All posts tagged: Director

Trump says Pulte won’t be permanent national intelligence director

Trump says Pulte won’t be permanent national intelligence director

Published by Sam Flores

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) nominee for US President Donald Trump, during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images President Donald Trump said Thursday that acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte will not be appointed to that position permanently. Trump’s comment came two days after he tapped Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting DNI. He is replacing outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard. The move sparked criticism on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers decried his lack of intelligence experience and his history as a political attack dog for Trump. “It’s not a permanent, he’s not going to be permanent, because you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday when asked why he thinks Pulte is the best person for the job. Trump hinted at Pulte digging into domestic investigations, despite the U.S. intelligence community’s focus on foreign targets. …

Marjane Satrapi, ‘Persepolis’ Director, Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, ‘Persepolis’ Director, Dies at 56

Published by Jenni Sidey

Marjane Satrapi, the French-Iranian graphic novelist, artist and film director whose landmark animated feature Persepolis earned a Cannes Jury Prize and an Oscar nomination and made her one of the most distinctive voices in world cinema, has died. She was 56. “Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,” members of her family said in a statement sent to AFP. Ripa, a Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter, died April 8, 2025. A series of posts on Satrapi’s Instagram page in the weeks before her death spelled out the message: “For I Lost the love of my life.” Related Articles Satrapi is best-known in the film world for Persepolis, the animated adaptation of her autobiographical graphic novel. The film version, which she co-wrote and co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Jury Prize with Carlos Reygadas’s Silent Light. Featuring the voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux in the French version — and Gena …

Director Robert dos Santos makes first straight-to-VHS film

Director Robert dos Santos makes first straight-to-VHS film

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter One director is pushing back against the increasing digitisation of the film world by creating the first movie to be released straight to VHS in 20 years. Born in South Africa, Portuguese director Robert dos Santos is best known as a creator of short films and music videos. His first narrative short, the 90-second-long A Moment, won best film at the Los Angeles Film Awards in 2021. With his new straight-to-video indie film This Is How the World Ends, dos Santos continues to break with convention. VHS stopped being the dominant method of home film viewing decades ago, yet one director is returning to it (olegkruglyak3 – stock.adobe.com) VHS players went out of production in 2016 more than a decade after videos were effectively replaced by DVDs, making dos Santos’s film unplayable to anyone who hasn’t hung onto their old VCR. …

Theatre director calls for phone ban after Rosamund Pike tells off fan: ‘It’s incredibly rude’

Theatre director calls for phone ban after Rosamund Pike tells off fan: ‘It’s incredibly rude’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Rosamund Pike sparked debate at the weekend after calling out an audience member for texting during her performance in Inter Alia in the West End – and now other leading industry figures have weighed in, with one top director calling for phones to be banned from theatres altogether. Inter Alia star Pike, who recently won an Olivier award for her performance, told off an audience member during the curtain call at Wyndham’s Theatre in London on Saturday, revealing she had seen someone texting during a pivotal scene. “You know who you are and I’m not going to single you out. Maybe it was very important, and maybe you’re a doctor, and you’re saving someone’s life, and I hope you are, but we do see these, we do feel them,” she said. “I feel I’ve got to hold you all, so when …

Pulte not ‘competent’ for intelligence director role

Pulte not ‘competent’ for intelligence director role

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) speaks as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Donald Trump’s 2026 health care agenda, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte does not appear to be “competent” to serve as acting director of national intelligence, outgoing Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said during an interview Tuesday at CNBC’s CEO Council Summit. Cassidy, who recently failed to qualify for a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican primary after President Donald Trump endorsed one of his challengers, Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La, said his Senate colleagues were taken aback by the president’s appointment of Pulte as spy chief on Tuesday morning. “Nothing here suggests he’s competent in the job for which he’s been appointed,” Cassidy said. “That’s just kind of the kind of conversation with my colleagues, like OMG.” “He has no military background, no intelligence background, he’s going to … keep his other job, and he’s not even …

300 director Zack Snyder to remake classic 1980s dystopian action movie

300 director Zack Snyder to remake classic 1980s dystopian action movie

Published by Daniella Wilson

In April, Studio Canal revealed that a remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film Escape from New York was in the works at the studio – and it’s just been revealed that the project will be helmed by Zack Snyder. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 300 director – who is also known for his work in the old DC Universe and films such as Watchmen and Rebel Moon – will write and direct a “reimagining” of the cult action flick, while he will also serve as a producer on the movie. The plan to reboot the franchise was previously unveiled by Hugh Spearing – the company’s executive vice president of global marketing and distribution – during a presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, although at that point no details were given about which personnel might be involved. Snyder’s most recent film release was the second chapter of his epic sci-fi franchise Rebel Moon for Netflix, while he is currently in post-production on The Last Photograph, a drama which is due for release later in …

Trump appoints Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence : NPR

Trump appoints Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images President Trump said Tuesday he was appointing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte currently serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, which supports mortgage markets. His biography on the FHFA site lists career experience in housing and philanthropy, but none in intelligence. Trump made the announcement in a social media post, listing Pulte’s qualifications for the role as someone with “deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago.” The director of national intelligence position was created in the wake of 9/11 to help U.S. intelligence agencies better coordinate. In establishing the position …

Housing official who targeted Trump’s enemies is named director of intelligence

Housing official who targeted Trump’s enemies is named director of intelligence

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday named an ally with no background in intelligence to oversee the nation’s spy agencies, taking the helm as the U.S. remains at war with Iran after a fresh round of peace talks stalled. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Bill Pulte is the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and in that position, he has helped the Trump administration compile information to fuel investigations into the president’s perceived political enemies. As acting director of national intelligence, Pulte will be the highest-ranking intelligence official, overseeing a vast network of 18 agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. He will also be the president’s principal adviser on intelligence issues and will manage the daily intelligence briefing for the president. Trump announced on social media that Pulte will remain as director of the housing finance agency, as well as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to support the mortgage market. With the appointment, …

Met Music Director Says New ‘Frida y Diego’ Show Is Proof Timothée Chalamet Was Wrong About Opera

Met Music Director Says New ‘Frida y Diego’ Show Is Proof Timothée Chalamet Was Wrong About Opera

Published by Sam Flores

Our conversation was briefly interrupted when a Met staffer opened the boardroom door, saw us, and swiftly closed it as Nézet-Séguin whipped around to investigate the breach. “Oh, that was Timothée Chalamet,” I wisecracked. “He was just coming in to say he’s sorry about everything.” “Oh my God, what a fantasy,” Nézet-Séguin said of the opera-eulogizing star with a laugh, before he debunked Chalamet’s claim that “no one cares about [opera] anymore.” The situation is the opposite, he said, with an audience that’s growing and diversifying, not shrinking. “I see a different kind of audience, an audience that, of course, is different through the way they look, but also the way they dress and the way they come…There’s something incredible that now the average age is in the 40s of the operagoer, as it was in the 60s not so long ago.” The Met Opera’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, said the audience is “growing and diversifying, not shrinking.” Marty Sohl/Met Opera His words might as well apply to conductors—at least, a conductor like him. Nézet-Séguin, …

‘The Apologist’ Doc Film Director Interview

‘The Apologist’ Doc Film Director Interview

Published by Daniella Wilson

Saying sorry, and doing so authentically, is not easy. But apologies can change relationships, and in the case of political apologies, can redefine history. Belgian filmmaker Kristof Bilsen’s documentary The Apologist, which he wrote, directed and produced, now explores what the act of atonement can do to victims, wrongdoers and witnesses alike – how it can reshape lives. World premiering in the international competition at Sheffield DocFest, which runs June 10-15, on Thursday, June 11, the film feels timely in an age when not a day goes by without a well-known politician or figure issuing a public apology, being called on to provide an apology, or failing to apologize. The hybrid doc, featuring actress Musia Mwankumi and actor Valentijn Dhaenens as they develop a play and explore the art and pitfalls of apologies, features cinematography by Joachim Philippe, Bilsen and Diren Agbaba, with editing by Luca Mattei and co-edited by Aaron Minnebo. It was co-written by Xan Márquez Caneda. The result is an emotional cinematic journey across continents, events, personal and collective trauma and accountability that …