22 October 2025 Skulking deadbeat dad ... Josh O’Connor scopes a gallery in The Mastermind. Photograph: MUBI/PA When Kelly Reichardt set out to make her newest film, The Mastermind, she reached not for the slick, high-speed thrills of caper cinema but for something quieter, more probing, and strangely timely premiering in the same week that headlines exposed yet another major museum theft. Set in 1970s Massachusetts and starring Josh O’Connor as JB Mooney, a disenchanted subu

21 October 2025 Solo clubbers and ravers say they talk to people they would never have met if they’d been out with friends. Photograph: Slavica/Getty Images Across the United Kingdom over the past few years, a quiet transformation has been unfolding at live-music events: growing numbers of fans are choosing to attend gigs, festivals and club nights on their own. A recent survey by Ticketmaster UK highlights the shift while only about 8 per cent of festival-goers reported atte

20 October 2025 Britney Spears attends the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP) In a deeply personal Instagram post on October 19, Britney Spears opened up about the long-shadowed impact of her 2018 rehabilitation stay under her father’s conservatorship, describing the months of confinement she endured as so traumatic she believes “brain damage happened to me.” Her post began with a metaphor drawn from the film Maleficent, referencing the s

19 October 2025 Landmarks director Lucrecia Martel at the London film festival. Photograph: LFF The 2025 edition of the BFI London Film Festival marked a striking moment in documentary cinema as Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel’s film Landmarks was awarded Best Film in the official competition category. The jury’s decision signals not only an artistic recognition but carries a deeper resonance: the film resurrects a story of land rights, colonial legacy and long-denied ju

18 October 2025 From left: Quincy Jones, Madonna, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Idol and Tina Turner Illustration by Barbara Gibson The pulse of music video culture may be slowing to a whisper as MTV prepares to pull the plug on its five UK-based music channels at the end of 2025, raising a very real question about the future of the genre itself. When MTV burst onto the scene in 1981, it rewrote how artists were discovered, songs were promoted and pop culture was consum

17 October 2025 Credit : Katja Ogrin/Redferns In a recent essay in People, the author reflects on how concerts once created moments where the boundary between artist and audience felt porous and how today those moments are increasingly reserved for starring roles, celebrity cameos, and viral content. Back when Christina Aguilera might pull a fan onto the stage mid-song, or Gwen Stefani would end a set by inviting the crowd to dance with her, the ritual was part of the live ex

16 October 2025 Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley performs at Alice Cooper's 19th Annual Christmas Pudding Fundraiser in Phoenix, Arizona in 2021. He has died aged 74, after a fall in his recording studio. Photograph: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images Ace Frehley, the guitarist and co-founder of Kiss whose cosmic persona and blistering solos helped define an era of theatrical hard rock, has passed away following complications from a fall. The news was first confirmed by his family, who s

15 October 2025 ‘Our democracy is under attack,’ organisers state. Photograph: Fall of Freedom A coalition of writers, filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists have announced a nationwide initiative called Fall of Freedom to take place on 21–22 November, framing it as an act of “creative resistance” against rising authoritarianism and perceived threats to free expression in the United States. The campaign is led in part by visual artist Dread Scott and playwright Lynn Nottag

14 October 2025 ‘Back then, cocaine was just another way of waking up’ … Stereophonic, the play about a 70s band. Photograph: Marc Brenner It begins as a conceit of fiction: a band that exists only on the page, or the stage, or in cinematic imagination. But in recent years something curious has happened. These invented ensembles have begun to transcend their fictional origins, releasing music, drawing crowds, and taking on a life of their own. The Guardian’s recent account tr

13 October 2025 Taylor Swift during her Eras Tour. Credit : Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty Taylor Swift has just announced a landmark two-part release on Disney+ that promises to peel back the curtain on the most ambitious chapter of her career: a six-episode docuseries called The End of an Era and a concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The Final Show. The docuseries will debut December 12, 2025, with two episodes released weekly over three weeks, and it will chart the design,

11 October 2025 The film world awoke on October 11 to heartbreaking news: Diane Keaton has passed away in California at age 79, a loss confirmed by her family and reported by People. Known for a career spanning more than five decades, Keaton leaves behind a legacy of unforgettable performances, bold style, and a singular artistic voice. Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in 1946, she adopted her mother’s maiden name of Keaton for her professional life after discovering that anoth

10 October 2025 Mario Mutis, right, an Indigenous artist and teacher at Santa Fe College, helps an attendee in an art demonstration....

9 October 2025 Entrance to the New York Comic Con 2025 Getty Images Thousands poured into Manhattan’s Javits Center for the kickoff of...

08 October 2025 A fan looks at copies of the album at the Target release party in Times Square, New York. Photograph: John Taggart/EPA...

07 October 2025 Ken Jacobs, right, and his wife Flo on the set of Momma’s Man, the 2008 film directed by their son Azazel. Photograph:...

06 October 2025 Sydney Ness, Taylor Swift, Ashley Avignone, Selena Gomez, Este, Danielle and Alana Haim. Credit : Taylor Swift/Instagram...

05 October 2025 The U.S. Supreme Court is opening a high-stakes new term in October 2025 poised to reenter the nation’s most contentious...

04 October 2025 In 2025, to many observers’ surprise, comedy is reclaiming its role as a form of resistance in the cultural struggle over...

03 October 2025 Sean "Diddy" Combs attends Day 1 of 2023 Invest Fest on August 26, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Paras Griffin/Getty In a...

02 October 2025 ‘It’s not a surprise that we’re seeing a new side of her’ … Swift wearing an original Bob Mackie costume from the ‘Jewel...