The American Film Market (AFM®) has announced its list of films screening, including 71 world and 250-plus market premieres, for the upcoming edition running November 2-9 in Santa Monica. Over 300 films are scheduled to be screened with more titles to be confirmed as the market approaches.
World Premieres will include: sci-fi thriller What Happened to Monday (SND M6 Group) with Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close, and Willem Dafoe; the animated musical Charming 3D (SC Films International) with voices by Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale, and Avril Lavigne; Oren Uziel’s directorial debut, Shimmer Lake (The Exchange) starring Benjamin Walker, Stephanie Sigman, Wyatt Russell and Rainn Wilson; animated feature Ballerina (Gaumont) with voices by Elle Fanning and Dane DeHaan; and Swing State (VMI Worldwide) starring Taryn Manning, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, Angela Kinsey.
Films making their market debut at the AFM include: coming-of-age drama Coming Through The Rye (Bleiberg Entertainment), starring Alex Wolff and Chris Cooper; Lady MacBeth (Protagonist Pictures) starring Florence Pugh; Rod Smith’s Eat Local (GFM Films) starring Charlie Cox, Mackenzie Crook, and Dexter Fletcher; James Franco’s In Dubious Battle (AMBI Distribution); And Punching The Clown (Octane Entertainment) starring Henry Phillips, J.K. Simmons, Tig Notaro and Sarah Silverman; Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest (HanWay Films) starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, and Bill Nighy; fall-festival favorite, Brimstone (Embankment Films) starring Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, and Kit Harrington; Anne Hathaway-starrer Colossal (Voltage Pictures); The Osiris Child: Science Fiction Volume One (XYZ Films) starring Kellan Lutz; Academy Award-nominated Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain (Myriad Pictures) starring Penelope Cruz; and hand-drawn animation feature Ethel & Ernest (Little Film Company), with voices by Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway.
Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More