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June 7 - June 13

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Apple TV+ unveiled the trailer for “Land of Women,” its highly anticipated new series starring and executive produced by award-winning actress Eva Longoria. The six-episode dramedy will debut globally on Apple TV+ on June 26 with two episodes, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through July 24. Inspired by award-winning author Sandra Barneda’s bestselling novel “La tierra de las mujeres,” the series also stars legendary film and television icon Carmen Maura, newcomer Victoria Bazúa and Santiago Cabrera...

Going all-in on its exploration of the role of artificial intelligence in filmmaking, South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) has unveiled a 15-title AI Film competition. The films will compete for jury-selected and audience awards and cash prizes of up to KRW1.5 million ($11,000). “We were able to see the new creative possibilities of AI filmmaking. We hope that creators who have difficulty accessing capital for big productions will gain creative freedom from production costs through AI,” said BiFan festival director Shin Chul. The 15 selected titles hail from France, the U.S., Japan and Singapore include four from South Korea. Hansl Von Kwon’s “One More Pumpkin” previously won the Grand Prize and Audience Award at the Dubai AI Film Festival. Others are Park Sungwon’s “Under the Sign of the Moon,” Bae Junwon’s “Snowfall,” and Cha Sehwan’s “Final Scene.” All four works showcase the image and sound perfection that modern AI technology can implement today, and stand out through brilliant imagination, fresh screenplays, and character realization,” the festival said....

Writer, director, and producer Zack Snyder has become forever entwined with comic book cinema, with many devoted fans knowing him best for his work with the DC universe, but once upon a time he directed a very different kind of comic book movie. Nearly 20 years ago, back in 2006, a little movie called "300" blew everyone's minds and kicked itself into the pop culture consciousness, teaching us all about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae. Warner Bros. is developing a "300" prequel series with Snyder in talks to direct and executive produce...

A new article from NASA has announced that a planet previously thought to be in the same place as beloved science officer Spock's homeworld of Vulcan is no more. In fact, thanks to some tricky science, it never actually was to begin with. “Spock's Home Planet Goes 'Poof,'" the recent NASA release proclaims, though the truth is a bit more complicated than the planet blipping out of existence. According to the new study, the planet that was discovered six years ago orbiting the star 40 Eridani A was never actually there in the first place, and was simply the result of an "astronomical illusion." Scientists first reported spotting what seemed to be a planet 16 lightyears away back in 2018, but the development of more refined observation technology applied to "Vulcan" by astronomer Abigail Burrows led to a different finding. While scientists originally thought they may have been observing a "wobble" in the star indicating an object orbiting in a 42-day pattern around it, they now believe the movement may have come from what NASA calls "the flickering of something on the star's surface" –- likely bright spots or hotter and cooler layers of matter causing convection. The franchise's track record for predicting the future still remains unmatched, though. Vulcan may be a mirage, but modern marvels like tablets, smartphones, video chat, and translation apps were all a part of "Star Trek" lore before they were actually invented and became accessible as everyday gadgets...

"City of God" is so much more than just Brazil's answer to "GoodFellas," (though they do share similarities, starting with being inspired by the lives of real people). One of the most acclaimed Brazilian films of all time, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's 2001 masterpiece is a portrait of Rio de Janeiro and its reality, the ugly and the beautiful sides of it. Set in the favelas of Rio in the '70s, the film centers on two men, each following a different path they say is forced on them by their Dickensian circumstances. Now, over 20 years after the release of the original, Max has announced a sequel series. Titled "City of God: The Fight Rages On," the upcoming six-episode HBO series is set to premiere in August 2024 on Max and HBO. The show is set two decades after the events of the original film and will continue to adapt the works of Paulo Lins, picking up the story of photographer Buscapé...

Sometimes, grown-ups aren't necessary. That's exactly the conclusion that Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the "Peanuts" stories, came to while working on his acclaimed comics. Schulz's characters have spawned full-length films, television specials, and nearly fifty TV movies. But they originally began on a humble comic strip. Schulz explained his decision to exclude adults from his comics in 1975. While he usually says adults aren't in the comic strip because they wouldn't fit, the actual reason is, "They have been left out because they would intrude in a world where they could only be uncomfortable." He expanded on his thoughts in 1997, explaining that "the adults bring everything back to reality. And it just spoils it."...