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Lupita Nyong'o attends a premiere for the film "The Color Purple" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
ARTS

The Berlin Film Festival picks Lupita Nyong’o to lead the 2024 jury.

by Lily Chen
written by Lily Chen

The organizers of the Berlin Film Festival revealed that Lupita Nyong’o, an actress who has won an Academy Award and is most recognized for her roles in “Black Panther” and “12 Years a Slave,” will serve as the head of the jury for the festival in the next year.

It was her Oscar-winning portrayal as the brutalized slave Patsy in Steve McQueen’s historical film “12 Years a Slave” that brought the Mexican-Kenyan actress to recognition. She frequently chooses parts that investigate the African diaspora and themes of race.

More recently, she played the role of Nakia, the female lead, in Marvel Studios’ first black-led superhero picture, “Black Panther” (2018), as well as in the sequel to the film, which is scheduled to be released in 2022. She also had a part in Jordan Peele’s psychological horror movie “Us” in 2019.

In addition, Nyong’o has theatrical and television appearances to her name. She is now working on a series that will be based on the novel “Americanah,” written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who is from Nigeria.

The Golden and Silver Bears, together with the prizes awarded at Cannes and Venice, are among the most coveted accolades on the international film festival circuit. The Berlinale, the yearly film festival that takes place in Germany’s financial center, selects the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears.

“Lupita Nyong’o embodies what we like in cinema: versatility in embracing different projects, addressing different audiences, and consistency to one idea,” Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, directors of the Berlinale, stated in a statement as they referred to Lupita Nyong’o.

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Image Credits: Leonardo.Ai (opens in a new window)/
ARTSBUSINESSCULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Sydney-based generative AI art platform Leonardo.Ai raises $31M.

by Ava Robinson
written by Ava Robinson

Situated in Sydney, Australia, Leonardo. AArtificial intelligence is one of the most recent startups in generative artificial intelligence that has successfully attracted capital. Today, the artificial intelligence art production platform that caters to both business customers and individual consumers stated that Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital, and Samsung Next were among the investors that contributed to the USD 31 million round. Samsung Next was also one of the investors.

In December of the previous year, the proprietors of Leonardo.AI announced that the platform had reached seven million members, who had created more than 700 million images together. The founders of the platform reported this. The company recently made the business edition available, which allows hosting on a private cloud and includes tools for collaboration. Beginning with the production application programming interface (API), corporate users can develop their technical infrastructure on top of Leonard.Ai’s platform by utilizing the application programming interfaces (APIs) they can access.

Leonardo was developed to appeal to those employed in creative fields such as gaming, advertising, fashion, and architecture as the intended audience. The use of artificial intelligence enables users to modify and develop a large number of assets in the same style, which enables them to be reused. In addition, they can develop and train their models according to the requirements of photo recognition.

Some examples of use cases are storyboards for individuals working in the video production sector and prototypes of characters used in video games. With the introduction of Google Deep Dream, J.J. Fiasson, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, initially became interested in generative artificial intelligence (AI). At his most recent company, Raini Studios, a game studio, he continued his research into generative artificial intelligence.

We started considering the prospect of applying generative artificial intelligence in the content production framework, the first area where we started investigating the possibilities. In the year 2021, it was still early. I stumbled into that network and met a few dedicated AI researchers, now the firm’s co-founders,” he says to TechCrunch. “Despite this, we went down the rabbit hole and played with many of the open-source generative artificial intelligence tools now available.”

The One Leonardo AI team finally broadened the platform to support a wider variety of scenarios, even though their initial intention was to focus on generating game component content. As Fiasson pointed out, “There are a lot of different vertical use cases of the platform, and we’ve built it in a way that supports multiple use cases, and we expect to continue building it in a way that supports multiple use cases.” One of the components of our strategy for moving ahead into the future is to increase the number of business-to-business (B2B) components our platform offers.

Open-source software and hardware were utilized in the construction of Leonardo. After that, artificial intelligence (AI) was taught using synthetic data and data taken from Creative Commons. Specifically, the degree of power users have over their creations sets Leonardo apart; according to Fiasson.AI, it must differentiate itself from other generative artificial intelligence art platforms, such as Adobe Firefly, BlueWillow, and Midjourney. The Live Canvas tool, for example, allows users to enter a text prompt and immediately draw out what they see the finished output to look like. Leonardo, for the entirety of the user’s drawing. Artificial intelligence creates a photorealistic image in real-time, considering both the text and the drawing suggestions.

According to Fiasson, “I believe that control is synonymous with utility,” and he continues. The only thing you are doing when you don’t have as much control is producing appealing images, which is why we consider it fundamental.

Here is Leonardo. Ai will be able to recruit new members of its sales and marketing team owing to the increased money it has received, allowing it to begin expanding its business solution. In addition to this, it plans to grow its engineering personnel at the same time.

Eric Goldberg, an animator and director, said to Reuters at a press preview of the exhibition on Thursday that “the majority of people’s first cinematic experience is typically a Disney movie, and that connects us all in, in a huge, huge way.”

“These characters can remain true and universal for decades,” said Goldberg, who worked on several Disney characters, starting with the Genie in the

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ARTSCULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Japan’s teamLab readies renewed digital museum in Tokyo mega-complex.

by Ava Robinson
written by Ava Robinson

Construction teams and digital artists are working hard to create an immersive museum that will serve as the cultural anchor of Tokyo’s most recent megaproject. This museum is constructed in an underground maze under Japan’s highest building.

Over two million people visited the Borderless Museum that TeamLab, a multinational collective of artists, established in 2019. This achievement earned the group a Guinness World Record. The museum is located on the island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. The term originates from the fact that digital art pieces are designed to mix in with one another and invite visitors to explore at their own speed.

In preparation for rebuilding the property by Mori Building, one of the most prominent developers in Japan, the attraction was shut down the previous year. In February, it is scheduled to reopen in the Azabudai Hills complex, located in the heart of Tokyo.

“To be able to create this kind of large space in which we can exhibit is important to us,” said Toshiyuki Inoko, the creator of TeamLab, in an interview on Friday.

Mori’s vision of integrating residential and commercial developments with cultural attractions is being implemented, and relocation is a component of that strategy. The Mori JP Tower, which is 330 meters (1,082 feet) tall, is scheduled to open next week. In addition, shopping arcades, residential towers, medical facilities, and a school are all in various stages of construction in the surrounding area.

Several components of the new borderless facility are getting close to being finished. These components include “Flowers and People,” a continuous computer projection of petals budding and scattering, and “Bubble Universe,” a mirrored chamber filled with glittering bulbs that appear to extend into infinity.

In recent years, teamLab has garnered a worldwide reputation for its creative and interactive set pieces, combining visuals and the senses. In previous initiatives in Tokyo, digital art was combined with a sauna experience, and a laser light display was used to enhance a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot.”

“We as a team want to create something that makes people feel that the continuity itself is beautiful,” according to Inoko.

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Lights are projected on a canal during a Loy Krathong celebration to encourage people to use digital krathongs instead of actual ones, to reduce waste, in Bangkok, Thailand, November 27, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Suen/ File photo
ARTS

Thai’s give a digital spin to ancient ‘floating basket’ festival.

by Ava Robinson
written by Ava Robinson

As part of an eco-friendly reimagining of an old celebration, youngsters from Thailand constructed digital rafts and sent them soaring down digital rivers.

People have been sending ‘krathongs’ down rivers for decades to make wishes and pay respects to water spirits. Krathongs are little baskets of plants stuffed with flowers, candles, and bamboo.

The Loy Krathong celebration, also known as the “floating basket” festival, is a magnificent event that illuminates Bangkok’s canals and rivers at night. However, the festival organizers frequently face the challenge of clearing the waterways of hundreds of thousands of wet vessels the following morning.

This year, participants created over 3,000 drawings of ‘krathongs’ and scanned them into computers during the festivities to reduce the amount of required cleanup.

A vivid picture of the water’s surface was then projected onto the patterns once they had been created.

The reduction in the number of trees that are chopped down is a significant benefit. Things are thrown into the water when you float, which is the genuine basket thing. Jirayada Surapant, who is 11 years old, displayed her creation alongside a canal in Bangkok on Monday evening. She stated that this would contribute to the reduction of garbage.

On Tuesday morning, there was still much work to be done. Monks use row boats to collect the physical krathongs and then recycle them into animal feed. This process takes place across the capital city.

While standing on the side of a boat, the revered monk Mathee Vatchara Prachatorn said, “The trash will end up in the sea, at the river mouths, completely filling them.” “To reduce trash, everybody has to pitch in; all the villages must help.”

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Cast member Timothee Chalamet attends the world premiere of "Wonka", at Royal Festival Hall, in London, Britain, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
ARTSBUSINESSCULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Timothee Chalamet turned to a vocal coach to the stars for ‘Wonka.’

by Ava Robinson
written by Ava Robinson

When Timothee Chalamet was getting ready to play Willy Wonka in a new film that chronicles the tale of how Roald Dahl’s famous figure came to be, he received voice lessons from a renowned vocal coach. This was done in order to prepare him to follow in the footsteps of Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp.

“Wonka” is a musical film, and the actor who played the role of the chocolate-loving scientist in “Dune” and “Call Me by Your Name” portrays a younger version of the character.

According to the author, “it was intimidating because the character is beloved, people are very protective over characters they love, and people are skeptical about Hollywood remakes.” But I believe that we did an excellent job. During the global premiere of “Wonka” on Tuesday at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Chalamet sent a statement to Reuters in which he expressed his satisfaction with the picture.

The individual, who is 27 years old, stated that he had collaborated with Eric Vetro, who is a voice coach to a number of artists, including Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and John Legend.

When asked about his preparation for the musical parts in the film, he stated, “A lot of work, a lot of vocal lessons with Eric Vetro in Los Angeles, and a lot of training were involved.”

“Wonka” depicts a figure who wears a top hat and a long garment, arriving at a mythical city after spending several years at sea. Even though the town is home to some of the best chocolatiers in the world, Wonka still has his sights set on opening his own store. During the course of his pursuit of his ambition and his conflict with a strong chocolate cartel, he becomes friends with a little orphan girl and a curious tiny creature with orange skin and green hair. This creature is an Oompa Loompa, and Hugh Grant provides the voice for it.

The director of “Paddington,” Paul King, is also involved in the writing and directing of the film.

We wanted to develop a movie that would serve as a companion piece to the Gene Wilder movie, which clearly has these timeless iconic melodies,” said King. “We wanted to build a movie that would stand as a companion piece.”

According to Simon Farnaby, who also contributed to the writing of the script alongside King, “There are a lot of clues that Roald Dahl left as to what Willy did before ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ so we felt confident that if we just picked up on those clues, we could make something that Roald Dahl would be proud of.”

Cardin in 2020.

Rodrigo Basilicati Cardin, the late designer’s great-nephew, told reporters that the ocean and environmental preservation inspired the new collection, which centered on the color blue.

On a deep blue catwalk, models displayed indigo-blue clothing beneath the enormous reinforced concrete dome of Oscar Niemeyer’s futuristic building.

The Espace Niemeyer was where French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel unveiled his electoral platform at the beginning of the year. However, other events like fashion shows and music videos are periodically held there.

Over 100 designers, including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, and dozens of new foreign designers, will be featured during Fashion Week, which runs through October 3. French fashion brand Balmain’s exhibition will also take place despite the theft of some of its inventory.

The automobile carrying about 50 goods between a Paris airport and the label’s offices in the French city was taken by thieves. Balmain said it will exhibit its spring/summer 2024 collection after replacing the lost pieces.

Dior and Saint Laurent are expected to open later in the week, followed by Courreges and Dries Van Noten on Wednesday and Lanvin and Givenchy on Thursday.

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