Notizie

Polish director Olga Chajdas continues chasing different projects as she follows Netflix’s “1983,” HBO’s “The Border” and award-winning features “Nina” and “Imago” with the new six-episode historical drama “A World Divided.”

“A long time ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t repeat myself, ever,” she explained to Variety. “I lean towards fiction, so it seemed intriguing, but I wasn’t interested in making another documentary about World War II. We focus on real-life characters. Some are more famous than others, but we keep things subjective, trying to reflect what they were experiencing at that very time.”

She co-directed the show with Frank Devos.

“We decided to ‘split’ the characters. I ended up focusing on women, Frank focused on men, but only because these were our favorites. It was an interesting process because we work very differently. He’s read all the books and was concentrating on the factual layer.

Generative AI is a contentious topic in the animation industry (and almost everywhere else). However, the upcoming Annecy International Animation Festival (June 9-15) will spotlight works that utilized generative AI software.

In a statement, Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean said the festival received “dozens” of submissions that used AI technology. Four made the cut, including Midnight Specials selection “Who Said Death Is Beautiful?” the Japanese zombie feature from director Ryo Nakajima, as well as three Off-Limits shorts: Felipe Elgueta’s “Data Flesh,” in which images become zombie-like entities; Boris Labbe’s “Glass House,” a sci-fi-inspired glass Tower of Babel; and Claudia Larcher’s “The Great Tree Piece,” an analog/digital physical experience of nature.

“Who Said Death Is Beautiful?” is of particular concern because it used Stable Diffusion by Stability AI, a software that has been the subject of several class-action lawsuits for copyright infringement.

These are not the first AI works at Annecy.

Eli Noyes, the pioneering stop-motion animator who scored an Oscar nom for his short film Clay, or The Origin of Species and worked on the MTV series Liquid Television and HBO’s Braingames among other credits, has died. He was 81.

His death was announced by Ralph Guggenheim, Noyes’ partner at Alligator Planet for more than 20 years. No other details were provided.

Born on October 18, 1942, Noyes specialized in stop-motion using clay and sand, and an early student film made while he was at Yale university earned him an Academy Award nomination. Clay, or the Origin of Species was an innovative if primitive black-and-white short that traced the rise of life on Earth from its earliest existence. Watch it above.

His next film was Alphabet, which this time used the manipulation of sand as the medium. It won a Special Jury Award at the 1967 Annecy International Animated Film Festival and was used...

Just over forty years ago, on November 20th, 1983, ABC aired the most influential TV movie ever made. The Day After, which starred Jason Robards, John Lithgow, JoBeth Williams and Steve Guttenberg, was a riveting dramatization of the aftermath of a nuclear war, focusing on the residents of a small town dealing with the most terrifying outcome of all – surviving. Along with other movies of the era, such as Testament and the UK’s Threads, it was seen as a cry for disarmament, as no one could ever possibly “win” a nuclear war.

This week, PBS is airing a documentary on the film called Television Event, and in it, they put forward the notion that the movie may have helped prevent a nuclear war. In it, director Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) relates the following intriguing anecdote (excerpted by THR):

“The movie may have indeed helped prevent a nuclear war.

Longtime soap actor Quinn Redeker, known for his roles on NBC‘s Days of Our Lives and CBS‘s The Young and the Restless, died on December 20 in Los Angeles at the age of 86. Redeker, whose television and film career spanned more than 50 years, was best known for his portrayal of Alex Marshall on Days of Our Lives from 1979 to 1987, as well as his 200-episode credit on The Young and the Restless as Rex Sterling. Redeker was nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for the former series. Once in 1989 and again in 1990 for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Daytime for The Young and the Restless. He also was a two-time winner at the Soap Opera Digest Awards, taking the 1983 Soapy Award for Best Villain for his role on Days of our Lives, as well as the 1989 award for “Outstanding...

Quinn Redeker, the actor who was best known for his role on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” died Dec. 20 in Los Angeles. He was 86.

Redeker was a guest star staple on American television for more than three decades from the 1960s through the 1980s, best known for his portrayal of Alex Marshall on “Days of Our Lives” from 1979 to 1987. He also played Rex Sterling on more than 200 episodes of CBS’s “The Young and Restless.” He also appeared in shows like “Starsky & Hutch,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Cannon,” “Kojak,” “Mannix,” “Sea Hunt,” “That Girl,”and “Barnaby Jones.” In the TV movie “Love Boat II,” Redeker played Captain Madison.

His acting on daytime dramas was especially recognized with awards, having been twice nominated for an Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for “The Young and the Restless” in 1989 and 1990. He also was a...