Category Archives: Industry

SFFILM Announces the Lineup for the 68th San Francisco International Film Festival

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L to R top row: Josh O’Connor, Lily LaTorre in REBUILDING. Nicole Beharie, André Holland in LOVE, BROOKLYN. Asia Kate Dillon, Ridley Asha Bateman in OUTERLANDS. L to R, bottom row: filmmaker Chris Columbus, and actor André Holland. Top row photos and A. Holland headshot courtesy of rights holders. C. Columbus photo courtesy of Netflix; photo by Giles Keyte.

Today, SFFILM announced the full lineup for the 68th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival), the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Taking place April 17-27, the Festival returns to its full 11-day run bringing the best of this year’s global filmmaking to Bay Area audiences in theaters across San Francisco’s Marina and Presidio neighborhoods, the Mission, and in Berkeley. The festival lineup includes over 150 films from more than 50 countries including 11 World Premieres, 10 International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, and six US Premieres. All feature films in competition, special events, and Marquee sections are California premieres. In addition to many filmmakers returning to the Festival, the program also includes 11 SFFILM Supported titles which are projects that received support from the organization’s youth education and artist development programs as grants, residencies, or funding, reflecting the year round mission of SFFILM.

“I am over the moon that we are back with 11 days of screenings, special Tributes, Awards, free talks, our annual Industry Days Conference, parties, city tours, and much more. It has been a delight to curate over 150 films for this year’s festival and we cannot wait to welcome local and international creatives to the city by the Bay,” said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “The program is packed with discovery titles, emerging storytellers, buzzy new films, A-list talent, and a special horror retrospective—that will be sure to delight audiences and filmmakers alike.”

The Festival opens with Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding, a poignant exploration of communal love and resilience in the wake of devastating wildfires. This intimate, timely drama stars Josh O’Connor (Challengers, La Chimera, The Crown) as a man determined to restore his family’s ranch and rediscover his purpose. The Centerpiece presentation is Rachael Abigail Holder’s Love, Brooklyn, a layered romantic comedy exploring urban isolation and Black life in the modern age. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and starring André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise, the film generates plenty of sparks and humor. The Centerpiece film is presented alongside a Festival Tribute celebrating the career and craft of André Holland (Selma, Moonlight, Passing) who has been dazzling audiences on stage, television, and screen over the past two decades. Alongside the Centerpiece film, Holland offers a remarkable performance in Andre Gaines’s The Dutchman in the Marquee spotlight.
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RLJE Films Acquires Crime Thriller “Neighborhood Watch” Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jack Quaid

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neighborhood-watchRLJE Films has announced the acquisition of NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH (formerly NOWHERE MEN), directed by Duncan Skiles (THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER) and starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead), Jack Quaid (The Boys), and Malin Akerman (WATCHMEN). The rights will cover North America with plans to release the film in theaters and on demand on April 25th, 2025.

In NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, Simon (Quaid), a young man grappling with mental illness, becomes convinced that he has witnessed an abduction. When he reports it to the police and they refuse to believe him, he reluctantly seeks the help of his neighbor Ed (Morgan), a jaded, retired security guard with his own troubled past. As the unlikely duo delves deeper into the mystery, their pursuit of the truth forces them to confront not only the dark secrets surrounding the disappearance but also the unspoken wounds that haunt them both.

“I fell in love with NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH because of Ed and Simon’s unique relationship, which Jeff and Jack brought to life with care and commitment,” said director Duncan Skiles. “By the end of production, our entire crew had joined me in their love for this unlikely duo, creating a special energy that touched every scene. We are excited to bring this film to theaters and hope audiences connect with these characters as deeply as we have.”
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Cyber Monday Hits Record $13.3 Billion in Online Spending with Majority of Sales Driven by Mobile

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adobeToday, Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) released online shopping data for the 2024 holiday season covering Cyber Week, the five-day shopping period from Thanksgiving through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing commerce transactions online, covering over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Adobe Analytics is relied upon by the majority of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S.* to deliver, measure and personalize shopping experiences online.

Consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, up 7.3% YoY, and surpassing Adobe’s initial projection of $13.2 billion. In the peak hours of 8 pm to 10 pm, consumers spent $15.8 million every minute. Cyber Monday remains the biggest online shopping day of all time, as shoppers took advantage of bigger-than-expected discounts in categories such as electronics (peaking at 30.1% off listed price), toys (26.1%), apparel (23.2%), televisions (21.8%), and computers (21.5%).

Cyber Week (the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) brought in $41.1 billion online overall, up 8.2% YoY. It was bolstered by record spending online during Thanksgiving ($6.1 billion, up 8.8% YoY), Black Friday ($10.8 billion, up 10.2% YoY) and over the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 ($10.9 billion, up 5.8% YoY). Adobe expects the full holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024) to hit $240.8 billion, up 8.4% YoY.

Deals are expected to linger in the weeks ahead. After Cyber Week, discounts will come down from their peaks, but shoppers can still find good bargains through December 2024 in computers (peaking at 18% off listed price), toys (18%), electronics (17%), televisions (17%), apparel (17%), sporting goods (16%), and appliances (14%).

“While Cyber Monday remained the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day, year-over-year growth was stronger on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “Early discounts were strong enough that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier on during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of big holiday deals.”

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New SAG-AFTRA and Ethovox Agreement Empowers Actors and Secures Essential A.I. Guardrails

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sag-aftra-and-thovoxSAG-AFTRA and Ethovox today announced a new agreement that ensures performers are protected and empowered in the A.I. age.

Co-founded by BAFTA Games Award-winner Cissy Jones, Ethovox is building a fully-authenticated foundational A.I. model for voice. In addition to ensuring performers can participate in Ethovox’s consensual foundational model knowing that they will be protected and compensated fairly, the voice model will reflect a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Further, the SAG-AFTRA-Ethovox contract leads the field in performer compensation as it provides both session fees and ongoing revenue sharing for the life of the foundational model.

A foundational voice model provides the basis for digital replicas. It requires volumes of underlying voice data to enable the replicas to function properly. The Ethovox model will not be user-facing, and the voices included in the model will not be identifiable in any of the speech generated.

“What will safeguard voice actors’ livelihoods in the A.I. age is more contractual protection, not less,” said SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “That’s why SAG-AFTRA will continue to recognize A.I. companies, like Ethovox, that agree with our union’s A.I. guidelines. Not everyone will want to work with an A.I. company, and that’s understandable. But for those who intend to utilize the opportunities A.I. offers, it’s important that agreements require companies to secure informed consent, and provide fair compensation. Without informed consent and fair compensation, this new era will become a ‘Wild West’ of A.I. misuse and exploitation.”

Longtime advocate for A.I. regulations and guardrails, Ethovox CEO Cissy Jones said, “Ethovox is the only voice AI company owned and managed by voice actors, and we are pleased to be partnering with SAG-AFTRA on building a foundational voice A.I. model that prioritizes the interests of voice actors. A.I. should be a choice. For that reason, we have reached out to the voice actor community throughout this process. Ethovox will continue to do so as we demonstrate that artists can, and should, be compensated for contributing to ethical A.I. development while also maintaining consent and control over their voice data.”

The Ethovox Agreement was approved by the union’s Corporate/Educational & Non-Broadcast Committee and was additionally presented to and approved by SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive Committee.

Visit www.sagaftra.org/ethovox to learn more about what this agreement means for performers interested in this opportunity.

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SDCC 2024: The National Association of Voice Actors Returns to San Diego Comic-Con

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NAVANAVA is returning to SDCC after a successful panel last year. NAVA is the leading advocate for voice actors and AI protections, will lead a discussion on how new standards need to be built for artists, performers, and producers to collaborate on great products, while still protecting individual rights to intellectual property, performance, and publicity.

One issues that is ever looming is the threat of AI, and very likely to be a major panel issue. “Entertainment performers and artists of all kinds must adapt to this groundbreaking technology that can not only replicate their words, art, images, voices, and movements but also feed machine learning to create entirely new content,” according to the release.

Moderated by voice actor Linsay Rousseau (Transformers: War for Cybertron, media affairs director for NAVA), panelists include voice actors Tim Friedlander (president/founder of NAVA, Like a Dragon), JP Karliak (founder/president of QueerVox, X-Men ’97), Carin Gilfry (co-founder of NAVA, Starfield), Matthew “Reazon” Parham (director of operations for NAVA, Marvel’s MechStrike), and lawyer Scott Mortman (founder/CEO of global business consulting and legal advisory services AREDA Ventures, council for NAVA).

“AI in Entertainment: The Threat to Performers Writers and Artists” will be on Saturday July 27, 2024 4:00pm – 5:00pm PDT, at Omni San Diego Hotel, Omni Grand Ballroom DE, 4th Floor.

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