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December 15 - December 21

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Apple Original Films has selected Sony Pictures Entertainment to release a pair of star-studded movies in cinemas around the globe following their distribution partnership on Ridley Scott‘s Napoleon. Project Artemis and Wolfs will be given an exclusive theatrical run before they hit Apple TV+ no earlier than 45 days later. The two movies are likely to arrive on the big screen in 2024...

The 'Barbie' and 'Lady Bird' helmer will be the first American woman director to head up the international jury that picks Cannes' Palme d’Or. Gerwig will be the first American female director to be Cannes jury president. She’s only the second female director to take over the post, following Jane Campion in 2014, and the second American woman to do so, following actress Olivia de Havilland, who was Cannes’ first female jury president in 1965. Despite the praise, this will be the first time Gerwig will walk the Cannes red carpet in an official capacity. None of her films as a director have premiered at the French festival. The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25, 2024...

European Film Promotion has announced the 10 up-and-coming European acting talents for its 2024 European Shooting Stars list. The actors, which include performers from this year’s award-season contenders Poor Things, Ferrari, and The Peasants, among others, will be lauded at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, next year....

European Union policymakers have made history, becoming the first legislative body worldwide to pass legislation regulating the use of artificial intelligence technology and to put up guardrails governing the commercial and public applications of AI. During the recent writers and actors strikes, negotiations around AI focused on issues such as the protection of actors’ likenesses and assurances for writers and other creatives that artificial intelligence systems will not be used to replace them. The EU legislation is much broader in scope and covers AI uses by companies and governments, including crucial sectors such as law enforcement and energy...

Just in time for the holidays, Chris Columbus’ Home Alone and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas have been unwrapped with 23 other cinematic sparklers for entry into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, it was announced Wednesday. Among those also voted in: Dinner at Eight (1933), the seventh film from director George Cukor to be selected for preservation; Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan (1985); John Sayles’ Matewan (1987); James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991); Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet (1993); Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 (1995); Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball (2000) and Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (2000)...

As in its neighboring Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan’s film industry during the Soviet era was tightly controlled by Moscow, which set quotas for the number of films produced in each republic and underwrote the financing, promotion and distribution of movies. During the Perestroika era in the 1980s, as the shackles of Soviet might were slowly loosening, the Kazakh New Wave emerged, with filmmakers like Rashid Nugmanov — whose stirring debut “The Needle” was the movement’s catalyst — paving the way for a post-Soviet, independent Kazakh cinema to emerge. The largest of the former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian country to score a nomination for what was formerly known as the foreign-language Oscar with Sergi Bodrov’s “Mongol” (2007), while also twice appearing on the shortlist, with Ermek Tursunov’s “Kelin” (2009) and Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka” (2018), which competed at the Cannes Film Festival...