The ICG Publicists (International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600) will honor celebrated filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 59th Annual ICG Publicists Awards ceremony, it was announced today by awards chairs Tim Menke and Sheryl Main. The epoch-making writer, director and producer will be celebrated in-person, on March 25, 2022, at the ICG Publicists Awards luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The annual ICG Publicists Awards pay tribute to excellence in publicity and promotion, still photography and journalism for motion pictures and television programs.
“Francis Ford Coppola has impacted nearly every facet of motion picture storytelling–from script to direction, from craft to tech—and it’s our honor to celebrate him on the fiftieth anniversary of The Godfather’s release. With that masterpiece, as with his entire body of work, Coppola has continuously recharged American movies and changed popular culture in ways that have stood the test of time,” said John Lindley, ICG national president.
An auteur and innovator in complete command of the medium, Coppola’s seminal works include The Conversation (1974), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather, Part Two (1974), and Apocalypse Now (1979). The Library of Congress selected all four titles for the National Film Registry and three of the four appear on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies best films list. Taken together Coppola’s films have garnered 14 Academy Awards, eight BAFTAs, and two Cannes Palmes d’Or, honoring the filmmaker as well as the actors, cinematographers, editors and other craftspeople with whom he has collaborated.
Past recipients of the ICG Publicists Lifetime Achievement Award include: Julie Andrews, Peter Bart, Warren Beatty, Carol Burnett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Sid Ganis, Don Mischer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Robert Zemeckis.
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