By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth" starring Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington will have its world premiere on opening night of the New York Film Festival, organizers said Thursday. The 59th edition of the festival kicks off Sept. 24.
Washington plays the Scottish Lord and McDormand stars as the scheming Lady in Coen's black and white adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. The official description said the film is, "A work of stark chiaroscuro and incantatory rage" that nods to both the visuals and aspect ratios of Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare adaptations as well as Akira Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" but added that "Coen's tale of sound and fury is entirely his own."
It also marks the first time Joel Coen, who has been married to McDormand since 1984, has directed alone without the involvement of his brother Ethan.
"The New York Film Festival is a place where I've been watching movies as an audience member and showing them as a filmmaker for almost 50 years," said Coen in a statement. "It's a real privilege and a thrill to be opening the Festival this year with The Tragedy of. . ."
The premiere will be held at Alice Tully Hall. The film will be released later theatrically by A24, followed by a launch on Apple TV+.
"We're proud to open the festival with a film that immediately joins the ranks of the great screen Shakespeares," said Dennis Lim, Director of Programming for the New York Film Festival. "Working with brilliant collaborators, including Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in stunning form, Joel Coen has made an inspired and urgent interpretation of an eternally relevant classic, a moral thriller that speaks directly to our time."
NYFF will run through Oct. 10 with in-person, outdoor and virtual screenings.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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