Street Heroines, directed by Alexandra Henry (who’s repped in the ad arena by Valiant Pictures), has won the Best Documentary Award at the 2021 Portland Film Festival. This is the highest honor in the documentary category. The Portland Film Festival viewed 4,500 films in total, accepting 350 to the festival.
Street Heroines looks at the courage and creativity of female graffiti and street artists from around the world. From New York City, where Lady Pink and Claw $$ paved the way for female artists to use the streets as canvas, to São Paulo and Mexico City, Street Heroines gives voice to women fighting social injustice with creativity in the male-dominated subculture.
The film is additionally part of the Official Selection lineup at the In Latino Film Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, going on until November 7thThe film will then travel to Barcelona, Spain for an in-person presentation on Sunday, December 5, at the DART Film Festival.
Henry is an alum of SHOOT’s 2019 New Directors Showcase.
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More