
Watch: trailer released for Ari Aster's Cannes-acclaimed Eddington film
A24 has released the full trailer for Eddington, a new film by Ari Aster, best known for Hereditary and Midsommar.
Slated for release on July 18, the film is set during the tumultuous summer of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the politically charged atmosphere following the murder of George Floyd. The movie follows a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and the town's mayor (Pedro Pascal), with tensions escalating in the wake of a contentious mayoral race.
The trailer reveals a blend of social distancing, protests, and conspiracy theories, along with explosive action scenes, gunfights, and a mysterious corporate plane looming over the desert. Eddington draws inspiration from contemporary America's struggles, offering a satirical look at the complex and volatile period, and features a strong ensemble cast including Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, and Deirdre O'Connell.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a nearly seven-minute standing ovation. Critics have praised Aster for his willingness to tackle the challenges of modern-day America, calling the film a provocative reflection on recent history. Despite its divisive reception, the film continues to draw attention for its bold exploration of social and political issues.
Eddington is Aster's fourth feature, following Beau Is Afraid (2023). The film is produced by A24, with Aster and Lars Knudsen serving as producers under their Square Peg Banner. The film hits theaters on July 18.
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Express Tribune
17 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Preserving Palestinian palates
Sami Tamimi, the acclaimed Palestinian chef who comprises half of the duo behind the popular Ottolenghi deli and restaurant empire (the other half is his fellow Jerusalemite and business partner, Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi), has paid tribute to this culinary tradition of "farming and foraging and eating what is growing in your backyard" in his forthcoming cookbook Boustany, or My Garden in Arabic, which will be released in the US on July 15. "The whole idea started from the COVID-19 lockdown," recalls Tamimi when speaking to Reuters. "When you're in a situation like lockdown, you really get homesick because you want to be with your family and eat the food that brings you comfort. I wanted, in a way, to transport myself to being with my family back home. But because I couldn't, I started cooking simple dishes [...] It started with me just writing these recipes and, six months later, I had 300." In Boustany, the chef talks about his family and his past without going into politics – primarily because the book was already finalised by October 7, 2023. However, in conversation with Reuters, Tamimi turns his attention to weightier matters, such as the importance of promoting and preserving the Palestinian people's rich culinary heritage — not only amid the destruction of Gaza, but in the face of what he sees as the longstanding appropriation of traditional Palestinian dishes. Erasure of Palestinian food "The thing that really winds me up is seeing so many Israeli restaurants opening in the UK and Europe and America that are basically selling our food in the name of Israeli new cuisine," he comments. "What they do is take a dish and take it out of context. They don't have any backstory about where this dish comes from, what kind of tradition is behind it. It gets worse when they don't even bother to change the name of the dish." The chef explains that maklouba (a traditional Palestinian dish of layered rice, meat and vegetables that is flipped before serving, earning its name meaning "upside down" in Arabic) appears on menus as maklouba; mujadara (a popular Levantine dish of lentils, rice and crispy onions) is mujadara. "I'm not saying all these dishes are Palestinian, but they have their own history and heritage and rituals, and claiming all of that I find it so frustrating," he laments. However, when it comes to preserving Palestinian cuisine, Tamimi knows there is a long way to go. "Luckily, we have some really talented chefs that are pushing the boat towards preserving and putting our food under the limelight in a good way," he acknowledges. "But it took a long time because, coming out of trauma, people are focusing on other things to rebuild and preserve. Food was the last bit." Without Israeli occupation Tamimi explains that he knew he wanted to learn "other cuisines" from a young age, and it was only later that he realised how important the food of his homeland was to him after he moved to Tel Aviv. "But I didn't want to do traditional Palestinian food because, first of all, it takes hours to make," he recalls. "And there's no market for it. It sounds horrible, but when you do traditional food like this in a restaurant, it's a bit like peasant food. People don't appreciate it." Later, however, Tamimi found a way through after experimentation. "I worked in a Californian grill place in Tel Aviv for a few years and I started to combine bases of Palestinian food into new ingredients," he remarks. "And it worked. It was fun because I could stay true to a dish but kind of elaborate on it, and this became my style. I want to think that if Israel didn't occupy Palestine, Palestinian food would be evolving into something that I do today. Cooking ultimately became Tamimi's way of imagining a Palestinian cuisine unhindered by decades of displacement, destruction and occupation. "I mean, people were kicked out of their country, people were losing their homes. In that situation you just stop and think, what are the things I can hold onto? And food was one of them," he says. Lingering guilt Younger Palestinians, it transpires, are far more receptive to Tamimi's endeavours than anyone else. "The older generation is probably more protective [of the original recipes] but the newer generation likes what I do," admits Tamimi. "I get it quite a lot from young Palestinians where they say some of the recipes that I do conveys the whole flavour of what their mom cooks, but it takes a quarter of the time. I think the older generation will probably laugh at me. What mess are you making with our food! But the newer generation are accepting it." Amid the destruction of Gaza and the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, Tamimi feels the pressure of preserving of his Palestinian culinary heritage. "I'm doing my bit by introducing more and more people to the culture, to the food, to what happened there," he maintains. "Because I feel like the more we talk about it, the more we put it under the spotlight, the more positive things will happen." The guilt of being away from home, however, is something he struggles to ignore. "I feel I have a responsibility, but I also feel bad because I'm away from home," he rues. "It's a price that I have to pay because if I was back in Jerusalem, I would never be where I am today because of its limitations. I'd probably be driving a bus!"


Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Emma Stone talks 'Eddington', Joaquin Phoenix, and that Cannes bee video with Pascal and Butler
Emma Stone is opening up about a whirlwind of behind-the-scenes moments while promoting Ari Aster's upcoming film Eddington, set to release July 18. During the world premiere in West Hollywood, Stone sat down with Variety and revealed she enjoyed rehearsing alongside Joaquin Phoenix. 'We rehearsed. We went through everything,' she said. Yet, she admitted rehearsals can be hit or miss: sometimes invigorating, other times stressful. Fortunately, working with Phoenix on his character, a small-town sheriff, was one of her more rewarding experiences. Aster's film, set during the early COVID period, centres around a tense mayoral race between Phoenix's character and Pedro Pascal's town mayor. Stone portrays the sheriff's wife, Louise. The cast also includes Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Michael Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., Cameron Mann, and William Belleau. Stone also addressed a viral red-carpet moment at Cannes, where a bee swooped past her during a Eddington photo-op with Pascal and Butler. 'He [Butler] was trying to blow it behind me,' she told host Jimmy Kimmel, adding that Pascal likely 'unleashed that bee'. The playful incident had captured global attention and Stone laughed it off, praising both co-stars for their protective efforts. Shortly before the Eddington premiere, Stone's other upcoming film, Bugonia, debuted its first trailer. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the story features her as a CEO suspected of being an alien, kidnapped by two conspiracy theorist friends played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis. With Eddington arriving July 18 and Bugonia set for limited release on October 24 ahead of a wide debut on October 31, Stone continues to demonstrate her range - from dramatic Western-thrillers to dark comedies.


Express Tribune
15-06-2025
- Express Tribune
More than just a drink
Coffee's pop icon status is firmly established — from Starbucks' iconic Frappuccino turning 30 this year to the latest TikTok trends leading us to try Dalgona or cloud coffee. But beyond fads, coffee has been brewed in ceremonies and sipped in salons across time and geography. Its history is steeped in colonialism; establishments serving it have also fuelled revolutionary thinkers, reports DW. Today, rising global temperatures and erratic rainfall are hitting farmers hard, leading coffee prices to soar to record highs. But the beverage remains — at least for now — an intrinsic part of world culture. Here's a (non-exhaustive) look at how and why it came to be that around 2 billion cups of coffee are reportedly drunk daily worldwide. Mythical and spiritual roots Legend credits an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi with discovering coffee after he'd noticed his goats becoming frisky from eating red berries. While the story is likely apocryphal, coffee — namely the Arabica variety — is indeed native to Ethiopia's Kaffa region, where it still plays a ritual role. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where beans are roasted over an open flame and brewed in a clay jebena, is a moment of pause, hospitality and community. In Senegal, cafe Touba — infused with Guinea pepper and cloves — originated from Islamic Sufi traditions and is both a beverage and spiritual practice. In Turkey, unfiltered coffee brewed in a copper cezve is often followed by a reading of the leftover grounds, a centuries-old tradition that is still cherished, even among Turkey's Gen Zs. In Brazil, the cafezinho — a tiny, sweet shot of coffee — is a symbol of welcome, offered everywhere from homes to street corners. Finally in 2020, as the world hunkered down during the COVID lockdown, South Korea's Dalgona coffee — instant coffee whipped with sugar and water — exploded on TikTok. Beyond aesthetics, the trend offered people a simple, soothing ritual. Unique flavours Across cultures, coffee has taken wildly inventive forms. In Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, black boiled coffee is sometimes poured over cubes of kaffeost, or "coffee cheese," made from cow or reindeer milk, in a centuries-old tradition. Vietnam's ca phe trung (or egg coffee) blends whipped egg yolk with sweetened condensed milk — a wartime improvisation that is now ubiquitous. Then there's Indonesia's kopi luwak, often called the "Holy Grail of Coffees," made from partially digested beans that have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Though prized for its smooth, fermented flavour, kopi luwak has been ethically controversial. High demand has led some producers to cage and force-feed civets. Others now promote "wild-sourced" versions from free-roaming animals, but third-party verification has been inconsistent. From sacred brew to global commodity Coffee didn't just travel in sacks — it travelled with trade winds, spiritual journeys and imperial ambitions. Though discovered in Ethiopia, the earliest written evidence of coffee cultivation points to Yemen. There, it earned the Arabic term "qahwa" — originally meaning wine - which gave rise to the words coffee and cafe. Sufi mystics drank it to maintain spiritual focus during long night chants. The port of Mocha on Yemen's Red Sea coast became a centre of trade, shipping beans across the Islamic world and into Asia. Another legend says that an Indian Sufi saint, Baba Budan, smuggled seven fertile beans from Yemen to southern India in the 17th century, defying an Arab monopoly. That act seeded coffee plantations in Karnataka's Chikmagalur region. Soon, European colonial powers also grasped the bean's potential. The Dutch planted it in Java, the French in the Caribbean and the Portuguese in Brazil — each expansion driven by empire and built on the backs of enslaved labour. Brazil, introduced to coffee in the 1700s, would grow into the world's largest producer. Even Australia, a latecomer, has developed a robust coffee culture. Fun fact: Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented the flat white in the 1980s. Conspiracies, civil unrest and cats Throughout history, cafes have been more than watering holes — they've been incubators of ideas, art and revolution. In 16th-century Istanbul, authorities repeatedly tried to ban them, fearing that caffeine-fuelled gatherings could spark unrest. In Enlightenment-era Europe, cafes offered a cup of coffee and a heady dose of radical thought, frequented by thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. In colonial America, coffee became a patriotic substitute for British-taxed tea. Boston's Green Dragon Tavern, dubbed the "Headquarters of the Revolution," hosted meetings of the Sons of Liberty — activists who organised resistance against British rule, particularly unfair taxation and policies that eventually led to the American Revolution. Over the past decades, cafes have returned as a "third place" — neither home nor office, but somewhere in between. Coffeehouses have also evolved into refuges for modern life. In the early 1990s, when home internet access was not yet widespread, many cafes started providing public internet access, which drew people to start working from those spaces. Meanwhile, other cafe owners came up with unusual perks for their businesses. In Taipei, the world's first cat cafe — Cat Flower Garden — opened in 1998, giving urbanites a cosy space to sip and socialise among feline companions. The trend exploded in Japan and now thrives worldwide, where the blend of caffeine and calm continues to comfort overstimulated cities.