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Jewish Icon Barbra Streisand Announces Production Has Begun on Her Multi-Part Documentary
Barbra Streisand. Photo: Vince Flores/startraksphoto.com via Reuters
Production has commenced on a documentary about legendary Jewish singer, actress, producer and director Barbra Streisand, she announced on Thursday.
“For years I’ve been thinking about the best way to share the vast amount of content I’ve been safely storing in my vault, much never seen or heard by the public. And today I’m delighted to finally share that we’re starting production on my official documentary,” Streisand wrote in an Instagram post.
The SAG Lifetime Achievement Award winner added that she is collaborating on the Sony Music project with director and fellow Oscar winner Frank Marshall and Oscar-winning producer Alex Gibney. Streisand is excited “to bring this very personal project to screens around the world,” she said.
“People have been talking about the need for the definitive documentary on Barbra Streisand for years. After a series of wonderful conversations and rigorous research, we are moving forward with Frank Marshall at the helm,” said Gibney. “I am delighted to produce this film on Barbra, a legendary singer, extraordinary actor, director, and political activist who inspires us all. Did I forget to mention that she’s a great storyteller who is funny as hell?”
Sony Music Vision announced that it is developing the “definitive multi-part documentary” in partnership with Columbia Records, Jigsaw Productions and the Kennedy/Marshall Company. The documentary will follow Streisand’s life starting from her upbringing in Brooklyn to her many career accomplishments, like her acclaimed breakout performance in “Funny Girl” on stage and then her Oscar win for that performance on film, but will also document her current life.
“The project will offer an intimate and comprehensive exploration of every facet of the iconic multi-hyphenate, who, in a career spanning six decades, has excelled in every area of entertainment,” according to Sony Music Vision.
The production team has also been granted one-of-a-kind access to Streisand’s ” treasure trove” of personal archival materials, including never-before-seen video, photographs, audio recordings and more. “We have been given unprecedented access to archival footage from decades of her groundbreaking career and intimate visibility to the trailblazing she continues to do in life today,” Marshall said. “Uncovering these remarkable moments illustrate why she has become an enduring icon to a global audience of all generations.”
Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture with the 1983 film “Yentl.” A EGOT winner, she won her first Oscar at the age of 27 and has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times. In 2023 she was awarded the annual Genesis Prize, nicknamed the “Jewish Nobel” by TIME magazine, which recognizes individuals for their achievements and commitment to Jewish values. She was also awarded last year the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award, named after the late Jewish Supreme Court justice.
The post Jewish Icon Barbra Streisand Announces Production Has Begun on Her Multi-Part Documentary first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.