BRASILIA (AFP) – Film director James Cameron said Sunday he will return to Brazil this year to make a 3D film on indigenous people of the Amazon who oppose construction of a huge dam for fear it could flood tribal lands.

“I want to return to meet some of the leaders of the Xikrin-Kayapo tribe who invited me,” the Canadian director said in an interview published in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

“I want to take a 3D camera to film how they live, their culture,” said Cameron, whose blockbuster movie Avatar tells the story of the peaceful Na’Vi people who live in harmony with nature on the planet Pandora and wage a bloody fight against strip-miners from Earth.

The filmmaker has already come to the Amazon twice in a show of support for the indigenous tribe and to film a short piece on their resistance to the damming project on the Xingu River, which will be included on the “Avatar” DVD to be released around Christmas.

Speaking of the fight against the dam construction, Cameron said he “did a film on the same topic,” referring to Avatar, adding that when he was asked to help “the Brazilian Indians, who were desperate, I could not turn away.”

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave the green light last week for the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on the Xingu River, a southern tributary to the mighty Amazon. Work is set to begin on the project either late this year or early 2011.

Opponents of the dam project say it is not economically viable and would cause the displacement of 16,000 people because it would create a flood zone of 500 square kilometers along the banks of the Xingu.

The government says no indigenous land would be threatened and that it has spent millions on reducing the social and environmental impact of the dam.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch painter Corneille, co-founder of the avant-garde Cobra movement, died on Sunday at the age of 88, the Dutch Cobra museum said on Sunday.

The Dutch news agency NOS said he had died in France, where he lived and worked.

Born on July 3, 1922, as Guillaume Cornelis Beverloo, Corneille became one of the driving forces behind Cobra, the movement founded by artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam and active from 1949 to 1952.

The group preached complete freedom of color and form and drew inspiration from children’s drawings, primitive art forms and the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miro.

“Corneille is considered to be one of the most important modern graphic artists of the previous century. As one of the pioneers of Cobra, he developed an entire new poetic art of painting,” the Dutch Cobra museum said in a statement.

Corneille was a close friend of Karel Appel, who died in 2006. Together they founded the Dutch Experimental Group in 1948, which later became absorbed into Cobra.

Other members of the movement included Constant, Christian Dotremont and Asger Jorn.

(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

HONG KONG (AFP) – The auction house that is putting Michael Jackson’s memorabilia under the hammer in Macau has dismissed accusations that the sale goes against the singer’s wishes, a report said Sunday.

More than 100 items once used by Jackson — including a pair of crystal-studded gloves and a set of Jackson 5 jumpsuits — will go on a sale by US-based Julien’s Auctions in the glitzy gambling haven of Macau in October 9.

But in an interview with British tabloid Daily Star in August, Jackson’s former lawyer, Brian Oxman, said the late star had tried to stop the auction, and the sale in Macau would be tantamount to selling off his children’s estate.

“This is an outrage. Back in May of 2009 there was to be an auction. Michael demanded it was stopped. He never wanted this material to be auctioned,” Oxman was quoted as saying to the tabloid.

“He would be furious. He would be turning in his grave. This was to be his legacy to his children, and the legacy of his children is being sold off,” he said in the report.

In response, Darren Julien, president and chief executive of Julien’s Auctions, told the South China Morning Post that Oxman was “only seeking publicity” in levelling accusations against the auction house.

“None of the items are consigned to us by the estate of Michael Jackson. The items come to us from some of Michael Jackson’s family members and friends who he gave them to when he was alive,” Julien told the Hong Kong English daily.

“We would never and have never done anything that would hurt them [the Jacksons] or that they would not be supportive of. Brian Oxman on the other hand is only concerned for himself,” he told the Post.

Jackson last year authorised Julien’s to hold a sale of more than 1,300 items taken from his sprawling Neverland Ranch in California, which the singer left and never returned to following his acquittal on child abuse charges in 2005.

But the auction was scrapped after a settlement had been reached between Julien’s and Jackson’s lawyers shortly before the 50-year-old eccentric pop star passed away in June last year.

The auction house said at the time that they believed the sentimental reaction of Jackson’s fans following news of the dispersal of the Neverland collection had made the singer think twice about going ahead with the sale.

NEW YORK – Hip-hop star Kanye West is still feeling the pain over his trophy grab from Taylor Swift last year — and he’s expressing his pain all over Twitter.

West unleashed a torrent of emotions on his official Twitter account Saturday, acknowledging once again that he was wrong for jumping on stage, taking the trophy that Swift won at the MTV Video Music Awards and saying that it should have gone to Beyonce.

But the rapper-producer said that he has experienced enormous pain, been the subject of death wishes and suffered tremendous setback to his career.

“How deep is the scar … I bled hard … cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world … closed the doors of my clothing office,” he tweeted.

The multiplatinum, Grammy-winning superstar had been one of the decade’s most successful and critically acclaimed stars, despite sometimes boorish behavior and meltdowns at other awards shows when things did not go his way.

However, when he upstaged Swift — the then-teenage darling of pop and country music worlds _the public had had enough. There was tremendous backlash against West — even President Barack Obama was caught calling him a “jackass.”

At the time, he went on Jay Leno’s prime-time show to apologize and said he still had not recovered from his mother’s death two years prior. He said he would be taking time off from the public eye.

That time off came sooner than expected. He canceled a joint tour with Lady Gaga that fall, apparently due to low ticket sales. On Twitter, West talked about the backlash.

“I’m the guy who at one point could perform the Justin Timberlake on stage and everyone would be sooo happy that I was there,” he wrote.

After the incident, he said, “People tweeted that they wish I was dead … No listen. They wanted me to die people. I carry that. I smile and take pictures through that.”

West said he’s now “ready to get out of my own way. The ego is overdone.”

He also apologized to Swift again, and said he has written a song for her that he hopes she will perform.

“If she won’t take it then I will perform it for her,” he said.

West is working on a new album that is supposed to come out sometime this fall. A recent member of Twitter, West has been an active user, posting not only his feelings, but new songs and other updates. He has over 900,000 followers since he joined earlier this summer.

“Man I love Twitter … I’ve always been at the mercy of the press but no more … The media tried to demonize me,” he tweeted Saturday.

LOS ANGELES – Kara DioGuardi is following Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell out the door at “American Idol.”

Her departure leaves Randy Jackson, who’s been with the singing contest from the start, the last judge standing, for now. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are the reported front-runners for the panel.

Entertainment mogul Simon Fuller, creator of the British show “Pop Idol” that was the template for the U.S. series he produces, called DioGuardi a standout songwriter whom he planned to work with in music “for many years to come.”

DioGuardi, whose exit had been rumored, is a hit machine whose songs have been recorded by Gwen Stefani, Faith Hill, Marc Anthony and others, including past “Idol” winners.

“I felt like I won the lottery when I joined `American Idol’ two years ago, but I feel like now is the best time to leave `Idol,’” DioGuardi said in a statement Friday, calling her experience as a judge on the show “amazing.”

Her statement, issued by Fox, didn’t elaborate on her reasons for leaving. Her contract reportedly had a one-year option remaining that the network could have exercised.

Although she offered informed critiques on “Idol,” observers faulted her for lacking the pizazz — and unpredictability — that ex-judge Paula Abdul had provided.

DioGuardi’s departure comes as the top-rated show continues auditions for its 10th season, which starts airing in January. Tryouts have been held in six cities, with a seventh announced this week for Los Angeles on Sept. 22.

The final decision on which would-be pop stars make it on the show rests with the judges, who are likely to begin filming their audition segments this month.

Cowell started the exodus from “American Idol” earlier this year, when he announced he was leaving to launch another talent show for Fox, “The X Factor,” based on the hit British program he created.

In July, DeGeneres, who was brought in to replace Abdul, said she was leaving after a single season. The talk show host said she felt uncomfortable criticizing young talent.

Some critics had complained DeGeneres was more of a cheerleader than an incisive critic in the fashion of Cowell, who was consistently blunt in his remarks.

The judges’ turnover gives “American Idol” a chance to recapture the Cowell-Abdul chemistry that helped make the show a hit, along with, crucially, its ability to launch such top-selling artists as Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

While the show has long been No. 1 in the ratings, it has to stem a slide in viewership to remain there.

A total of 24.2 million viewers watched the ninth season’s final duel between Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox, compared to the nearly 29 million viewers who saw Kris Allen win over Adam Lambert last year.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A man accused of breaking into the home of celebrity socialite Paris Hilton armed with knives pleaded not guilty on Friday to a charge of attempted burglary, officials said.

Nathan Lee Parada, 31, of Redlands, California, could face up to six years in prison if convicted.

Police said they do not know if Parada specifically targeted Hilton’s home or if the burglary was random.

Hilton, 29, awoke in the early morning hours of Tuesday August 24, to someone banging on her windows. She called police, and they arrested Parada.

Hilton is a member of the family that founded the Hilton chain of hotels, and she has frequently appeared in films and on television.

Parada is due back in court on September 15.

(Editing by Steve Gorman)

VENICE, Italy – Sofia Coppola gives audiences an insider’s look into two worlds she knows intimately in her latest film: hotels and Hollywood.

“Somewhere,” which made its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival, is the story of a movie star, played by Stephen Dorff, who comes to see the emptiness of his existence through the eyes of his 11-year-old daughter, a role performed by Elle Fanning.

Like “Lost in Translation,” which Coppola also premiered in Venice in 2003, “Somewhere” takes place nearly entirely in hotels, mostly the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, one of the places the director remembers staying with her famous father, Frances Ford Coppola.

“We spent a lot of time growing up living in hotels when we were on location with my Dad. I always like when you are living in hotels; it’s like a world unto itself,” Coppola said.

“Also it is an impermanent place. A lot of the characters I am interested in with are in a moment transition, so it seems fitting they would be in an impermanent setting.”

Dorff’s Johnny Marco is in transition — though he hardly appears to know it as he indulges in the trappings of stardom. He’s just finished up a movie and is in a sort of netherworld between gigs.

“The one thing I found very realistic … there is an isolation that happens to an actor when a film is finished,” Dorff said. “For film actors, we work together three months, then the movie ends. I don’t go to an office every day. I am kind of left with not knowing what I am going to do, until the next movie arrives.”

Coppola said she wanted to do “a portrait of today’s L.A.” and the idea for the movie took shape while she was living in France after finishing “Marie Antoinette,” her last film, and viewing Los Angeles from a distance through the pages of tabloids brought by visiting friends.

The 39-year-old director gives a fresh and often wry twist to the excesses of showbiz fame. The twins who pole dance at the foot of Johnny Marco’s bed perform with all the sex appeal of cheerleaders, stiff, slightly out of synch and failing to excite much of a response from Marco.

Marco, in fact, fails to grasp how dissatisfying all the fruits of his fame really are until his daughter Chloe shows up.

“I wanted to try to write a story about a guy’s point of view, something about the emotional life of a man, because it was different for me,” Coppola said. “I just sort of tried to picture what it looks like the morning after.”

Coppola wonderfully lampoons star treatment in a way that perhaps only a child of Hollywood can.

On a trip to Milan to promote his new film, Marco is given a television award, a grotesquely smiling gold cat statuette called the Telegatto, an award that existed until recently. After a five word acceptance speech in Italian, Marco is swarmed by scantily clad showgirls gyrating around him, while Chloe watches from the first row.

Coppola said that the scene was not meant as comment on Italian TV, well-known for its constellations of starlets.

“I wanted to show in the film the contrast of the show business world of Johnny Marco and the character of his young daughter,” Coppola said. “With the Telegatti, to me it’s the same all over the world. We have this culture, in America, in Italy, everywhere there is show business, there is sort of glitz about it.”

And what did her dad — the ultimate insider — think of the movie?

“He told me he loved it, and he thought it can only be made by me, and we should only make the movies only we can make,” Coppola said.

“Somewhere” is among 22 films, plus one still unannounced surprise, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded on Sept. 11.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Actor Paul Hogan, star of the “Crocodile Dundee” movies, has struck a deal with Australia’s tax office which will allow him to return home to his family in Los Angeles, his lawyer said on Friday.

Hogan, 70, has been barred from leaving Australia for nearly two weeks after the Australian Taxation Office served him with a departure-prohibition order while he was in the country to attend his 101-year-old mother’s funeral.

The office has refused to comment on reports that it was seeking tax on A$38 million ($34 million) of allegedly undeclared income from Hogan, saying it does not give details of individual taxpayers. The actor has publicly protested his innocence.

But his lawyer Andrew Robinson said on Friday that Hogan’s representatives and the tax office had reached an agreement after “a cordial and co-operative meeting.”

“Mr Hogan is pleased to announce that the parties have reached agreement on terms (which include the provision of security) which will allow Mr Hogan to return to his family,” Robinson said in a statement.

“While the Commissioner and Mr Hogan remain in dispute on more general taxation issues, Mr Hogan continues to protest his innocence and denies any wrongdoing.”

No more details on the settlement were immediately available, nor was it known when Hogan would leave Australia to return to his wife and son in the United States.

Hogan has been in a dispute with the tax office for five years and is under investigation as part of Australia’s biggest probe into offshore tax evasion, Operation Wickenby.

The tax office has claimed he put tens of millions of dollars in film royalties in offshore tax havens, a claim that he has denied. He has never been charged with tax evasion.

A popular Australian TV comedian, Hogan hit international fame as Mick “Crocodile” Dundee in the 1986 film “Crocodile Dundee” which went on to become Australia’s most successful film ever and won Hogan a Golden Globe for best actor.

Two sequels followed and Hogan married his co-star, Linda Kozlowski, which was his second marriage.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Dean Goodman)