Dark Light Pictures has appointed Gabriel Mena to director of development, a newly created post at the company. Mena, who has a background in film and TV development, will lead a new effort to grow Dark Light's roster of directors, with an emphasis on building a cadre of young filmmakers. Mena will also direct a marketing effort in support of the new talent. Prior to joining Dark Light, Mena was head of development at Miami-based independent outfit Hispafilms Corporation, where he produced the Tribeca feature-length documentary, “Celia the Queen,” about salsa legend Celia Cruz, which featured appearances by David Byrne, Gloria Estefan and Andy Garcia. With a directorial roster that includes Caleb Deschanel, David Steinberg, Gil Cope, Andy Garcia, Michael Lehmann, Suzanne Luna, Vince DiPersio, Craig Henderson, Vincent Paterson and Chris Anthony, Dark Light Pictures has recently produced work for Boeing, Honda, Whirlpool and Rush University… Medical Center…..Oscar-nominated production designer Eve Stewart has just completed work on director Tom Hooper's Les Miserable and is now available for commercial bookings through Dattner Dispoto and Associates….DP Jan Prahl has signed with Montana Artists Agency for US representation. Prahl continues to be repped by Driven By Creatives in Germany….
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More