and dance to worship God and advocate for equity. It was revolutionary for Seyfried when she realized that for the role of Ann, her singing went beyond giving a good performance. “I’m singing to be alive. I’m not singing to sound, to perform. It’s like oxygen. It definitely shifted my perspective on what it means," the "Dear John" actor said. “It’s a musical but not the way we know musicals,” she added. (Reporting by Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)