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    Park Pictures’ “The Heart Still Hums” named best documentary short at BlackStar Film Fest

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1820 Views
    A scene from "The Heart Still Hums"
    NEW YORK --

    International production company Park Pictures short documentary film The Heart Still Hums, co-directed by roster director Savanah Leaf and actress Taylor Russell (Netflix’s Lost In Space, Waves), was awarded the 2020 Best Short Documentary Award at the BlackStar Film Festival.

    The Heart Still Hums follows five women based in Sacramento, Calif., through varying stages of young motherhood. The young mothers navigate the turbulence of accessing hard-won resources through nonprofits or, in the hardest circumstances, seeking foster or adoptive families for their children.

    The film has already garnered sweeping critical praise and film festival accolades, including the Palm Springs ShortFest Best Documentary Short Award. The award arrives on the heels of a momentous few months for Leaf, having officially signed to Park Pictures’ roster, along with the launch of her co-led initiative “Change the Lens,” a pledge to ensure the representation of black filmmakers within the commercial and music video film industry that is reflective of the greater population.

    Tags:Park PicturesSavanah LeafTaylor RusellThe Heart Still Hums



    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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