Film Independent has announced the winners of its three Emerging Filmmaker Awards at its annual Spirit Awards nominee brunch held on Friday (1/6) at Hotel Casa del Mar. Spirit Awards Honorary Chair Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country) and Colman Domingo (Rustin, The Color Purple) served as hosts for the event and handed out the honors. Winners for the remaining categories will be revealed at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday, February 25.
“Understanding the enormous challenges independent artists are facing, it’s essential that they are provided the resources to move forward with their artistic visions,” said Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent. “The Emerging Filmmaker Awards provide vital support to these talented artists, enabling them to continue to develop new work and thrive as singular artists.”
The Someone to Watch Award presented by Stella Artois was given to Monica Sorelle, director of Mountains. The award recognizes a talented first-time narrative filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award, which is in its 30th year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. The finalists for the award included Joanna Arnow for The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed and Laura Moss for Birth/Rebirth.
The Truer Than Fiction Award was presented to Set Hernandez, director of unseen. The award is presented to a first-time director of non-fiction features who has not received significant recognition. The award is in its 29th year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli for Lakota Nation vs The United States and Sierra Urich for Joonam were finalists for the award.
Finally, the Producers Award went to Monique Walton. The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The annual award, in its 27th year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey. Finalists were Rachael Fung and Graham Swon.
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