documentary

New ‘Michael Jackson: The Verdict’ documentary dives into 2005 trial

Netflix is dropping a three-part docuseries that revisits Michael Jackson’s 2005 trial in which he was acquitted on charges of child molestation.

“Michael Jackson: The Verdict” drops June 3 and features archival footage and interviews with key players involved in the trial including jurors, figures from both the defense and the prosecution, journalists who were inside the courtroom and other eyewitnesses who saw the events unfold firsthand.

“It has been 20 years since the trial of Michael Jackson in which he was found not guilty. Yet, to this day, controversy still rages,” the filmmakers said. “No cameras were allowed in court, and so the public’s view of the facts at the time were filtered by commentators and presented piecemeal. It was time to take a forensic look at the trial as a whole.

“Anyone interested in the Michael Jackson story should feel this documentary gives them a window into what was largely a closed event and a chance to feel closer to what happened.”

The Santa Barbara Superior Court trial lasted 14 weeks, and the jury, which included eight women and four men, deliberated for more than 30 hours across seven days.

Jackson was acquitted on 10 felony charges: four counts of child molestation, four counts of plying a minor with alcohol in order to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation and one count of conspiracy to hold the boy and his family captive at the Neverland Ranch. He faced more than 20 years in prison.

Produced by Candle True Stories, the production company behind Netflix’s “Untold: The Liver King,” and directed by Nick Green, “Michael Jackson: The Verdict,” comes at a time of renewed interest in the “King of Pop.”

The Jackson-estate-approved biopic “Michael” hit theaters last month, and depicts the origin story of the hitmaker from childhood through his upward trajectory to superstar status in the 1980s. Notably, the movie omitted the slew of allegations that followed Jackson from the ’90s until his death in 2009.

Source link

‘Modern Whore’ documentary is ‘like a storybook come to life’

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”>

When Andrea Werhun started writing her memoir, “Modern Whore,” nearly a decade ago, she was afraid to be honest about working as an escort and stripper. But she embraced going public to “use storytelling to advocate for the plight of sex workers.”

In the documentary version of “Modern Whore,” directed by Nicole Bazuin, Werhun has gone not one, but several steps further. Werhun, 36, is not only the main interview subject, she’s also the frequently topless star of all the vividly depicted reenactments of her experiences. The documentary also features bright colors, funky music and an often jaunty tone.

Well Documented

With networks and streamers seeking to create compelling content, many have found the answer in true stories. But with the surge in documentaries, it can be hard to sift through what’s worth your time. Each month, we provide an inside look at a documentary and others you should add to your queue.

Werhun, who started escorting in college and still does sex work even while pursuing writing and acting, was a consultant on Sean Baker’s “Anora,” and he served as a producer here, offering feedback on their script and numerous cuts of the film. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and is now available on video on demand.

Werhun and Bazuin recently discussed the film’s style and goals in a joint video interview edited for length and clarity.

How much were you consciously trying to make this different from other documentaries about sex workers?

Bazuin: I wanted this to feel like a storybook come to life — we literally jump inside Andrea’s book with Andrea as our storyteller and reenactor of her own experiences. People might expect a film about sex work to be be drab or dour, and we wanted to confront that right away with vivid colors and a stylized expressionistic mode that can support all the moods of her experiences. Stylized films sometimes can contain more truth than realistic forms.

Werhun: Cinema verité, which is typically how sex workers are portrayed in documentaries, inevitably comes off as voyeuristic.

Most documentaries about sex work don’t include R-rated reenactments starring the film’s subject. Why include that?

Bazuin: We wanted to disrupt expectations audiences might have and to make it a more human portrait.

Werhun: I love performing and I’d love to have an acting career and this was an excellent showcase of my abilities.

But also it would feel censored if there weren’t any tits, if there were no sex scenes in a film about sex. I’m not ashamed of the fact that I’ve used this body to make a living. Nicole and I crafted the scenes meticulously to convey a point that is artistic, funny and educational.

Bazuin: The movie runs the gamut tonally. It’s a “Trojan whore” for a feminist and sex worker manifesto for political and social change, so we also show the challenges and the assaults that Andrea experienced because we want laws that would make this work safer, including the decriminalization of sex work.

Andrea, why interview your boyfriend and mom on camera?

Werhun: The sex worker stereotype is that we’re isolated and vulnerable, with no support systems; that stereotype makes predators think we’re easy victims. I wanted to dispel the idea that we are incapable of having loving, meaningful relationships.

This is presented as a film memoir yet you then include other sex workers’ perspectives.

Werhun: Unfortunately, when it comes to sex work storytelling, there is a proliferation of cis white, educated women and those tend to be the stories that get platforms. But that experience is minute compared to the wide range of sex workers, so it was vital to expand the narrative to include other perspectives, whether it’s race, gender orientation or class. What we have in common is that we all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.

You say you’re rewriting the usual story of sex workers as victims or villains but you were a victim, both of exploitative working conditions and sexual assault. Will sex workers always be victimized without legal protection?

Werhun: Most of our clients are not bad people, they’re paying for a service we’re willing to provide. But under any criminalized model, there is inherently exploitation and people don’t feel safe accessing justice. If we don’t have labor rights, we’re going to be victimized. Even strippers are not comfortable going to the police.

We’re fighting a society that wants to keep our work in the dark, to pretend that this isn’t happening, that it can be abolished by throwing people into prison. Criminalization is harmful and guarantees there are more victims.

Where does OnlyFans fit into the sex work equation?

Werhun: The beauty of escorting and stripping is that you can dip in and out. With OnlyFans you’re working 24/7, creating content, interacting with your fans and doing constant self-promotion. With sex work in person, no one has to know about it but OnlyFans will follow you for the rest of your life. I did it for a year and a half and it paid my rent but it’s not my preferred type of sex work. It’s great for people who live online.

How did audiences respond to the film at festivals?

Werhun: Obviously, creating this film was a trust fall. The film is a song and dance on behalf of all whores, trusting humanity to hold me and not hurt me. I was pleasantly surprised by how audiences warmly embraced it. Some people were working through their prejudices in real time and it’s amazing to watch them transform. We hope the film can inspire social change. If it pulls your heartstrings, then when issues of criminalization and legal change arise, people might say, “I remember that movie and I think whores deserve to have equal rights with everybody else.”

Source link

‘Harrowing’ true crime documentary leaves viewers horrified as details emerge

Viewers have been left horrified by the chilling new documentary that is free to watch.

Channel 5 viewers have been left horrified by a new true crime documentary.

Murder In Shetland: Trial by Jury follows the killing of Claire Leveque, a woman who was found dead at a remote Shetland home.

Claire, from Canada, was 24 years old when she was killed on 11 February 2024.

She was found with a number of serious injuries in a hot tub at a property in the Sandness area, and though emergency services arrived at the scene, she was pronounced dead a short while later.

A new documentary is now revealing the murder trial that followed, as well as sharing the perspective of her grieving family.

The Channel 5 synopsis teases: “Inside the courtroom as a grieving family and an accused partner collide in a murder trial.”

Sharing a clip on social media, Channel 5 warned viewers: “Warning: Some viewers may find the following video distressing.”

They added: “Claire Leveque’s final months reveal a harrowing story of control and abuse. Now, her family cross continents in search of answers, and justice.”

The trailer heard clippings from the trial, with Claire’s family and friends in tears in court.

It also sees testimonies from experts brought in to prove the case, as a person warns: “This is a horror story from the beginning.”

“This was horrific,” one viewer commented to the clip.

Another said: “Horrendous case – can’t imagine how her family & friends coped with that trial.”

Someone else called it “very chilling”, and said “it wasn’t an easy watch”.

“A hard watch,” another agreed, while someone else said: “#MurderinShetland is remarkable television. Do watch it if you can, although it is quite harrowing.”

Ahead of the documentary airing, Gary Davies, consultant editor for commissioning at 5, said: “This thoughtful series gives a deeply human account of an unimaginable tragedy. It shines a light on the justice process and honours the courage of Claire’s family as they seek truth and remembrance.”

Mark Procter, executive producer for Big Little Fish, echoed the sentiment, saying: “We are profoundly grateful to the Judicial Office for Scotland and to everyone who enabled our access to the trial.

“Above all, we are honoured that the Leveque family have entrusted us to document what happened to Claire. We hope this series serves as a respectful tribute – giving her the voice that was so cruelly taken from her.”

Murder in Shetland: Trial by Jury is available to watch on Channel 5.



Source link

‘Wild’ author Cheryl Strayed mourns death of husband Brian Lindstrom

Brian Lindstrom, a filmmaker whose documentaries shined a light on society’s underdogs and inspired social change, has died. He was 65.

Lindstrom’s wife, author Cheryl Strayed, confirmed the news on Instagram Friday.

“Brian Lindstrom died this morning the way he lived — with gentleness and courage, grace and gratitude for his beautiful life,” she wrote. “Our children, Carver and Bobbi, and I held him as he took his last breath and we will hold him forever in our hearts. The only thing more immense than our sorrow that Progressive Supranuclear Palsy took our beloved Brian from us is the endless love we have for him.”

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, PSP is caused by damage to nerve cells in areas of the brain that control thinking and body movements. The rare neurological disease progresses rapidly.

Strayed, who penned the bestselling memoir “Wild,” which was later adapted for the big screen and starred Reese Witherspoon, announced just weeks ago that Lindstrom had been diagnosed “with a serious, fatal illness.”

Lindstrom was born Feb. 12, 1961. The son of a bartender and a liquor salesman, he was raised in Portland, Ore. — which he and his family still called home.

He was the first member of his family to attend college, which he paid for by taking out student loans, landing work-study jobs and working summers in a salmon cannery in Cordova, Alaska. During a 2013 TEDx Talk, Lindstrom said that after he’d exhausted all the video production classes at Portland’s Lewis & Clark College, his professor Stuart Kaplan gave him a gift certificate to a class at the Northwest Film Center. There, Lindstrom made a short film about his grandpa that landed him a spot in the MFA program at Columbia University.

It was a train trip with his grandpa that inspired Lindstrom to tackle challenging topics with a lens that restored dignity to his subjects. His grandpa was a binge-drinker, and on day three of the trip, he woke up with a hangover and was missing his dentures. Lindstrom, only 5 at the time, noticed the way other passengers treated him and his grandpa differently.

“I think what my films are about is that search for my grandfather’s dentures, the humanizing narrative that bridges the gap between us and them and arrives at we,” he said.

Lindstrom said he returned to Portland after film school and “did several projects with the Northwest Film Center that had me putting a camera in the hands of kids on probation, homeless teens, newly recovering addicts, hard-hit people who had hard-hitting stories to share.”

“Those projects taught me so much about the transformative power of art, and they gave me permission I felt in my personal films to ask people if I might follow them, so that an audience could better understand what they were going through, and by extension, better understand themselves,” he said.

Lindstrom’s 2007 award-winning cinéma-vérité-style film, “Finding Normal,” followed long-term drug addicts as they left prison or detox and tried to rebuild their lives with the help of a recovery mentor.

“What I’m most proud about is that ‘Finding Normal’ is the only film to ever be shown to inmates in solitary confinement at Oregon State Penitentiary, and not, I might add, as a punishment,” Lindstrom said.

In 2013, he released “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse,” a documentary that illuminated the life of a man who grappled with schizophrenia and examined his death, which happened in police custody. Discussing the film with LA Progressive in 2018, Lindstrom said that he doesn’t make films for audiences.

“I make them for the people in the film. It is my small way of honoring them,” he told the outlet. “That doesn’t mean I don’t delve into dark areas or that I ignore that person’s struggles. I’m much more concerned with trying to achieve an honest depiction of that person’s life than I am with any potential audience reaction.”

Lindstrom’s work aimed to inspire empathy and humanize those suffering in the margins of society, but it also catalyzed policy change. His acclaimed 2015 documentary, “Mothering Inside,” followed participants in the Family Preservation Project (FPP), an initiative helping incarnated moms establish and maintain bonds with their children.

Midway through filming the documentary, the Oregon Department of Corrections announced it planned to nix funding for the FPP. Lindstrom hosted early screenings of the film, which inspired grassroots advocacy that reached then-Gov. Kate Brown, who subsequently signed legislation that restored funding. The film’s release also helped make Oregon the first state in the U.S. to pass a bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents.

Partnering with Strayed, Lindstrom made the documentary short, “I Am Not Untouchable. I Just Have My Period,” for the New York Times in 2019. The film highlighted the experience of teen girls in Surkhet, Nepal, and the menstrual stigma they faced. Most recently, the filmmaker released, “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill,” which examined the folk-rock singer’s life from her traumatic childhood and drug-addled adolescence through her rise in the Laurel Canyon music scene and untimely death.

Lindstrom, discussing “Judee Sill” and his style as a filmmaker, told Oregon ArtsWatch, “It’s the chance to kind of focus on the question: What does it mean to be human? The person that the film is about, what can they teach us, what can we learn from them? What can they learn from themselves?”

In 2017, Lindstrom received the Civil Liberties Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon for his work advancing civil rights and liberties. That same year, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Lewis & Clark College.

In Strayed’s post announcing Lindstrom’s death, she described their more than 30-year partnership as a stroke of “tremendous luck.”

“We loved each other and our kids with deep devotion and true delight. He was a stellar husband. He was the most magnificent dad. He was a man whose every word and deed was driven by kindness, compassion, and generosity,” she wrote. “He saw the goodness in everyone. He believed that we are all sacred and redeemable.

“His work as a documentary filmmaker was dedicated to telling stories of people who, as he put it, ‘society puts an X through.’ He erased that X with his camera and his astonishing heart.”

Strayed’s memoir — which followed her as she hiked 1,100 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of her mother’s death, a battle with drug addiction and divorce from her first husband — concludes with a happy ending. She finished the months-long hike and sat on a white bench near the Bridge of the Gods, a stone’s throw from the spot where, she writes, she’d marry Lindstrom four years later.

“His greatest legacy is Carver and Bobbi, who embody everything good and true about their father. Their extraordinary grace, courage, and fortitude during this harrowing time was unfaltering and grounded in the undying love Brian poured into them every day of their lives,” she wrote. “We do not know how we will live without him. We’re utterly bereft. We can only walk this dark path and search for the beauty Brian knew was there. It will be his eternal light that guides us.”



Source link

Social media becomes a ‘goldmine’ for fraudsters in Jordan | Crime News

Fake online advertisements and social media groups are luring people in Jordan with promises of “quick profits” from cheap gold with sellers disappearing once funds have been transferred or customers defrauded with counterfeit and substandard metals, Jordanians tell Al Jazeera.

Mohammed Nassar said he was quoted a price for gold lower than local market rates due to an “online store” claiming it was exempt from manufacturing fees, government licensing costs or shop rents.

The Jordanian shopper transferred the money to secure what he thought was a bargain before the website disappeared and Nassar realised he had become the victim of a scam.

In another case, a young woman named Tala Al-Habashneh told Al Jazeera that she bought gold through a social media platform after agreeing with the seller and transferring the promised amount.

On closer examination of the product, she found that her gold was counterfeit, mixed with other metals and lacking any official stamps or invoices to prove its origin or carat.

Tala immediately filed a complaint with the Cybercrime Directorate of Jordan’s Public Security Directorate. The case is pending.

Government monitoring

Wafaa Al-Momani, assistant director general for Regulatory Affairs and director of the Jewelry Directorate at the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation (JSMO), told Al Jazeera that the institution is the only entity in the kingdom responsible for monitoring precious metal jewellery – such as gold, silver and platinum – and overseeing jewellery trading.

All imported jewellery is examined and stamped by the JSMO before being released onto the market, she said, while local workshops are also required to submit jewellery for inspection and verification before it can be sold.

FILE PHOTO: A woman picks a gold earring at a jewellery shop in the old quarters of Delhi, India, May 24, 2023. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo
Gold is an important commodity for savings and investment in many parts of Asia [File: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]

Al-Momani said her organisation has received some complaints about companies, websites and social media groups engaged in fraud by “promoting the buying and selling of gold, especially broken gold [used or damaged], through unlicensed individuals”.

The JSMO is monitoring sellers engaged in fraud in coordination with security authorities to prevent jewellery from being sold outside licensed shops.

Al-Momani said the JSMO is tightening oversight of gold shops and sellers in the kingdom and said any store found selling unstamped jewellery or violating legal standards will face legal penalties but also warned Jordanians that buying gold through unofficial channels “does not guarantee that the jewellery conforms to legal standards or carats”.

Adornment and treasure

Rabhi Allan, the head of the Jordanian Association of Jewelry and Goldsmiths, explained that gold remains a traditional means of saving and investment for Jordanians as well as an accessory, quoting the popular saying: “Gold is an adornment and a treasure.”

However, he described the sale of gold through social media as “alien to Jordanian society” and stressed that transactions of this “cash commodity” should only take place via official shops with invoices clearly stating the weight, carat and labour costs of the product.

He said the association had filed complaints with the Cybercrime Directorate against unlicensed and anonymous sites, noting that these pages “appear and disappear without warning”, a situation that leaves victims without the ability to secure their consumer rights.

The association has documented numerous complaints and court cases resulting from gold sales conducted through social media platforms that often use edited or fabricated images and fake offers to attract buyers.

Others offer gold at prices significantly below market value to lure buyers, but the product sold is often counterfeit, nonexistent or contains far less of the precious metal than advertised.

He urged citizens to buy gold only via licensed and accredited shops that display official prices and issue proper invoices to protect buyers’ rights.

While questions have been raised about whether some gold sales conducted through social media could be linked to illegal activities, Allan said the cases monitored so far appear to be “individual incidents that do not amount to money laundering”.

Security warning

The Cybercrime Unit of the Public Security Directorate also warned citizens against buying gold through social media advertisements and confirmed that the body has received multiple complaints of fraud linked to the trade.

Colonel Amer Al-Sartawi, Public Security Directorate spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the grievances ranged from cases where money was wired to fraudsters who subsequently disappeared without delivering the promised gold to incidents in which buyers received counterfeit pieces made from other less valuable metals, such as copper or iron.

Al-Sartawi urged citizens not to deal with such pages and to buy gold exclusively from licensed and accredited shops.

Source link

BAFTA TV winner takes swipe at the BBC during live show over Gaza documentary decision

A BAFTA winner broke the fourth wall during the awards’ ceremony to ask BBC bosses if they would cut footage of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack winning the prize for best film about current affairs

A BAFTA winner took aim at the BBC during the ceremony after a documentary about Gaza triumphed at the prestigious television awards ceremony.

The current affairs film Gaza: Doctors Under Attack picked up a major prize at the BAFTA Television Awards tonight (Sunday, 10 May). But the moment quickly turned political when executive producer Ben De Pear used his acceptance speech to question the broadcaster that originally commissioned the programme.

The one-off documentary, which features testimonies from Palestinian healthcare workers and documents attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, was initially commissioned by the BBC before being shelved over impartiality concerns. It was later broadcast by Channel 4 instead.

When he took to the stage after the film won in the current affairs category, Ben thanked the journalists involved in making the documentary before addressing the BBC directly.

He fired his parting shot, asking: “Finally, just a question for the BBC: given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?”

BBC One was responsible for the TV coverage of the BAFTA Awards night, but did not air the ceremony live. The reception of each award was broadcast to the public around two hours after the actual events took place.

Ben was joined on stage by journalist Ramita Navia, who delivered a powerful speech about the findings of the investigation featured in the film.

He shared: ” Israel has killed over 47,000 children and women in Gaza. So far, Israel has bombed and targeted every single one of Gaza’s hospitals.

“It’s killed over 1,700 Palestinian doctors and health care workers. It has imprisoned over 400 in what the UN now calls the medicide. These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for but refused to show.

“But we refuse to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for showing this film. Right now, there are over 80 Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers being held in detention centres that Israeli human rights groups describe as torture camps. We dedicate this award to them.”

The documentary was originally commissioned over a year ago by the BBC via their independent production company Basement Films.

However, the broadcaster delayed its release while an internal review into a separate Gaza-related programme was carried out. After that review process, the corporation ultimately decided not to air the film.

At the time, the BBC said it had concerns the programme could create “a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect”.

The corporation also confirmed that production on the documentary had been paused while the review was was being conducted. Despite dropping the programme, the BBC said it remained committed to reporting on the conflict.

In a statement previously issued by the BBC, the broadcaster said it was “committed to covering the conflict in Gaza and has produced powerful coverage”.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .



Source link

Richard Madeley enters world’s most notorious prisons for chilling documentary

Good Morning Britain star Richard Madeley is to head inside one of the world’s most controversial prison’s for an eye-opening Channel 5 documentary

Richard Madeley is switching the comfort of the Good Morning Britain sofa for the grey walls of prison for a new documentary. The presenter will also head over to Channel 5 for the documentary as he takes on a huge new project.

The feature-length documentary titled Richard Madeley On Murder Row has been commissioned and is set to air later this year. The programme will offer up a rare peek inside one of the world’s most controversial prisons.

The 69-year-old star will head to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT). The vast maximum security prison has become the cornerstone of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs.

READ MORE: Savannah Guthrie abruptly quits Today mid-show amid search for missing mum NancyREAD MORE: Bonnie Tyler rushed to hospital for emergency surgery

Richard will be given access to the full site. It’s said the rare offer “took months to negotiate”, with the presenter also taking in how life really is inside the detention centre.

The GMB presenter will speak to inmates at the facility as they live under the strict regime. And he will also chat with guards who set the harsh rules to try to keep the felons under control.

Away from the institute, Richard will visit the tough urban areas that surround it and are home o a number of violent gangs. He will find out exactly what the effects of the CECOT being on their doorstep has had.

Speaking of the opportunity, Richard said: “‘I was genuinely thrilled to be asked to front this film for 5. It’s not every day you’re given the chance to step inside a place as extraordinary and talked about as CECOT.”

He went on: “What struck me straight away was the sheer scale of it, and the stories behind it. In meeting the people who run the prison and those living inside it, what unfolds is a fascinating and often surprising look at justice, security, and the human realities behind the headlines. It’s been a remarkable experience.”

Guy Davies, Consultant Editor for Commissioning 5, said: “This access to CECOT was a tantalising prospect. Richard is, at heart, a first-class popular journalist and we were thrilled to get the chance for him to serve some time there. I think viewers will be very surprised by the results.”

And Andy Dunn, Senior Executive Producer, ITN Productions, added: “Gaining access to CECOT, the most secretive and notorious prison in the world, took months of negotiation. It was really important for Richard to experience the extreme conditions there first hand, and he takes us on a compelling and unique journey as he considers the effectiveness and ethics of such a harsh regime.”

Last year, it was revealed Donald Trump had sent 250 gang members to what has been labelled the “world’s worst prison”. The maximum security mega-prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador has seen hundreds of immigrants being sent from the US by the Trump administration.

Tens of thousands of prisoners have been locked up on bare metal bunks in the prison. They often don’t have a mattress and conditions have been described as inhumane. Cells have two toilets and a basin which are open with no privacy while there are no windows and they are watched by guards from holes in the mesh ceiling.

The conditions are unlike anything seen in the UK system as the inmates take their cramped space on the metal bunks.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .



Source link

Kylie Minogue fights tears over cancer battle in heartbreaking new Netflix documentary

The trailer for Kylie Minogue’s new Netflix documentary has finally launched, leaving fans emotional over the singer’s journey

Kylie official trailer for inspiring documentary

Fans have reacted with delight to a trailer for the new Netflix series about Kylie Minogue, in which she shares her own home movies and personal photographs for the first time. She is also seen close to tears talking about her cancer battle saying: “I was so scared of what was ahead of me.”

The actress and singer, 57, who allowed the cameras to follow her for a three-part documentary, teases at the start of the trailer: “They’re convincing me to let you in.”

One fan gushed: “She is everything that is right with the world, an inspiration, an icon.” While another agreed: “I’ve been a fan since she was in Neighbours and followed her ever since. This will be an emotional journey for all her true fans, can’t wait!”

The “intimate” films, released on May 20, will show how she has successfully reinvented herself many times, selling 80 million records along the way. There are clips of the Aussie soap star turned pop princess winning a Grammy and being chased down the street by fans shouting, “I love you Kylie.”

Talking about being photographed and filmed, she says: “I love the feeling around the shot. That feeling of freedom. I hate being boxed in.” And of her long and recording career, she declares: “Life makes sense to me on stage.” Hinting that she is a long way from hanging up her microphone, she adds: “I don’t know where we’re going. There’s certainly no end.”

In other clips she is seen laughing in black and white snaps with her former lover Michael Hutchence and also hanging out with Jason Donovan, her co-star in Neighbours.

In one clip from British TV, former daytime favourite Anne Diamond is seen asking her, in a slightly snippy tone: “When you started out, did you mean to be an actor or a singer?”

She admits to feeling “frustrated” by headlines labelling her the “singing budgie” and calling her “awful”, “mechanistic”, “talentless” and “terrible”. One scene shows her with her head in her hands on the edge of the stage as someone enquires” “How are you feeling? But in other moment, looking very happy, she declares: “I can’t actually speak just yet.”

Of her battle with breast cancer 21 years ago in 2005, when she was 36, Kylie admits: “I was so scared of what was ahead of me… f***!” Younger sister Dannii battles tears as she says: “We didn’t know if she was ever going to be well again. But I just wanted to be with my sister. Music kept us going.” One shocked fan reacted: “Almost 40 years in and the first time I’ve heard her swear! She is pure perfection.”

The pals that share their thoughts include Donovan, singer Nick Cave and hit-maker Pete Waterman, who put her on the path to superstardom all those years ago. Cave, her close friend with whom she recorded Where the Wild Roses Grow in 1995, explains: “Kylie is this force. It’s all outward. Giving.”

The films, from BAFTA Award-winner Michael Harte, will attempt to show viewers the woman behind the hits, focusing on “how she has faced public scrutiny, personal loss and illness with grit and grace”.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .



Source link

‘Dark’ documentary fans ‘typically scroll past’ that will actually ‘blow your socks off’

Fans of documentaries packed with twists and turns are being urged to give this one a go

Documentary fans are being urged to watch a “stranger than fiction” film that is often ignored.

Three Identical Strangers was one of the top suggestions offered after a Redditor asked for “blow your socks off” documentaries to watch that were not widely known about.

The BAFTA-nominated film, which has a run time of just over an hour and a half, tells the story of triplets – Bobby Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman – who were separated at birth. They were not told that they were triplets and so knew nothing about each other.

In an incredible twist of fate, the trio find themselves crossing paths with each other as young adults in the eighties, purely coincidentally. The amazing story catapults them to celebrity status and they live together, make movie cameos and start their own business, but as they dig deeper into their past, they discover a horrifying truth that changes their lives forever.

“I’m looking for documentaries and I love all types except for murder mystery because they’re typically all the same,” the original Reddit post began. “Could you guys suggest a few documentaries that completely caught you by surprise and you always recommend it to people because of that?”

Under the suggestion of Three Identical Strangers, one person remarked: “I remember this documentary. It made me so angry. But, producers did a great job telling the story.”

“Yess this is one I would typically scroll past but wow it was definitely one of the best,” admitted one viewer who gave it a shot. A third fan added that the story told in the film “felt impossible.”

While it is no longer available on Netflix, the film – described by many as ‘dark’ – can currently be viewed on YouTube, Apple TV and Prime Video for a small fee. Boasting a 96 per cent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 88 per cent from audiences, the viewer consensus seems to be that it is a worthwhile watch for any documentary fan.

“Starting as a fascinating curiosity, the movie takes a dramatic and breath-taking turn to expose a much more unsettling story. Really great documentary,” another viewer said, rating it five stars.

“Classic case of reality being far stranger than fiction. Watch this and you’ll be rewarded (if that’s the proper way of putting it) with a story so wild you’d think it’s made up. Yet this is a documentary,” said yet another bowled over viewer.

Three Identical Strangers is currently available to watch on YouTube, Apple TV and Prime Video for an additional fee.

Source link