title: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

text: Sidney Lumet knew Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to have more difficulty with the opening sex scene than Marisa Tomei. "I don't think Philip has ever conceived of himself in the nude fucking onscreen. It's just not something that comes his way. So when we started blocking, Marisa hopped up on the bed, got on her hands and knees, slapped her ass and said, 'Come on Philly, let's go!' I could kiss her. Because if Philip had any inhibitions, they were gone," Lumet said.


title: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

text: The film premiered on September 6, 2007, at the Festival of American Cinema in Deauville, France. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 13, 2007. It opened in France on September 26, 2007. The film made its American debut on October 12, 2007, at the New York Film Festival. It opened in limited release in the United States on October 26, 2007, in two theaters, grossing US$73,837 in its opening weekend. In total, the film grossed over US$25 million worldwide.


title: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

text: Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 88% of 180 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.7/10. The website’s critical consensus reads: "A tense and effective thriller, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" marks a triumphant return to form for director Sidney Lumet." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

text: "Time" magazine's Richard Schickel named the movie one of the top 10 films of 2007, ranking it at #3, saying, "At one level the movie is a wonderfully intricate exploration of family dysfunction. At another, it's a coolly controlled examination of increasingly insane criminal ineptitude. Either way you look at it, this is a hypnotizing film from one of our great masters." Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "superb" and its director, Sidney Lumet, a "living treasure."


title: CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking

text: A number of writers have alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in the Nicaraguan Contras' cocaine trafficking operations during the 1980s Nicaraguan civil war. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Office of the Inspector General which ultimately concluded the allegations were unsupported. The subject remains controversial.


text: A 1986 investigation by a sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Kerry Committee), found that "the Contra drug links included", among other connections, "[...] payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies."


text: The charges of CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking were revived in 1996, when a newspaper series by reporter Gary Webb in the "San Jose Mercury News" claimed that the trafficking had played an important role in the creation of the crack cocaine drug problem in the United States. Webb's series led to three federal investigations, all of which concluded there was no evidence of a conspiracy by CIA officials or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. The "Los Angeles Times", "The New York Times", and "The Washington Post" launched their own investigations and rejected Webb's allegations.


text: The agency was aware of trafficking, and (in some cases) dissuaded the DEA and other agencies from investigating the Contra supply networks involved.


text: In 1984, U.S. officials began receiving reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. Three officials told journalists that they considered these reports "reliable." Former Panamanian deputy health minister Dr. Hugo Spadafora, who had fought with the Contra army, outlined charges of cocaine trafficking to a prominent Panamanian official. Spadafora was later found murdered. The charges linked the Contra trafficking to Sebastián González Mendiola, who was charged with cocaine trafficking on November 26, 1984, in Costa Rica.


text: In 1985, another Contra leader "told U.S. authorities that his group was being paid $50,000 by Colombian traffickers for help with a 100-kilo cocaine shipment and that the money would go 'for the cause' of fighting the Nicaraguan government." A 1985 National Intelligence Estimate revealed cocaine trafficking links to a top commander working under Contra leader Edén Pastora. Pastora had complained about such charges as early as March 1985, claiming that "two 'political figures' in Washington told him last week that State Department and CIA personnel were spreading the rumor that he is linked to drug trafficking in order to isolate his movement."


text: On December 20, 1985, these and other additional charges were laid out in an Associated Press article after an extensive investigation, which included interviews with "officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry, as well as rebels and Americans who work with them". Five American Contra supporters who worked with the rebels confirmed the charges, noting that "two Cuban-Americans used armed rebel troops to guard cocaine at clandestine airfields in northern Costa Rica. They identified the Cuban-Americans as members of Brigade 2506, an anti-Castro group that participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Several also said they supplied information about the smuggling to U.S. investigators." One of the Americans said "that in one ongoing operation, the cocaine is unloaded from planes at rebel airstrips and taken to an Atlantic coast port where it is concealed on shrimp boats that are later unloaded in the Miami area."


text: On March 16, 1986, the "San Francisco Examiner" published a report on the "1983 seizure of 430 pounds of cocaine from a Colombian freighter" in San Francisco; it said that a "cocaine ring in the San Francisco Bay area helped finance Nicaragua's Contra rebels." Carlos Cabezas, convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, said that the profits from his crimes "belonged to ... the Contra revolution." He told the "Examiner", "I just wanted to get the Communists out of my country." Julio Zavala, also convicted on trafficking charges, said "that he supplied $500,000 to two Costa Rican-based Contra groups and that the majority of it came from cocaine trafficking in the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and New Orleans."


text: In April 1986, Associated Press reported on an FBI probe into Contra cocaine trafficking. According to the report, "Twelve American, Nicaraguan and Cuban-American rebel backers interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been questioned over the past several months [about contra cocaine trafficking] by the FBI. In the interviews, some covering several days and being conducted in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and California, several of the Contra backers told AP of firsthand knowledge of cocaine trafficking."


text: On April 17, 1986, the Reagan administration released a three-page report stating that there were some Contra-cocaine connections in 1984 and 1985, and that these connections occurred at a time when the rebels were "particularly hard pressed for financial support" because aid from the United States had been cut off. The report said: "We have evidence of a limited number of incidents in which known drug traffickers have tried to establish connections with Nicaraguan resistance groups" and that the drug activity took place "without the authorization of resistance leaders."


text: The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, chaired at the time by Senator John Kerry, held a series of hearings from 1987 to 1988 on drug cartels and drug money laundering in South and Central America and the Caribbean.


text: According to the report, the U.S. State Department paid over $806,000 to "four companies owned and operated by narcotics traffickers" to carry humanitarian assistance to the Contras.


text: From August 18–20, 1996, the "San Jose Mercury News" published the "Dark Alliance" series by Gary Webb, which claimed:


text: For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. [This drug ring] opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles [and, as a result,] the cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America.


text: To support these claims, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandón, and Norwin Meneses. According to the series, Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles, and Blandón and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. The series alleged that the three had relationships with the Contras and the CIA, and that law enforcement agencies failed to successfully prosecute them largely due to their Contra and CIA connections.


text: African Americans, especially in South Central Los Angeles where the dealers discussed in the series had been active, responded with outrage to the series' charges.


text: California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also took note and wrote to CIA director John Deutch and Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for investigations into the articles. Maxine Waters, the Representative for California's 35th district, which includes South-Central Los Angeles, was also outraged by the articles and became one of Webb's strongest supporters. Waters urged the CIA, the Department of Justice, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate.


text: By the end of September, three federal investigations had been announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz, an investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Bromwich, and a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee.


text: On October 3, 1996, LA County Sheriff Sherman Block ordered a fourth investigation into Webb's claims that a 1986 raid on Blandón's drug organization by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had produced evidence of CIA ties to drug smuggling and that this was later suppressed.


text: In early October, 1996, a front-page article in "The Washington Post" by reporters Roberto Suro and Walter Pincus, argued that "available information" did not support the series's claims, and that "the rise of crack" was "a broad-based phenomenon" driven in numerous places by diverse players. The article also discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series.


text: "The New York Times" published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. One described the series' evidence as "thin"; the second, citing interviews with current and former intelligence and law-enforcement officials, questioned the importance of the drug dealers discussed in the series, both in the crack cocaine trade and in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras' fight against the Sandinista government.


text: The "Los Angeles Times" devoted the most space to the story, developing its own three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." The series ran from October 20–22, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell, and Sam Fulwood. The first article, by Katz, developed a different picture of the origins of the crack trade than "Dark Alliance" had described, with more gangs and smugglers participating. The second article, by McManus, was the longest of the series, and dealt with the role of the Contras in the drug trade and CIA knowledge of drug activities by the Contras. McManus found Blandón and Meneses's financial contributions to Contra organizations to be significantly less than the "millions" claimed in Webb's series, and no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. The third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the "Dark Alliance" series.


text: Surprised by "The Washington Post" article, "Mercury News" executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the "Post" defending the series. The "Post" ultimately refused to print his letter. Ceppos also asked reporter Pete Carey to write a critique of the series for publication in "The Mercury News", and had the controversial website artwork changed. Carey's critique appeared in mid-October and went through several of the Post criticisms of the series, including the importance of Blandón's drug ring in spreading crack, questions about Blandón's testimony in court, and how specific series allegations about CIA involvement had been, giving Webb's responses.


text: When the "Los Angeles Times" series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. The extent of the criticism, however, convinced Ceppos that "The Mercury News" had to acknowledge to its readers that the series hadn't been subjected to strong criticism. He did this in a column that appeared on November 3, defending the series, but also committing the paper to a review of major criticisms.


text: Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post". An editorial in the "Times", while criticizing the series for making "unsubstantiated charges," conceded that it did find "drug-smuggling and dealing by Nicaraguans with at least tentative connections to the Contras" and called for further investigation.


text: The "Post" response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. Overholser was harshly critical of the series, "reported by a seemingly hotheaded fellow willing to have people leap to conclusions his reporting couldn't back up." But while calling the flaws in the series "unforgivably careless journalism," Overholser also criticized the "Post's" refusal to print Ceppos' letter defending the series and sharply criticized the "Post's" coverage of the story. Calling the "Post's" overall focus "misplaced", Overholser expressed regret that the paper had not taken the opportunity to re-examine whether the CIA had overlooked Contra involvement in drug smuggling, "a subject The Post and the public had given short shrift."


text: In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. In a long review of the series' claims in "The Baltimore Sun", Weinberg said: "I think the critics have been far too harsh. Despite some hyped phrasing, 'Dark Alliance' appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."


text: After the series' publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists had voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. Despite the controversy that soon overtook the series, and the request of one board member to reconsider, the branch's board went ahead with the award in November.


text: After Ceppos' column, "The Mercury News" spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. The review was conducted primarily by editor Jonathan Krim and reporter Pete Carey, who had written the paper's first published analysis of the series. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings.


text: The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series' claims. The editors met with Webb several times in February to discuss the results of the paper's internal review and eventually decided to print neither Carey's draft article nor the articles Webb had filed. Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March.


text: At the end of March, however, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997. In the column Ceppos continued to defend parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles.


text: But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. 1) It presented only one interpretation of conflicting evidence and in one case "did not include information that contradicted a central assertion of the series." 2) The series' estimates of the money involved was presented as fact instead of an estimate. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics."


text: Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. He concluded: "How did these shortcomings occur? ... I believe that we fell short at every step of our process: in the writing, editing and production of our work. Several people here share that burden ... But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine."


text: The Department of Justice Inspector-General's report was released on July 23, 1998. According to the report's "Epilogue", the report was completed in December 1997 but was not released because the DEA was still attempting to use Danilo Blandón in an investigation of international drug dealers and was concerned that the report would affect the viability of the investigation. When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unchanged.


text: The report covered actions by Department of Justice employees in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S. Attorneys' Offices. It found that "the allegations contained in the original Mercury News articles were exaggerations of the actual facts." After examining the investigations and prosecutions of the main figures in the series, Blandón, Meneses and Ross, it concluded: "Although the investigations suffered from various problems of communication and coordination, their successes and failures were determined by the normal dynamics that affect the success of scores of investigations of high-level drug traffickers ... These factors, rather than anything as spectacular as a systematic effort by the CIA or any other intelligence agency to protect the drug trafficking activities of Contra supporters, determined what occurred in the cases we examined."


text: It also concluded that "the claims that Blandón and Meneses were responsible for introducing crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles and spreading the crack epidemic throughout the country were unsupported." Although it did find that both men were major drug dealers, "guilty of enriching themselves at the expense of countless drug users", and that they had contributed money to the Contra cause, "we did not find that their activities were responsible for the crack cocaine epidemic in South Central Los Angeles, much less the rise of crack throughout the nation, or that they were a significant source of support for the Contras."


text: The report called several of its findings "troubling." It found that Blandón received permanent resident status "in a wholly improper manner" and that for some time the Department "was not certain whether to prosecute Meneses, or use him as a cooperating witness." Regarding issues raised in the series' shorter sidebar stories, it found that some in the government were "not eager" to have DEA agent Celerino Castillo "openly probe" activities at Ilopango Airport in El Salvador, where covert operations in support of the Contras were undertaken, and that the CIA had indeed intervened in a case involving smuggler Julio Zavala. It concluded, however, that these problems were "a far cry from the type of broad manipulation and corruption of the federal criminal justice system suggested by the original allegations."


text: The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. The first one, "The California Story", was issued in a classified version on December 17, 1997, and in an unclassified version on January 29, 1998. The second volume, "The Contra Story," was issued in a classified version on April 27, 1998, and in an unclassified version on October 8, 1998.


text: According to the report, the Inspector-General's office (OIG) examined all information the agency had "relating to CIA knowledge of drug trafficking allegations in regard to any person directly or indirectly involved in Contra activities." It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support.


text: The first volume of the report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandón, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency.


text: It found nothing to support the claim that "the drug trafficking activities of Blandón and Meneses were motivated by any commitment to support the Contra cause or Contra activities undertaken by CIA." It noted that Blandón and Meneses claimed to have donated money to Contra sympathizers in Los Angeles, but found no information to confirm that it was true or that the agency had heard of it.


text: It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandón or Meneses.


text: In the 623rd paragraph, the report described a cable from the CIA's Directorate of Operations dated October 22, 1982, describing a prospective meeting between Contra leaders in Costa Rica for "an exchange in [the United States] of narcotics for arms, which then are shipped to Nicaragua." The two main Contra groups, US arms dealers, and a lieutenant of a drug ring which imported drugs from Latin America to the US west coast were set to attend the Costa Rica meeting. The lieutenant trafficker was also a Contra, and the CIA knew that there was an arms-for-drugs shuttle and did nothing to stop it.


text: The report stated that the CIA had requested the Justice Department return $36,800 to a member of the Meneses drug ring, which had been seized by DEA agents in the Frogman raid in San Francisco. The CIA's Inspector General said the Agency wanted the money returned "to protect an operational equity, i.e., a Contra support group in which it [CIA] had an operational interest."


text: The report also stated that former DEA agent Celerino Castillo III alleged that during the 1980s, Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights, and "his attempts to investigate Contra drug smuggling were stymied by DEA management, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, and the CIA".


text: During a PBS Frontline investigation, DEA field agent Hector Berrellez said, "I believe that elements working for the CIA were involved in bringing drugs into the country."


text: "I know specifically that some of the CIA contract workers, meaning some of the pilots, in fact were bringing drugs into the U.S. and landing some of these drugs in government air bases. And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."


text: Six weeks after the declassified and heavily censored first volume of the CIA report was made public, Inspector General Frederick Hitz testified before a House congressional committee. Hitz stated that:


text: Also revealed was a letter between the Attorney General William French Smith and the CIA that omitted narcotics violations among the list of crimes agency officers were required to report. In a follow up letter later Smith stated "I have been advised that a question arose regarding the need to add all narcotics violations to the list of "non-employee" crimes...". Citing existing federal policy on narcotics enforcement, Smith wrote: "In light of these provisions and in view of the fine cooperation the Drug Enforcement Administration has received from CIA, no formal requirement regarding the reporting of narcotics violations has been included in these procedures."


text: This agreement, which had not previously been revealed, came at a time when there were allegations that the CIA was using drug dealers in its controversial covert operation to bring down the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. In 1986, the agreement was modified to require the CIA to stop paying agents who it believed were involved in the drug trade.


text: The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Like the CIA and Justice Department reports, it also found that neither Blandón, Meneses, nor Ross were associated with the CIA.


text: Examining the support that Meneses and Blandón gave to the local Contra organization in San Francisco, the report concluded that it was "not sufficient to finance the organization" and did not consist of 'millions', contrary to the claims of the "Dark Alliance" series. This support "was not directed by anyone within the Contra movement who had an association with the CIA," and the Committee found "no evidence that the CIA or the Intelligence Community was aware of these individuals' support." It also found no evidence to support Webb's suggestion that several other drug smugglers mentioned in the series were associated with the CIA, or that anyone associated with the CIA or other intelligence agencies was involved in supplying or selling drugs in Los Angeles.


title: Journey discography

text: American rock band Journey has released 15 studio albums, five live albums, 11 compilation albums, and 51 singles since 1975.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Suzanne Farrington ("née" Holman; 12 October 1933 – 1 March 2015) was the only child of British actress Vivien Leigh and her first husband, Herbert Leigh Holman. Upon her mother's death, Farrington was bequeathed her mother's papers, including her letters, photographs, contracts and diaries.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: On 12 October 1933, Suzanne Holman was born at a nursing home at 8 Bulstrode Street, London. Her mother was 19 years old, and had been married to the barrister Herbert Leigh Holman for less than a year. Her diary entry on this day simply read: "Had a baby – a girl." The birth was difficult: Suzanne was born a month prematurely and the delivery was not an easy one. It was several weeks before mother and daughter came home, but once there it did not take Vivien long to become bored, as the household was being run quite adequately by the staff, and the baby was well tended by the nurse nanny. The Holman household consisted of a maid, cook and Nanny Oake who had been hired to care for the baby.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Although Vivien concentrated on her acting career, soon receiving good notices in the play, "The Mask of Virtue", she did occasionally appear in the role of the new mother, being photographed holding her baby. Under her professional name of Vivien Leigh, her mother became more involved in and more successful with her acting career, while her husband and raising her daughter became less important.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Although Leigh initially had great concern for her daughter's well-being, her career was paramount and Suzanne's care became the responsibility of her father and maternal grandmother, Gertrude Hartley. During the Second World War, Suzanne travelled to Canada with her grandmother, to stay with her aunt, Florence Thompson. She continued her education during the war years, first at a convent school in Vancouver.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Only once, in November 1940, did Leigh visit her daughter in Canada. The visit turned out to be traumatic for all involved as the media soon discovered that "Scarlett" was in Vancouver, and that her daughter was enrolled in a convent school, spurring not only unwanted publicity for Suzanne but spurious claims that she would be the subject of a kidnapping. The Reverend Mother also feared for the safety of other children in her care, resulting in Suzanne being transferred by her grandmother to a day school. Gertrude Hartley altered her plans and remained with her granddaughter throughout the war years.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: In 1940 Leigh and Holman divorced. Her father gained custody over Suzanne, and bought Manor Farm House at Zeals, Wiltshire, for them both to live in.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: After her marriage to Laurence Olivier, Leigh had little contact with her daughter until 1950, although Suzanne became close with Simon Tarquin Olivier, her stepfather's son from his marriage to Jill Esmond. Her "coming out" party was held at the Oliviers' flat in Lowndes Square, London.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: After completing her education at Sherborne School for Girls (in Dorset) and a Swiss finishing school, beginning in 1951, Suzanne studied for two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although hoping to become an actress, after her appearance at the faculty's annual performance in March 1953, she did not continue in that career.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Film historian Kendra Bean described Suzanne's formative and later life, during which her grandmother continued to act as a "surrogate mother." During the late 1950s, she instructed at her grandmother's Academy of Beauty Culture in Knightsbridge. Suzanne continued her close friendship with Tarquin.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: By the late 1950s, Suzanne and her mother began a more intimate mother-daughter relationship, with Vivien visiting the Zeals house and Suzanne often travelling and holidaying with both her biological parents. After returning from a holiday in Italy with her parents, on 6 December 1957, she married the insurance broker and executive Robin Neville Farrington, five years her senior. The reception was held at the Hyde Park Hotel, London. Leigh Holman, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were all in attendance. On 5 December 1958, Suzanne gave birth to the first of three sons, Neville Leigh Farrington. Rupert and Jonathan Farrington were the other siblings.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: After the death of her mother on 8 July 1967, Suzanne received the bulk of the estate. With the full support of her mother's long time caretaker and partner Jack Merivale, she received the private papers of Vivien Leigh, which included letters, photographs, contracts and diaries from 1932 onwards.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: When her father died on 8 February 1982, Suzanne inherited the Zeals house. In the late 1980s, author Hugo Vickers contacted her to access Leigh's papers to write "Vivien Leigh: A Biography" (1988). In 2005, biographer Terry Coleman was able to access Leigh's papers when he wrote "Olivier, The Authorised Biography", and he thanked Farrington in the foreword.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: In one of her rare public appearances, Suzanne Farrington was present in 2003 at the opening of the Farrington Music School at the Port Regis School, Dorset, named after her late husband, the former Chairman of the school.


title: Suzanne Farrington

text: Suzanne Farrington died in Lower Zeals, Wiltshire, on 1 March 2015, aged 81, from undisclosed causes. Her husband, Robin Farrington, died on 13 June 2002.


title: Larsa Pippen

text: Larsa Marie Pippen (; born July 6, 1974) is an American reality television personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She is an original main cast member on Bravo's reality TV series "The Real Housewives of Miami", appearing since its premiere in 2011, rejoining in 2021. She is the ex-wife of former NBA player Scottie Pippen.


title: Larsa Pippen

text: Pippen was born on July 6, 1974, to Assyrian parents; her mother is from Lebanon and her father is from Syria. She was raised in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Larsa Pippen

text: In February 2011, "The Real Housewives of Miami" debuted its first season, featuring Pippen alongside Lea Black, Adriana de Moura, Alexia Nepola, Marysol Patton and Cristy Rice as they balanced their personal and professional lives, following a "work hard, play hard" lifestyle, whilst living in Miami, Florida. Pippen departed the first season after only 7 episodes, reportedly due to her being "too level-headed" for the Miami housewives cast. The show ended after its third season due to the declining ratings leading up to the reunion. After Bravo re-ran the first 3 seasons of the show in 2020, rumours circulated in November 2020 of a potential fourth season. In 2021, a fourth season was confirmed by Bravo in February, with a cast announcement made by streaming service Peacock in October, featuring Pippen alongside Hochstein and Nepola, with newcomers Guerdy Abraira, Julia Lemigova and Nicole Martin; joined by de Moura, Patton and new friend Kiki Barth. Pippen returned for the show's fifth season, which premiered in December of 2022.


title: Larsa Pippen

text: In addition to Pippen's housewives return, she has made frequent appearances on "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" over the years, notably due to her friendship with Kim Kardashian and the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner family. She appeared on the second season's fifth episode of Selling Sunset where Chrishell Stause gave her a house tour. She was also present alongside her then-husband, Scottie Pippen, as they supported their daughter Sophia on "". Pippen has made guest appearances on talk shows including "The Nick Cannon TV Series", "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen".


title: Larsa Pippen

text: In August 2020, Pippen successfully launched and modeled her high-end jewelry line, Larsa Marie. She detailed that the line offers a wide variety of pieces that focus on "self-love and empowering women to feel like their best selves". In 2021, Pippen scored the cover of "Harper's Bazaar Vietnam's" August issue, as she debuted her latest collection, discussed her personal life in the public eye and provided fashion advice.


title: Larsa Pippen

text: Pippen is a mother to Scotty Jr., Preston, Justin and Sophia, all of whom she shares with her ex-husband Scottie Pippen. Scottie and Larsa first split in 2016 after almost two decades of marriage but reconciled, until 2018 when they began the separation process. Their divorce was finalized on December 15, 2021, with all issues resolved amicably, continuing to focus on "co-parenting their remaining minor children".


title: Niqāb

text: A niqāb or niqaab (; ', "[face] veil"), also called a ruband"', () is a garment, usually black, that covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of an interpretation of "hijab" (i.e. "modest dress"). Muslim women who wear the niqab do so in places where they may encounter non-"mahram" (un-related) men. Somewhat controversial in some parts of the world, the niqab is most often worn in its region of origin: the Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula – Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, where it is common and considered as culturally belonging to the region, though not compulsory.


title: Niqāb

text: Historically only found amongst Muslim women in Najd, a region of Saudi Arabia, as well as elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, since the late 1970s the Niqab has spread to more religious Muslim women, usually Sunni, throughout the Middle East and worldwide as a result of the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Revival brought on by the success of the revolution. This phenomenon was encouraged by the rise of “Petro-Islam” by the monarchy of Saudi Arabia in response to the consolidation of the revolution, which funded many mosques to adopt neo-Wahhabi, Salafist ideologies worldwide, resulting in the rise of the Niqab becoming a noticeable consequence of the Islamic Revival in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and of Saudi Arabia's newfound cultural dominance over the Arab world.


title: Niqāb

text: Since the 2000s the niqab has attracted significant controversy in the Western World, being perceived as a visible sign of growing Salafist extremism and a rejection of Western society. Culturally, in the modern world, the face veil has been considered by some to be "a custom imported from Najd, the Saudi region and the power base of its Salafi fundamentalist form of Islam." "The Sydney Morning Herald" added, "Within Muslim countries it is very contested and considered fringe." In parts of the Muslim world outside of the Arabian Peninsula, where the niqab is less extensively worn, it is regarded warily by Sunni and non-Sunni Muslims "as a symbol of encroaching fundamentalism." For instance in Algeria, the niqab made its presence felt starting in the 1990s and it becoming associated in the Algerian public consciousness with Islamist groups fighting in the 1991-2002 Algerian Civil War as well as being a product of Saudi-funded fundamentalism and as lacking cultural authenticitity. It has also caused a societal clash in Egypt in the 1990s when the niqab was increasingly worn by Egyptian women who imported the custom having returned from work in the Arabian Peninsula.


title: Niqāb

text: In some countries, the niqab is banned, notably in France. Most Islamic scholars consider the niqab to not be compulsory for practising women. The terms niqab and burqa are often confused; a niqab covers the face while leaving the eyes uncovered and today can be found amongst Muslim women in many different countries, while a burqa covers the entire body from the top of the head to the ground, with only a mesh screen allowing the wearer to see, and is usually only found in Afghanistan and sometimes traditionally in Central Asia.


title: Niqāb

text: Women who wear the niqab are often called '; this word is used both as a noun and as an adjective. However, the more correct form grammatically is ' (plural ') but ' is used in an affectionate manner (much as with ' versus '). Women in niqab are also called ', with the plural '.


title: Niqāb

text: Most Islamic scholars and most contemporary Islamic jurists have agreed that women are not required to cover their face. There exist a number of reasons why women may cover their face in public, and this practice must be understood within a particular social context.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab is controversial in the Western world. In France specifically, although the niqab is not individually targeted, it falls within the scope of legislation which bans the wearing of any religious items (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or other) in state schools (universities are not affected), and another ban on face coverings (which also includes carnival masks and motorbike helmets when not on a motorbike).


title: Niqāb

text: In 2004, the French Parliament passed a law to regulate "the wearing of symbols indicating religious affiliation in public educational establishments". This law forbids all emblems that outwardly express a specific religious belief to be worn in French public schools. This law was proposed because the Stasi Commission, a committee that is supposed to enforce secularity in French society, was forced to deal with frequent disputes about headscarves in French public schools, as outsiders of the practice did not understand the scarves' purpose and therefore felt uncomfortable.


title: Niqāb

text: Although the French law addresses other religious symbols – not just Islamic headscarves and face coverings – the international debate has been centered around the impact it has on Muslims because of the growing population in Europe, especially in France, and the increase in Islamophobia.


title: Niqāb

text: In July 2010, the National Assembly in France passed "Loi Interdisant La Dissimulation Du Visage Dans L'espace Public", (Act Prohibiting Concealment of the Face in Public Space). This act outlawed the wearing of clothing that covers one's face in any public space. Violators of the ban on veils and coverings are liable to fines of up to 150 euros and mandatory classes on French citizenship. Anyone found to have forced a woman to wear a religious covering faces up to two years in prison as well as a €60,000 fine.


title: Niqāb

text: In October 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that France's ban disproportionately harmed the right of women to manifest their religious beliefs, and could have the effects of "confining them to their homes, impeding their access to public services and marginalizing them."


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab is currently banned fully in Austria, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, Tajikistan, France, Bulgaria, Chad, Cameroon, Tunisia, Gabon, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Latvia, Sri Lanka, India, the Republic of the Congo and the Netherlands.


title: Niqāb

text: There are many styles of "niqab" and other facial veils worn by Muslim women around the world. The two most common forms are the "half niqab" and the "gulf-style" or "full niqab".


title: Niqāb

text: The "half niqab" is a simple length of fabric with elastic or ties and is worn around the face. This garment typically leaves the eyes and part of the forehead visible.


title: Niqāb

text: The "gulf-style" or "full niqab" completely covers the face. It consists of an upper band that is tied around the forehead, together with a long wide piece of fabric which covers the face, leaving an opening for the eyes. Many full niqab have two or more sheer layers attached to the upper band, which can be worn flipped down to cover the eyes or left over the top of the head. While a person looking at a woman wearing a niqab with an eyeveil would not be able to see her eyes, the woman wearing the niqab would be able to see out through the thin fabric.


title: Niqāb

text: Other less common and more cultural or national forms of niqab include the Afghan style burqa, a long pleated gown that extends from the head to the feet with a small crocheted grille over the face. The Pak chador is a relatively new style from Pakistan, which consists of a large triangular scarf with two additional pieces. A thin band on one edge is tied behind the head so as to keep the chador on, and then another larger rectangular piece is attached to one end of the triangle and is worn over the face, and the simple "hijāb" wrapped, pinned or tied in a certain way so as to cover the wearer's face.


title: Niqāb

text: Other common styles of clothing popularly worn with a "niqab" in Western countries include the khimar, a semi-circular flare of fabric with an opening for the face and a small triangular underscarf. A khimar is usually bust-level or longer, and can also be worn without the "niqab". It is considered a fairly easy form of headscarf to wear, as there are no pins or fasteners; it is simply pulled over the head. Gloves are also sometimes worn with the niqab, because many "munaqqabāt" believe no part of the skin should be visible other than the area immediately around the eyes or because they do not want to be put in a position where they would touch the hand of an unrelated man (for instance, when accepting change from a cashier). Most "munaqqabāt" also wear an overgarment (jilbab, abaya etc.) over their clothing, though some munaqabat in Western countries wear a long, loose tunic and skirt instead of a one-piece overgarment.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab in Egypt has a complex and long history. On 8 October 2009, Egypt's top Islamic school and the world's leading school of Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar, banned the wearing of the niqab in classrooms and dormitories of all its affiliate schools and educational institutes.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab was traditionally worn in Southern Iran from the arrival of Islam until the end of the Qajar era. There were many regional variations of niqab, which were also called ruband or pushiye. Traditionally, Iranian women wore chadors long before Islam arrived.


title: Niqāb

text: The 20th century ruler, Reza Shah, banned all variations of face veil and veils in 1936 known as Kashf-e hijab, as incompatible with his ambitions to westernize the citizens of Iran and their traditional historical culture. Reza Shah ordered the police to arrest women who wore the niqab and hijab and to remove their face veils by force. This policy outraged the clerics who believed it was obligatory for women to cover their faces. Many women gathered at the Goharshad Mosque in Mashhad with their faces covered to show their objection to the niqab ban.


title: Niqāb

text: Between 1941 and 1979 wearing the niqab and hijab was no longer against the law, but it was considered by the government to be a "badge of backwardness." During these years, wearing the niqab and chador became much less common and instead most religious women wore headscarves only. Fashionable hotels and restaurants refused to admit women wearing niqabs. High schools and universities actively discouraged or even banned the niqab, though the headscarf was tolerated.


title: Niqāb

text: After the new government of 'Islamic Republic' was established, the niqab ban was not enforced by officials.


title: Niqāb

text: In modern Iran, the wearing of niqab is not common and is only worn by certain ethnic minorities and a minority of Arab Muslims in the southern Iranian coastal cities, such as Bandar Abbas, Minab and Bushehr. Some women in the Arab-populated province of Khuzestan still wear the niqab.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2015, the constitutional Council of Islamic Ideology issued the fatwa that women are not required to wear niqab or cover their hands or feet under Shariah.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab is an important part of Saudi culture and in most Saudi cities (including Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, etc.) the vast majority of women cover their faces.


title: Niqāb

text: The Saudi niqab usually leaves a long open slot for the eyes; the slot is held together by a string or narrow strip of cloth. In 2008, the Mohammad Habadan, a religious authority in Mecca, reportedly called on women to wear veils that reveal only one eye, so that women would not be encouraged to use eye make-up.


title: Niqāb

text: 1,200 niqab-wearing teachers were transferred to administrative duties in the summer of 2010 in Syria because the face veil was undermining the secular policies followed by the state as far as education is concerned. In the summer of 2010, students wearing the niqab were prohibited from registering for university classes. The ban was associated with a move by the Syrian government to re-affirm Syria's traditional secular atmosphere.


title: Niqāb

text: Since antiquity, the Arab tradition of wearing the niqab has been practiced by women living in Yemen. Traditionally, girls begin wearing veils in their teenage years.


title: Niqāb

text: Acceptance of the niqab is not universal in Yemen. A senior member of the Al-Islah political party, Tawakkol Karman, removed her niqab at a human rights conference in 2004 and since then has called for "other women and female activists to take theirs off".


title: Niqāb

text: Covering the face was enforced by the Taliban regime with the traditional Afghan face veil called the burka.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab is outlawed in Azerbaijan, where the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim. Niqabi women, just like women wearing hijab, cannot work as public servants, neither can they continue studies at schools, including the private schools. Although there is no single law banning niqab at private companies, it would be nearly impossible for a niqabi woman to find work.


title: Niqāb

text: In February 2010, an Arab country's unnamed ambassador to Dubai had his marriage annulled after discovering that his bride was cross-eyed and had facial hair. The woman had worn a niqab on the occasions that the couple had met prior to the wedding. The ambassador informed the Sharia court that he had been deliberately deceived by the bride's mother, who had shown him photographs of the bride's sister. He only discovered this when he lifted the niqab to kiss his bride. The court annulled the marriage, but refused a claim for compensation.


title: Niqāb

text: Sultaana Freeman gained national attention in 2003 when she sued the US state of Florida for the right to wear a niqab for her driver's license photo. However, a Florida circuit court ruled there was no violation in the state requiring her to show her face to a camera in a private room with only a female employee to take the picture, in exchange for the privilege of driving. The ruling was affirmed by the appellate court.


title: Niqāb

text: One female non-Muslim student at Eastern Michigan University spent a semester in 2005 wearing a niqab for a class project (she referred to the face veil as a "burqa"). Her stated experiences, such as her own feeling as if no one wanted to be near her, led her to assert that conservative Muslim dress is disapproved of in the United States.


title: Niqāb

text: Some Muslim Palestinian women, particularly students, have worn white niqabs during Arab protest activities relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2006, female candidates from the Hamas party campaigned during the Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections, wearing niqabs.


title: Niqāb

text: In July 2015, Cameroon banned the face veil including the burqa after two women dressed in the religious garments completed a suicide attack killing 13. This was also done in order to counter extremism in public and places of work.


title: Niqāb

text: In June 2015, the full face veil was banned in Chad after veiled Boko Haram bombers disguised as women completed multiple suicide attacks.


title: Niqāb

text: In May 2015, the Republic of the Congo banned the face veil in order to counter extremism. The decision was announced by El Hadji Djibril Bopaka, the president of the country's Islamic High Council.


title: Niqāb

text: In October 2018 the Algerian government banned the wearing of full-face veils, including the niqab, for female public servants while at work.


title: Niqāb

text: The Moroccan government distributed letters to businesses on 9 January 2017 declaring a ban on the burka. The letters indicated the "sale, production and import" or the garment were prohibited and businesses were expected to clear their stock within 48 hours.


title: Niqāb

text: In July 2019, wearing the niqab was banned in government buildings. The ban came after the capital Tunis was attacked by three suicide bombings in seven days.


title: Niqāb

text: In February 2015, the city of Ürümqi banned face veils in order to counter extremism. The Chinese government later expanded the ban to all of Xinjiang in March 2017.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2017 the government of Tajikistan passed a law requiring people to "stick to traditional national clothes and culture", which has been widely seen as an attempt to prevent women from wearing traditional Islamic clothing, in particular the style of headscarf wrapped under the chin, in contrast to the traditional Tajik headscarf tied behind the head.


title: Niqāb

text: In autumn 2017, the Danish parliament (Danish: Folketinget) agreed to adopt a law prohibiting people to wear "attire and clothing masking the face in such a way that it impairs recognizability". A full ban on both niqabs and burqas was announced on 31 May 2018. The ban came into force on 1 August 2018 and carries a fine of 1000 DKK, about 134 euro, by repeat offending the fine may reach 10 000 DKK. Then targets all garments that covers the face, such as fake beards or balaclavas. Supporters of the ban claim that the ban facilitates integration of Muslims into Danish society while Amnesty International claimed the ban violated women's rights. A protest numbering 300-400 people was held in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen organised by Socialist Youth Front, "Kvinder i Dialog" and "Party Rebels".


title: Niqāb

text: The first fine was issued in Hørsholm in August 2018 to a woman dressed in a niqab who was in a fistfight with another woman on an escalator in a shopping centre. During the fight, her face-covering veil fell off, but as police approached, she put it on again and police issued the fine. Both women were suspected of public order violations.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2016, a legal ban on face-covering Islamic clothing was proposed for adoption by the Latvian parliament.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2012 in Norway, a professor at the University of Tromsø denied a student's use of niqab in the classroom. The professor claimed Norway's parliament granted each teacher the right to deny the use of niqab in his/her classroom. Clothing that covers the face, such as a niqab, is prohibited in some schools and municipalities.


title: Niqāb

text: The Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg stated in an interview that in Norwegian work environments it is essential to see each other's faces and therefore anyone who insists on wearing a niqab is in practice unemployable. Solberg also views the wearing of the niqab as a challenge to social boundaries in the Norwegian society, a challenge that would be countered by Norway setting boundaries of its own. Solberg also stated that anyone may wear what they wish in their spare time and that her comments applied to professional life but that any immigrant has the obligation to adapt to Norwegian work life and culture.


title: Niqāb

text: In June 2018, the parliament of Norway passed a bill banning clothing covering the face at educational institutions as well as daycare centres, which included face-covering Islamic veils. The prohibition applies to pupils and staff alike.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2012, a poll by Uppsala University found that Swedes believed that face-covering Islamic veils are either completely unacceptable or fairly unacceptable, 85% for the burqa and 81% for the niqāb. The researchers noted these figures represented a compact resistance to the face-covering veil by the population of Sweden.


title: Niqāb

text: In December 2019, the municipality of Skurup banned Islamic veils in educational institutions. Earlier, the municipality of Staffanstorp approved a similar ban.


title: Niqāb

text: In the United Kingdom, comments by Jack Straw, MP started a national debate over the wearing of the "veil" (niqab), in October 2006. Around that time there was media coverage of the case of Aishah Azmi, a teaching assistant in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, who lost her appeal against suspension from her job for wearing the niqab while teaching English to young children. It was decided that being unable to see her face prevented the children from learning effectively. Azmi, who had been interviewed and hired for the position without the niqab, allegedly on her husband's advice, argued it was helping the children understand different people's beliefs. In 2010, a man committed a bank robbery wearing a niqab as a disguise.


title: Niqāb

text: In Italy, a law issued in 1975 strictly forbids wearing any attire in public that could hide the face of a person. Penalties (fines and imprisonment) are provided for such behaviour. The original purpose of the anti-mask law was to prevent crime or terrorism. The law allows for exemptions for a "justified cause", which has sometimes been interpreted by courts as including religious reasons for wearing a veil, but others – including local governments – disagree and claim religion is not a "justified cause" in this context.


title: Niqāb

text: On 29 April 2010, the Belgian Chamber of Representatives adopted a law prohibiting people to wear "attire and clothing masking the face in such a way that it impairs recognizability". The penalty for violating this directive can run from up to 14 days imprisonment and a 250 euro fine.


title: Niqāb

text: On 11 July 2017 the ban in Belgium was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after having been challenged by two Muslim women who claimed their rights had been infringed.


title: Niqāb

text: On 13 July 2010 France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic veils. The legislation forbids face-covering Muslim veils in all public places in France and calls for fines or citizenship classes, or both. The bill also is aimed at husbands and fathers – anyone convicted of forcing someone else to wear the garb risks a year of prison and a fine, with both penalties, doubled if the victim is a minor.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2017, a legal ban on face-covering clothing for soldiers and state workers during work was approved by German parliament. Also in 2017, a legal ban on face-covering clothing for car and truck drivers was approved by German Ministry of Traffic.


title: Niqāb

text: In July 2017, German state Bavaria approved a legal ban on face-covering clothing for teachers, state workers and students at university and schools.


title: Niqāb

text: In August 2017, the state of Lower Saxony (German: "Niedersachsen") banned the burqa along with the niqab in public schools. This change in the law was prompted by a Muslim pupil in Osnabrück who wore the garment to school for years and refused to take it off. Since she has completed her schooling, the law was instituted to prevent similar cases in the future.


title: Niqāb

text: In July 2020, the state of Baden-Württemberg banned face-covering veils for pupils, which extended the ban which was already in force for school staff.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2007, the government of the Netherlands planned a legal ban on face-covering Islamic clothing, popularly described as the 'burqa ban', which included the niqab. In 2015, a partial ban of the niqab and burqa were approved by the Dutch government. The parliament still had to approve the measure. In November 2016, the legal ban on face-covering was approved by parliament. On 26 June 2018, a partial ban on face covering (including niqabs) on public transport and in buildings and associated yards of educational institutions, governmental institutions and healthcare institutions was enacted, with a number of exceptions.


title: Niqāb

text: In September 2018, a ban on face-covering veils was approved with a 67% vote in favour in the canton of St Gallen. The largest Islamic community organisation in Switzerland, the Islamic Central Council, recommended that Muslim women continue to cover their faces.


title: Niqāb

text: In March 2021, a nationwide referendum was held on whether full-face coverings should be banned in public, which includes niqabs and burqas. Voters narrowly voted to ban niqabs and burqas by a 51.2% to 48.8% margin.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqab is banned in the Canadian province of Quebec in all publicly funded services. Persons cannot receive public service or provide public service with their faces covered. This includes public transportation, hospitals, and courts amongst others. On 18 October 2017, Bill 62 passed into law after a 66–51 vote in the Quebec National Assembly. The new law is entitled "An Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality and, in particular, to provide a framework for requests for accommodation on religious grounds in certain bodies". However, regulations regarding the ban's implementation, and religious accommodations, are not expected until July 2018.


title: Niqāb

text: On 16 November 2015 the first act of Canada's newly appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould was to assure women who chose to wear the niqāb during the Oath of Allegiance of their right to do so. In December 2011 then-Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced a policy directive from the Federal Government under then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Muslim women must remove niqābs throughout the citizenship ceremony where they declare their Oath of Allegiance. Zunera Ishaq, a Sunni Muslim woman living in Mississauga, Ontario, challenged and won the niqāb ban in the case of "Canada v Ishaq" on 5 October 2015. The Federal Court of Appeal decision in her favour was seen by some as "an opportunity to revisit the rules governing the somewhat difficult relationship between law and policy." In October 2015 Harper had appealed the Supreme Court of Canada to take up the case. With the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 19 October 2015, the niqāb debate was settled as the Liberal government chose to not "politicize the issue any further." Minister Wilson-Raybould, who is the first Indigenous person to be named as Justice Minister, explained as she withdrew Harper's appeal to the Supreme Court, "In all of our policy as a government we will ensure that we respect the values that make us Canadians, those of diversity, inclusion and respect for those fundamental values." The Justice Minister spoke with Zunera by telephone to tell her the news prior to making her official announcement.


title: Niqāb

text: Elections Canada, the agency responsible for elections and referendums, stated that Muslim women can cover their faces while voting. The decision was criticized by the Conservative Party of Canada, Bloc Québécois, and Liberal Party of Canada. The New Democrats were not opposed to the decision. The Conservative federal Cabinet had introduced legislation to parliament that would bar citizens from voting if they arrived at polling stations with a veiled face.


title: Niqāb

text: The niqāb became an issue in the 2007 election in Quebec after it became public knowledge that women wearing the niqāb were allowed to vote under the same rules as electors who did not present photo identification (ID); namely, by sworn oath in the presence of a third party who could vouch for their identity. The chief electoral officer received complaints that this policy was too accommodating of cultural minorities (a major theme in the election) and thereafter required accompaniment by bodyguards due to threatening telephone calls. All three major Quebec political parties were against the policy, with the Parti Québécois and Action démocratique du Québec vying for position as most opposed. The policy was soon changed to require all voters to show their face, even if they did not carry photo ID. However, Quebec residents who wear the niqāb stated they were not opposed to showing their faces for official purposes, such as voting. Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal estimated that only 10 to 15 Muslim voters in the province wear the niqāb and, since their veils have become controversial, most would probably not vote.


title: Niqāb

text: In October 2009, the Muslim Canadian Congress called for a ban on burqa and niqāb, saying that they have "no basis in Islam". Spokesperson Farzana Hassan cited public safety issues, such as identity concealment, as well as gender equality, stating that wearing the burqa and niqāb is "a practice that marginalizes women."


title: Niqāb

text: In December 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Muslim women who wear the niqāb must remove it in some cases when testifying in court.


title: Niqāb

text: In 2002, Sultaana Freeman (formerly Sandra Keller, who converted to Islam in 1997 when marrying a Muslim man), sued the U.S. state of Florida for the right to wear a niqab for her driver's license photo. However, a Florida appellate court ruled that there was no violation in the state requiring her to show her face to a camera in a private room with only a female employee to take the picture, in exchange for the privilege of driving. The prevailing view in Florida is currently that hiding one's face on a form of photo identification defeats the purpose of having the picture taken, although 15 other states (including Arkansas, California, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Louisiana) have provisions that allow for driver's licenses absent of an identifying photograph in order to accommodate individuals who may have a religious reason to not have a photograph taken. In 2012, a string of armed robberies in Philadelphia were committed by people disguised in traditional Islamic woman's garb; Muslim leaders were concerned that the use of the disguises could put Muslim women in danger of hate crimes and inflame ethnic tensions.


title: Niqāb

text: In May 2010, an armed robbery committed by a man wearing a face veil and sunglasses raised calls to ban the Islamic veil; a request for new legislation was dismissed by both Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Liberal leader Tony Abbott.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Kenneth George Baker (24 August 1934 – 13 August 2016) was an English actor, comedian and musician. He portrayed the character R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" franchise and also appeared in "The Elephant Man", "Time Bandits", "Willow", "Flash Gordon", "Amadeus", and "Labyrinth".


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker was born and educated in Birmingham, Warwickshire, and at a boarding school in Kent. He was the son of Ethel (1906–1990), a pianist and dress maker, and Harold Baker (1908–1985), an artist, musician and draughtsman. He went to live with his father, stepmother and half-sister in Hastings, Sussex.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: In 1951, Baker was approached on the street by a woman who invited him to join a theatrical troupe of dwarfs and midgets. This was his first taste of show business. Later, he joined a circus for a brief time, learned to ice skate and appeared in many ice shows. He formed a successful comedy act called the Minitones with entertainer Jack Purvis and played in nightclubs.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: While working with Purvis and the Minitones, Baker was selected by George Lucas to operate the robot ("droid") R2-D2 in the fantasy feature film "Star Wars", released in 1977. Baker recalled that he initially turned down the role, concerned about breaking up the Minitones partnership when the duo had reached the final on the British television talent show "Opportunity Knocks".


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker appears as R2-D2 in six of the episodic theatrical "Star Wars" films, and played an additional role in 1983's "Return of the Jedi" as Paploo, the Ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike. He was originally due to play Wicket, but he fell ill and that role was handed over to Warwick Davis.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker continued his association with the R2-D2 character in "", which was released on 18 December 2015 in North America. He was going to be a member of the cast, but he served as consultant for the character instead. In November 2015, it was confirmed that Jimmy Vee was cast as R2-D2 in "", replacing Baker.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: As technology grew and the need to have Baker in the suit decreased over time, he was used sporadically in the prequel trilogy. In "", he was used in just one scene.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker's other films include "The Elephant Man", "Time Bandits" (also with Jack Purvis), "Willow" (also with Purvis and Warwick Davis), "Flash Gordon", "Amadeus" and Jim Henson's "Labyrinth".


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: On television, he appeared in the British medical drama "Casualty". He also had a part in the BBC production of "The Chronicles of Narnia". In the late 1990s, Baker launched a brief comedy career. He played Casanova in the 1993 movie "UFO."


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: In November 2009, his biography, "From Tiny Acorns: The Kenny Baker Story", was written with Ken Mills and published by Writestuff Autographs.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker resided in Preston, Lancashire. He was married to actress Eileen Baker (who co-starred with him in the 1977 film "Wombling Free") from 1970 until she died in 1993. Although Eileen also had dwarfism, this was not inherited by their two children.


title: Kenny Baker (English actor)

text: Baker was invited to attend the premiere of "" in Los Angeles in December 2015, but was too ill to travel to the US. He had been living with a lung condition for years. Instead, Baker attended the film's premiere in London.


title: Night Ranger

text: Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, though bassist Jack Blades performed on all but one of their albums. Other current members of the band include guitarist Keri Kelli and keyboardist Eric Levy.


title: Night Ranger

text: The band's first five albums sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and the group has sold 17 million albums total. The quintet is best known for the power ballad "Sister Christian", which peaked at number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in June 1984, along with several other top 40 hit singles in the 1980s, including "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", "When You Close Your Eyes", "Sentimental Street", "Four in the Morning (I Can't Take Any More)", and "Goodbye."


title: Night Ranger

text: After their success waned in the late 1980s, the band split up in 1989, and its members pursued other musical endeavors, including group and solo efforts. Brad Gillis and Kelly Keagy teamed up with bassist Gary Moon, and released an album without the other original band members in 1995, but the band soon reunited to release two new albums in the latter half of the decade. Though there have since been personnel changes, the band continues to record and tour.


title: Night Ranger

text: The group's origin can be traced to Rubicon, a pop/funk group led by Jerry Martini, who gained fame as a member of Sly and the Family Stone. After Rubicon's demise in 1979, bassist Jack Blades formed a trio with two other Rubicon members, drummer Kelly Keagy and guitarist Brad Gillis. Performing under the name Stereo, the threesome added keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald, a former member of Montrose, in 1980. Fitzgerald soon recommended enlisting a second virtuoso guitarist, so Jeff Watson, who led his own band in Northern California, was added to the group. As Stereo, the band played small clubs in San Francisco in 1980, such as the Palms in the Tenderloin. By late that year, the band name was changed to "Ranger" and were opening for acts such as Sammy Hagar.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1982 the band changed its name to Night Ranger after a country band, the Rangers, claimed a trademark infringement. By this point, they had recorded "Dawn Patrol" for Boardwalk Records and done opening stints for ZZ Top and Ozzy Osbourne; the latter had employed Brad Gillis as a replacement guitarist for the recently deceased Randy Rhoads, in the spring and summer of 1982. After Boardwalk folded, producer Bruce Bird secured Night Ranger a deal with MCA on their Camel subsidiary in 1983.


title: Night Ranger

text: "Rolling Stone's "review of "7 Wishes" took a swipe at Night Ranger's "formula" of "sub-Broadway" ballads. Other critics were even less flattering, with terms such as "poseurs" and "pomp-rockers" put forth in various music guides, but favorable critics, such as "Hit Parader", underscored Jack Blades' puppy-dog appeal, which won over female fans, while Gillis and Watson's dueling guitars pleased the same male audience that guitar-driven bands such as Van Halen had already begun to cultivate. Both guitarists also featured prominently in magazines such as "Guitar for the Practicing Musician".


title: Night Ranger

text: "Dawn Patrol"'s first single, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", received a boost through its MTV video airplay, and peaked modestly at number 40 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. "Sing Me Away", a concert favorite sung by Keagy, fell short of the top 40 at a peak position of number 54, though it also was featured on MTV. Night Ranger's popularity solidified with their second album, "Midnight Madness", which pushed the band from opening act to headliner status by the summer of 1984. Apart from "Rock in America", "Midnight Madness" spun off two hit ballads: "When You Close Your Eyes" (number 14) and "Sister Christian" (number five), written and sung by Kelly Keagy for his younger sister, Christine. "Sister Christian" proved to be the band's milestone—as well as a millstone. According to a later interview with Gillis, "Sister Christian" was actually completed in 1982, but Gillis said the band chose not to release it on "Dawn Patrol" because they were afraid of losing their hard rock credibility.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1985 Night Ranger continued headlining their own tours in support of "7 Wishes", which followed a very loose concept of the band flying across the ocean in a WWII B-25 Mitchell bomber. Blades later reported Gillis and he were fascinated by World War II planes. Night Ranger's "Sentimental Street" video even placed them in an Amelia Earhart scenario, with the entire band lost at sea. Like "Midnight Madness", "7 Wishes" garnered three hit singles: "Sentimental Street" (number eight; sung by Kelly Keagy); Blades' mid-tempo rocker "Four in the Morning (I Can't Take Anymore)" (number 19), the title describing the time of night Blades wrote the song; and the pleasant, acoustic-flavored "Goodbye" (number 17), which had the band veering in an overtly folk-rock, even country, direction. According to a 2001 TNN interview, Blades wrote "Goodbye" in memory of his older brother, James, who had died from a heroin overdose several years before.


title: Night Ranger

text: Between 1984 and 1987, Night Ranger branched out into soundtracks, recording or contributing songs to several teen-oriented films. In 1984, the band released "Interstate Love Affair" (later appearing on "7 Wishes") for "Teachers", starring Nick Nolte. In 1985, they also contributed another "7 Wishes" track, "This Boy Needs to Rock", to the soundtrack of "Explorers". The band also received exposure on two Anthony Michael Hall vehicles, "Sixteen Candles" (1984) and "Out of Bounds" (1986). "Rumours in the Air" from "Midnight Madness" appeared on the former, while the latter featured "Wild and Innocent Youth", a rollicking Blades-Keagy composition that has still never been released on a Night Ranger album or compilation.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1987 Blades co-wrote the title theme to the Michael J. Fox film "The Secret of My Success", which served as the lead-off single on the band's next album, "Big Life". Unlike the previous three Night Ranger albums produced by Pat Glasser, this one was produced by David Foster, and featured more up-tempo songs than power ballads.


title: Night Ranger

text: "Big Life" featured some fairly mature Blades-Keagy songwriting, including the nuanced fan favorite "Rain Comes Crashing Down", inspired by a stormy California afternoon. Sung by Keagy, "Carry On" was most reminiscent of classic Night Ranger, and featured as the flip side of "Secret of My Success". None of the chosen "Big Life" singles hit the top 40. "Secret of My Success" stalled just short of hit-single status at number 64 on "Billboard's "Hot 100 despite heavy MTV rotation in the spring of 1987. Night Ranger also openly quarreled with MCA over choosing "Hearts Away" in lieu of one of their heavier songs. Their label expected another top-10 ballad, like "Sister Christian" or "Sentimental Street", but despite Keagy's passionate vocals, "Hearts Away" failed to catch on during Night Ranger's 1987 tour (peaking at number 90 on "Billboard's "Hot 100)—a vigorous series of dates across North America and the Caribbean, featuring The Outfield as the opening act. A third single/video was released for "Color Of Your Smile", but it failed to reach the charts due to limited airplay.


title: Night Ranger

text: In early 1988, Fitzgerald left during the recording of Night Ranger's fifth album, citing his own diminished role in the guitar-driven band, though Fitzgerald had originally suggested the addition of Jeff Watson to augment the band's sound in the first place. With "Fitz" gone, Night Ranger acquired a touring keyboardist, Jesse Bradman, to complete the next album, "Man in Motion", which promised a return to earlier form with more hard rock to anchor the group's sagging fortunes. None of the singles from it were distinguished enough to gain radio airplay, though, as MCA once again chose ballads over rockers. "I Did It for Love" (written by Russ Ballard) fared poorly, even with a cameo appearance by popular actress Morgan Fairchild in the video. The band still views "Restless Kind" as a favorite, but it failed to chart. "Don't Start Thinking (I'm Alone Tonight)" and "Reason to Be" were similarly unsuccessful in early 1989. "Man in Motion" thus became the first Night Ranger album not to achieve gold or platinum status.


title: Night Ranger

text: After a tour in 1988–89 supporting "Man in Motion" (including an opening slot for Kansas), Blades left Night Ranger to form the popular super-group Damn Yankees with Tommy Shaw of Styx.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1991, Keagy and Gillis enlisted Gary Moon (ex-Three Dog Night) to replace Blades as vocalist/bassist and decided to reform as a trio after Jeff Watson decided to pursue a solo career. In 1993, David Zajicek was added as a full member on guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals to the new unit of the group and to back the coming album and bolster the group's stage sound.


title: Night Ranger

text: The reformed nucleus of the group (Gillis, Keagy, Moon, and Zajicek) then recorded "Feeding off the Mojo" in 1995, with producer David Prater, who previously introduced Zajicek to Night Ranger.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1996 Blades returned to Night Ranger, which ultimately led to a reunion of all five original members for two studio albums on CMC Records, which engineered a similar comeback for Styx. While "Neverland" and "Seven" did not become as successful as the band's early material in the United States, these albums became quite popular in Japan, and the ballad "Forever All Over Again" (from "Neverland") did become a minor Adult Contemporary hit in the States. The band continued to tour between solo albums and projects, mostly on the summer festival circuit. Blades also began a stint as chief counselor for the Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 1999, they joined other 1980s bands in the second installment of the Rock Never Stops Tour, which also happened to feature Blades' former Damn Yankees bandmate Ted Nugent.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 2003, Fitzgerald was replaced by Great White rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Lardie. Fitzgerald began handling offstage keyboards once again for Van Halen in 2004.


title: Night Ranger

text: In 2007, while working on their next release, "Hole in the Sun", Watson was fired from the band. His replacement for the remainder of their 2007 tour was Winger/Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach. Lardie and Beach soon left the band to focus on Great White and Winger/Whitesnake, respectively. Christian Matthew Cullen replaced Lardie in 2007, while Joel Hoekstra took over for Beach by early 2008.


title: Night Ranger

text: In January 2008, in a podcast interview with "Stuck in the 80s", Blades said the band's latest album, "Hole in the Sun", would be released in 2008 and supported by a national tour. In addition, he said the band was flying to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in late January to play a special show for Navy and Marines troops on the island. To date, Night Ranger has sold 16 million albums worldwide.


title: Night Ranger

text: When not with Night Ranger, Hoekstra played guitar for the hit Broadway show "Rock of Ages" and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Hoekstra also did double duty for a stretch of the band's 2011 tour, filling in for Mick Jones of Foreigner, which was also on the bill that summer along with Journey.


title: Night Ranger

text: On March 8, 2011, Night Ranger announced new member Eric Levy (Garaj Mahal) and the departure of Christian Matthew Cullen.


title: Night Ranger

text: Night Ranger released its new album, "Somewhere In California", on June 21, 2011. The video for the first single, "Growin' Up in California", can be seen on YouTube.


title: Night Ranger

text: On March 25, 2012, Night Ranger gave an "a cappella" performance of the Star-Spangled Banner prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.


title: Night Ranger

text: In May 2012, Night Ranger celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut album "Dawn Patrol" by recording "24 Strings and a Drummer" as both a live DVD and album in an intimate, all-acoustic setting in front of a select number of fans at TRI Studios in San Rafael, California. According to Brave Words, the CD/DVD features some of their greatest hits, such as "(You Can Still) Rock in America" and "Sister Christian", in new acoustic arrangements. The live acoustic album consist of 12 songs plus a bonus track.


title: Night Ranger

text: On June 4, 2012, Night Ranger returned to the Islington Academy in London for the second headlining show in 12 months at the 800-capacity venue.


title: Night Ranger

text: On July 12, 2012, Night Ranger opened for the German band The Scorpions at its US farewell "Get Your Sting and Blackout" tour at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Alongside their major hits, the band also commemorated Gillis's brief stint with Ozzy Osbourne's band with a cover of "Crazy Train".


title: Night Ranger

text: From July 13 to 15, 2012, Night Ranger performed in the small midwestern town of Woodhaven, Michigan, for the Uncle Sam Jam.


title: Night Ranger

text: On September 1, 2012, Night Ranger performed as the headlining act for the "River Days" festival in Portsmouth, Ohio. Keyboardist Eric Levy was forced to miss this performance due to his wife giving birth. Brandon Ethridge (from the musicals "Rock of Ages" and "We Will Rock You") handled the keyboards for this performance.


title: Night Ranger

text: In late 2012, guitarist Keri Kelli (whose resume includes stints with Alice Cooper, Slash, Skid Row, Vince Neil Band, Ratt, Warrant, L.A. Guns, Tal Bachman, John Waite, and others) came aboard Night Ranger to substitute for Joel Hoekstra while he was off playing for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He likewise returned in late 2013, once again to fill in for Hoekstra, when Trans-Siberian called him away again.


title: Night Ranger

text: On June 10, 2014, Night Ranger released their 11th studio album, "High Road", available in CD, vinyl, and digital formats. A deluxe edition includes a bonus track, and a DVD of music videos and behind-the-scenes extras; Best Buy offers an exclusive version of the deluxe edition with a second bonus track.


title: Night Ranger

text: On August 21, 2014, Hoekstra was announced as leaving the band to join the guitarist he originally replaced, Reb Beach, in Whitesnake. Keri Kelli was then brought back in as the permanent replacement for Hoekstra.


title: Night Ranger

text: The band released a live DVD/double CD recording on December 2, 2016, with Frontiers Records. Celebrating the band's 35th anniversary, "35 Years and a Night in Chicago" was recorded May 7, 2016, at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois. Included in the release is a new song, "Day and Night". A second encore that night featured another new song, "Running Out of Time". These new songs were part of an album of new material.


title: Night Ranger

text: On January 13, 2017, the band released a new single, "Somehow Someway", from "Don't Let Up". The album was released by Frontiers Music SRL on March 24, 2017. It features 11 songs, and was produced by the band. It is the first studio album by the group to include Keri Kelli on guitar.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, "Elippathayam" won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and Most Original Imaginative Film of 1982 by the British Film Institute. Rajiv Anchal's "Guru" (1997), Salim Ahamed's "Adaminte Makan Abu" (2011) and Lijo Jose Pellissery's "Jallikkattu" (2019) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Other films which achieved global acclaim include "Chemmeen" (1965), which received a Certificate of Merit at the Chicago International Film Festival, and a gold medal at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Cinematography. "Swaham" (1994) won the "Bronze Rosa Camuna" at the Bergamo Film Meeting in Italy. The first 3D film produced in India, "My Dear Kuttichathan" (1984), was made in Malayalam. The first CinemaScope film produced in Malayalam was "Thacholi Ambu" (1978).


title: Malayalam cinema

text: During the early 1920s the Malayalam film industry was based in Thiruvananthapuram, although the film industry started to develop and flourish only by the late 1940s. Later the industry shifted to Chennai (formerly Madras), which then was the capital of the South Indian film industry. By the late 1980s, the Malayalam film industry returned and established itself in Kerala with the majority of locations, studios, production and post-production facilities being located in Kochi. Several media sources describe Kochi as the hub of the film industry. As of 2018, Malayalam cinema has got 14 awards for the best actor, 6 for the best actress, 12 for the best film, and 13 for the best film director at the National Film Awards, India.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Active Malayalam film production did not take place until the second half of the 20th century: there were only two silent films, and three Malayalam-language films before 1947. With support from the Kerala state government production climbed from around 6 a year in the 1950s, to 30 a year in the 1960s, 40 a year in the 1970s, to 127 films in 1980.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The first cinema hall in Kerala, with a manually operated film projector, was opened in Thrissur by Jose Kattookkaran in 1907. In 1913, the first permanent theatre in Kerala was established in Thrissur town by Kattookkaran and was called the "Jose Electrical Bioscope", now Jos Theatre.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The first film made in Malayalam was "Vigathakumaran". Production started in 1928, and it was released at the Capitol Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram on 23 October 1930. It was produced and directed by J. C. Daniel, a businessman with no prior film experience, who is credited as the father of Malayalam cinema. Daniel founded the first film studio, The Travancore National Pictures Limited, in Kerala. A second film, "Marthanda Varma", based on a novel by C. V. Raman Pillai, was produced by R. Sundar Raj in 1933. However, after only being shown for four days, the film prints were confiscated due to a legal battle over copyright.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The first talkie in Malayalam was "Balan", released in 1938. It was directed by S. Nottani with a screenplay and songs written by Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai. It was produced by Modern Theatres at Salem in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. "Balan" was followed by "Gnanambika" in 1940, which was directed by S. Notani. Then came "Prahlada" in 1941, directed by K. Subramoniam of Madras and featuring Guru Gopinath and Thankamani Gopinath.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Until 1947 most Malayalam films were made by Tamil producers, P. J. Cherian was the first Malayali producer to venture into this field after JC Daniel. PJ Cherian produced "Nirmala" in 1948 with Joseph Cherian and Baby Joseph his son and daughter-in-law as hero and heroine. He also cast many other family members in other roles, trying to break the taboo that noble family people do not take up acting. Thus "Nirmala" set many firsts for introducing play-back singing. P.J. Cherian introduced play-back singing in Malayalam cinema. The lyrics of the film written by G. Sankara Kurup became popular.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Udaya Studios' "Vellinakshatram" (1949) was the first movie with audio to be made completely in Kerala.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Malayalam cinema has always taken its themes from relevant social issues and has been interwoven with material from literature, drama, and politics since its inception. One such film, "Jeevitha Nouka" (1951), was a musical drama that spoke about the problems in a joint family.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: In 1954, the film "Neelakuyil" captured national interest by winning the President's silver medal. It was scripted by the well-known Malayalam novelist Uroob, and directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: "Newspaper Boy" (1955) contained elements of Italian neorealism. This film is notable as the product of a group of amateur college filmmakers. It told the story of a printing press employee and his family being stricken with extreme poverty.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The music took a turn away from the trend of copying Tamil and Hindi songs. The poets Tirunainaarkurichy Madhavan Nair – Thirunaiyarkurichy, P. Bhaskaran, O. N. V. Kurup, and Vayalar Ramavarma rose up in this period as film lyricists. Brother Lakshmanan, Dakshinamurthy, K. Raghavan, G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, and Pukhenthey Velappan Nair started a distinct style of Malayalam music. Kamukara Purushotaman, Mehboob, Kozhikode Abdul Kader, AM Raja, P. B. Sreenivas, K. P. Udayabhanu, Santha P. Nair, P. Leela, S. Janaki, P. Susheela, B. Vasantha, Renuka, and Jikki were the most prominent singers of the 1950s. The drama artist and school teacher Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai lent many of his skills to the cinema in this period.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Ramu Kariat, one of the directors of "Neelakuyil" (along with P. Bhaskaran), went on to become a successful director in the 1960s and 1970s. P. Bhaskaran directed many acclaimed and hit films in the 1960s and 70s. The cameraman of "Neelakkuyil", A. Vincent, also became a noted director of the 1960s and 1970s. Notable films of this decade include "Odayil Ninnu", "Bhargavi Nilayam" (1964), "Chemmeen" (1965), "Murappennu" (1965) and "Iruttinte Athmavu" (1966).


title: Malayalam cinema

text: "Chemmeen" (1965), directed by Ramu Kariat and based on a novel of the same name by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, went on to become very popular and became the first South Indian film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Most of the films of the 1960s were animated by the nationalist and socialist projects and centered on issues relating to caste and class exploitation, the fight against obscurantist beliefs, the degeneration of the feudal class, and the break-up of the joint-family system.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: In the 1960s, M. Krishnan Nair, Kunchacko and P. Subramaniam were the leading Malayali producers. Thikkurusi Sukumaran Nair, Prem Nazir, Sathyan, Madhu, Adoor Bhasi, Bahadur, S.P. Pillai, K.P. Ummer, Kottarakara Sreedharan Nair, Raghavan, G.K. Pillai, Muthukulam, Joseprakash, Paravur Bharatan, Muthayya, Shankaradi, Govindankutty, K.R. Vijaya, Padmini, Ragini, Sharada, Sheela, Ambika, Jayabharathi, Arumula Ponnamma and Sadahna were among the more popular actors active in this period.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Kunchacko made significant contributions to Malayalam cinema, both as a producer and as director of some notable movies. He started Udaya Studios in Alleppey (Alappuzha) in 1947, reducing the travel to Madras (Chennai) for film crew and actors. This boosted Malayalam film production in Kerala.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Many directors sprang up in this period. P.N. Menon made "Rosy" and later "Chemparanthi". G. Aravindan and Adoor Gopalakrishnan also started work in 1960s and became famous later.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The 70s saw the emergence of a new wave of cinema in Malayalam. The growth of the film society movement in Kerala introduced the works of the French and Italian New Wave directors to the discerning Malayali film enthusiasts. Adoor Gopalakrishnan's first film, "Swayamvaram" (1972), brought Malayalam cinema to the international film arena. In 1973 M. T. Vasudevan Nair, who was by then recognised as an important author in Malayalam, directed his first film, "Nirmalyam", which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. G. Aravindan followed Adoor's lead with his "Uttarayanam" in 1974. K. P. Kumaran's "Adhithi" (1974) was another film that was acclaimed by the critics. Cinematographers who won the National Award for their work on Malayalam films in the 1970s were Mankada Ravi Varma for "Swayamvaram" (1972), P. S. Nivas for "Mohiniyattam" (1977), and Shaji N. Karun for "Thampu" (1979). John Abraham, K. R. Mohanan, K. G. George, and G. S. Panikkar were products of the Pune Film Institute who made significant contributions.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: During the late 1970s, some young artists started seeing Malayalam cinema as a medium of expression and thought of it as a tool to revitalise society. A noted director, Aravindan, was famous in Kerala as a cartoonist before he started making films. His important movies include "Kanchana Sita" (1977), "Thampu" (1978), "Kummatty" (1979), "Chidambaram" (1985), "Oridathu" (1986), and "Vasthuhara" (1990).


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The 1970s also saw the emergence of the notable director P. G. Viswambharan with his debut film "Ozhukinethire" and the mythical film "Satyavan Savithri", which were well accepted.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Also, commercial cinema in this period saw several worker-class themed films which mostly had M. G. Soman, Sukumaran and Sudheer in the lead followed by the emergence of a new genre of pure action-themed films, in a movement led by Jayan. However, this was short-lived, and almost ended when Jayan died while performing a stunt in "Kolilakkam" (1980).


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The Malayalam cinema of this period was characterised by detailed screenplays dealing with everyday life with a lucid narration of plot intermingling with humour and melancholy. This was aided by the cinematography and lighting. The films had warm background music.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: In 1981 Fazil directed Manjil Virinja Pookal the film also introduced then Romantic star Shankar (actor) and later actor Mohanlal to the world. Adoor Gopalakrishnan made "Elippathayam" in 1981. This movie won the British Film Institute award. The year 1981 also saw the rise of actor "Mammootty" through the movie "Sphodanam" directed by P. G. Viswambharan .


title: Malayalam cinema

text: In the 1980s Padmarajan made some of the landmark motion pictures in Malayalam cinema, including masterpieces like "Oridathoru Phayalvaan" (1981), "Koodevide" (1983), "Thinkalaazhcha Nalla Divasam"(1985), "Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil" (1986), "Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal" (1986), "Thoovanathumbikal" (1987),"Moonnam Pakkam" (1988), "Innale" (1989) and "Season" (1989). He wrote several short stories that were unique in content and presentation. His novels handled the darkest emotions and considered as Classics. Most plots were nascent for that age literature. All works were so cinematic and Can be easily visualized to the celluloid version.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: K. G. George released films including "Yavanika" and "Adaminte Vaariyellu". This was the period during which script writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair started teaming up with director Hariharan to produce works like "Panchagni", "Nakhakshathangal", "Aranyakam" and "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha".


title: Malayalam cinema

text: John Abraham's films such as "Amma Ariyaan" addressed people's issues and raised the finance directly from people.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: The period had movies with humour from directors like Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikad, Kamal and Siddique-Lal. "Piravi" (1989) by Shaji N. Karun was the first Malayalam film to win the Caméra d'Or-Mention at the Cannes Film Festival.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Ratheesh and Sukumaran also were leading stars in the industry in the early eighties. Later Mammootty has won 3 National Film Awards for best actor. Mohanlal has won 5 National Awards, including 2 for Best Actor, 1 special jury award, 1 special mention and 1 as a producer.


title: Malayalam cinema

text: Some examples are "Mathilukal" (1990) directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, "Kattukuthira" (1990) directed by P. G. Viswambharan, "Amaram" (1991) directed by Bharathan, "Ulladakkam" (1992) directed by Kamal, "Kilukkam" (1991) directed by Priyadarshan, "Kamaladalam" (1992) by Sibi Malayil, "Vidheyan" (1993) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, "Devaasuram" (1993) by I. V. Sasi, "Manichitrathazhu" (1993) by Fazil, "Ponthan Mada" (1993) by T. V. Chandran, "Spadikam" (1995) by Bhadran, "Commissioner"(1994) "The King" (1995) by Shaji Kailas, "Hitler" (1996) by Siddique and "Desadanam" (1997) by Jayaraj. Due to a series of comedy films produced between the late 1980s and late 1990s made actors like Jagadish, Siddique, Mukesh, Sreenivasan and Jayaram became very popular for their comedy roles. This series of comedy films begun in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with comedy films by Sathyan Anthikad and Siddique-Lal, like "Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu", "Mazhavilkavadi", "Ramji Rao Speaking", "Thalayana Manthram", "In Harihar Nagar", and "Godfather", and some of them went on to be remade by other directors in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and other languages. The success of "In Harihar Nagar" led to the production of a series of comedy films in the early and mid-1990s.