News

In the last 10 years, more than 25,000 migrants and refugees have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, according to Un High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Missing Migrants Project estimates more than 12,000 people have been lost at sea in the Central Mediterranean alone in that timeframe, their bodies never recovered. Despite those enormous numbers, the missing – those never repatriated, their fates unknown – get scant attention in coverage of the migrant crisis. Filmmaker Jacqueline Baylon resolved to address that in her Oscar-shortlisted documentary Until He’s Back.

Director Jacqueline Baylon

“Generally speaking, there’s a much bigger response for people that make it, which there should be, but there’s zero response for people who don’t make it. And so there’s never much of an effort to try to find out who didn’t make it and try to find their remains,” Baylon tells Deadline. “That’s why the story really spoke to me,...

Quick Links How To Upgrade Armor & Make Your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Less Vulnerable How To Upgrade Your Armor By Finding New Pieces

If you want to get the best armor you can have in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, you will need to know how to upgrade the armor you find. There are a lot of different options you can find as you go along, and all of them can be upgraded in some way or another. Figuring out how as well as what to do with the armor you find is one of the main components of the game, and if you understand that, you will be able to make your journey through the game smoother.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a huge game with a lot of different reasons to need the added protection. You will be facing a large number of hazards like electricity,...

The upcoming horror parody film, Screamboat, continues to round out its cast with the exciting new additions of Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey and Terrifier 2 actress Kailey Hyman.

Per Variety, Posey and Hyman will star alongside David Howard Thorton, best known for portraying Art the Clown in the Terrifier films, who is set to star as Steamboat Willie. Posey and Hyman will reportedly play pivotal roles in the film. Screamboat also stars Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Jesse Kove, Rumi C. Jean-Louis, Jarlath Conroy and Charles Edwin Powell. Impractical Jokers star Brian Quinn and stand-up comedian Joe DeRosa are also slated to make cameo appearances in the film. Screamboat is directed by Steven Lamorte, who worked with Thorton previously on another horror parody film, The Mean One.

Related I Just Want to Watch Cool Stuff! - Producer Steve Barton on Terrifier 2 & His New Horror Anthology, All Hallows Eve: Inferno

A horror fan-turned-producer,...

“The Wild Robot” has won Scad Savannah Film Festival‘s Audience Award.

In attendance at the film’s screening were writer-director Chris Sanders, star Lupita Nyong’o and composer Kris Bowers. The former two were both recognized with the Icon of Animation Award and Virtuoso Award.

A total of 162 films were screened at the festival this year, which included 123 narrative films, 31 documentary features, 69 shorts, ten world premieres and six U.S. premieres.

From a pool of more than 2,335 submissions, nineteen awards were featured from the 105 films selected for competition categories, which included Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Animated Shorts and more.

Additional winners included, “The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess,” directed by Anna-Ester Volozh, won Best Animated Short while director Ben Sturgulewski’s “Champions Of The Golden Valley” took home the Best Documentary Feature prize and “Los Frikis,” from directors Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson, earned the award for Best Narrative Feature.

The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story Screenshot: Sony Pictures Entertainment/YouTube Spidey stans may have to wait a little while longer for Beyond The Spider-Verse (the film still hasn’t gotten an official release date since it was postponed last summer), but Sony is helping to build a web across...

The trailer marking the sixth edition of the Animation Is Film Festival in Hollywood (October 18-22) dropped Monday morning, highlighting the opening night premiere of Hayao Miyazaki’s acclaimed “The Boy and the Heron” (Studio Ghibli/GKids) at the Tcl Chinese Theater IMAX. This marks an IMAX first for the festival, produced by GKids in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Festival.

Aardman/Netflix’s “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” the long-awaited sequel to the most successful stop-motion feature in history, will close Aif, followed by a Q&a with director Sam Fell and executive producer Peter Lord.

Aif programming from the previous two years boasted nine of the eventual animated feature Oscar nominees. This season they’ve scheduled several Oscar contenders: “The Boy and the Heron,” “Dawn of the Nugget,” DreamWorks’ “Trolls Band Together” (special screening), and Neon’s Annecy award-winning “Robot Dreams” (in feature competition). Plus, early...

Google's multisearch feature is reinventing traditional search by using AI to help users find what they're looking for with a combination of images and text. Multisearch was announced in April 2022, but at the time, was available only in beta. The feature is part of Google's push to heavily integrate AI into search. While Google is already developing Bard as a ChatGPT rival, it's also expanding the possibilities of Lens, which will soon let users search their screen and find information visually, rather than having to type out a search query.

Multisearch is also a Google Lens feature that relies primarily on images. It's ideal for finding out more information about something that can't be accurately described in a text search. For example, users will be able to upload an image of a green coffee mug they saw in a friend's home, and then type "yellow" to find shopping websites that sell similar,...

San Francisco, Feb 1 (Ians) Tech giant Google is reportedly testing adding Lens to desktop Search on the web. Google Lens is primarily a visual lookup tool for mobile devices, but it is been branching out to Chrome. The next expansion could see Google Search on the desktop web add Lens, reports 9To5Google. According to […]...

When we first meet X (Santiago Segura) in an extended moving camera shot that follows him exiting a state penitentiary, the length of the sentence he’s just completed is signaled by the contents of the box of vintage tech and media he carries: an outdated computer monitor with the clear plastic revealing its circuit board; tech-nerd, unfashionable over-the-ear headphones; the Trainspotting soundtrack CD. He takes the bus home — a one-room apartment minimalist in all the wrong ways (no “apartment therapy” here), which The Five Rules of Success director Orson Oblowitz, acting as his own cinematographer, captures with a kind […]

The post “We Called the Wide-Angle Lens ‘The Violence Lens’….”: Director Orson Oblowitz on His Hallucinatory Psychodrama, The Five Rules of Success first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

When we first meet X (Santiago Segura) in an extended moving camera shot that follows him exiting a state penitentiary, the length of the sentence he’s just completed is signaled by the contents of the box of vintage tech and media he carries: an outdated computer monitor with the clear plastic revealing its circuit board; tech-nerd, unfashionable over-the-ear headphones; the Trainspotting soundtrack CD. He takes the bus home — a one-room apartment minimalist in all the wrong ways (no “apartment therapy” here), which The Five Rules of Success director Orson Oblowitz, acting as his own cinematographer, captures with a kind […]

The post “We Called the Wide-Angle Lens ‘The Violence Lens’….”: Director Orson Oblowitz on His Hallucinatory Psychodrama, The Five Rules of Success first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

PBS led all networks in nominations for the 42nd annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, landing 52 overall — thanks to the strength of signature series “Frontline,” “Independent Lens,” “Pov,” “Nova,” “PBS News Hour” and “Nature.”

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced this year’s nominees on Tuesday morning, noting that more than 2,200 submissions were entered, from content that premiered in calendar year 2020. CNN was next with 41 nods, including five each for “AC360,” CNN Films and “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” CNN Films docs earning nominations included three for “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”

When combined with various partnerships, “Frontline” landed the most nominations overall, with 19. Next in line, with 16 each, were CBS’ “60 Minutes” and Vice’s “Vice News Tonight.”

Best documentary nominations included three for PBS: Frontline’s “Once Upon A Time In Iraq,” Independent Lens’ “Belly of the Beast” and Pov’s “Advocate.” They’re up against Netflix’s “Athlete A,...

Exclusive: Debra Granik (Leave No Trace) is set to direct a feature adaptation of Una Lamarche’s YA novel Like No Other.

She and Anne Rosellini of Still Rolling Productions optioned the book, in partnership with Mad Dog Film’s Alix Madigan.

Published in 2015 by Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, Like No Others is billed as a contemporary take on West Side Story. It watches as the unlikely paths of a Hasidic girl and a secular boy meet on Eastern Parkway and blossom into a forbidden romance.

Granik and Rosellini are penning the script for the film, which Rosellini and Madigan will produce. Razorbill VP & Publisher Casey McIntyre is also on board as an exec producer.

“I have so much respect for this team and their incredible body of work,” said Lamarche. “I could not be more thrilled that they are bringing Like No Other to life on screen.

San Francisco, May 23 (Ians) At its I/O developers' conference, Google has highlighted a lot of features launching on Google services including Photos, Maps and others that could deliver a more immediate impact to users' daily lives.

The keynote that started with the mantra "Building a more helpful Google for everyone" also provided glimpses and far-out technologies arriving soon.

Starting your car with your phone to searching your screenshots using Google Lens, here are few updates from the conference that may help users make their lives easier.

The company said that they are working with car manufacturers to develop a new digital car key in Android 12.

This feature will enable users to use their phone to lock, unlock and even start the car -- and in some cases, you won't even need to take it out of your pocket.

Android 12 includes the biggest design change since 2014.

Google rethought the entire experience,...

The Casting Society of America will host two virtual town halls this month as part of its Asian American Pacific Islander Initiative. Celebrating Asia Pacific American Heritage Month, CSA says the town halls and roundtable discussions – on May 10 and 17 – “are designed to affect concrete change in how creatives, in this historically underrepresented community, have been perceived, what they have achieved, and how we all can create systemic change to move the needle of progress forward.”

The events, titled “Closer To Equity: Deconstructing the Asian Narrative,” are free and open to the entertainment community.

The CSA will also hold roundtable discussions on Asian inclusion on May 20. Speakers include Grace Wu, NBCUniversal’s EVP Casting and Entertainment Content; director Jude Weng; and actors Jamie Chung, Amy Hill, Dustin Nguyen, Grace Park, Rain Valdez and Jude Weng.

“Empowering casting directors by giving them the tools to cast authentically will create a ripple effect...

If you perpetually mispronounced “Downton Abbey” as “Downtown Abbey,” you only have a few months to master the pronunciation of HBO’s new limited series, “Mare of Easttown” — that’s mare, like a horse, not mayor, like Ted Danson plays on “Mr. Mayor.”

During WarnerMedia’s TCA presentation on Wednesday morning, HBO announced its seven-part series starring Kate Winslet will premiere Sunday, April 18 at 10 p.m. Et. Each episode will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

Winslet, who’s also executive producing for the first time in her storied career, plays Mare Sheehan, a detective living in the titular Pennsylvania town who’s tasked with investigating a local murder under trying personal circumstances. HBO’s official synopsis dubs “Mare of Easttown” (you’ve got it now!) “an exploration into the dark side of a close community and an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.

New Delhi, Jan 21 (Ians) Google Lens, one of the several free useful tools provided by the company, has crossed more than 500 million downloads on the Play Store.

Google Lens is an image recognition tool that was first showcased at Google I/O 2017. The search giant integrated this service into Google Assistant on Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 Xl.

After that, it became available in Google Photos for both Pixels and other Android devices a few months later in 2018.

Google Lens can now recognise 15 billion things, up from one billion just two years ago, to help users identify plants, animals and landmarks, among other things.

Google earlier announced new ways users can use Google Lens and augmented reality (Ar) while learning and shopping as part of its SearchOn event in October last year.

If you are learning a new language, Lens can translate more than 100 languages, such as Spanish and Arabic, and you...

Webster University Film Series has become the location for many national tours of international cinema, often acting as the only such venue in Missouri. The Series is host to speakers and visiting artists who address the pertinent issues in films presented. In an effort to further integrate film with education, the Film Series provides workshops with artists and experts.

As part of the Film Series virtual Speaker Series, Fassbinder February focuses on the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the prolific LGBTQ+ film director of 1970s West Germany. Once a week, all throughout February, a guest speaker will give a talk on a different film of the trailblazing director. Each film is available on popular streaming services like The Criterion Channel, HBO Max, and/or Amazon Prime. Watch each ahead of time and then join The Webster University University Film Series all month long for interesting and thought-provoking discussions on the...

New Delhi, Jan 8 (Ians) Chinese short-video making app Tikok hs released its first augmented reality (Ar) filter that uses iPhone 12 Pros LiDAR camera.

The filter utilises the iPhone 12 Pro's LiDAR sensor that helps improve Ar experiences by enabling apps to more quickly see and recognise the room around them.

The Ar effect is a 2021 ball drop over your head to celebrate the New Year, with TikTok promising to "develop more innovative effects in 2021."

"To ring in 2021 we released our first Ar effect on the new iPhone 12 Pro, using LiDAR technology which allows us to create effects that interact with your environment - visually bridging the digital and physical worlds," TikTok said in a tweet.

Snapchat added support for Apple's Lidar sensor in October, updating its Lens Studio to enable creators to build their own Lenses utilising LiDAR detection.

First appeared in the latest generation iPad Pro in March last year,...

Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971.

Because in-person screenings remain problematic during the pandemic, Cinema St. Louis will hold free online conversations on the films, with people watching the films on their own but gathering virtually to discuss them.

Film critics, film academics, and filmmakers will offer introductory remarks and then participate in discussions about the films. In addition to a fine selection of St. Louis critics, Golden Anniversaries will feature several experts from elsewhere.

The conversations will be offered as free livestreams at 7:30 Pm on the second Monday of every month in 2021 except November, when the St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) hopes to feature several in-person Golden Anniversaries selections.

The first four discussions are already scheduled:

Jan. 11: Peter Bogdanovich...

Oscar-winning writer and director Taika Waititi has signed on to executive produce “Frybread Face and Me.”

The film follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds who bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.

Written and directed by Native American filmmaker Billy Luther, “Frybread Face and Me” was one of the 10 projects selected as part of 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. The film is semi-autobiographical and Chad Burris (“City Boyz” “Ass Backwards”) is signed on to produce.

Waititi, who is in pre-production on “Thor: Love and Thunder” and the untitled “Star Wars” movie, read the script and immediately signed on, according to Luther. Waititi is the first Maori to win an Oscar and in his acceptance speech said, “I dedicate this to all the Indigenous kids in the world who want to do...

The first episode of the web docuseries The History of White People in America was released shortly after Independence Day during a time that is bubbling over with civic unrest, demand for social change and the amplification of the endless injustices against the Black community. From the title alone, the series presents an American history that the majority of the country hasn’t been taught.

The series from PBS’ Independent Lens and World Channel brings to the history of race to the forefront. In particular, it spotlights how the idea of the white race helped shape the nation’s history while regulating other groups to the margins. As a result, being white became the standard. This subjugated “the othered” which result in wide-ranging ramifications on social class and life experience that exist to this day — which can easily be read in today’s headlines.

Out of the gate, with its...

In today’s film news roundup, “Waiting for the Barbarians,” “Don’t Tell a Soul” and “Daddy Issues” get distribution and the African American Film Critics Association is launching a virtual Strong Summer 2020 programming slate.

Acquisitions

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to Ciro Guerra’s feature film “Waiting for the Barbarians,” starring Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Mark Rylance, Gana Bayarsaikhan, and Greta Scacchi.

Goldwyn said the film was originally slated for a theatrical release, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it will be released on cable on-demand and digital platforms in August.

Rylance plays a magistrate in an isolated frontier settlement on the border of a large empire who looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of a colonel (portrayed by Depp), whose task it is to report on the activities of the “barbarians” and the security situation on the border. The colonel’s ruthless interrogations...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place April 10th – 26th 2020. The location this year are both Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E Lockwood Ave) and Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. This year’s featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.

The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quartet of such works: Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,” Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein,” Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia,” and the extended director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Betty Blue.”

The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way,...

Frank Ocean’s creative brand Blonded will host its first queer club night, PrEP+, somewhere in New York City tonight, October 17th.

According to a statement, tonight’s event will be the first in a series of club nights dedicated to creating a safe space for people to meet and dance. The event will feature “globally celebrated DJs,” though no lineup has been announced. Links to tickets have reportedly been given out and the venue will be revealed to ticket holders later today.

PrEP+ takes its name from the HIV prevention drug,...

KollywoodThe script was clearly eaten up by termites because the film looks like people just turned up on the sets every day and made up what they'd shoot on the go.Sowmya RajendranKee, directed by Kalees, has been inordinately delayed, so there were some concerns that the film would look outdated. But turns out, that's the least of its problems. The script was clearly eaten up by termites because the film looks like people just turned up on the sets every day and made up what they'd shoot on the go - random seduction scene with cherry on the navel like Vijayakant's Chinna Gounder? Villain (Govind Padmasoorya) lying on a bed with a giant British flag bedsheet? Philosophy about the food chain explained by a deranged man? Cutesy children imitating Tamil cinema's version of adult romance? Fair and Handsome ad placements everywhere? Rj Balaji pretending this is Lkg 2 and taking...

KollywoodThe film is shot with a basic idea of conversation without scripted dialogues in the most minimalistic way.IANSBy TeachAIDS via Wikimedia CommonsActor-producer Shruti Haasan will produce director Jayprakash Radhakrishnan's next The Mosquito Philosophy under her banner Isidro Media. The actor will be presenting the project as well. "Our belief at Isidro is to present extremely interesting, edgy and different kinds of content. It can be content across various formats just as long as they further the creative process and make it possible for people to experience world class storytelling," Shruti said in a statement to Ians. "When we saw The Mosquito Philosophy and after having seen Jp's last works especially his much acclaimed film Lens, we knew we had found the right person to associate with. He has a very edgy vision to creatively showcase even the simplest stories. "It's fantastic to work with someone who is courageous in offering new content that challenges conventional thinking . We are really excited to present this film under the Isidro banner and hope this is the start of a long term working relationship," she added. Jp, as the director is fondly called, will be seen showcasing the idea of minimalism with The Mosquito Philosophy. Despite being in Tamil, the film's story has universal appeal and is shot with basic storyline with no scripted dialogues and bare minimum equipment and crew to ensure that the most real showcase of life is replicated on screen. Talking about his film, the director said: "Filmmakers the world over have struggled hard to make films that are as close to reality as possible to ensure the art they create connects seamlessly with the audience. The Mosquito Philosophy, born out of the quest to showcase a real life and real time narrative, is an interrogation of a society caught between the throws of tradition and modernity seen through the story of four friends. "The film is shot with a basic idea of conversation without scripted dialogues in the most minimalistic way. Through the process of making this film I realised the power of spontaneity; it makes even the smallest moments alive and truthful." The director is happy that Shruti is backing his project. "I'm so happy to have partnered with a team that believes in my talent and my vision and has contributed to being a part of the change in the cinematic language of India and the world. Together, we look forward to taking The Mosquito Philosophy across the globe and share our journey with audiences the world over," he added.   Also read: New Fahadh Faasil-Amal Neerad movie 'Varathan' to be out for Onam...

KollywoodThe film will reportedly release in Tamil and Hindi.Tnm StaffYouTube/ScreenshotThe trailer for X Videos directed by Sajo Sundar was released on popular YouTube channel Tamil Talkies which is known for movie reviews. The film is reportedly about homemade porn videos and ones taken with hidden cams. A similar theme was explored in Lens, which was directed by Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan. The trailer of X Videos shows a host of new faces and appears to be about a website that encourages ordinary people to upload homemade porn videos on it. The film, the trailer suggests, will go into the business aspect of how such websites are run. Calling it a 'cyber crime thriller', the trailer also hints that it will show how people are affected by such videos in real life. This is Sajo Sundar's first film and he has worked as an assistant director in films such as Ms Dhoni and Bangalore Naatkal. Lens, which released in 2017, was about a married man who is addicted to cyber sex and what happens when he falls into the hands of a dangerous person. The film was released in Tamil and Malayalam and went on to win critical acclaim. The Bobby Simha and Amala Paul starrer Thiruttu Payale 2, which had Prasanna play the villain, was also about how the Internet can be exploited for creating such videos and blackmailing people with it. X Videos, according to Tamil Talkies, will release in Tamil and Hindi. Watch: Also read: Teaser of Mohanlal starrer 'Odiyan' out...

KollywoodThe film will reportedly release in Tamil and Hindi.Tnm StaffYouTube/ScreenshotThe trailer for X Videos directed by Sajo Sundar was released on popular YouTube channel Tamil Talkies which is known for movie reviews. The film is reportedly about homemade porn videos and ones taken with hidden cams. A similar theme was explored in Lens, which was directed by Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan. The trailer of X Videos shows a host of new faces and appears to be about a website that encourages ordinary people to upload homemade porn videos on it. The film, the trailer suggests, will go into the business aspect of how such websites are run. Calling it a 'cyber crime thriller', the trailer also hints that it will show how people are affected by such videos in real life. This is Sajo Sundar's first film and he has worked as an assistant director in films such as Ms Dhoni and Bangalore Naatkal. Lens, which released in 2017, was about a married man who is addicted to cyber sex and what happens when he falls into the hands of a dangerous person. The film was released in Tamil and Malayalam and went on to win critical acclaim. The Bobby Simha and Amala Paul starrer Thiruttu Payale 2, which had Prasanna play the villain, was also about how the Internet can be exploited for creating such videos and blackmailing people with it. X Videos, according to Tamil Talkies, will release in Tamil and Hindi. Watch:...

Snap Inc. just announced Lens Studio, a free app that developers, creatives, and brands can use to animate their own Lenses for Snapchat.

Lens Studio lets users create their own 3D animations and make corresponding Snapcodes (like Qr codes) that others can use to activate them. If you use Snapchat, you may already be familiar with some of the characters Lens Studio is promoting, like the hotdog who flips in his bun and the adorable unicorn who vomits rainbows.

However, the most useful element of Snap’s latest announcement may be for brands. Major entertainment companies like Netflix and NBCUniversal have already partnered with Snapchat to create augmented reality Lenses promoting some of their biggest properties. To get viewers excited for season two of Stranger Things, Netflix created a spooky door-shaped Lens with Snapchat. By interacting with the Lens, users find themselves in Stranger Things character Will’s house. Meanwhile,...