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    Director RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” to open New York Film Festival this fall

    By SHOOTNo Comments242 Views
    This image released by Doubleday shows "The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead. A film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel will open the 62nd New York Film Festival in September, organizers said Monday. (Doubleday via AP)

    By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    “Nickel Boys,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will open the 62nd New York Film Festival in September, organizers said Monday.

    Filmmaker RaMell Ross directed the drama based on the 2019 novel about two Black teenagers in an abusive reform school in Florida in Jim Crow-era Florida. Whitehead used the real Dozier School for Boys, and its victims, as a model. The cast includes Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

    “‘Nickel Boys’ signals the emergence of a major filmmaking voice,” said Dennis Lim, the festival’s artistic director, in a statement. “RaMell Ross’ fiction debut, like his previous work in photography and documentary, searches for new ways of seeing and, in so doing, expands the possibilities of visual language. It’s the most audacious American movie I have seen in some time.”

    Ross is best known for the documentary “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” which followed Black residents in Alabama’s Hale County and was nominated for an Oscar in 2019. The film, from Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures, will open the festival on Sept. 27 before hitting theaters on Oct. 25.

    The New York Film Festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center, runs through Oct. 14.

    Tags:New York Film FestivalNickel BoysRaMell Ross



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    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

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