Throughout the lead-up to the Academy Awards, it’s frequent for an A-list movie star to hitch a characteristic documentary as an government producer. The addition of a boldface identify to a doc title creates buzz and includes little to no legwork for the movie star.

However ever for the reason that doc market fell into disarray a number of years in the past, an rising variety of celebrities have stopped merely slapping their names onto titles. As an alternative, they’ve begun to make use of their clout to bolster small, independently made nonfiction movies, usually about urgent political points.

Just lately Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Thompson, and Jesse Eisenberg used their their A-list standing to assist get three indie docus made and seen.

After the autumn of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, Lawrence and her producing accomplice at Wonderful Cadaver, Justine Ciarrocchi, reached out to Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani (“A Thousand Ladies Like Me”) about directing a documentary about what was taking place to the 15 million Afghan girls primarily being held captive in their very own homeland.

“Like the remainder of the world, I used to be watching what was taking place when Kabul fell to the Taliban, and girls’s rights have been utterly stripped in a single day,” says Lawrence. “It was horrifying. As a human being, I felt determined and wished to do one thing, something useful. My solely plan of action, or my solely weapon, if you’ll, is filmmaking. It was essential to me to make one thing everlasting. We have been conscious of Sahra’s work, so we reached out to her.”

Mani was within the midst of gathering movies from varied girls on the bottom in Afghanistan when she bought the e-mail from Lawrence.

“I acquired this e-mail from Jennifer Lawrence’s manufacturing firm saying that, “If you wish to make a movie about this (state of affairs), we’re completely happy to assist you,” Mani recollects. “At first, I assumed it was spam, so I simply deleted it. Then the e-mail got here again once more after per week. I did some analysis and discovered that Wonderful Cadaver was actual. After that, we constructed a group and commenced engaged on the movie.”

That movie would turn into “Bread & Roses,” a docu that follows three girls as they battle to get better their autonomy amid Taliban oppression. Mani says that with out Lawrence’s involvement, “Bread & Roses,” which premiered on the Cannes Movie Competition in Might, would probably not exist.

“I don’t assume I might have been in a position to finance this movie with out the assistance of Wonderful Cadaver,” says Mani.

Lawrence admits that it was “actually, actually laborious to search out financing” through an impartial financier for the docu.

“It is a movie that was taking place on the bottom, within the second,” she says. “We didn’t know the way it was going to finish. We weren’t in a position to keep up a correspondence (with the movie crew) on a regular basis. We might go weeks and weeks with no phrase. So, we have been actually fortunate to search out financing.”

In April, Apple Authentic Movies acquired world rights to “Bread & Roses,” which was fortuitous given some main streamer’s current avoidance of political content material. (One other doc that Lawrence produced, which got here out this yr, “Zurawski v Texas,” about anti-abortion legal guidelines, is at present streaming on Jolt.movie.)

Regardless of a profitable movie pageant run, Hasan Oswald’s documentary “Mediha” has not been acquired for streaming or broadcast distribution. About Mediha Alhamad, a teenage Yazidi lady who turns her digital camera on herself to course of her trauma after coming back from three years in ISIS captivity, “Mediha” premiered at DOC NYC in 2023. The movie has remained within the highlight for over a yr largely due to Emma Thompson, who served as an government producer.

The actress met Oswald after she noticed a brief movie he made for YouTube in regards to the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the struggle of their homeland to Europe.

“The humanity of the (brief movie) deeply moved me,” says Thompson. “I appeared up the filmmaker to write down him a notice. It was Hasan, and we have now been involved ever since.”

Thompson explains that she was drawn to “Mediha,” partly, resulting from her work with survivors of intercourse trafficking.

“I’ve labored with survivors of intercourse trafficking and different human cruelties for a lot of a long time now and have made work with different artists that tries to inform these troublesome tales otherwise – with out objectifying the victims,” Thompson says. “This movie chimed with that earlier work.”

Oswald thought that Thompson would simply lend her identify to “Mediha,” however to his shock, the actress has been very concerned with the discharge of the docu. Along with internet hosting screenings, Thompson, in line with Oswald, “has spoken with journalists and media executives in regards to the movie, serving to to boost its profile and discover champions.”

“We’re very fortunate to have Emma,” says the director. “We wouldn’t be the place we’re with the movie as we speak with out her attachment.”

Relating to “Secret Mall House,” Jeremy Workman feels the identical approach about Jesse Eisenberg. The actor served as an government producer of the doc a few group of artists who created a secret condo inside a busy mall in Rhode Island in 2003.

“What’s so attention-grabbing about this movie is the way in which that it turns into this bigger dialogue about housing, gentrification, city improvement, and even about class and race as these artists ponder their very own form of privilege,” Eisenberg says. “I wished to be useful in any approach that I may to Jeremy as a result of I really like documentaries a lot, they usually have such a tough time discovering audiences. Making the most of my platform to assist the movie get consideration made sense.”

Eisenberg was in Austin, Texas, for the movie’s debut on the South by Southwest Movie Competition in March and has since reached out to consumers in an effort to get the indie movie distribution.

“He goes to bat for the movie, wish to the purpose the place it makes me blush,” says Workman. “He writes very direct emails to the heads of the nonfiction departments at streamers or at a selected firm. He’ll name them personally. It’s unbelievable.”

“Secret Mall House” continues to be searching for distribution.

“I simply do no matter I can,” says Eisenberg. “I’m thrilled to e-mail folks out of the blue as a result of it appears like I’m doing one thing to form of appropriate the stability of energy within the trade and provides one thing consideration that deserves it however has a more durable time discovering it.”

Selena Gomez has responded to Eugenio Derbez after he criticized her “Emilia Pérez” efficiency.

Whereas showing on the Spanish language leisure podcast “Hablando de Cine”, the “Coda” star slammed Gomez’s use of Spanish within the movie as “indefensible.” Gomez, who just isn’t a local speaker, performs Jessi del Monte in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama a few drug lord who escapes his lifetime of brutality to transition in secret with the assistance of a sentimental lawyer (Zoe Saldana).

“Selena is indefensible,” Derbez mentioned of the efficiency. “I [watched ‘Emilia Pérez’] with folks, and each time she had a scene, we checked out one another to say, ‘Wow, what is that this?’”

“Hablando de Cine” host Gaby Meza echoed Derbez. Though she acknowledged Gomez as a “very proficient actress,” she emphasised that “Spanish just isn’t her important language, not her secondary or fifth,” which severely dampers the “nuance” of her efficiency.

“I really feel like she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Menza mentioned. “If she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she will’t give her appearing any nuance.”

Derbez added that he did benefit from the movie exterior of Gomez’s position, crediting it as “an attention-grabbing experiment.” However he couldn’t assist however surprise why the French director Audiard would tackle a narrative rooted in a tradition that’s fully international to him.

“I appreciated the movie, apart from the Selena [moments] that soar at you, as a result of it has salvageable issues,” mentioned Derbez. “However I instructed myself, ‘How bizarre that the director doesn’t converse English or Spanish and the film is in Spanish and English, and it takes place in Mexico and also you don’t perceive the tradition.’ It’s like if I made a movie in Russian with out figuring out the tradition or talking Russian and speak in French.”

After the clip circulated on TikTok, Gomez commented on a put up of Derbez’s criticisms.

“I perceive the place you’re coming from. I’m sorry I did the most effective I might with the time I used to be given,” Gomez wrote. “Doesn’t take away from how a lot work and coronary heart I put into this film.”

Regardless of Derbez’s remarks, “Emilia Pérez” stays a front-runner for this 12 months’s Academy Awards, vying for nominations for finest image, finest director and finest actress.

U.S. actor Omar Benson Miller who is understood for roles in “8 Mile,” HBO’s Ballers, and Apple’s “The Final Days of Ptolemy Gray,” stars in Italian immigration-themed drama “Naples to York” by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores that’s having its pageant premiere at Saudi Arabia’s Pink Sea Movie Pageant.

Curiously, Federico Fellini co-wrote this story of two Neapolitan children who embark on a ship to New York to flee Italy’s early postwar poverty together with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a author on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” in addition to different titles.

Within the movie Benson Miller performs the ship’s prepare dinner who, throughout their travels, takes the youngsters beneath his wing.

He spoke to Selection about being again in Italy greater than a decade after working in Tuscany with Spike Lee on “Miracle at St. Anna”; why this film, conceived by Fellini, is “the antithesis of disposable content material,” and the way exited he’s about his subsequent movie Ryan Coogler‘s “Sinners.”

What drew you to the position?

My character, George, is a flawed particular person. He’s a drunk, and he does one thing accidentally after which spends the remainder of the movie making an attempt to atone for that. Whenever you watch the movie you might have all these nuggets of humanity. And the explanation I feel it’s tremendous related, is due to immigration and leaders speaking about mass deportations and the shadow of conflict that the movie is predicated on. The wars which might be occurring now all around the world. There are lots of similarities that we haven’t outgrown as a species, sadly.

How do you are feeling about appearing in a movie based mostly on a narrative written for the display screen by Federico Fellini?

How superior is that? I imply, I’m selling a movie that’ll most likely find yourself taking me all world wide, and I used to play baseball. Earlier than I bought busted up, I went to highschool to play baseball. I bought into this profession as a result of I used to be chasing a lady into the theatre and I fell in love with the theatre, and it was the very first thing that I liked like I liked the sport of baseball. After that, I additionally went to the film theatre to see each film I may, once I was in faculty from ’96 to 2001. And naturally, I discovered in regards to the masters. And to assume that this idea is one thing that comes from an absolute genius, and it’s nonetheless related. To me that is the antithesis of disposable content material.

How has it been working with Gabriele Salvatores?

I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of Academy Award winners, and Gabriele is nearly as good as anyone that I’ve ever labored with. It’s humorous as a result of he doesn’t converse a lot English and I don’t converse Italian. What was wild is that each he and I converse French, so he’s directing me in French whereas he’s directing the remainder of the movie in Italian. The rationale that’s wild is communication and tradition meshing is a lot of the theme on this movie. And it was taking place at work with a man who is also a grasp of what he does, who has been accoladed, who’s an Academy Award winner. And can be a cool dude.

What are you able to inform me about your subsequent film, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” wherein you star with Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld?

They sure us to secrecy, however what I’ll say is that if you see “Sinners,” this movie is so inventive it’s going to be onerous to place it in a single style. On its nostril, it’s a horror movie. However if you see the movie, man, it’s a musical, it’s a comedy, it’s a drama. There’s historic elements to it. And it will both be completely good or it’s going to be: “Man, what have been they going for?” And I’m betting on it to be the previous, as a result of that child and that forged and that group that he’s working with, all of us bought to place one thing down. It felt particular.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.

Whereas navigating the nation’s worst political disaster for the reason that 1960’s, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump and hosted a three-way closed-door assembly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within the backdrop of the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday.

The outing marks Trump’s first worldwide go to since his Nov. 5 election win and though he has not but begun his time period, he was given a full guard of honor on the Elysée Palace. The U.S. President-Elect was greeted warmly by Macron upon arriving on the Palace earlier than the pair posed collectively for photos a number of occasions. Macron, who was the primary world chief to congratulate Trump for his victory within the U.S. presidential election, advised journalists that welcoming Trump for the reopening of Notre-Dame was a “nice honor” as a result of Trump was serving his first time period when the long-lasting Cathedral was largely destroyed in an enormous blaze in April 2019.

“I keep in mind the solidarity and your instant response,” mentioned Macron. “So welcome again once more. We’re very pleased to have you ever right here.”

Reacting to Macron’s reward, Trump mentioned, “It’s been an amazing honor. We now have an amazing relationship, as everybody is aware of. We’ve achieved lots collectively,” Trump mentioned, including that “the individuals of France are spectacular.

“It’s an honor to be right here. We had fun collectively and we had plenty of success, actually nice success working collectively on protection and offense, too,” Trump mentioned, earlier than including, “It actually looks as if the world goes somewhat loopy proper now. And we’ll be speaking about that.”

Macron and Trump then bought along with Zelensky for a gathering that lasted beneath an hour. Whereas Macron has been slammed by the French press for prompting a political disaster at house, his manoeuvre to get Trump to sit down with Zelensky to debate the continuing invasion of Russia has been described as a “diplomatic coup” within the French press. Trump’s place on Ukraine has been a supply of concern throughout Europe after he vowed to settle the conflict in Ukraine in in the future, and instructed he may withdraw US navy help to Kyiv.

Following the encounter, Zelensky posted on X, saying he had a “good, productive assembly” with Trump and Macron. “President Trump, as at all times, is decided. Thanks for that. I additionally thank President Macron for organizing this assembly in Paris. We talked about our individuals, we talked about our individuals, the state of affairs on the battlefield and a simply peace for Ukraine. All of us need to finish this conflict as quickly as doable and pretty,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

Macron, in the meantime, wrote on X following the assembly that “United States, Ukraine and France. Collectively on this historic day. United for Notre-Dame. Let’s proceed to work collectively for peace and safety.”

Trump, who posted on the platform Fact Social, didn’t react to the assembly particularly however alluded to it in a publish in regards to the collapse of the Syrian authorities and fall of Bashar al-Assad, saying, “He has fled his nation. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not eager about defending him any longer. There was no motive for Russia to be there within the first place. They misplaced all curiosity in Syria due to Ukraine, the place near 600,000 Russian troopers lay wounded or lifeless, in a conflict that ought to by no means have began, and will go on ceaselessly.”

“Likewise, Zelenskyy and Ukraine want to make a deal and cease the insanity. They’ve ridiculously misplaced 400,000 troopers, and lots of extra civilians. There needs to be an instantaneous ceasefire and negotiations ought to start. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many households destroyed, and if it retains going, it may flip into one thing a lot larger, and much worse. I do know Vladimir effectively. That is his time to behave. China may also help. The World is ready!”

Following their assembly, Macron, Trump and Zelensky attended the reopening ceremony for Notre-Dame, alongside Elon Musk, Britain’s Prince William, the First Woman Jill Biden, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, amongst others.

Kering boss François-Henri Pinault and LVMH Group CEO Bernard Arnault, who pledged a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to assist rebuild the historic landmark, the place additionally in attendance.

Distinguished Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy is branching out into Saudi Arabia by establishing an outpost of his prolific Movie Clinic shingle – which has six titles at Saudi’s Pink Sea Movie Competition – within the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The milestone transfer comes after Hefzy has been busy forging rapports with Saudi’s movie neighborhood on plenty of initiatives together with Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky’s high-end Saudi-set journey film “Hajjan” – which had its regional premiere at Pink Sea final yr after launching from Toronto. “Hajjan” was produced by Movie Clinic in tandem with the King Abdulaziz Heart for World Tradition, often called Ithra.

“That is one thing that’s been within the playing cards for a few years,” Hefzy advised Selection. He added that although Movie Clinic’s Saudi base will probably be in Riyadh, the thought is to be lively all through all the kingdom. “We’re speaking about Riyadh. We’re speaking about Jeddah. We’re speaking about AlUla. We’re speaking about anyplace the place we may shoot movies within the kingdom and work with native filmmakers,” he mentioned.

“As a result of for us, we don’t need to be the outsiders that are available importing skills, importing administrators, writers, and actors. We need to be respectful of the tradition,” Hefzy added. “We need to be respectful of the truth that there are loads of upcoming [Saudi] skills which have tales to inform, and that they’re much higher positioned to inform the tales than we’re,” he went on to level out.

In a press release, Hefzy additional underlined that Movie Clinic goals to foster new relationships with the native movie neighborhood “whereas enhancing {our relationships} with our Saudi companions, together with MBC Group, Ithra, Muvi, Arabia Footage, and others. We stay up for listening to from all Saudi writers, administrators and creatives,” he mentioned.

In tandem with its Saudi growth, Movie Clinic additionally introduced its manufacturing slate for 2025, with seven movies in varied phases, a number of of which from Saudi, starting from initiatives in improvement, manufacturing, and submit.

Movie Clinic’s newest Saudi manufacturing is “A Matter of Life and Dying,”  a romantic black comedy pairing Sarah Taibah (“Mandoob”) and Yaqoub Alfarhan (“Norah,” “Rashash”). The plot entails a superstitious younger lady named Hayat who’s satisfied she’s cursed and needs to finish her life. She intersects with Yousef, an introverted coronary heart surgeon who suffers from slower than the common heartbeats. “Their fates collide in probably the most peculiar approach: she’s wishing for an finish, whereas he’s wrestling with even darker ideas,” the synopsis says. 

Capturing on “Life and Dying” is ready to begin quickly in Jeddah. The movie germinated from Jeddah-based author Sarah Taibah (“Jameel Jiddan”) and can see Saudi-based Yemeni filmmaker Anas Batahaf making her directorial debut.

Regional powerhouses Entrance Row Filmed Leisure, Arabia Footage Group and Rotana Studios have joined as co-producers with Movie Clinic on “Life and Dying.”

Different initiatives in varied phases the Movie Clinic pipeline embrace:

– “Hijra,” which is Saudi director Shahad’Ameen’s beforehand introduced followup to her feminist fable “Scales.” “Hijra” is an formidable drama centered on the bond shaped between totally different generations of Saudi girls throughout a journey throughout the desert. Movie Clinic is producing in tandem with Mohamed Al-Daradji and manufacturing corporations Biet Ameen Manufacturing, The Iraqi Unbiased Movie Heart, and HumanFilm UK with Ideation Studio’s Faisal Baltyuor additionally on board.

– “Berleen” which sees Hefzy reunite with Ahmed Abdalla (“Microphone,” “19 B”) in a Berlin-set story of three Arab immigrants who face surreal conditions as their lives intertwine within the German capital the place “previous and current collide,” says the offered synopsis. The movie stars Menna Shalabi, Yosra El-Lozy and Mohamed Hatem, amongst different prime Egyptian skills.

– “The 67th Summer time,” the most recent function by Abu Bakr Shawky, who previous to “Hajjan” made a splash together with his debut “Yomeddine,” which had the uncommon distinction of creating the competitors minimize for Cannes. “The 67th Summer time” is a interval piece that revolves round a younger man from Cairo named Ali and an Austrian woman named Liz. “67th Summer time” stars Egyptian A-listers Amir El-Masry and Nelly Karim, and Austria’s Valerie Pachner (“A Hidden Life”). 

– Sudanese director Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen,” a German, French, Palestinian and Egyptian co-production set in a Sudanese cotton farming village.

– Egyptian director Mohamed Siam’s “My Father’s Scent,” the story of a father and son who uncover many secrets and techniques about one another whereas they each attempt to settle their scores throughout one lengthy night time. Starring Ahmed Malek, Kamel El Basha and Mayan El-Sayed. Presently in submit.

– “El Set,” a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum, who is taken into account the Arab world’s biggest singer, directed by outstanding Egyptian director Marwan Hamed finest recognized internationally for groundbreaking epic “The Yacoubian Constructing.”

Movie Clinic’s six titles at Pink Sea, together with three within the official competitors, are Khaled Mansour’s “Looking for Haven for Mr. Rambo,” Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown” and Taghreed Abu Al-Hassan’s “Snow White.” Moreover they’ve Jaylan Auf’s “The Inevitable Journey to Discover a Wedding ceremony Gown” within the Competition Favorites part, Omar Bakry’s “Abdo and Saneya” and Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s Saudi movie “Hobal” each world premiering within the fest’s Arab Spectacular part. 

UPDATE: Embattled South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol narrowly escaped an opposition-led impeachment try late on Saturday following his controversial six-hour martial legislation declaration earlier this week. In response to AP, the impeachment movement failed when most ruling occasion lawmakers boycotted the vote, denying the two-thirds majority wanted within the 300-seat Nationwide Meeting.

Regardless of Yoon’s public apology and promise to simply accept “authorized and political accountability” for the decree, his place stays precarious amid revelations that he allegedly ordered arrests of key political figures in the course of the martial legislation interval, together with opposition chief Lee Jae-myung and even his personal occasion chief Han Dong-hoon. The Democratic Occasion has vowed to file a brand new impeachment movement when parliament reconvenes Wednesday, whereas large protests each for and towards Yoon have erupted in Seoul.

PREVIOUSLY: In a whirlwind political drama that performed out in a single day in South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial legislation lasted barely six hours earlier than he was compelled to again down early Wednesday morning, marking a surprising reversal that has left his presidency on shakier floor than ever.

The disaster reached its climax when troops surrounded parliament, solely to be met with defiant lawmakers who swiftly voted to reject navy rule. In scenes paying homage to Eighties-era political upheaval, protesters confronted off with troopers exterior the Nationwide Meeting, with one lady confronting troops whereas trying to seize a rifle and shouting, “Aren’t you embarrassed?,” in response to AP.

Nationwide Meeting Speaker Woo Received Shik declared the martial legislation declaration “invalid,” with parliament standing agency in its promise to “defend democracy with the folks.” The navy presence was withdrawn round 4:30 a.m. following a Cupboard assembly that formally lifted the order.

Democratic Occasion chief Lee Jae-myung and his lawmakers staged a dramatic holdout within the Meeting’s essential corridor till Yoon’s order was formally rescinded. Including intrigue to the political theater, Democratic lawmaker Jo Seung-lae claimed safety footage steered troops have been positioning to arrest not solely opposition figures but in addition Han Dong-hoon, the chief of Yoon’s personal Folks Energy Occasion.

Whereas retreating from his martial legislation declaration, Yoon maintained his criticism of parliament, accusing lawmakers of “unscrupulous acts of legislative and budgetary manipulation which can be paralyzing the features of the state.”

The in a single day disaster drew lots of of protesters to the Meeting, with some clashing with troops earlier than the parliamentary vote. Regardless of minor scuffles and one damaged window on the Meeting constructing, no severe accidents have been reported.

Constitutional specialists have questioned whether or not South Korea’s present political scenario met the authorized threshold for martial legislation, which requires “wartime, war-like conditions or different comparable nationwide emergency states.”

The six-hour disaster marks one other setback for Yoon, whose administration continues to face challenges from the opposition-controlled parliament amid declining approval rankings and mounting strain over numerous political scandals.

EARLIER: In a dramatic flip that rocked the Korean peninsula’s political panorama, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol dropped a bombshell late Tuesday night native time by declaring “emergency martial legislation,” setting the stage for a high-stakes political showdown in considered one of Asia’s key democracies, in response to AP.

Throughout a televized tackle, Yoon vowed to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and defend the constitutional democratic order,” whereas portray his opposition as North Korea sympathizers who’re paralyzing the federal government.

The political drama intensified as even Yoon’s personal occasion chief, Han Dong-hoon, broke ranks and branded the choice “mistaken,” promising to “cease it with the folks.” In the meantime, opposition heavyweight Lee Jae-myung, who practically clinched the presidency in 2022, swiftly condemned Yoon’s transfer as “unlawful and unconstitutional.”

“By this martial legislation, I’ll rebuild and defend the free Republic of Korea, which is falling into the depths of nationwide wreck,” Yoon declared in his broadcast, asking residents to abdomen “some inconveniences” whereas he “normalizes” the nation.

Yoon’s administration has been grappling with a number of challenges, together with a parliament managed by the opposition Democratic Occasion and declining approval rankings. The political gridlock has significantly manifested in battles over subsequent yr’s finances and makes an attempt by the opposition to question three senior prosecutors. Yoon has additionally been deflecting requires unbiased probes into scandals involving his spouse and prime officers.

The Democratic Occasion has reportedly convened an emergency session in response to his announcement.

The implications of this martial legislation declaration for South Korea’s governance and democratic establishments stay unclear because the political standoff unfolds.

South Korea is understood for its vibrant leisure business with the world keenly anticipating Season 2 of Netflix’s world hit sequence “Squid Sport,” which is due over Christmas.