bang. we will be bringing you film reviews and news every day. >> it is 10:00 p.m. here in the french capital. you are watching france 24. the mystery around the assassination of haiti's president intensifies. the u.s. and colombia say they will send investigators after american and colombian nationals were arrested by police. it is day four of the cannes film festival.

olivia salazar wins will join us with the latest from the red carpet. first, our top story. haitian police say a 28-member hit squad made up of colombians and americans murdered the haitian president. questions remain about mastermind it the assassination. the united states and colombia say they will send investigators to port-au-prince. >> police drag suspects through an angry crowd in port-au-prince

. others were arrested after they tried to break into the taiwanese and busy in the haitian capital. nearby residents are nervous. >> [indiscernible] >> the captured men were lined up along with weapons and gear. three others were killed in a gunbattle with security forces. haitian police say the assassination early wednesday of the president in his bedroowas carried out a group of 28 foreign mercenarie twof them haitian-amerin. the rest colombian. in response to haiti's request, the united states is sending fbi agent and homeland security officials to assist in the investigation. the two patients have been identified -- the two haitians

have been identified, with one claiming to be a diplomatic bodyguard. >> we are supporting diplomatic efforts on the ground and making sure we are providing resources. >> colombia is also sending senior officers to haiti. little information has come out regarding who the masterminds are and why they carried it out. not everyone on the street is convinced by the government's story so far. many are wondering how what authorities described as highly trained became involved.

>> this is an extraordinary case. we have essentially seen a foreign hit squad entering a country and killing its most well guarded person. what do you make of this story? >> it is a lot of suspicious activity floating around it, a lot of conspiracy theories swirling around, but it is important to note, how did they get into the palace? some allegations of infiltration of a security guard, and that is possible. foreign agents, mercenaries likely, come in and were able to penetrate what should have been the most secure building in port-au-prince and were able to kill the president. it is unclear to what extent they were helped by security forces. it is unclear of their motives. in haiti, there's always suspicions, always shades of

doubt and conspiracy theories afloat everywhere, as you heard from the lead-in story to this. the people on the street simply do not believe it, but it will be difficult to get to the bottom of this because there are so many complicated parts. clearly, it was some group of mercenaries, rogue elements, that had some vendetta against the president. we don't know if it was just political. i find that hard to believe. i would tend to believe there was some criminal element look into this. it is very complex. it is still very cloudy. >> there's also the element of the colombian soldiers involved. what can we read into the fact that these are from the united states and colombia? >> in miami-based entrepreneur has been arrested for being

involved as well as another haitian-american. haiti is a major shipping point for drugs entering the united states. it is also a major trend shipping point for all sorts of illicit activities. the question is -- who hired these guns, and why? it h tried to lock his political circle into power, amend the constitution with elections coming up in september supposedly now, but there have been now mounting street protests and criminal gangs taken to the streets and vendettas against those protesters. the motives behind this are varied. >> this is a very brazen attack. we are asking who could restrict such a complex attack.

there's also another question, which is who could have gained from the killing? you mentioned these drug cartels and various political factions. if you had to hazard a guess, who would you say? >> looking at the weapons they confiscated, the tactics, they tired of the housekeepers, they really knew what they were doing. they seized security footage when they went in. these were professionals, not amateurs. highly trained. whoever was hiring, they paid a lot of money and had a lot of cash. i find it hard to believe it would have been a government involved. certainly the u.s. and colombia sending investigators indicates they were not in any way involved as states. it could have been set of

politicians, groups that were interested in removing the president from power, but various strong criminal interests. let's also point out that haiti is a failed state. large par of the country are controlled by gangs who have been engaged in illicit activity. this could be a turf battle with the president as one participant in that and now having lost. it could have a disastrous consequence on the stability in an already unstable and terribly devastated country. >> i'm afraid we have to leave it there, but thank you very much for your time. president emmanuel macron says france will start closing military bases in northern mali by the end of the year. he made the announcement at a

virtual summit. troops have spent some eight years helping local forces stay bought the threat from militants linked to al qaeda and islamic state. >> as france plans a drawdown of its troops fighting islamic -- islamist extremists, a summit was held on friday. the french announced army bases would start closing before the end of the year and that long-term, the number of troops in the region would be reduced from some 5000. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> speaking alongside emmanuel macron was the president of niger. while endorsing france's reshaping of its military presence, he highlighted the importance of the support the country provides to the volatile region. >> [speaking foreign language] >> french troops have been present in mali since 2013, an operation that was later

expanded in an effort to help stabilize the region as a whole. >> let's turn to the french riviera for a look at day four of the cannes film festival. culture editor olivia salazar wins. joins us live. tell us who is racing the red carpet this evening. >> we have two french films this evening. one of the four women presenting films in competition has a film based in an emergency hospital room. it is actually quite prophetic because this was shot months before the pandemic, but it really does show a health system at breaking point, and it has had very good reviews so far. earlier this evening, we had a film for my dutch director who

was last here in 2016 with a film that shocked and impressed critics in equal measure, i would say, because of its sexual content. sexual content is also present in this film, albeit in a very different form because the action takes place in a convict, where a non-follows her calling to become a bride of christ, except she gets a bit distracted on the way by another passion in the form of a young woman. this film was actually inspired by a book published in the 1980's, and that brooke was based on a true story. it is looking good for its chances. >> we tend to associate a festival like this with

independent tour cinema, not necessarily family-friendly features, but you have been checking out an animated film that is also competing the big prizes this year. >> yes, one that could be shown to people of all ages, i think. this comes from an israeli director. the film is called "where is anne frank." it mixes dumenry with animat images and revits his ti as aoldier -- h lt film here mixes documentary with animated images and revisits them as a soldier. this film juxtaposes images of anne frank with modern-day scenes. it rsesuestions about charity and helping one's

neighbor, and there's the issue of the resch ouija crisis here in europe, which makes it feel all the more relevant and topical. i would definitelrecommend seeing that one. another recommendation i would recommend is a documentary from todd hayes, who has made a film about the velvet underground, and you can catch the interview where he tells us more about that experience. i believe that is coming up just after the news. >> thank you very much for that. we are taking a short break, but there's more news coming up.

>> their lyrics were so subversive that the velvet underground work banned from many record house on recording stations in the 1960's, yet their cult followings endured and even expanded. almost six decades later, a new documentary is taking a look. director todd haynes is here to present that film after his visit in 2017. we are off to meet him. ♪ >> hi, i'm todd haynes and you are watching "encore in cannes." >> music which never is land and sea alone.

>> thank you so much for joining us today. your film comes out almost 60 years after the group of the same name was formed, and i know you are too young to have seen it performed live. can you tell me about your relationship with the band and how you came to make this film? >> i first encountered the music of the velvet underground in college. it was 1980, a good 10 years after the band had broken up. but it was a time when had already been listening to many different kinds of music -- bowie, punk rock, patty smith, the clash, all of which owed so much to this band.

i did not really know that that was the case, and i think this is true for a lot of people. you kind of discover things in a strange, circuitous way, and you link backwards to original sources, and so it made tremendous sense to me when i finally sort of found this music. it identified a route, and it identified an original series of sort of ris and attitudes that leapt out from the norm, even at a time when the norm was being challenged in general during t 1960's. >> you're not the only person to turn your lens on the velvet

underground. andy warhol also filmed them for documentary he made, and i wondered how that film and the persona of andy warhol fit in or influenced your film. >> andy warhol basically was moving his attentions from making visual art to making films, and he was very interested in of a guard cinema. he was growing and roasting around the 1960's. from that, there was various steps away from being a visual artist. he was also starting to be interested in promoting music, and it was around that time he discovered the velvet underground. they made sense to him in their kind of attitude and sensibility and look and their content and their songs. so immediately they became subjects of his experimental films. he rolled them into what was

already an incredibly rich, layered, productive world that he called the factory, surrounded by all of these young people making art. and acting in his movies, right? it is sort of inconceivable to think of how this then informed and ultimately got that first record released without the imprint of andy warhol as a way to legitimize it and to give it a context and a looming. -- context and a following. >> the two surviving members of the velvet underground, their accounts really underpin your film. do you think someone like reid would be tolerated or celebrated as an artist today are perhaps

judged by harsher standards, canceled even? >> it is hard to say -- it is hard to transpose individuals from this particular time and place and simply apply them to today's culture and in some ws far more rigid criteria for what is allowed and not allowed, but the process of making is never an easy 1 -- the process of art making is never an easy one and is one we should never presume there is a simple way to avoid conflict and to avoid ambivalence, and avoid difficult topics and even conflicts among people. i don't think lou reed was a predator. i don't think he abuse his sort of -- i don't think he was

abusive sexually to the people around him. he was a tough guy, and that has always been a part, i think, of art making in different realms. different complicated personalities, and in many ways, it is hard to separate from the work itself and the complexity of the work. ♪ >> as you say, it was a very particular era. very evan guard artistically, and sexuality seemed to be quite fluid. do you think that was a freer time socially and culturally? >> yes. i think the climate of questioning convention, the

climate of questioning heteronormativity, the climate of questioning tradition, and of trying to forge, you know, new avenues of creative expression, breaking down avenues between the mediums of art is something that singles out this particular era in ways that are hard to find an equivalent for even in the decades that follow and something we c continue to derive exploration from and possibility from. there are things that i think still feel about as modern and progressive as anything you would see today, and when you look closely at things you see today, you realize how much they owe to this particular time and place. >> thank you very much for your time. >> thank you a pleasure.

>> they are the kings of the sky, the shooting stars of the french air force. their planes fly at 600 kilometers an hour. these aerial daredevils are on the island of corsica, putting the finishing touches to their latest routine. today, like for a stage play, they are preparing the dress

rehearsal. to the sound of their leader's voice, they follow the preflight briefing, which these artists of the air call the music. >> begin to climb. and we are out. diamond formation. and right turn. reverse two right now. cadence. and smoke. cut smoke. role. -- roll. >> the flight is physically exhausting but even more mentally exhausting. the role through which we do on the ground ensures we don't forget anything. the patrol always says something that is not done in the briefing

won't be done in the flight. they need to learn to be in their bubbles, to focus inside their bubbles. we go through the same processes of imaging, whatever the environment. >> when the pilots leave the briefing, they are already in the air. each of them concentrates in their own way. a final salute between pilots and their mechanics. for the whole team, this flight will be decisive. from the ground in corsica, the rest of the team observes the acrobatics. he keeps a close eye on his teammates. he is the reserve pilot. >> correction?

>> no correction. >> no correction. >> an elite reserve because he is the most experienced pilot. he has to be able to fill in for any of the team members, except the leader. the alpha jets go through the figures one by one. and then, it is the finale. >> into the finale in three. >> that was great. that was great. >> not a missed beat. not a single mistake. the reserve pilot congratulates his teammates. >> there's still a little work to do to be perfect in this fantastic venture. you're a very fine team. great job, everyone.

>> with the dress rehearsal over, the pilots can now dress in their traditional sky-blue. since the patrol was founded in 1953, its members have formed a very close knit brotherhood. >> [speaking foreign language] >> here's george 50 years later. for the past half-century, he has kept in touch with former patrol mates. >> there are not many professions in which people meet up 50 years later with so much pleasure. there was a fantastic feeling of camaraderie in the air force. the guys really have to count on each other, and that influences the rest of your life.

>> it was founded during the cold war. when every country had its national aerial team to show off its technologal prowess and the excellence of its pilots. >> [speaking foreign language] >> today, the veterans are still on the edge of the runway in a special enclosure for high-ranking officers. this year's patrol must still receive the approval of the chief of staff of the french air force in person before he green lights the year ahead. at takeoff, the pilots know that for 20 minutes, every trajectory and every figure will be ruthlessly scrutinized by the generals.

on landing, the men in sky-blue know they have pulled off a faultless flight. they will now be able to give dozens of performances across france and overseas. >> we've had to wait more than two years, but now the cannes film festival is back with a bang. we will be bringing you film reviews and news from the riviera every day as well as interviews with stars who will be on this red carpet pass on your screen.

07/09/21 07/09/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i call on the united nations, all international agencies, and worldwide public opinion to help save the people from dying. we are few days away from a social explosion. amy: lebanon's caretaker prime