International

The impact of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, on the media and entertainment industries was a topic of debate at the Media & Telecoms 2025 & Beyond Conference in London on Tuesday. And some industry executives suggested that an alliance of media players could be the best strategy to protect copyright and open up opportunities for media companies in the AI age. Organized by Deloitte and Enders Analysis, Tuesday’s event included a panel entitled “News and media in the AI age,” featuring panelists Anna Bateson, CEO of Guardian Media Group, Rich Caccappolo, CEO of DMG Media, Anna Jones CEO of the Telegraph Media Group, which has agreed to be acquired by RedBird, Jon Slade, the CEO of the Financial Times, and ITN CEO Rachel Corp. Bateson emphasized that it was wrong to assume that a “compromise” on existing copyright and intellectual property...

If you still think of actor Ben McKenzie only as a guy who knows his way around the beautiful people of The O.C. or mainly as the star of Fox series Gotham, think again. Since the pandemic, he has become a vocal critic of cryptocurrency. His New York Times bestseller Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, co-authored with journalist Jacob Silverman, raised eyebrows in 2023. And this week, McKenzie is likely to again cause debate when he world premieres his feature film directorial debut, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, at SXSW London on Friday. McKenzie wrote and directed the cinematic exposé on the world of cryptocurrency and produced it with Giorgio Angelini. Three years of filming took the star to New York, Austin, Miami, London, and El Salvador. The documentary includes interviews with crypto poster boy Sam Bankman-Fried, conducted just months before the...

Ollie Madden, director of Film4 and Channel 4 drama, will be leaving the U.K. broadcaster in October to become director of U.K. film at Netflix. Madden will be joining the Anne Mensah-led U.K. content team as of early October. He will lead the streamer’s U.K. film slate and act as the primary U.K. contact for films on Dan Lin’s slate where the intellectual property, talent, and production are based in the U.K., “with the exception of family films for the U.S./Canada, including Narnia and Dahl, which will continue to be overseen by Racheline Benveniste,” Netflix said. He will also develop a select portfolio of filmmaker-led series. Madden has worked as both an executive and producer across film and high-end drama. “I’m very excited to work with Anne and Dan to build Netflix’s film business in the U.K.,” he said about his future role. “I’ve been incredibly proud to...

Janus Films has picked up the North American rights to Lav Diaz’s epic historical drama Magellan, which debuted out of competition in Cannes. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal’s plays the titular Portuguese explorer in the 160-minute feature from the Filipino auteur Diaz, best known for earlier films like The Woman Who Left and From What Is Before. Bernal as a despotic and at times deluded Magellan persuades the Spanish Crown to fund his bold 16th century expedition to the fabled lands of the East, only to unleash a decade of devastation wreaked by European conquistadors in the Pacific as part of colonial conquests. A synopsis from the film’s producers states: “The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which...

GKids, the North American producer/distributor controlled by Japanese media giant Toho Co., has snatched up domestic rights to ChaO, the debut feature from Japanese animator Yasuhiro Aoki and animation house Studio 4°C. The romantic comedy, which blends fantasy and futurism, is set to premiere in competition next week at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Set in a world where humans and mermaids coexist, ChaO centers on Stephan, a quiet office worker whose routine life is disrupted when he is unexpectedly proposed to by a mermaid princess named ChaO GKids President David Jesteadt called the film a “genre-defying fairy tale” and praised its “outrageous and instantly iconic characters.” The deal marks the latest collaboration between GKids and Studio 4°C, following earlier titles including by Masaaki Yuasa’s Mind Game and Children of the Sea from director Ayumu Watanabe. Eiko Tanaka, who produced both Children of the Sea and ChaO, called Aoki’s approach...

The eye-popping trailer for animated feature Dog of God has debuted ahead of the film’s Tribeca Festival premiere. Lauris Abele and Raitis Abele directed the movie from a script they co-wrote with Ivo Briedis and Harijs Grundmanis. Media Move is handling global sales on the film that began screening at the Cannes market last month, when ESC Films acquired French rights for the project ahead of a planned release later this year. Created with rotoscope animation, Dog of God is set in the 17th century and focuses on a woman accused of witchcraft and how her trial uncovers the existence of a werewolf. The footage includes a scene in which a Hitler look-alike is tortured. Jurgis Spulenieks, Kristians Karelins, Einars Repse, Agate Krista, Regnars Vaivars and Armands Bergis round out the voice cast for the Latvian production. Producing the film are Raitis Abele for Tritone...