Carlos Saura, Spain's celebrated filmmaker whose career spanned over seven decades during which he earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film has died. He was 91.
Spain's Cinema Academy said Saura died Friday, a day before he was to receive an honorary Goya award for his prolific career.
Saura was a popular director among arthouse cinema enthusiasts.
He had earned international recognition for his 1965 movie "La Caza" (The Hunt) which was awarded the Silver Bear at the International Berlin Film Festival. He later earned another two Silver Bear awards for his work.
While Spain was under the rule of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco until his death in 1975, Saura's work tried to evade censorship while addressing social issues that where unpalatable to the ruling regime.
Saura's three films that earned Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film included "Mamá cumple 100 años" in 1979, "Carmen" in 1984 and "Tango" in 1999.
Saura focused in recent years on traditional music, producing several movies featuring flamenco singers and dancers, as well as fado or jota, the traditional song and dance of his birthplace, the Aragon region.
Spanish film star Antonio Banderas was among a host of artists who mourned Saura's loss.
"With Carlos Saura, a very important part of the history of Spanish cinema dies. He leaves behind him an indispensable work for deep reflection on the behavior of the human being," Banderas said.
Saura was active until his final days. His most recent film documentary about the origins and evolution of plastic arts "Las paredes hablan" was released in movie theaters a week ago. "It shows his tireless activity and his love for work until the last moment", the Film Academy said in a message, describing him as a fundamental and irreplaceable filmmaker in the history of Spanish cinema.
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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