Netflix has acquired the first-run rights to a documentary on the Egyptian protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, signaling a new push by the subscription company to program movie premieres.
"The Square" will debut exclusively on Netflix early next year, Netflix announced Monday. Jehane Noujaim's documentary depicts the tumult of the Egyptian Revolution beginning in 2011.
"The Square" is playing in New York and Los Angeles theaters. The short theatrical run will qualify the film, an award-winner at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals, for Oscar consideration.
Netflix tried earlier to get into the first-run film distribution business with its indie label, Red Envelope. Several notable documentaries and independent films were co-produced by Netflix when it was just a DVD-by-mail business. But the company shuttered Red Envelope in 2008.
In a letter to shareholders this year, Netflix executives said the company would expand its growing library of original content beyond new TV shows like "House of Cards" and would seek to add "broadly appealing documentaries."
French singer Patrick Bruel charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault
French singer and actor Patrick Bruel was handed preliminary charges of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment of several women between 2008 and 2019 and released under strict judicial supervision, a prosecutor's office said Thursday.
Bruel, 67, denies the allegations.
He was brought Wednesday before four investigative judges at the court in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris, following a two-day police custody.
The Nanterre prosecutor's office said the formal investigation concerns allegations of rape in 2008 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, attempted rape in 2010 in Brussels, and sexual assault and sexual harassment in Perpignan, in southern France, and Ajaccio, Corsica, both in 2019.
The judicial investigation also continues into other allegations of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment between 2010 and 2019 in three French cities and in Nyon, Switzerland, according to prosecutors.
Some allegations that had previously been dismissed without further action were reexamined and included in the case, the prosecutor's office said.
Bruel was released under judicial supervision and barred from leaving France. He was ordered to surrender his passport, undergo psychological treatment and post bail of 500,000 euros ($576,760). He is also prohibited from contacting his accusers or members of their families and from entering massage parlors, where some of the alleged offenses are alleged to have occurred.
Bruel's lawyers said in a statement the singer would cooperate fully with the investigation and remains available to the judicial authorities.
In recent weeks, a series of media reports, notably by French investigative website Mediapart, brought into public attention allegations... Read More