5 culture things to know

Mickey Mouse horror movies unveiled as Steamboat Willie enters public domain

Two horror films starring an early version of Mickey Mouse have been announced this week as the copyright for Disney’s 1928 animated short film, Steamboat Willie, entered the public domain in the U.S. on New Year’s Day. Slasher movie Mickey’s Mouse Trap, featuring a masked killer dressed as the famous mascot, is expected to be out this March.

Gérard Depardieu affair splits French cinema and culture world

A week after the publication of an open letter entitled “Don’t Cancel Gérard Depardieu” in support of the French actor, who is facing charges of rape and sexual assault, several counterpetitions were released, arguing the text “spat in the face” of Depardieu’s accusers and that the actor’s talent didn’t “permit the indignity of his behavior.”

In memoriam

Mexican actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, who voiced great-grandmother Mama Coco in the Oscar-winning Disney Pixar animation Coco, has died aged 90; U.S. jazz musician Les McCann, who helped popularize the soul jazz genre in the 1960s, has died at 88; South African photographer Peter Magubane, known for his coverage of the everyday struggles of Black South Africans under apartheid, died at the age of 91; Françoise Bornet, who was immortalized with then boyfriend in 1950 in the French photographer Robert Doisneau’s famous The Kiss in Paris, has died aged 93.

TayTay beats Elvis

Taylor Swift has become the solo artist with most weeks topping the Billboard album chart, setting a new record of 68 weeks thanks to her latest 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and breaking Elvis Presley’s long-held feat of 67 weeks at No 1, for albums spanning 1956 to 2002. The 34-year-old has a while to go to challenge overall record holders the Beatles and their 132 weeks on top of the Billboard 200.

Medieval cemetery unearthed in Wales leaves archaeologists puzzled

A mysterious early medieval cemetery has been uncovered in the grounds of Fonmon Castle near Cardiff, Wales, with 18 of the estimated 70 graves excavated so far. The site, which is thought to date back at least 1,400 years, has left archaeologists scratching their heads as some of the skeletons are lying in unusual positions and unexpected artifacts were found, suggesting that the people buried there were of a high status.