National Indian Film Festival to be held across Australia next month

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

A new celebration of South Asian cinema will be held across the country next month, with the Australian Centre for Indian Cinema announcing the inaugural National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA).

Held from February 13-16, the event includes screenings in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Darwin and Hobart.

One yet-to-be-decided city will host the opening night party, workshops, closing night film, and panels on investments, coproduction, development, and collaboration. The festival will also offer development grants for Australian screen content related to India and awards, to be announced in November.

The NIFFA is the brainchild of veteran director and Australia India Film Council chair, Anupam Sharma, who will work with festival director Peter Castadli in bringing the event to life. Dendy Cinemas, major Indian news media company NDTV, and cinema advertising company Val Morgan are on board as stakeholders.

The announcement comes 12 months after India became the 14th country to officially sign a co-production treaty with Australia, allowing projects in both countries to access government funding including grants, loans, and tax offsets.

Sharma said NIFFA would be “one of the rare film festivals which will be produced by filmmakers”.

“Australia was craving for a professional national celebration of Indian cinema, and it is an absolute honour to receive the support of mainstream Australia with Dendy as our major partner and NDTV as our media partner,” he said.

“One of the most important and exciting aspects of the festival will be the programming coverage on NDTV about Australia-India cultural and artistic ties, which will reach a potential audience of over 350 million across NDTV platforms. Money cannot buy such exposure for Australian cultural links with India.”

Castaldi was pleased to take up “such an important role in this vital Indo-Australian cultural and business initiative”.

“On the back of the co-production treaty, sparking a resurgence of film links and high box office revenue in Australasia for pan-Indian films, it makes sense to offer a national audience the opportunity to enjoy a professionally curated taster of the vitality of the amazingly rich and diverse Indian production sector,” he said.

“I look forward to working with the NIFFA to deliver exciting, informative, and entertaining experiences for all Australians.”

The program and award details will be announced on January 6.

Marvel’s Alien: Romulus Prequel Reveals How The Xenomorph From The 1979 Movie Really Died

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

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20th Century Studios

This post contains major spoilers for Marvel’s “Alien: Romulus” #1.
Director Fede Álvarez brought the “Alien” franchise back to life with this year’s “Alien: Romulus.” It was the first entry in the franchise in seven years following the commercial disappointment that was Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” in 2017. But Álvarez didn’t shy away from touching on Scott’s prequels in his film, nor did he shy away from making direct connections to Scott’s original 1979 horror/sci-fi masterpiece “Alien.” Now, a new comic that serves as a prequel to Álvarez’s film makes even more connections to Scott’s ’70s classic, shining a light on the fate of the first Xenomorph that terrorized the crew of the Nostromo.

Marvel’s “Alien: Romulus” #1, written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Daniel Picciotto, serves as a direct prequel to the events of the film of the same name. The cold open of the film sees a crew aboard the Renaissance Station discovering not only the wreckage of the Nostromo, but also the cocooned remains of the Xenomorph, dubbed XX121 in the book. Well, at the very least, these unfortunate souls believe they’ve found remains. Xenomorphs are quite resilient, it turns out, as even the cold vacuum of space can’t kill them.
The “Romulus” prequel comic shows us that Rook, who was made in the likeness of Ian Holm’s Ash from “Alien, wishes to study the Xenomorph and, as Álvarez’s movie reveals, he ultimately gets his wish. Meanwhile, a pair of security guards named Adrian and Hyla are against it, believing the organism should be destroyed. The duo end up disabling the Xenomorph’s cryo-sleep device and — wouldn’t you know it — the deadly creature comes back to life and starts wreaking havoc.

The ending of Alien was not the end for the original Xenomorph

Marvel Comics

Because the science officers aboard the Renaissance had already cloned several of the facehuggers, all of the necessary ingredients to make more Xenomorphs were there. Pretty much everyone dies, with Hyla and Rook at odds trying to accomplish different missions. Rook wants to extract the “Prometheus Fire” serum from the Xenomorph, which ties back to both “Prometheus” and “Covenant” Hyla, on the other hand, wants to kill XX121 for good.

Hyla does accomplish her mission, defeating the original Xenomorph with a barrage of gunfire before putting it down for good. Sadly for her, Rook ends up getting her sucked out of the station’s airlock, so she also dies and is unable to warn anyone else of what transpired on the station. In the end, then, Rook gets to secure his serum and that tees up the events of “Alien: Romulus” the movie. Much like the film, the “Romulus” comic does a lot to fill in some gaps in the overall timeline without stepping on any pre-existing continuity.
As for the future? Disney and 20th Century Studios are currently developing a “Romulus’ sequel, which will likely see the return of Cailee Spaeny’s Rain and David Jonsson’s Andy. Plot details remain under wraps, but one thing is for sure: They won’t be encountering that particular Xenomorph because it is good and truly dead now. Despite Ellen Ripley’s best efforts, that alien lived to kill again decades later. It truly is a perfect, deadly organism.

“Alien: Romulus” is available on VOD now, or you can pre-order the film on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD via Amazon.

Tom Hardy’s Venom Movies Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Static Media

If superhero movies are a family, then “Venom” is definitely the eccentric cousin. Sony’s trilogy of films star Tom Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock, and also as the voice of Venom, the alien symbiote that Eddie has “up [his] ass” (to use his own phrasing). It’s definitely an unconventional domestic partnership, but there’s a unique charm to it.

All three “Venom” movies have received mixed reviews, but some critics have been positively enchanted by the trilogy’s messy-but-entertaining energy. On the audience side, “Venom” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” both received B+ CinemaScore grades, based on opening day audience polling (the same score as Marvel Cinematic Universe entry “Thor” and DC movies like “Suicide Squad” and “Justice League”). More recently, “Venom: The Last Dance” broke that trend by earning a B- CinemaScore.
That pattern is different in the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the three moves, which reflect the balance of positive vs. negative reviews from movie critics. All opinions are subjective, of course, but here’s how the “Venom” movies rank according to Rotty T’s. 

3. Venom – 30%

Sony Pictures

It might come as a shock to learn that Ruben Fleischer’s “Venom” has the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the trilogy. The odds were certainly stacked against it, as many fans thought the project was a complete non-starter. Venom’s origin story in the comics (loosely adapted in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3”) is that the symbiote attaches to Peter Parker first, gets rudely discarded by him, and latches on to Eddie Brock on the rebound. Eddie and Venom bond over their shared loathing of Spider-Man, and in the classic Marvel comics, the character was more or less defined by his antagonism towards Spider-Man. So, a Venom movie with no Spider-Man sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Instead, it was a pleasant surprise — thanks mainly to Tom Hardy fully embracing the weirdness of the main characters and their bizarre dynamic. Instead of trying to look cool, he played the possessed Eddie as a sweaty mess who at one point climbs into a restaurant’s lobster tank to cool down, and then starts eating one of the lobsters raw (the lobster tank moment from “Venom” was Hardy’s idea).
“Venom” may have been helped by the low expectations audiences had going into it. By leaning into the absurdity of the premise and the chemistry between Eddie and Venom, the movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Still, it definitely has its flaws, so perhaps it’s not surprising that only 30% of critics gave it a passing grade.

2. Venom: The Last Dance – 37%

Sony Pictures

“Venom: The Last Dance” marked the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel, the screenwriter behind all three “Venom” movies, who worked closely with Hardy on the stories for the last two. Asked by People why she decided to step into the director’s role for this movie, Marcel replied: “Sony asked me to and I was like, ‘Oh, okay then.'”

After the positive response to the oddly romantic aspects of “Venom,” Hardy and Marcel doubled down on them in the sequels. Though, rather than exploring the idea of a sexual relationship between man and symbiote (fan art has that covered), the movies instead began to portray Eddie and Venom as a bickering old married couple. “Venom: The Last Dance” bore the tagline “Til death do they part” and the trailers threatened the possibility of either a death or (perhaps even worse) a break-up.
Though “The Last Dance” gets the silver trophy according to its Rotten Tomatoes score, both the CinemaScore and the general discussion surrounding the movie indicate that this is the weakest link in the trilogy. As is so often the case with movie trilogies (see: “Star Wars,” “The Godfather,” and — of course — “Spider-Man”), the middle chapter is the best one.

1. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (57%)

Sony Pictures

Though it still technically has a “Rotten” score of 57% (just shy of the 60% threshold for “Fresh”), “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” has the best reviews of the trilogy by a significant margin — and with good reason. Building on what was great about “Venom,” the second movie gets even weirder and more chaotic, while still remaining grounded in its characters and their (often toxic) relationships. 

The titular Carnage (whose name almost didn’t make it into the film’s title) is Venom’s baby, who is accidentally conceived and birthed when Eddie gets bitten by convicted killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). While still unaware of what they’ve unleashed on the world, Eddie and Venom’s bickering (over issues like whether or not they should bite people’s heads off) escalates into a very strange brawl, followed by a melodramatic break-up.
“Let There Be Carnage” embraces the idea of human-symbiote bonds being an analogy for LGBTQ relationships: Eddie treats Venom like something to be ashamed of; Venom doesn’t like that, and declares that he is “coming out of the Eddie closet.” Fortunately, by the end of the movie they realize that they’re meant to be together. It’s fun, it’s goofy, and the villains are a lot more interesting this time around. “Let There Be Carnage” is peak “Venom.”

6 reasons why people enjoy horror movies

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

The creeping shadows and haunting decorations transform the everyday into something eerie at Halloween. And you might be thinking about scaring yourself with a good horror movie.

Grotesque imagery, extreme violence, startling jump scares and menacing characters are common elements, making viewers feel fear, dread and disgust.

We generally aim to avoid these negative emotions in our everyday lives.

So why would some people seek them out, and enjoy them, in horror movies?

1. Fear can be thrilling

There is lots of overlap between the emotions of fear and excitement. In both, stress hormones are released that can produce physical symptoms such as increased heart and breathing rates, sweating and muscle tension. People also feel more alert and “on edge”.

Research has consistently shown people with personalities that crave intense emotional experiences, including fear and excitement, tend to enjoy horror movies.

But for more fearful people, the jump scares and violent scenes can be too intense. This can result in coping behaviours such as looking away or putting their hands over the ears, especially if they are highly immersed in the movie.

Although, if they also happen to enjoy intense emotion, they may still enjoy the thrill of the ride.

Movie makers work hard to get these ‘jump scares’ just right. And viewers enjoy the thrill.

2. There’s a sense of relief

People may enjoy horror movies because of a sense of relief after a scary moment has passed.

Watching a horror movie can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, with distinct peaks and troughs of fear and relief over the course of the film.

For example, in the 2017 movie It the main protagonists survive a series of scary encounters with a demonic clown. The scary moments are separated by calmer scenes, prompting a rollercoaster of emotions.

In the classic 1975 movie Jaws, viewers experience relief from the scary moments, only to be scared again and again.

Jaws is a rollercoaster of emotions.

3. They satisfy our morbid curiosity

Many horror movies feature supernatural themes and characters such as zombies, werewolves and vampires. So horror movies can help satiate a morbid curiosity.

The violence, death, destruction and grotesque elements can provide curious people a safe space to explore things that are not safe (or socially appropriate) in the real world.

Horror movies can help people satisfy their curiosity about death. But why are they curious in the first place?

4. We can work out our limits

Horror movies can reflect our deepest fears and prompt introspection about our personal thresholds of fear and disgust.

So some people may enjoy watching them to get a better understanding of their own limits.

Watching horror might also be a way to push personal boundaries to potentially become less fearful or grossed out by things in real life.

In a study one of us (Coltan) conducted, horror movie fans reported less psychological distress during the early months of the COVID pandemic compared with people not identifying as a horror movie fan.

5. They can be social

Some people say the social aspect of watching horror movies with others is a big part of their appeal.

Watching with others might help some people feel safer. Alternatively, this might help amplify the emotional experience by feeding off the emotions of people around them.

Horror movies are also a common pick as a date night movie. Being scared together gives a good excuse to snuggle and take comfort in each other.

6. They give us pleasure in other people’s misery

Horror movies can provide the pleasurable emotion we feel when witnessing the misfortune of others, known as schadenfreude. This occurs most when we feel the person experiencing misfortune deserves it.

In many horror movies the characters that suffer a gruesome fate are only side characters. Much of the time these unfortunate souls are made out to be unlikeable and often make foolish choices before their grisly end.

For example, in the 1996 teen witch movie The Craft, the character Chris Hooker is portrayed as being cruel to women. Then he dies by being blasted out of a window.

Despite the grisly nature of horror movies, a study by one of us (Coltan) found horror fans seem to have the same levels of empathy as anyone else.

In The Craft, viewers enjoy witnessing the misfortune of others, particularly if the character is a ‘baddy’.

What do I make of all this?

Horror movies allow us to confront our deepest fears through the safety of make-believe.

People enjoy them for lots of different reasons. And the precise combination of reasons differs depending on the specific movie, and the person or people watching it.

What is certain though, is the increasing popularity of horror movies, with many to choose from.

‘Terrifier 3’ Movie Ending Explained & Breakdown: Is Jonathan Dead Or Alive?

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Art the Clown in a Santa costume going on a killing spree in Miles County might not have been anywhere in your anticipation about Terrifier 3. But Damien Leone has nothing but wholesome faith in his killer clown played by a fantastic David Howard Thornton. This time around, Leone’s added more depth to the lore-heavy narrative weaved around the clown who’s claimed the most vicious kills in the history of slashers. And because he clearly took note of the complaints about Terrifier 2’s stretched runtime, Terrifier 3 keeps things decidedly subtle in the department of fleshing out Art’s backstory. So let’s see if I can help you out with the questions you might have about the way Terrifier 3’s ending gently nudges you toward a more roundabout idea of this menacing demon-mime you absolutely adore.

Spoiler Alert

What happens in the film?

When a family in Miles County is terrorized by a Santa costume-clad Art the Clown in the present day, you know that your favorite silent butcher is branching out wider than Halloween. I wouldn’t call him the Grinch though. After all, Art’s polite enough to do the dishes after turning little Juliet’s entire family into mincemeat. But given I see Art acting a little unlike himself in Terrifier 3 and actually sparing the lives of a few people who pass him by, I think there’s a good chance he leaves Juliet alive and traumatized. But how did Art come back to life after Sienna decapitated him in Terrifier 2? To understand that, we’ve got to go back to right after Terrifier 2’s ending, which, according to the timeline of Terrifier 3, was five years ago. Right around the time Vicky gave birth to Art’s head in the asylum, a headless Art hopped on the train and headed to Vicky while trying on the head he’d just taken from a cop who’d gone to check out the Terrifier massacre. When Art and Vicky reunited and the clown put on the head birthed by the girl whose face he ate in Terrifier, they went to an abandoned building where Vicky proceeded to slit her wrists and supposedly died in a tub. Considering Vicky’s possessed by the demonic entity that was inside The Little Pale Girl and Art himself is a creature of the darkness who’s practically immortal, I think they were just hibernating in that place for five years, waiting for a kill to feel alive.

In the present day, the kills to revive Art and Vicky come in the form of two demolition workers. And after that, Art and a resurrected, demonic Vicky are off to torment the people of Miles County and find Sienna. Sienna’s just gotten released from the hospital and moved in with her aunt Jess, her husband Greg, and their little daughter Gabbie who’s totally obsessed with her. It looks like Jonathan’s sort of distanced himself from Sienna in the five years that have passed. Jonathan’s goofy roommate Cole must be a good distraction from the lingering shadow of the horror at the Terrifier, but Jonathan’s forced to revisit the events by a very persistent Mia, this girl who runs a true-crime podcast and would love for Jonathan to go on and talk about the wrath of the Miles County killer clown. Considering none of what she’s been through was imaginary, Sienna obviously doesn’t believe that the medications can help her. But even as she’s mocked and hurt by visions of her dead best friend, Sienna bites her tongue because she already feels like a burden on her aunt’s family. But when a premonition of sorts about Art’s imminent terror hits Sienna when she’s at the mall, it gets practically impossible for her to stay calm and pretend that it’s all in her head. 

How does Sienna get the sword back?

Sienna and Jonathan’s reunion after all this time would’ve gone very different if she hadn’t just had a vision of Art dressed as Santa at the mall. But I bet she would’ve let him in on that in a less explosive manner if Mia hadn’t shown up and gotten on her nerves. But despite being caught off guard by his frantic, panicky sister, Jonathan understands that there’s more to Sienna’s fear than just paranoia. You see, in the early days following the events of Terrifier 2, Jonathan used to write letters to Sienna. Given we already know that the Shaw family have a peculiar connection to Art the Clown, it makes sense that, like his late father, Jonathan knows things about Art that he doesn’t quite understand himself. In one of his letters to Sienna, Jonathan mentioned The Little Pale Girl as a demonic creature. He also mentioned that that dark energy needed a vessel–someone who would act as a link between the world of the living and the world of the dead. In the letter, Jonathan claimed that the vessel for evil itself would have to be someone who’d died recently, and they would also have to be corrupt to their core–someone like a serial killer. That’s where Art’s lore comes in, but I’ll get to that later. For now, whether or not Sienna believes that Art the Clown could come back to life after losing his head in Terrifier 2, she needs to stay prepared. Jonathan reminds her about the sword, the flaming weapon that their father bestowed on the angelic warrior who he created after his daughter’s image. The sword’s still at the Terrifier. So without letting anyone know, Sienna retrieves the special sword, makes it look like a Christmas present, and hides it with the presents under the Christmas tree at her aunt’s place.

What does Sienna’s dream mean?

Nobody other than Jonathan believes that Art exists beyond the fear that often takes control of Sienna’s mind, and even Jonathan is desperate to stay in denial about it. While Sienna fortifies her mind to tackle Art’s in the case of his return, Art and Vicky make the necessary preparations to turn people’s favorite holiday into a horror show. After killing a Santa Claus impersonator at the bar and uh, “stealing” his beard and his clothes, Art the Clown dresses up as Santa and drags his sack of terror into the mall. The crowd of kids and parents surrounding him are turned to mulch by the explosive Art snuck into one of the gift boxes. And when Sienna sees this on the news, she has an immediate panic attack and demands for her uncle Greg to bring Jonathan to safety. Ever since the Shaw family has been included in Art’s overarching narrative, Sienna’s late father Michael has been in the center of the enigmatic powers both Art and Sienna possess. Sienna’s dreams keep pulling her back to the time when her father created the angelic warrior with the flaming sword who could kill just about any adversary. It’s possible that there was more to these memories than Sienna’s mind allows her to remember. And I think some of the more supernatural and inexplicable bits are what come up in her dream in Terrifier 3. This dream brings us closer to understanding the creation of this special sword and why it’s the only thing that can hurt an evil entity like Art the Clown. A demonic bladesmith controlled by a holy entity made this sword. My takeaway from this vision/dream is that since the sword has been made by something evil under the supervision of something Holy, it holds the combined strength of good and evil. 

Is Jonathan dead or alive?

When Sienna wakes up to the worst turn of events she could possibly imagine, things sort of look like she’s still dreaming. But if you ask me, I think whatever happens in the final act of the film is very real. Poor Uncle Greg is beheaded and pinned to the wall with his guts pouring out of him, and Art the Clown and his new demonic handler Vicky torment Sienna with the sight of her Aunt Jess tied to a chair. If you’re wondering how Vicky and Art even got to Greg, there’s a little hint in an earlier phone call he made to Jonathan. Jonathan was completely out of it and lying practically unconscious in his bed. But when Greg called him, he sounded totally lucid and fine. But it wasn’t Jonathan on the other side of the call. It was Vicky speaking to Greg imitating Jonathan’s voice, which is why the sound cracked right around the end of the call. Being hit with a mallet and watching her aunt get killed in a way that involves rats and a long pipe jammed into her throat completely crushes Sienna. And it’s all the more awful that Jess died thinking that that severed head in the birdcage being feasted on by rats belonged to her daughter Gabbie. But we see Gabbie unharmed, which obviously means that Vicky was lying about who the head belonged to. And the reason behind that lies in the fundamentals of the war between good and evil. Since Sienna is the embodiment of all things good and holy in this war, the demonic entity possessing Vicky needs to take control of Sienna’s spirit to vanquish the threat she poses. It was originally inside The Little Pale Girl. And ever since that creepy girl possessed Vicky, her entire purpose has been getting the evil spirit close to Sienna so it can possess her. For that, Sienna’s needs to be weak in her spirit. That’s why Vicky lied to her about Gabbie’s death. And now that Gabbie’s come downstairs and joined this grotesque party, Vicky claims that that head is actually Jonathan’s. That obviously shatters Sienna, but I don’t think she totally buys the fact that her brother is dead. Even beyond Jonathan’s enigmatic significance in the narrative, there are plenty of reasons for us to believe that he wasn’t killed off screen. Think about it. Wouldn’t killing Jonathan in front of Sienna have been way more effective a way to torment her? Art’s been in the dorm for sure. He even fulfilled Mia’s wishes of looking into a ruthless killer’s eyes by butchering her and Cole. But if you ask me, I think Jonathan is still alive and will become a crucial part of the narrative in the next installment of the franchise.

What happens to Gabbie?

Vicky, or more accurately the evil entity possessing Vicky, has but one agenda; taking control of Sienna’s body and soul. And for a moment when Sienna’s eyes glow the same way Art’s did in Terrifier and Vicky’s did in Terrifier 2, it almost looks like the entity’s about to win. But Sienna is stronger than that. And as brutal and bloodthirsty as Vicky and Art may be, they’re not exactly the smartest ones in the room. Even Gabbie’s smarter than them. Her knack for secretly opening presents really comes in handy. She’s already seen the sword in the present Sienna left under the tree. And because she’s read Sienna’s journal, Gabbie knows that that sword is the only thing that can defeat Art and Vicky. So Gabbie pretends that she wants to give Sienna her Christmas present before they both die. The only reason Art and Vicky let Sienna open the present is because they want to torment her further by breaking her hands and then letting her open it. Vicky pays the price for that when Sienna beheads her with one swift swing of the sword. But before she can put an end to Art’s terror, whatever evil being was inside Vicky opens the gates of Hell, presumably to go back to where it came from. Sienna would’ve been able to kill Art once and for all if she wasn’t distracted by Gabbie falling into that pit, that probably goes down straight to Hell. Unfortunately for Sienna, even her best efforts fail to keep Gabbie from falling into the hole. Sienna will likely go down there herself to save her baby cousin in the next installment of the film. It will be interesting to see what sort of preparations she’d need to make for that. Lucky for her, she’s still got that special sword. 

What does the ending mean?  

In Terrifier 3’s ending, Art slips out of the window when Sienna’s not looking. He’s been injured in the fight, but considering wounds are always superficial for Art and he can heal himself, I think he was A-OK by the time he got out of Sienna’s aunt’s place. In Terrifier 3’s closing scene, the woman in the bus reading a book called “The 9th Circle” is a direct reference to the 2008 film of the same name where Art the Clown first appeared. Damien Leone also makes this into an opportunity to pay homage to the classic Rosemary’s Baby by naming the writer of the book Rosemary Castevet. Is this also his way of implying that Rosemary took the Castevets’ name after birthing the Antichrist?

Coming back to the Art the Clown universe, in “The 9th Circle,” Art the Clown kidnapped a girl to be sacrificed in a satanic ritual. Given Damien Leone’s already implied that Art was a mortal once, I think a further look into his backstory would reveal how the satanic cult Art was involved in in his tenure as a serial killer might’ve played a part in the supernatural aspect of Art’s story. This seems like the right time to go back to Jonathan’s letter. When he was urging his sister to gear up for a fight with something demonic, Jonathan mentioned that the evil spirit needed someone as ruthless as a serial killer as a vessel. That can only mean one thing. Art the Clown was the mortal serial killer who was chosen to be the vessel of evil on Earth. That’d also explain Art’s connection to the building he and Vicky went to and stayed in for five years before reinvigorating themselves with the blood of the two demolition workers. Remember how one of those guys mentioned that in the 90s, someone had killed about a dozen people and left the bodies in the basement of that building? I know he later claimed it to be a joke, but I think he only did that because his partner was freaking out. If we choose to believe that that massacre was real, it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to assume that Art the Clown was the killer. Maybe that’s the reason he went back to that building in Terrifier 3. Who knows? Maybe even that building will be of significance in Sienna’s path to destroying the demonic murder-clown in the next installment of the Terrifier franchise. 

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Culver Cup Winners Create Movie Magic With AI

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

MetaPuppet’s Mnemonade, depicting a woman with dementia, claimed the Culver Cup during LA Tech Week. In this original, emotional and very personal film she unlocks fragments of her lost memories, triggered by each dish, which is served by a mysterious waiter. “Mnemonade is a tribute to my grandmother, whose memories faded with dementia,” the filmmaker said.

The story gave MetaPuppet the opportunity to leverage cinematic AI’s most important native qualities, nostalgia and spectacular visual effects, which he confidently deploys to great effect. “AI helped me visualize her fragmented thoughts in ways I never thought possible,” said MetaPuppet, who recently joined AI-forward production company Secret Level.

Each bite triggers a memory in MetaPuppet’s award-winning Mnemonade. MetaPuppet
The Culver Cup, co-hosted by FBRC.AI and Amazon Web Services (AWS), challenged filmmakers to use a uniform set of 3D assets provided by Global Objects and a creative brief by director David Slade. Participants had access to cutting-edge AI tools like Luma’s Dream Machine, which generates high-quality video from text and image prompts, and Playbook3D, an engine for rendering 3D scenes. These tools allowed filmmakers to deliver high-quality shorts in just a few weeks, ensuring the final films were fully up to date.

The sands of time overtake each memory in Mnemonade.MetaPuppet

The Culver Cup format is unique in the world of AI filmmaking, but competitions like it are increasingly common. Platforms like RunwayML and Curious Refuge regularly run similar contests, giving important platforms for those early adopters like MetaPuppet, who are pushing the boundaries of what generative AI can achieve.

The runners-up were no less impressive. Krystal Trixx’s Artificial Symphony explored the intersection of art and technology through kaleidoscopic visuals, while Borys Kondratenko’s Echoes of Eden offered a stark, AI-generated portrayal of environmental collapse. “Both films were visually stunning,” said Todd Terrazas, co-founder of FBRC.AI, “but Mnemonade stood out for its emotional narrative. The way MetaPuppet used AI to portray the fragility of memory was beyond what we expected.”The seven Culver Cup 2024 runners up are available free at Escape.aiEscape.ai
Here are the final winners:
Champion: Mnemonade – MetaPuppet
Finalist: I […] You – Maddie Hong
Semi-Finalist: Relatively Disconnected – Paola Rocchetti
Semi-Finalist: Dad’s Treasure – Matthew Wenhardt
The top 8 submissions can be viewed at Escape AI.
While the Culver Cup demonstrated AI’s potential to streamline production, it also underscored the technology’s ability to open new avenues for personal storytelling. The event featured cutting-edge tools, yet the focus was always on the characters and their stories. “In AI filmmaking’s infancy, the tech has outshined the story.” Said MetaPuppet. “In this film I wanted the story to speak louder than the tools used to tell it.”Poster for MnemonadeMetaPuppet
The question now is where AI filmmaking goes from here. As tools like Luma’s Dream Machine and Playbook3D improve, filmmakers are likely to push the boundaries even further. The success of Mnemonade suggests that while AI is often seen as a way to speed up production, its real power lies in helping filmmakers tell deeply personal and emotionally resonant stories.
For MetaPuppet, the journey is far from over. “AI allowed me to do something I didn’t think was possible—to recreate memories and emotions I thought were lost. That’s where the future of filmmaking lies, in giving us the tools to explore human stories in new ways.”

Shattering Netflix film ‘worth every second’ leaves fans ugly crying

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

A stunning new film on Netflix has captured the hearts of viewers (Picture: Getty)Netflix subscribers are urging people to watch a ‘gorgeous’ new documentary film on the platform, which caused many to ‘ugly cry’ thanks to its inspirational and heartwarming message.
It’s also been praised as ‘one of the best things you’ll see all year’ and a movie that ‘makes you want to scream about it from the rooftops’.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which has a stunning 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes, has been making waves online and reducing viewers to tearful messes with its incredible real story.
It follows Norwegian World of Warcraft enthusiast Mats Steen, who died at the age of just 25 from a rare degenerative muscular disease.
Unbeknown to his parents though, who mourned a short life of missed opportunities, Mats enjoyed a rich secret life as a gamer, which was uncovered when his online friends contacted his family after his death and is ‘vividly reimagined’ in the film.
‘As he became more dependent on his wheelchair, his gaming time and screen time increased dramatically,’ his father Robert explains of his progressive muscular dystrophy in the trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary.

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‘Our deepest sorrow lay in the fact that he wouldn’t experience friendship, love or to make a difference in other people’s lives. But you proved us wrong, you proved us so wrong.’
In fact, it turned out that Mats had been enjoying an amazing parallel online life as a legend among the World of Warcraft community thanks to his avatar, Ibelin.
He had formed deep friendships with players from countries like Britain, Denmark and Spain, and a touching 10-year online relationship with a player called Lisette from the Netherlands.

In documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Mats Steen’s family discuss finding out he lived a parallel life online (Picture: Netflix)

Mats had dies at the age of 25 from a degenerative muscular disease, which confined him to a wheelchair, but he was Ibelin in World of Warcraft (Picture: Netflix)Mats’ online alter ego Ibelin, a private investigator, had even been accused of being a womaniser thanks to various romances, which his father admitted ‘was a shocking, pleasing moment’.
‘One of the best things you’ll see all year. The kind of film that instantly makes you want to scream about it from the rooftops. A life-affirming piece of art that makes you glad to share this world with the people you love,’ praised Dan Drambles on X after watching the documentary.

Ibelin struck up many deep friendships and relationships online (Picture: Netflix)‘This made me ugly cry and yet feel so inspired,’ shared Sai M alongside a five-star audience review on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, where The Remarkable Life of Ibelin also boasts a very impressive 96% audience rating.
‘I have not cried so much watching a film for a very long time,’ admitted Jonathan S, while @voEROSttv wrote: ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is one of the most gorgeous things ever. Everyone should watch it. *Please* watch it.’

Fans have been totally captivated by the inspirational message of the documentary (Picture: Netflix)@KLeCrone added that they ‘can’t recommend this documentary enough’ while @lavendarvarya promised that it was ‘worth every second you’ll spend watching it’.
‘Just finished watching The Remarkable Life of Ibelin and I’m not OK. I’ve been crying for 20 mins,’ shared Amber on social media, who said that they would ‘highly recommend’ the documentary to everyone, ‘even if you don’t play WoW’.
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Read More Stories‘I’m not ashamed to say it had me weeping for most of it, chimed in @mk_tbone of Mats. ‘He touched many lives through WoW and now through this documentary his life will continue to impact so many more.’

It has been dubbed ‘worth every second you’ll spend watching it’ (Picture: Netflix)To mark the release of the documentary film to Netflix on Friday, World of Warcraft players banded together to leave a carpet of candles and flowers at the in-game memorial in tribute to Mats and Ibelin.
Emphasising the scale of this impressive homage, Matt Neglia explained on X alongside a photo of the gathered players and items: ‘Each candle is lit by a player, and they only last for 15 minutes at a time with more coming to ensure the tribute continues. Each player must travel to a specific location to purchase the candles and they cannot be shared with other players.’
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is streaming exclusively on Netflix now.
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