Paul Verhoeven, president of the Jury of the 67th International Berlin Film Festival, gestures as he poses for media during a photo call at the 2017 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
BERLIN (AP) --
The curtain is going up on the annual Berlin International Film Festival, with a French film about jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt kicking off the first of the year's major European movie fests.
"Django," from first-time director Etienne Comar, is the first of 18 movies competing for the festival's top Golden Bear award.
This year's diverse program includes Oren Moverman's drama "The Dinner," starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney; a documentary on artist Joseph Beuys by German director Andres Veiel; and British director Sally Potter's "The Party."
A seven-member jury led by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven will announce the winners of the Golden Bear and other honors Feb. 18.
Verhoeven said Thursday he hoped to see diverse and "hopefully controversial" movies, "where we as a jury would really have heated arguments."
Paul McCartney poses for photographers upon arrival for the premiere of the film "If These Walls Could Sing" in London, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (Photo by Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Paul McCartney urged the British government not to make a change to copyright laws that he says could let artificial intelligence companies rip off artists.
The government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train artificial intelligence models unless the creators explicitly opt out.
McCartney told the BBC that would make it harder for artists to retain control of their work and undermine Britain's creative industries.
"You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don't own it, and they don't have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off," the 82-year-old former Beatle said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday. An extract was released Saturday by the BBC.
"The truth is, the money's going somewhere. When it gets on the streaming platforms, somebody is getting it, and it should be the person who created it. It shouldn't be some tech giant somewhere."
Britain's center-left Labour Party government says it wants to make the U.K. a world leader in AI. In December, it announced a consultation into how copyright law can "enable creators and right holders to exercise control over, and seek remuneration for, the use of their works for AI training" while also ensuring "AI developers have easy access to a broad range of high-quality creative content."
Publishers, artists' organizations and media companies, including The Associated Press, have banded together as the Creative Rights in AI Coalition to oppose weakening copyright protections.
"We're the people, you're the government. You're supposed to protect us. That's your job," McCartney said. "So you know, if you're putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative... Read More
