The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced the dates for AFI Fest 2024. The 38th edition of the Institute’s annual festival will take place October 23–27 exclusively in person at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood. The five-day festival will once again include a curated selection of Red Carpet Premiere screenings, Special Screenings, World Cinema, Documentaries and Short Films.
“With awards season in full bloom, AFI is also looking to the future and this fall’s AFI FEST,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “So as last year’s films take a well-deserved bow, mark your calendars now to experience the very best of what lies ahead.”
AFI Fest is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for the Live Action, Animated and Documentary Short Film categories for the annual Academy Awards®. AFI Fest is also a qualifying festival for consideration for the British Short Film categories of both the BAFTA Film Awards and the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).
Entries for the AFI Fest 2024 Short Film Competition program open today (1/17). Short films that have been completed after October 1, 2023, are eligible for submission to AFI Fest 2024. Filmmakers are invited to submit fiction, documentary and animated short films.
Submission dates for shorts
- Early Deadline – Friday, March 1, 2024
- Official Deadline – Friday, April 12, 2024
- Final Deadline – Friday, May 31, 2024
Learn more about submitting to AFI Fest here.
Mark Zuckerberg faces deposition in AI copyright lawsuit from Sarah Silverman and other authors
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be deposed as part of a lawsuit brought by authors including comedian Sarah Silverman accusing the company of copyright infringement to train its artificial intelligence technology.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta's bid to bar the deposition of Zuckerberg in a decision Tuesday, saying there is sufficient evidence to show he is the "principal decision maker" for the company's AI platforms.
Meta had argued that Zuckerberg doesn't have unique knowledge of the company's AI operations and that the same information could be obtained from depositions with other employees.
The authors have "submitted evidence of his specific involvement in the company's AI initiatives," as well as his "direct supervision of Meta's AI products," Hixson wrote in a Tuesday ruling.
The class action lawsuit was filed last year in California federal court. The authors accuse Meta of illegally downloading digital copies of their books and using them — without consent or compensation — to train its AI platforms.
Also this week, prominent attorney David Boies joined the case on behalf of Silverman and the group of other plaintiffs that includes writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Boies is best known for representing Al Gore in the 2000 disputed election against George W. Bush.
The case against Meta is one of a set of similar lawsuits in San Francisco and New York against other AI chatbot developers including Anthropic, Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
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