headfines headlines from bbc 1m headlines from bbc news. . . the headlines from bbc news. .. the world _ headlines from bbc news... the world health - news... the world health organization �*s warning against jumping to conclusions about the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines. this is despite a south african study that suggests the astrazeneca jab mac is less effective against the virus. organisations say it is an important tool. former president donald trump's lawyers have asked to dismiss charges brought against him, claiming they are unconstitutional. he's charged with inciting insurrection when he urged his supporters to march on the capital building. five people died in the violence that followed. myanmar�*s military will address the nation for the first time since the army sees power last week. the general says subject vow civilian leaders failed to bold a proper election.

storm darcy has brought severe weather with much of the uk. it is the coldest since the so—called beast from the east in 2018. schools and vaccination centres have had to close in some areas and police are warning people not to travel. helen wilkins reports. in benfleet in essex, a bus driver struggled to keep control. such were the challenging conditions on the road. he ain't stopping for no—one! —— helena wilkinson reports. in norfolk, motorists abandoned their cars as snowdrifts stopped them from getting through. emergency services were also impacted. the county of kent experienced some of the heaviest snowfall, up to 16 cm in some areas. this scene has been repeated across much of eastern england. due to storm darcy, we had some very strong blustery winds, which has caused a lot of drifting in certain exposed areas, and that's caused a lot

of problems on the roads. the aa says treacherous driving conditions have caused numerous accidents. in chartham, near canterbury, local workers helped to keep village life ticking along. getting everybody in and out... we don't want anyone snowed in, so why not come out and get it done, help the community a bit? the weather forced some vaccination centres to close, including several in suffolk and essex, as well as surrey and norfolk. coastal towns like southend—on—sea in essex were amongst those to experience the full force of the adverse weather. as well as heavy snowfall, it's been bitterly cold today. temperatures in some parts of england are expected to drop to —10 overnight, and the next few nights are set to be the coldest of the winter so far. helena wilkinson, bbc news, southend—on—sea. in this special addition of

talking movies, highlights from the sundance film festival which will become global for the first time. hello and welcome to talking movies. we are in a very snowy central park here in new york city. i'm tom brook. in today's programme, we're going to be looking at highlights of this year's sundance film festival. normally we would be reporting from snowy park city, utah, where the festival is normally held, but this year, because of the pandemic, sundance was largely a virtual affair. of course, the ski slopes of park city in utah have for years provided the backdrop to sundance, and it remains

one of the world's most celebrated showcases. this year, it was abbreviated and mostly online, offering a slimmed—down line—up of feature films. on the plus side, though, the festival's footprint went global, with some sundance content being made available to international audiences. like all the other film journalists and film critics the festivalfrom my home here in new york, accredited to sundance this year, i experienced the festivalfrom my home here in new york, watching movies on my laptop, or, when i could make the connection work, on my television as well. it was a very efficient way of watching movies, but it was quite a solitary event, so, to compensate this year, sundance created elaborate networking opportunities online to bring together virtual festival—goers like myself around the world. i'm going to help you navigate this world that is sundance online. despite an instructional video,

finding your way around the virtual sundance film festival could be a bit difficult, but it was worth persisting, because some great films were unveiled. the festival has long been a champion of diversity. this year, more than half the programming was directed by one or more people of colour. but what was remarkable was how many films got completed in time for the festival, with film—makers working under lockdown. brazilian director iuli gerbase, whose film the pink cloud was in the line—up, did not find it easy. we had to do many things remotely and dub some scenes with the actors. the actors had a microphone in their house, i was in my house and the sound editor in another house and we were all on zoom, and i was directing by zoom, but it all worked out in the end. if the pandemic was on the minds of film—makers, so too was the recent political tumult there is in america. although few features directly critiqued the trump years, there was a sense that

america's polarised politics could be good for the kind of independent cinema that sundance celebrates. i hope it is going to instil a new sense of enquiry and curiosity into film—makers. despite some complications with getting reservations online, sundance's venture into being a virtual festival worked. obviously, it can't match the real thing, but this year the festival succeeded in delivering some great cinema, much of it not mainstream and adventurous, binding together the independent film community at a very difficult moment in time. one of the opening—day movies, coda, which stands for children of deaf adults, generated a lot of excitement. it is powerful, you have a story and also a glimpse into a community whose depiction, historically, has been farfrom ideal.

—— a powerful, coming—of—age story. the main character in coda is the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf family. like most teenagers, ruby is caught between two worlds, her childhood life with her parents and a future she dreams of — in this case, singing at a prestigious arts university. you can sing. it's my favourite thing. but the stakes are higher here because her family need her more than most. ruby is her family's translator to the world and a key employee of their struggling fishing business. the film effectively blends the emotions of a coming—of—age drama with an authentic depiction of deaf culture. director sean hadar, a hearing person, worked hard to get it right. i spoke with a lot of codas i got there first hand i spoke with a lot of codas, i got their firsthand

experiences, i reached out to members of the deaf community, i made deaf friends, it really was, if i'm going to do this, i have to make sure that i have the people around me to be the check and balance to my own perspective. depicting deaf culture authentically is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes the most cinematic storytelling. watching the characters in coda have passionate discussions in american sign language is far more visually stimulating than having the characters simply speak aloud. the first time i watched an asl fight, i was like, this is awesome! like, talk about cinema! you know, you're stomping your feet, you'e grabbing the other person... you don't walk away from a fight, because you have to be looking at each other. deaf communities take the representation of deaf people in film very seriously. there's even a social media campaign, #deaftalent, to call out projects that cast

hearing actors in deaf roles. coda gets that one right, casting three deaf actors, including marlee matlin, oscar winner for 1986's children of a lesser god, in the key roles. but there's more to it than casting. portraying deaf people well involves highlighting the ways in which they are no different to hearing people. often, they fall into two categories. it's an object of pity, being deaf is an object of pity, or, "oh, my god, how noble," they have overcome the odds, and, you know, they are a shining light in a dark time. those are the two narratives, and they're very two—dimensional. there is no depth. there is no background. there is no real story. it's just very superficial. and deaf people are like everybody else. slowly but surely, hollywood

is starting to listen. millicent simmonds, a deaf child actor, recently starred in wonderstruck and a quiet place. a deaf actor who won a tony for the recent broadway revival of children of a lesser god, will next star as a marvel superhero. sound of metal, about a man who loses his hearing and becomes immersed in the deaf community, was just released in december and is currently garnering serious oscar buzz. coda, meanwhile, ended up as the smash of this festival. it won both the audience and jury awards, a rare honour, and was bought by apple tv plus for a sundance record $25 million. this means the issue of deaf representation is about to get its brightest spotlight yet. two high—profile actresses, both of whom have made a very positive impression on me over the years, rebecca hall and robin wright, made their directional debuts at sundance this year.

sundance became the first major film festival to achieve gender parity in 2013 in its dramatic competition. this year, the organisers say that half of its selection had at least one woman director. emma jones reports. what do you feel? that it's really difficult to be around people. notjust in front of but behind the camera, land is robin wright's directing debut. it's a powerful film for this time of isolation for many. a grieving woman, edie, wants solitude but finds healing in nature and the human company of miguel, played by mexican—born actor demian bichir. can we agree that you do not bring any news of life elsewhere ? what if aliens [and here? i always wanted to direct a feature film. i didn't know what it was going to be after being on house

of cards for six years. this one just resonated at the time, and this film was just so beautiful and timely. you were robin's only companion in wilderness and she was directing you. what was that experience like? it seems like she has done it all her life, — directed herself, i mean. jumping from one position to another, changing hats very easily. acclaimed british actress rebecca hall also made her directorial debut with passing. it stars ruth negga and tessa thompson and is a story about racism in 1920s new york. over half of all the faces who took part in virtual sundance this year were female film—makers, as the festival achieved gender parity across the board, eight years after it managed it in one of its competitions. nearly half of those projects

were by non—white female directors, including a documentary about rita moreno, the first hispanic woman to win an oscar for west side story in 1962. moreno not only suffered sexual harassment, but also appalling typecasting in her early career. i wanted to turn the parts down, but that's all that was offered, and i had to make a living. what i went through in my youth and did my hollywood years, which was in my 20s... here is what is really ironic, it is still happening. —— and in my hollywood years. this was a0 or 50 years ago. it's still happening. emma, isn't this crazy? what was apparent is that of the call for women's authentic voices to be heard, wherever they come from. writing with fire, which won

a special impact for change jury award at the festival, is an indian documentary about a female—run news organisation, khabar lahariya. despite the discrimination they suffer as women for being dalits, the so—called untouchable caste, their youtube channel has over 3 million subscribers. —— halfa —— half a million subscribers. what happens when a dalit journalist with a camera asks uncomfortable questions and does it consistently? these were the questions that we were confronting. how do you fight a system that is nearly 3,000 years of oppression through your work? and i think that doing it in the most powerful, the most meaningful, the most non—violent way possible. that's something for women in film to consider as they continue to push for equal representation through the power

of their work. edgar wright is one of britain's most talented film—makers, who really made a name for himself with his satires like shaun of the dead and hot fuzz. he also made a name for himself with more mainstream films like scott pilgrim vs the world and, more recently, ba by driver. this is his most recent film. is his first music documentary, called the sparks brothers. it's his first music documentary, called the sparks brothers. they've been creating cutting—edge music for 30 years and are called sparks, two brothers from california that have a distinct look and a body of work that spans over 25 albums. edgar wright has long been fascinated by them. growing up, they were sort of unreal to me, and the older i got, the fact that they were still making music that was really challenging and great and seemed to be

getting better when the curve of most bands that they drop off, i was just kind of beguiled by them and needed to find out more. sparks has a devoted following, more in europe than in their native us, but they're not exactly a household name. i know that lots of people i've shown it to when i was testing the movie did not know sparks at all, and would be dumbfounded about it because they were like, "how did i miss this entire chapter of musical history?" the film is packed with interviews and performances. it looks at the brothers' careers as musicians who have long been protective of their private lives, feeling a focus on that would distract from their music. they were comfortable with edgar wright, who had final cut on the film, doing a documentary. we had so much respect for what edgar had done as a film—maker and then also the passion that he felt for the band that it felt like if we ever were going to have a

documentary about sparks, this was really the perfect person and the perfect time to do it. when you try to describe it to people, it's like, "what do they sound like?" "sparks." his film is incredibly comprehensive, but also has an inspirational quality, showing that despite many ups and downs, the brothers have persisted where others would have just given up and they are still making music 50 years after they began. also, what's refreshing is that they never sold out. they never changed what they do to please others for commercial gain. wright can relate to that. i have certainly had some ups and downs and i think you do go through that thing where all of us just thought, maybe sell out and do something that you are not really, you're kind of compromising yourself, you sort of, sometimes have to double down and i admire sparks for that.

covid has touched so many lives around the world, including, of course, people within the independent film—making community, so it was no surprise to find that at sundance, there were several films that reflected our pandemic times, among them a documentary from acclaimed british film—maker kevin macdonald called life in a day 2020. the director has been telling talking movies in his own words about his very ambitious undertaking. in a year when we've all been brought together by covid, where nobody, really, in the world, has been untouched by covid and its consequences, this film, in a way that, you know, could appear kind of sentimental or hippyish but really is not when you see

the film, it reinforces, kind of, the similarities between everyone in the world. i was so surprised by how different this film was than the first one in that the film is kind of the same, but the content is much more diverse. —— the form is the same. there's materialfrom nearly every corner of the world, filmed by people themselves who have smartphones with cameras and, secondly, because the things that people chose to film tended to be a lot more melancholy, sad, things, stories about loss, and i thinkjust generally people were a little bit more pensive. i have had two brothers, not one, but two brothers die in police custody. we structured it around, kind of, human life, so we've got the birth of little children and then towards the end of the film we have old age and in the middle we kind of move through

the years and then we kind of go through thematics even within that as well, so we go through a sequence which is about romance and love and sometimes heartbreaks, people get rejected on camera or splitting up on camera. there's a sequence, obviously, about covid, there's a sequence about nature and how nature has returned during this time. it really did change the way i saw people. you can't help but see these thousands of hours of footage and, you know, humanity in all its forms, without feeling uplifted by it and without feeling, you know, are we not kind of wonderful, in a way? sundance typically looks to the future with its new frontier section, in which interactive

projects push the boundaries of storytelling. this year, some of the endeavours focused on social issues, including black experiences in america. but, as christian dailly reports, there was a wide range of engaging content on offer. this year, i logged on to sundance's new frontier gallery from home, and inside this user interface i created a digital avatar of myself. it was like a video game. sundance attempted to recreate the physical space that they usually have at the festival, but this time, it was in cyberspace. virtual reality, or vr is usually the main attraction at the new frontier section of sundance. the film festival was aware that many people in the world still don't own vr headsets, so some projects were easy to experience withjust a computer and i was glad to find a few dealing with black experiences in the united states.

i wasjust in the wrong place at the wrong time, right? i the changing same is the first of a series about racial terror in the united states. it's a very respectful and very powerful experience where you basically walk in the shoes of a black man who gets pulled over in a suburb and taken to prison, like, for really no good reason, but thatjourney is really familiar and it shows you through your steps how familiar it is, how it feels like it was since slavery times, how it was during jim crow. i found another project that was the culmination of the work of five different artists called travelling the interstitium by octavia butler. each work was somehow inspired by the pioneering fiction writer, who was passionate about putting black people at the centre of stories with science fiction or fantasy elements. one of the works, called quantum summer, put me

on an island with music emanating from different parts of the environment. you walk around an island that i have created called planet inkwell and you can go to different sites on this island and you will hear different songs, different raps. it's really an audiovisual meditation on the future of blackness, technology and ancestral intelligence. i also came across 4 feet high, a series about a young wheelchair—bound girl who was on a quest to express her sexuality in the midst of a growing political movement in her school to include sexual education in the curriculum. this project also incorporated vr. we wanted to break the usual image that society has about disability that is kind of an angel or on the other side like a heroine or something like that, so we wanted her to be

like a normal teenager with the same questions and the same aims as we all have at that age. overall, what sundance was able to accomplish with their virtual presentation of new frontier was notable and more accessible than their past physical gatherings, but, like some of the artists i spoke to, i missed the feeling of immersion that comes from placing yourself in an installation that sets the stage for you to experience an imaginative digital realm, and i hope to be able to do that in person again very soon. well, that brings our special programme looking back at highlights of this year's sundance film festival to a close. we hope you have enjoyed the show. please remember, you can always reach us online at bbc.com and you can find us on facebook and twitter. since we featured edgar wright's documentary about the sparks brothers, we thought we would leave you with their song

about the bbc, which they say is a fantasy but also a tribute to the corporation. # now that i own the bbc # what am i supposed to do with that thing? # now that i own the bbc # # what am i supposed to make of this thing # all this power, all this glory # all these djs # what was i thinking, what was i thinking? # what was i thinking? # what could i have been thinking? # hey, rupert murdoch, help me out...# hello. very cold out there at the moment, with ice around and of course further snow flurries, particularly in eastern areas. the heaviest of those snow flurries as we go through tuesday, covered by a met office amber weather warning across parts of central scotland. travel, power, communication disruption possible,

as those snow levels start to mount up. but it's notjust that, it's the extent of the chill this morning. may be as low as around —ia, —15 through some parts of central scotland. all starting the day sub—zero. you can see where those snow showers line up through central areas of scotland. there will be others around northern and eastern parts of scotland, and we'll see little snow corridors again across parts of england and wales, just focusing some of those snow showers to give a further covering in some places. either side of it, we will see just that light flurry most of you saw through tuesday, but a better chance of some sunshine in between. you saw the winds, another windy day across the board. in the thermometers, temperatures barely above freezing — it's going to feel much, much colder than that. and with some of the strongest of the winds to be found down toward south—west england and the channel islands, it's here where the coldest wind chill values will be found, as cold as —10 to —8 through the afternoon. also the chance of some sleet and snow very close to cornwall and the channel islands to end the day. that will gradually pull away as we go through the night

and into wednesday. a subtle shift in wind direction means snow showers pushing through southern scotland into northern england in particular, and a few lines further south. another icy night, temperatures could get even colder, —15, —16. now, the big picture to start wednesday has low pressure out in the atlantic trying to get towards us, but high pressure is holding on. and with the isobars opening out a little bit, the good news is it's not going to be quite as windy on wednesday. those winds more north—easterly, so it will be parts of south—east scotland, north—east england, the focus of showers. a few down east anglia, the south—east too, but more of you dry on wednesday, more of you see the sunshine. it's not going to do much to the temperatures, still struggling to get above freezing in some spots. another widespread, harsh frost, then, to take us into thursday. plenty of sunshine around for many, but increasing cloud into the west. signs of weather fronts trying to push in as the breeze picks up. signs of something milder trying to edge in as well, but do not underestimate the power of cold air across europe. it could hold off that charge of milder air from the west and could stay

cold for many of us right the way through into next week. bye for now.

welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories... a change in policy on yemen as the us calls for an end to the work. we get a rare access at any damage caused in six years of conflict. what used on that those last week's coup. the world health organization insists the astrazeneca vaccine is still a vital tool in the global fight against coronavirus, despite concerns in south africa about its efficacy. and the english photographer who kept finding his innocent images labelled a sexually overt by facebook.