Black Panther star Letitia Wright says she got so close to co-lead Tamara Lawrance in "The Silent Twins", competing at Cannes, that both actors began to behave exactly like the siblings in the drama based on the true story of two black sisters in 1970s Wales.

The film tells the incredible story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins who refused to communicate with anybody except each other, and created a rich inner life that is both fascinating and dangerous.

Guyanese-born British actress Wright was catapulted to stardom with Marvel movie "Black Panther", as well as "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame", and dystopian TV show "Black Mirror".

"The twins were so enamoured with each other, so obsessed with each other. That's the same I was with Tamara," Wright told AFP.

"I'd say things like, oh my god, you're amazing with this or that, I love the way you do this, I love the way you think, I love the books that you're reading," she said. "And then in a split second: What am I doing here?", she laughed. "Life really imitated art".

Fellow Brit Lawrance, best known for the BBC's King Charles III, said she, too, felt like a sister to Wright during the shooting for "The Silent Twins".

"It wasn't always plain sailing, it was very much a sisterhood," Lawrance told AFP. "We got very close, and it's that closeness that gives you the capacity to get in each other's face," she smiled.

- 'Blown away' -

The film's Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska told AFP she was "blown away" when she first heard about the story of the twins that became famous after Sunday Times journalist Marjorie Wallace published a book about the case.

The real June and Jennifer Gibbons were born in 1963, daughters in Caribbean immigrants. They were the only black children in their Welsh community, spoke only to each other and were ostracised at school.

They spent all their time together, writing plays, poems and novels. Later they experimented with alcohol and drugs, committed petty crimes and got locked up in Broadmoor, a high-security mental health hospital, for 11 years.

"I thought: What an incredible story," said Smoczynska. "I couldn't imagine that it had really happened, 30 years ago. This is the moment that I knew I wanted to do this movie."

She said her film has "many layers". It's about "two sisters who love each other so much that they can't live without each other, but they also can't live together", she said.

The movie explores the notions of sacrifice and misunderstood artists, but also racism "and what the system did to these young black girls," said Smoczynska, though the theme remains understated.

"To make it just about race would be reductive, because race doesn't exist in isolation from everything else," said Lawrance.

"In this film it's interesting to look at its intersection with class, and the time you're born in, the generation you're born in."

Critics gave "The Silent Twins" a warm reception, with Deadline calling the lead actresses' performances "unforgettable", and The Guardian awarding four stars to the "well acted, disturbing drama" which the paper added was "heartfelt" and "absorbing".

It is competing in the Cannes Festival's Un Certain Regard section which showcases mostly young and innovative film-makers.

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Many had crossed continents and had bought tickets for multiple nights.

"I've been a fan since 1975," said one woman, Roxanne Dixon, who wore sparkly "A" and "B" earrings, a gold-trimmed white satin tunic and gold boots.

"I came from Australia just for this."

"We came all the way from America and it was worth it," said Caleb Graham, 33, from Florida, he and his partner wearing matching black ABBA T-shirts.

The concert show at a purpose-built 3,000-seat theatre features digital avatars, or "ABBAtars" performing hits from the 1970s and 1980s as well as songs released last year, when the septuagenarian former bandmates announced they had reunited to record a new album.

After an invitation-only premiere  -- attended by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia -- Friday was the first chance for ordinary fans to experience the hi-tech show.

Ages varied from children to people old enough to remember ABBA first time round.

"I just think it's incredible how, you know, ABBA draws people of all different walks of life together, all different ages," said Jordan Charlesworth, 27, a public health agency staff member wearing a sequinned one-piece.

"It's close to the soundtrack of your life, isn't it, when you get to 56," said Sarah Armstrong in swirly turquoise trousers, who had come with her sister and daughter.

The ambitious show is a hugely expensive project, with The Times reporting that ABBA need to recoup £140 million ($177 million, 165 million euros) to cover costs.

Band member Bjorn Ulvaeus, 77, told AFP ahead of the premiere: "I know that this is one of the most daring projects that anyone has done in the music industry, ever."

- 'Jaw-dropping' -

Concert-goers see a 90-minute show, with a dozen live musicians on stage backing up the avatars.

It is set to run seven days a week until early October.

The avatars are the product of a years-long project, designed in partnership with a special effects company founded by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas.

Critics praised them after previous shows "resurrecting" dead performers have been slammed as unrealistic and creepy.

This time, there was "nothing ghoulish", wrote The Times.

The Guardian said the digital effects were a "triumph" and "the effect is genuinely jaw-dropping".

Fans said they felt they had watched a live show.

"It was amazing, so immersive, I really felt like they were there," said Dawn Waugh, 63, who was attending with her 26-year-old daughter.

"It was the most wonderful feeling of being back in time," said another fan, Stan Papoulias, 56, originally from Greece.

"I've been an ABBA fan for 45 years and I never thought I would see them in the flesh -- or something like that."

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The seven stars, dressed in matching dark suits and ties, with white shirts, joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the briefing room podium -- a tiny, but powerful stage.

The singer Park Ji-min, better known as Jimin, said through a translator that the group is "devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes" in the United States.

Another member, Suga, appealed for tolerance, saying, "It's not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences."

Group members did not take questions from reporters before going into a meeting with Biden and, according to the White House, recording "digital content."

Outside the mansion's grounds on the other side of a tall black fence, fans who dub themselves the "Army" gathered in hopes of a glimpse.

The brief appearance before journalists itself reportedly garnered more than 300,000 viewers on the White House's YouTube channel, more than 10 times the traffic on a day when the only people watching events in the briefing room are mostly media or political professionals.

It was certainly something new for economic policy advisor Brian Deese, who had been scheduled to brief reporters on Biden's fight against US inflation right after the group left.

"I get to go home and tell my kids that BTS opened for me," he said to laughter.

- 'Youth ambassadors' against hate -

Biden issued the invitation to "discuss the need to come together in solidarity, Asian inclusion and representation, and addressing anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination, which have become more prominent issues in recent years," the White House said.

Anti-Asian sentiment and violence in America have grown during the coronavirus pandemic in a phenomenon many blame on fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump often blamed the pandemic, which originated with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, as "the China virus" and also mocked the deadly virus as "kung flu."

Just in 2021, hate crimes against Asians shot up 339 percent, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

The trend stands out within a general rise in violent crime, with the ugliest incident taking place in the Atlanta area, where a man shot dead eight people at massage spas, six of them Asian women.

The White House praised BTS's floppy haired, stylish stars as "youth ambassadors who spread a message of hope and positivity across the world."

Band members, all in their 20s and who frequently appear wearing earrings and lipstick, have given a voice worldwide to a generation comfortable with gender fluidity.

They are credited with generating billions for the South Korean economy, and their label enjoyed a surge in profits despite holding fewer concerts during the pandemic.

Biden, who at 79 is the oldest person to become president, has often reached out to young celebrities and social media influencers to try and inject some glamor into his team's messaging on social and health issues.

These included pop singer Olivia Rodrigo and the Jonas Brothers in campaigns to persuade young Americans to get their Covid-19 vaccines.

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British rock legends The Rolling Stones open their European tour with a gig in Madrid to mark six decades since the band was formed.

The Sixty tour will include 14 concerts across Europe with the first taking place in the Wanda Stadium, home to Atletico Madrid football club.

It follows the band's "No Filter" tour, which began in 2017 but saw the North American leg postponed due to the pandemic.

After a long delay, they resumed the tour late last year, wrapping it up with a million tickets sold, although missing their drummer Charlie Watts who died in August at age 80.

The Rolling Stones helped define the Swinging Sixties and the hippie era with timeless hits such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".

Frontman Mick Jagger, 78, and fellow band members Keith Richards, also 78 and Ronnie Wood, who turns 75 today, arrived in the Spanish capital last week.

"Sympathy for the Devil in Madrid. The Stones are in town! Countdown to the first show is on!" they wrote on Instagram, posting a picture of the Fallen Angel fountain in the Retiro Park, referencing one of their best-known songs.

"Enjoying lots of what Madrid has to offer, from fallen angels to Flamenco!" tweeted Jagger, with pictures of him having a beer and visiting Picasso's "Guernica".

He also posted a brief flamenco-style clip of "Paint It, Black".

- Whistle-stop tour -

The Stones will tour 13 cities in Europe, playing two gigs in London.

Following the opening night in Madrid, they head to Munich and then on to Liverpool to play at the city's Anfield football stadium in what will be their first gig in more than 50 years in the hometown of The Beatles.

They will also play in Amsterdam, Bern, Milan, London, Brussels, Vienna, Lyon, Paris then the German town of Gelsenkirchen with their final show in Stockholm on July 31.

As well as celebrating their 60th anniversary, the Stones are also marking 50 years since the release of one of their most iconic albums "Exile on Main St".

Jagger and Richards were childhood friends who lost contact until a chance encounter as teenagers on Dartford station southeast of London.

The following year, they would go on to form what would become one of the world's best-known rock bands.

Dartford station today carries a blue plaque to mark the historic encounter.

They did their first tour of the UK in 1963, kicking off a stellar career which would see them release more than 50 albums, both studio and live, with millions of copies sold.

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