MIAMI Christian Pierre was recently promoted to global chief intelligence officer for GUT. In this role he becomes part of the agency network’s leadership team and will work across the 10 offices it maintains worldwide, heading up all technology efforts both internally and with clients–including artificial intelligence, data and emerging tech initiatives. Pierre started his career Read More 

PARIS (AP) New films from Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater will compete for the Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, organizers announced Thursday. Coming off a 2024 edition that produced the Academy Award best-picture winner “Anora,” as well as a number of Oscar contenders in “Emilia Pérez,” “The Substance” and “The Apprentice,” the Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Not long ago Yvonne Strahovski, who plays beautiful, ruthless, deeply complicated Serena on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was forced to watch early scenes of her character’s cruelty. Of course, Serena was being cruel to long-suffering heroine June (Elisabeth Moss). It wasn’t a nice experience to relive. “I was dying. I wanted to vomit! It was horrible,” Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) “Your Friends & Neighbors” begins with a once high-flying hedge fund manager waking up in someone else’s luxurious house, next to a dead body and in a pool of blood. How he ended up there consumes the first season of this compelling Apple TV+ series, which stars Jon Hamm and takes a peek at the Read More 

NEW YORK Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino will receive the Creator Tribute at the Second Annual Gotham Television Awards, taking place on Monday, June 2, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The Gotham Television Awards Creator Tribute was launched in 2024 by The Gotham Film & Media Institute to recognize the iconic artists and creators Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Filmmaker Alex Garland wanted to make a different kind of war film. Would it be possible, he wondered, to take 90 minutes of a real incident involving combat and recreate it as faithfully as possible? He posed that question to former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, who served in Iraq and had in recent years built Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Tom Hardy has collected troves of knowledge and skill throughout his journey as an actor, forming a megastar career. But any education he received from director Guy Ritchie during their time on the 2008 “RocknRolla” film was gained from afar. “I didn’t have very much to do with him … the first time I worked Read More 

NEW YORK The 2025 Tribeca Festival has unveiled the film that’s been selected for its opening night–Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The HBO original two-part documentary will make its world premiere at Tribeca on June 4 at the Beacon Theatre. The documenary is an expansive portrait of the life and music of Billy Joel, exploring the Read More 

NEW YORK The AICP Awards today (4/9) released the Shortlists for the 2025 suite of juried competitions: The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards. To review the full Shortlist for each competition, click here. The Shortlists are the results of a bifurcated judging system that Read More 

NEW YORK RadicalMedia has added Emmy-nominated director Kyle Thrash to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Thrash, raised outside Philadelphia by a social worker, aims to uncover stories that motivate human connection and explore the depth of human experience. His ability to bring out the voices of unexpected characters and craft visually engaging Read More 

NEW YORK London International Awards (LIA) has set the lineup of jury presidents for its 40th show. This year, 18 jury presidents will be presiding over 30 categories. One of those presidents is Linda Cronin, EVP global media, Monks. She will preside over the inaugural Creativity in Media competition. As the show that is created for creatives, Read More 

LOS ANGELES Director Scott Perry has signed with JOJX for U.S. representation. New York-born and based, Perry had his journey into filmmaking start with a love for music. His early blog covering underground hip-hop quickly gained traction, leading him to XM Radio, MTV and eventually, to a role as creative director at The FADER and working with Read More 

LOS ANGELES Golden LA has added award-winning director Marc Sidelsky to its directorial roster for exclusive U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Known for his comedic films infused with stylish cinematic storytelling, Sidelsky was born in Toronto and raised in South Africa. He has shot films around the globe with diverse talents like dance company Pilobolus, Read More 

NEW YORK WongDoody, a global creative technology agency and an Infosys company, has hired Falk Eumann as executive creative director, North America. This strategic hire further reinforces the agency’s commitment to delivering intelligent marketing and experiences powered by creativity, technology, and AI. With more than two decades of creative leadership experience, Eumann brings to WongDoody an entrepreneurial Read More 

LOS ANGELES Director Duran Sodré has joined Eleanor, the production company headed by president Sophie Gold, for his first U.S. representation. Among Sodré’s notable credits are Moderna x U.S. Open’s “Ashe Versus” and Victoria’s “Nuestros Manos.” The former, a blend of mixed media and sports storytelling, honors history-making tennis and civil rights champion Arthur Ashe. “Nuestros Manos” Read More 

LONDON In the dust trail of his lauded commercial with Merman US–which re-created the classic parking valet scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to celebrate Lewis Hamilton’s partnership with Ferrari–director Scott Weintrob has expanded his relationship with the production company, joining the roster of Merman Branded UK. Known for his unique blend of storytelling mixed with Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) The Rev. Al Sharpton is giving PepsiCo three weeks to meet with him — or suffer a boycott — to discuss reversing the company’s recent move to do away with its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to a letter shared with The Associated Press. On Friday, Sharpton wrote to PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta expressing Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) A New York jury on Wednesday awarded $1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused writer and director James Toback of sexual abuse and other crimes over a span of 35 years, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Manhattan in 2022 after New York state instituted Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Paul Schrader, the writer of “Taxi Driver” and director of “American Gigolo,” has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant, firing her when she wouldn’t acquiesce to advances and reneging on a settlement that was meant to keep the allegations confidential. The former assistant, identified in court documents as Jane Read More 

BOSTON (AP) Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran said in an upcoming documentary series that two years before his 2024 All-Star season, the pressures of the sport led him to intense bouts of depression and an attempted suicide. “I remember when I was going through it and you start losing a couple of games and you’re not doing Read More 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump on Friday said he is signing an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 75 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. Congress had mandated that the platform be divested from China by Jan. 19 Read More 

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) Fifty years after the founding of Microsoft, the CEO of its artificial intelligence division has a big task: develop a new product line as integral to daily life as the software giant’s past innovations. “We’re really trying to land this idea that everybody is going to have their own personalized AI companion,” said Mustafa Suleyman Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) It’s oddly comforting that a movie can still dial M when it wants to. Smart phones have largely been a bit of a buzzkill for horror films, leading filmmakers to find all kinds of reasons — dead batteries, no service — to strand potential prey. But at least since 1949’s “Sorry, Wrong Number,” phones have Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Before Jack Ryan was introduced into the culture, Robert Littell imagined Charlie Heller, a quiet, CIA cryptographer who goes rogue on a quest for vengeance after his love is killed by terrorists. As star of “The Amateur,” in theaters Friday, Rami Malek gets to be both skittish nerd and coolly competent angel of death. He’s Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland ‘s “Warfare” is more defined by what it isn’t than what it is. In their Iraq War -set film, there’s never any description of a wider strategy. There are no backstories to the American Navy SEALs whom we follow on an unspectacular mission. There’s not a short monologue about mom’s Read More 

NEW YORK Electric Theatre Collective, a visual effects, color grading and creative studio based in London, has extended its reach to the U.S. with the opening of a studio in New York. The Big Apple offering–located on Crosby Street atop the popular Café Lyria–will mirror Electric’s London studio, crafting VFX, color and design for assorted clients. The Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Hollywood needed “A Minecraft Movie” to be a hit, and it delivered in its opening weekend, significantly narrowing this year’s box office deficit. No one guessed just how big it would be. In its first few days in theaters, the movie earned a staggering $157 million in ticket sales from theaters in the U.S. and Read More 

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