MagazinAisle

Author: rb809rb

  • ‘Burning Voice’ Goes Inside Tamara Amer’s Fight for Iraqi Women’s Rights: “I Won’t Shut Up”

    ‘Burning Voice’ Goes Inside Tamara Amer’s Fight for Iraqi Women’s Rights: “I Won’t Shut Up”

    Tamara Amer is fighting “a fierce battle against negative social control, a culture of silence, and the oppression of women in Iraq, where she grew up.” You have to watch the new documentary Burning Voice, though, to get a more detailed picture that the press notes for the film hint at. After all, since founding the online platform Iraqi Women Rights in 2011, Amer has used her voice and her dual position as an insider and outsider in Baghdad to help educate Iraqi women about their rights. Now, her work and her struggles are coming to the big screen.

    Burning Voice, directed by Anna Bruun Nørager in her feature debut, world premieres on Friday, March 13 in the Human:Rights Competition of the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.

    “She has inspired Iraqi women to dare to break the silence and report violations,” a synopsis notes about Amer. “But it is far from safe for women in Iraq to speak out about such issues. Tamara herself has lived with harassment and serious threats for over a decade. Not only from people trying to sabotage her work for women’s liberation, but also from her violent ex-husband, from whom she fled with their son. He now refuses to grant her a divorce or leave her alone. But rather than breaking down, Tamara channels all the resistance she encounters into her activism and her enormous care for her family and sisters around the world who are also fighting for life and freedom.”

    Bruun Nørager and Amer, in email interviews with THR, shared insights into the experience of making Burning Voice, the plight of women’s rights in Iraq, as well as in other parts of the world, and the inspiration they hope the doc can provide to audiences.

    Anna, how did you find out about Tamara and her work? And what inspired you to make this film?

    Bruun Nørager I got to know Tamara through the research I did for a short documentary [#FollowMe] in 2019 about this online network of Iraqi women using social media to challenge norms and traditions in their country. I continued working with this subject, and Tamara and I found each other in a common aim for women’s rights.

    First, I started documenting her work as an activist and volunteer. I filmed many different cases, but at some point, the project naturally developed to be Tamara’s story. I find the relentless energy she has fighting for justice extremely fascinating and inspiring, and I guess that’s what inspired me to make this film in the end.

    ‘Burning Voice’ film still

    Courtesy of Anna Bruun Nørager

    Tamara, how was it having a film made about you and sharing your battle and vulnerability for the world to see?

    Amer Opening up my private life to the world was never easy, but I viewed this film as an essential extension of my mission. My goal was to document the unique, often invisible reality of being a women’s rights defender from a distance. Over 15 years of voluntary work, I have proven that distance is no limit to impact. Through our digital platform in Denmark, I’ve led campaigns tackling deep-seated social issues like harassment, GBV (gender-based violence), school violence, and the growing threat of digital blackmail.

    My happiness is found in seeing a woman overcome these hardships. If this film offers even one person a roadmap to safety, then every vulnerable moment captured was worth it.

    How did you approach this story as a director? I feel it balances the specific with a focus on on Tamara and Iraq, yet it also has universal echoes relating to women worldwide.

    Bruun Nørager The Iraqi law system protecting men when killing their wives, sisters or daughters is a structural problem. Especially in the fact that femicide is increasing worldwide. It’s not a question of country or culture. It’s a question of being a woman – which is something half of the world’s population can relate to in different aspects, depending on the scale of rights and protection they’re born into. But to narrow this subject into a film, you need a pinpoint to show the personal story in the bigger context.

    ‘Burning Voice’ film still

    Courtesy of Anna Bruun Nørager

    I love the film’s title. How did you find it?

    Bruun Nørager It’s been quite a journey to find a title, and for a long time, we had so many different ideas and versions written on the wall in the editing room. One of the things I’ve heard Tamara say repeatedly is that she won’t shut up. “I won’t shut up.” And as a person, she has this strong and fearless energy that feels like a fire to me. So, in the end, the word “burning” came together with the word “voice” – and suddenly it just felt right.

    Tamara, what’s the status of your NGO in Iraq right now?

    Amer Currently, my NGO, Support Her Organisation, is inactive. After facing constant threats and attempts to compromise the safety of our volunteers in Iraq, we made the heartbreaking decision to halt operations last year. My dream was to build safe shelters where none exist, but the environment has become too dangerous. The recent assassination of Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, just last week, confirms that it is no longer rational or safe to maintain a physical presence there. We cannot protect others if we cannot protect the defenders themselves

    What are your hopes for the impact the film can have for women’s rights in Iraq and beyond, given the global backlash against women’s rights?

    Bruun Nørager Since Tamara and I started filming in Iraq, the danger of being a feminist and activist has increased. Recently, Yanar Mohammed … was killed on the street of her own house, a woman whom Tamara also knew and collaborated with. And this is just an example of how extreme conservative forces are trying to push down the fight for women’s rights. I truly hope this film – regardless of those who are trying to shut down our voices – will reach its Iraqi audience, inspire young women and push for a legal system that actually protects women.

    ‘Burning Voice’ film still

    Courtesy of Anna Bruun Nørager

    Amer One of the film’s purposes is to shine a light on the extreme risks women’s rights defenders face today. My hope is that by sharing my story and the reality of working from Denmark, we can spark a global conversation about the urgent need for protection and real shelters in Iraq. 

    I hope this film moves people from passive sympathy to active support for those of us fighting on the front lines, whether remotely or on the ground.

    Anna, will we see more films from you in the future? Do you have any new projects in the works?

    Bruun Nørager This film is for sure just the beginning. I know I have a lot more films in me to do. But right now, my focus is on Tamara and getting our film out into the world. And then I’m sure later on I’ll know what my next project is going to be.

  • Nvidia Drops Nemotron 3 Super Amid $26 Billion Open-Model AI Bet—America’s Answer to Qwen?

    Nvidia Drops Nemotron 3 Super Amid $26 Billion Open-Model AI Bet—America’s Answer to Qwen?

    In brief

    • Nvidia launched Nemotron 3 Super, a 120B open-weight AI model optimized for autonomous agents and ultra-long context tasks.
    • The hybrid Mamba-Transformer MoE architecture delivers faster reasoning and over 5× throughput while running at 4-bit precision.
    • Nvidia’s $26 billion investment into open-source AI wants to counter China’s rise in the field.

    Nvidia just shipped Nemotron 3 Super, a 120-billion-parameter open-weight model built to do one thing well: run autonomous AI agents without bleeding your compute budget dry.

    That’s not a small problem. Multi-agent systems generate a lot more tokens than a normal chat—every tool call, reasoning step, and slice of context gets re-sent from scratch. As a result, costs explode, models tend to drift, and the agents slowly forget what they were supposed to be doing in the first place… or at least decrease in accuracy.

    Nemotron 3 Super is Nvidia’s answer to all of that. The model runs 12 billion active parameters out of 120 billion total, using a mixture-of-experts (MoE) design that keeps inference cheap while retaining the reasoning depth complex workflows need. It packs a 1-million-token context window, so agents can hold an entire codebase, or nearly 750,000 words in memory before collapsing.

    To build its model, Nvidia combined three components that rarely appear together in the same architecture: Mamba-2 state-space layers—a faster, memory-efficient alternative to attention for handling long token streams—along with Transformer attention layers for precise recall, and a new “Latent MoE” design that compresses token embeddings before routing them to experts. That allows the model to activate four times as many specialists at the same compute cost.

    The model was also pretrained natively in NVFP4, Nvidia’s 4-bit floating-point format. In practice, that means the system learned to operate accurately within 4-bit arithmetic from the very first gradient update, rather than being trained at high precision and compressed afterward, which often causes models to lose accuracy.

    For context, a model’s precision is measured in bits. Full precision, known as FP32, is the gold standard—but it is also extremely expensive to run at scale. Developers often reduce precision to save compute while trying to preserve useful performance.

    Think of it like shrinking a 4K image down to 1080p: The picture still looks the same at a glance, just with less detail. Normally, dropping from 32-bit precision all the way to 4-bit would cripple a model’s reasoning ability. Nemotron avoids that problem by learning to operate at low precision from the start, instead of being squeezed into it later.

    Compared to its own predecessor, Nemotron 3 Super delivers more than five times the throughput. Against external rivals, it’s 2.2x faster than OpenAI’s GPT-OSS 120B on inference throughput, and 7.5x faster than Alibaba’s Qwen3.5-122B.

    We ran our own quick test. The reasoning held up well, including on prompts that were deliberately vague, badly worded, or based on wrong information. The model caught small errors in context without being asked to, handled math and logic problems cleanly, and didn’t fall apart when the question itself was slightly off.

    The full training pipeline is public: weights on Hugging Face, 10 trillion curated pretraining tokens seen over 25 trillion total during training, 40 million post-training samples, and reinforcement learning recipes across 21 environment configurations. Perplexity, Palantir, Cadence, and Siemens are already integrating the model in their workflows.

    The $26 billion bet

    The model may be one piece of a larger strategy. A 2025 financial filing shows Nvidia plans to spend $26 billion over the next five years building open-weight AI models. Executives confirmed it, too.

    Bryan Catanzaro, VP of applied deep learning research, told Wired the company recently finished pretraining a 550-billion-parameter model. Nvidia released its first Nemotron model back in November 2023, but that filing makes clear this is no longer a side project.

    The investment is strategic considering Nvidia’s chips are still the default infrastructure for training and running frontier models. Models tuned to its hardware give customers a built-in reason to stay on Nvidia despite efforts from competitors to use other hardware. But there’s a more urgent pressure behind the move: America is losing the open-source AI race, and losing it fast.

    Chinese open models went from barely 1.2% of global open-model usage in late 2024 to roughly 30% by the end of 2025, according to research by OpenRouter and Andreessen Horowitz. Alibaba’s Qwen overtook Meta’s Llama as the most-used self-hosted open-source model, according to Runpod. American companies including Airbnb adopted it for customer service. Startups worldwide are building on top of it. Beyond market share, that kind of adoption creates infrastructure dependencies that are hard to reverse.

    While U.S. giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google keep their best models locked behind APIs, Chinese labs from DeepSeek to Alibaba have been flooding the open ecosystem. Meta was the one major American player competing in open source with Llama, but Zuckerberg recently signaled the company might not make future models fully open.

    The gap between “best proprietary model” and “best open model” used to be massive—and in America’s favor. That gap is now very small, and the open side of the ledger is increasingly Chinese.

    There’s also a hardware threat underneath all of this. A new DeepSeek model is widely expected to drop soon, and it’s rumored to have been trained entirely on chips made by Huawei—a sanctioned Chinese company. If that’s confirmed, then it would give developers around the world, particularly in China, a concrete reason to start testing Huawei’s hardware. China’s Ziphu AI is already doing that.

    That’s the scenario Nvidia most needs to prevent: Chinese open models and Chinese chips building an ecosystem that doesn’t need Nvidia at all.

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

    Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

  • Bitcoin Quantum Threat Is Real But Not Imminent, Says Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest

    Bitcoin Quantum Threat Is Real But Not Imminent, Says Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest

    In brief

    • A new Ark Invest and Unchained report says quantum computing poses a long-term risk to Bitcoin, not an immediate threat.
    • Roughly 35% of the Bitcoin supply could be exposed to quantum attacks under certain conditions.
    • Bitcoin may eventually require post-quantum cryptography through a consensus upgrade.

    The crypto industry is becoming increasingly aware that quantum computing could eventually challenge the cryptographic systems that secure Bitcoin and other prominent networks. However, the threat is likely years or decades away, according to a new report by Ark Invest—the investment management firm of tech investor Cathie Wood—and Bitcoin-focused financial services firm Unchained.

    The report published on Wednesday examines whether advances in quantum computing could enable Shor’s algorithm to break the elliptic curve cryptography used to secure Bitcoin wallets. The authors say current quantum machines remain far below the capability required to compromise Bitcoin’s security, echoing comments from quantum computing experts.

    “Today’s quantum systems lack the capabilities required to compromise Bitcoin. Meaningful breakthroughs would disrupt internet security first, triggering coordinated responses well beyond Bitcoin,” the researchers wrote. “In our view, quantum development will be a gradual technological progression—not a sudden ‘Q-day‘ event—giving markets and the Bitcoin network time to adapt.”

    The report comes as the conversation around quantum computing and cryptocurrency has steadily increased over the last year, with prominent figures including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson addressing the risk.

    “Commentators often parse two distinct eras in the development of quantum computing in relation to Bitcoin, one era in which quantum computing cannot affect Bitcoin and another in which it has broken Bitcoin’s underlying cryptography completely,” the report said.

    Bitcoin’s security relies on hash functions that protect mining and block structure, and elliptic curve cryptography that proves wallet ownership. However, future quantum computers could potentially reverse public keys to recover private keys, raising concerns about “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks in which blockchain data is collected today to exploit it once quantum computers become powerful enough.

    The report, however, says today’s quantum computers operate in the “Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum,” era, typically using around 100 logical qubits. Breaking a Bitcoin key with a quantum computer would require thousands of high‑quality, error‑corrected qubits and an enormous number of reliable quantum operations—far beyond what today’s quantum machines can do.

    Because of those limits, the report says any quantum threat to Bitcoin would likely emerge in stages rather than all at once.

    “In our view, within 10-20 years, the [practical quantum computing] research community will make enough progress on algorithms to give the Bitcoin developer community time to adapt and optimize them for the Bitcoin blockchain, virtual machine, and ecosystem of tools, devices, and companies,” the researchers wrote.

    Researchers estimate that quantum computers would first become useful in fields such as chemistry before advancing enough to break weaker cryptographic systems. Later, they would become capable of attacking the elliptic curve cryptography used in Bitcoin wallets, initially taking significant time to break individual keys. In its final stage, quantum computers would be able to break keys faster than Bitcoin’s roughly 10-minute block interval.

    Even if the threat is gradual instead of instant, the report notes a substantial share of Bitcoin’s supply could face exposure if quantum computers eventually break elliptic curve cryptography.

    “About 1.7 million Bitcoin are held in vulnerable P2PK addresses that are believed to be lost, while another roughly 5.2 million BTC sit in reused or Taproot addresses that could be migrated—together accounting for about 35% of the total Bitcoin supply,” the researchers wrote.

    The report says Bitcoin developers may eventually need to adopt post-quantum cryptography, a class of cryptographic systems designed to remain secure against quantum computers.

    In February, developers merged BIP 360 into Bitcoin’s GitHub improvement repository, advancing a potential post-quantum framework for the network. BIP 360 introduces a new output type called Pay-to-Merkle-Root, or P2MR, that would disable a technical feature called key-path spending, which exposes public keys when coins are spent.

    Integrating those protections into the Bitcoin network would require changes to its consensus rules, however, a process that depends on agreement across the decentralized community of developers, miners, and users.

    “Bitcoin isn’t just one piece of software. There’s an entire ecosystem of wallets, hardware devices, and exchanges, and migrating all of that will take time,” BIP 360 co-author and cryptographer Ethan Heilman told Decrypt. “There are still open questions about which algorithms to use and what the right approach is, so discussions about post-quantum upgrades could take five to 10 years.”

    Bitcoin’s design makes major changes difficult, a feature the report says protects the network but can slow the process of adopting and enacting upgrades.

    “From that perspective, Bitcoin’s caution represents a tradeoff between adaptability and assurance, which will continue to shape its long-term evolution,” the report said.

    That dynamic, Heilman said, could also shape how developers prioritize upgrades: “If the threat isn’t urgent, things move slowly. Once it becomes real, development tends to accelerate.”

    Ark Invest and Unchained did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Decrypt.

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

    Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

  • Alcaraz sets up Medvedev Indian Wells semifinal, Sabalenka also advances

    Alcaraz sets up Medvedev Indian Wells semifinal, Sabalenka also advances

    Carlos Alcaraz will meet Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells semifinals, while Jannik Sinner faces Alexander Zverev.

    Published On 13 Mar 2026

    World number one Carlos Alcaraz charged past Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 on Thursday to ⁠set up an Indian Wells semifinal with ⁠Daniil Medvedev after the Russian ended Jack Draper’s title defence with a 6-17-5 win following a controversial umpiring call.

    Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka also reached the last four in the women’s draw with a 7-6(0) 6-4 victory over 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, but Iga Swiatek was unable to ⁠find her way past Elina Svitolina and fell 6-2 4-6 6-4.

    Recommended Stories

    list of 4 itemsend of list

    Australian Open champion Alcaraz improved his record to 16-0 to start the year with a solid display against a tricky opponent in the final contest of the evening, remaining on course for a third Indian Wells crown.

    The Spaniard eased through the opening set, and though he ⁠was briefly in trouble at 0-2 down in the second, he quickly regained the momentum to see off Briton Norrie and set up a meeting with twice runner-up Medvedev.

    “It was really difficult, I struggled with Cameron’s style,” Alcaraz said.

    “His forehand has super top-spin, and his backhands are flat, so it’s tricky to play against him and find the correct shots. I played solid and aggressive when I could, and I’m happy to be at this level.”

    Russian 11th seed Medvedev was also in impressive form against Briton Draper, who had ‌little time to recover after his stunning three-set win over Novak Djokovic on Wednesday.

    Draper raised his level in the second set and stayed with his opponent up to 5-5, but Medvedev secured a late break after a controversial hindrance call from chair umpire Aurelie Tourte.

    Medvedev was awarded a point to go 30-0 up following a late video review request, after the Russian said he was distracted by Draper’s raised arm during the rally when the Briton thought the ball went out.

    Draper insisted he had not caused a major distraction, but the umpire stuck with her decision to award Medvedev the point, prompting jeers from the crowd when the call was made.

    “If you look at the first forehand I did after it happened, I think I could have done a better shot if there was no gesture ⁠from Jack,” Medvedev told reporters.

    “Was I distracted big time? No. Do I feel good about it? Not really. But I also ⁠don’t feel like I cheated or something. I got a bit distracted. I let it go and I let the umpire decide.”

    Fourth seed Alexander Zverev beat Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-2 6-3 to make the semifinals for the first time, and become only the fifth man to complete the set of last-four appearances at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.

    The German faces a big challenge in the next round, ⁠however, as he takes on world number two Jannik Sinner after the Italian made light work of American Learner Tien 6-1 6-2.

    Svitolina upsets Swiatek, while Rybakina could await Sabalenka

    World number two Swiatek struggled early against Svitolina, with the Ukrainian capitalising on five double faults to secure three breaks ⁠and take the opening set in 38 minutes.

    She found her rhythm in the second to force a ⁠decider, but Svitolina regained the upper hand by securing the only break in a tight third set before confidently closing out the match to return to the semis for the first time in seven years.

    Belarusian Sabalenka had a battle on her hands against Mboko, and the top seed was taken to a first-set tiebreak, which she won to love – a career first.

    The second set followed a similar script with Mboko clawing ‌her back to 5-4 and threatening another tiebreak, but four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka held firm.

    “She’s a future Grand Slam champion,” Sabalenka said. “It’s incredible to see how brave these young girls are these days.”

    Sabalenka next plays Linda Noskova, who ended Australian qualifier Talia Gibson’s fairytale run 6-2 4-6 6-2, the Czech reaching her second WTA 1000 semifinal.

    Australian ‌Open ‌champion Elena Rybakina advanced with a 6-1 7-6(4) victory over Jessica Pegula to reach another Indian Wells semifinal, where she will play Svitolina.

    Victory ensured Rybakina will leapfrog Swiatek and reach a career-high world number two when the WTA rankings are updated on Monday.

  • Rafe Spall, Bérénice Bejo, Steven Moffat and Bryan Elsley Head Shows at Series Mania’s 2026 Buyers Upfront

    Rafe Spall, Bérénice Bejo, Steven Moffat and Bryan Elsley Head Shows at Series Mania’s 2026 Buyers Upfront

    Rafe Spall (“Trying, “The English”), Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”), “Sherlock” co-creator and showrunner Steven Moffat and “Skins” co-creator Bryan Elsley head shows at the 2026 Series Mania Buyers Upfront, an invitation-only event unspooling on March 23 at Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival.   

    Spall plays opposite Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who,” “The Jetty”) and Katherine Kelly (“Happy Valley”) in Moffat’s “Number 10,” one of the big highlights of this year’s Upfront. Bejo stars in “Alice,” for HBO Max and French public broadcaster France Televisions, which promises a finely produced period portrait of Alice Guy, one of cinema’s great French pioneers, pretty well erased from history for most of a century. Elsley returns with legal drama “Counsels,” produced for BBC One. 

    The Buyers Upfront 10 series lineup was announced Friday by Laurence Herszberg, Series Mania founder and general director.

    Though it would have to be compared with other key Series Mania industry sections, hints at trends in projects being brought in general onto the international market.

    For want of U.S. financing, as players see to bulwark budgets and tap English-language projects, international markets are tapping into Australia. “Gnomes,” for instance, is commissioned by Stan in Australia and picked up by Germany’s ZDF Neo.

    International is getting ever more genre, not just crime but horror. “Gnomes” is described as “Gremlins” Meets “Hot Fuzz,” by creator Joel Kohn. “

    And the co-production scene is still developing. “Lost and Found” marks Singapore’s first scripted collaboration with Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

    Producers are gaining broadcaster backing as they aim to capture a younger crowd. Elsey’s “Counsels,” marking a newer and younger-gen way into legal drama, is also backed by ZDFNeo, currently ZDF’s younger adult channel. Mixing real world settings in Singapore and Japan and a virtual world, “Lost and Found” backed by NHK and Mediacorp Singapore, targets Gen Z audiences. 

    The Buyers Choice Award, selected by a six-person jury of key buyers, will be presented during an Awards Ceremony on March 24. It kicks off with a Beta Brunch. 

    “We’re thrilled to bring back the Buyers Upfront following last year’s successful launch,” said Francesco Capurro, director of Series Mania Forum, noting that more than 100 top buyers from around the world have already signed up for the Upront which he described as a “highly curated slate of premium series.” 

    “We’re confident the initiative will help distributors accelerate international sales,” he added. “With the Buyers Upfront, we continue to strengthen our position as the must-attend spring event for the scripted community, from creation to global distribution.

    A closer look at the Upfront titles, chosen for their artistic merit and broad audience appeal:

    “Alice”

    Format: 6×45′

    Country: France, Belgique, Canada

    Year of production: 2025

    Genre: Drama, Other

    International Sales: Wild Bunch TV

    Production company: Wild Bunch/Ligne de Front (France); Panache Productions & La Compagnie Cinématographique (Belgium); Sphere Media (Canada)

    Synopsis: “From France to the U.S., the incredible journey of Alice Guy, a pioneer and the first female fiction filmmaker in cinema history. The series explores the extraordinary life of Alice Guy—a woman who was an artist, entrepreneur, wife and mother. It delves into her struggles, her thwarted loves, and her quest for freedom and recognition.”

    Starring Béjo, produced by Wild Bunch TV and Palermo Production, on the biggest plays at the Upfront, moving from Belle Epoque Paris to New York and early Hollywood, portraying real-life fiction cinema visionary Alice Guy, erased from history. Real recognition has only come this century. Thibaut Evrard (“No Man’s Land”), Oscar Lesage (“The Count of Monte-Cristo”) and Irene Jacob (“3 Colors Red”) co-star.

    “Blind,”

    Format: 6×58

    Country: Switzerland

    Year of production: 2025

    Genre: Thriller, Other

    International Sales: OneGate Media

    Production company: Zodiac Pictures

    Logline: A blind bartender apparently witnesses a kidnapping no one believes. Until he teams up with a daring journalist and a newly promoted detective. They venture into dark parallel worlds and risk their lives for the truth.

    Created by Plino Bachmann (“One Way to Moscow”), directed byChristian Johannes Koch (“Spigot”), Barbara Kulcsar (“Zwiespalt”) and fronted by Lia von Blarer (“Eldorado KaDeWe”) and Sven Schelker (“Davos 2017”) and based on the best-selling book series by Christine Brand, which have sold over 500,000 copies. “This series, like Brand’s novels, is truly ‘made in Switzerland’ – and packed with twists and turns, intriguing characters and psychological depth,” says Zodiak Pictures producer Jessica Hefti. “At the heart of this series is the character of Nathaniel and his visual impairment, adding a unique and powerful element to the story.”

    “Counsels”

    Format: 8×60′

    Country: U.K.

    Year of production: 2025

    Genre: Drama

    International Sales: All3Media International

    Production company: Balloon Entertainment, ZDF Neo, BBC,  BBC Scotland

    Synopsis: “Five young lawyers trained together at an elite law school in Glasgow. Six years later, they’ve spread out across the legal profession. This legal environment is ground level, stylish and sexy, weaving the personal stories of the main characters with propulsive defence and prosecution. Business relationships, friendships and love affairs will be tested to destruction as these young and ambitious lawyers and friends lock horns.” 

    From “Skins” co-creator Bryan Elsley and Gillian McCormack, a Glasgow-set BBC legal drama, part of the Beeb’s biggest recent single recent investment in drama in Scotland, and part of All3Media Intl’s sales slate at last month’s London TV Screenings.  

    “The Dark Book: The Secret of the Egerias” (working title)

    Format: 6×45′

    Country: Spain

    Year of production: 2026

    Genre: Thriller

    International Sales: Studio TF1

    Production group: Studio TF1

    Synopsis: “Unai, a former top criminal profiler, left the police after his daughter was kidnapped and now lives quietly as a professor in Vitoria. “His life is turned upside down when two rare book owners are murdered and he receives an enigmatic call: his mother, Ithaca, presumed dead for forty years, is alive. To save her, he must find a legendary medieval book, one that could expose secret societies of obsessive collectors, and ultimately reveal the truth about his own family.”

    “Gnomes” 

    Format: 6×30′

    Country: Australia

    Year of production: 2025

    Genre: Comedy, Other

    International Sales: Happy Accidents

    Production company: Total Fiction, Screen Invaders, Happy Accidents

    Synopsis: “Set in a fading small-town on the eve of their first annual Gnome-a-Palooza festival, Senior Sergeant Arnold Kipps is reunited with his ex-partner from the force (and ex-love) Senior Constable Ellie McKay, who has returned to shut down his beloved station. But when the town’s gnome population is brought to life by an ancient evil, the pair must lead a motley crew of locals in a desperate fight to save their home from the coming gnome-apocalypse.”

    Fronted by Asa Butterfield (“Sex Education”) and Megan Smart (“Class of 07,” “Black Snow” Season 2), “a delightfully deranged new horror-rom-com about second chances and a group of unlikely heroes who are forced to step up and save their town,” creator Joel Kohn tells Variety. Australian comedy writers Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven are penning the scripts; Matthias Hoene (“Theodosia,” “Cockneys vs Zombies”) set to direct the pilot. A buzz title a late 2024’s Content London Drama Pitch Competition, scoring second place. 

    “In Vitro” 

    Format: 6×45′

    Country: Spain

    Year of production: 2026

    Genre: Drama, Comedy

    International Sales: Beta Film

    Production company: Moiré Films, Rodar y Rodar, and Bullfrog Pictures, in co-production with 3Cat, with the participation of HBO Max

    Synopsis: “A heartwarming, innovative, and witty look at how babies are made: When 37-year-old microbiologist Blanca takes on a job at a fertility clinic, she is forced not only to get to the bottom of the needs and risks of her clients, but her own, as well.” 

    Bruna Cusi (“Merlí”) plays Blanca, SXSW and Goya winner David Verdaguer (“Jokes & Cigarettes”) also stars in the latest from Rodar y Rodar, behind “The Orphanage,” “The Body” and “The Photographer of Mauthausen.”

    “Lost and Found”

    Format: 6×48′

    Country: Japan, Singapore

    Year of production: 2025

    Genre: Drama

    International Sales: Empire of Arkadia

    Production company: Empire of Arkadia and Mocha Chai Laboratories (Singapore), TV Man Union (Japan)

    Synopsis: “Young gamer Richie (played by Shawn Thia) travels to Tokyo in search of his online girlfriend only to discover that she has mysteriously vanished. In his quest to find her, he teams up with his new-found friend, Japanese gamer Yuka (played by Anna Yamada). Together, they embark on a journey into the unknown and unwittingly become embroiled in the underbelly of this metropolis – world of scams, trafficking, and illegal workers.”

    Toplining Asian hearthrobs Anna Yamada, Shawn Thia and Nijiro Murakami, and set to bow on Japan’s NHK on March 18.

    “We’re often asked whether we considered the story first or the cross-border collaboration The truth is that the current harsh globally realities organically made this project happen, as young people everywhere face such complex futures,” says creator-producer Fotini Paraskakis.

    Number 10

    Format: 6×60′

    Country: U.K.

    Year of production: 2026

    Genre: Drama

    International Sales: ITV Studios

    Production company: Hartswood Films

    Synopsis: 

    “There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between….We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters.”

    Produced by Hartswood Films for Channel 4, starring Jenna Coleman, Rafe Spall, and Katherine Kelly, and described by Channel 4’s Gwawr Lloyd, as a “bold, brilliant and witty new drama.”

    “R91”

    Format: 6×52′

    Country: France

    Year of production: 2026

    Genre: Thriller, Action

    International Sales: SND Groupe M6

    Production company: Next Episode

    Synopsis: Mediterranean Sea. “France’s nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (an R91) has just set sail on a strategic mission. When a crew member is found dead and another goes missing, military investigator Paul Fischer is rushed aboard. With second-in-command Helena Duval, they must hunt for the truth before the killer strikes again. In a floating fortress of 2,000 souls, suspicion spreads and a murder investigation turns into a global security crisis.

    Set on France’s first nuclear-powered surface vessel, from Next Episode, launched in 2020 by UGC and ex-Empreinte Digitale exec Henri Debeurme, and behind Netflix romcom “Christmas Flow,” NBCU action thriller “J’ai Tué Mon Mari” and La Rochelle winner “Septième Ciel.”

    “The Traitor Within”

    Format: 4×45′

    Country: Norway

    Year of production: 2026

    Genre: Drama, Thriller

    International Sales: Fremantle

    Production company: Miso Film Norge

    Synopsis:  “A gripping WWII thriller based on the true story of Norway’s most notorious Nazi collaborator and the man sent to kill him. In occupied Norway, two young men choose opposing paths. Salesman Henry Rinnan becomes the Gestapo’s deadliest agent, dismantling the resistance through lies, betrayal and murder. Resistance fighter Odd Sørli is tasked with assassinating Rinnan, triggering a relentless cat-and-mouse pursuit.”

    The latest from Norway’s part of Scandinavia’s Miso Film, a Fremantle company, also with offices in Copenhagen and Stockholm and behind iconic event Nordic series such as “The Rain,” “1864” and “Faithless.”

  • Beta Film Boards Spanish Dramedy ‘In Vitro,’ Selected for Series Mania’s Buyers Upfront (EXCLUSIVE)

    Beta Film Boards Spanish Dramedy ‘In Vitro,’ Selected for Series Mania’s Buyers Upfront (EXCLUSIVE)

    Beta Film has picked up international distribution rights for Spanish series “In Vitro” ahead of Series Mania. 

    It follows a 37-year-old biologist Blanca, who takes on a job at a fertility clinic. She is forced not only to get to the bottom of the needs and risks of her clients, but her own as well. 

    Created by Marc Crehuet and Alejandra Guimerà, it’s directed by Crehuet (“Welcome to the Family, “Greenpower”) and described as a “heartwarming, innovative and witty look at how babies are made.” 

    Bruna Cusí (“Merli,” “All We Cannot See,” “Facil”) plays Blanca, increasingly confronted with ethical dilemmas that test her principles and beliefs, not the least of which being: Is it right to satisfy the desire to have children, no matter what? 

    At the clinic, her protagonist also meets Héctor: an outstanding, but all too rational embryologist whose brutal frankness often scares clients away. The clinic’s boss Andreu hopes Blanca’s empathetic nature will outweigh Héctor’s harshness. But sometimes, her idealism gets in the way of business, too. 

    David Verdaguer (“Perfect Life,” “Away”), Diana Gomez (“Valeria,” “Money Heist”), Maria Pujalte (“Cland,” Toy Boy”) also star. 

    “In Vitro” is produced by Moiré Films and Rodar y Rodar in co-production with Bullfrog Pictures in association with 3Cat and HBO Max Spain.

    The dramedy is among the ten selected series of Series Mania’s exclusive showcase “Buyers Upfront”. 

    Beta’s line-up at the fest also includes their first K-Drama “Snow White Must Die”, Icelandic romantic drama “Everybody Loves Horses”, the French thriller series “A Guilty Affair” and the German medical movie cycle “Simply Elli”, as well as the London TV Screenings highlights “Gomorrah – The Origins”, “Maxima”, “Patience “and “Barton Vet”.

    “‘In Vitro’ stood out from the moment when producers Alejandra Guimerá and Marina Padró presented it to us. It’s the unique blend between great, witty storytelling, a female lead to root for from the get-go, and a subject matter of truly global import – and all of this backed by, and based on, the personal experiences of the husband-and-wife creator team,” said Peter Lohner, VP Acquisitions Hispanic & International. 

    “From the script phase when we boarded the project to the final image, ‘In Vitro’ has delivered on its early promise. We’re honored and looking forward to bringing ‘In Vitro’ to the world.”

  • Santiment Reveals the Six Most Popular Altcoins Right Now! Some Altcoins Were Surprising!

    Santiment Reveals the Six Most Popular Altcoins Right Now! Some Altcoins Were Surprising!

    Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins continue to recover amid the ongoing US-Iran conflict. Bitcoin has climbed back above $71,000, while Ethereum ($ETH) has surpassed $2,100.

    While altcoins are also seeing significant upward movements, cryptocurrency analytics company Santiment recently revealed the most popular altcoins in the cryptocurrency world.

    According to Santiment, investors showed strong interest in altcoins such as Tether ($USDT), $AAVE, Ethereum ($ETH), Solana ($SOL), Ripple ($XRP), and Avalanche ($AVAX).

    Tether led the trending cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours, surprisingly followed by $AAVE, $ETH, $SOL, $XRP, and $AVAX.

    The most popular cryptocurrencies in the crypto sector and the reasons why are listed below:

    “Tether: Trending due to approximately $50.4 million worth of $USDT being exchanged for around 324 $AAVE on Ethereum. According to the data, a cryptocurrency investor lost approximately $50 million in a transaction where they exchanged interest-bearing aEthUSDT for aEthAAVE via the CoW Protocol.”

    $AAVE: Trending due to the exchange of approximately $50.4 million worth of $USDT for around 324 $AAVE on Ethereum. The $AAVE CEO announced a refund of approximately $600,000 in relation to the incident.

    Ethereum: Trending due to BlackRock’s staking ETF. BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) began trading on Nasdaq yesterday.

    Solana: Reports of intermittent network outages and slow confirmations are trending due to a high-profile NFT launch. Twitter is buzzing about Solana’s growing stablecoin market share and trading volume.

    $XRP: It’s trending due to news of Ripple’s share buyback announcement, which increased the company’s valuation to approximately $50 billion, and ongoing Reddit discussions about Ripple financing its operations through $XRP sales.

    Avalanche: Trending due to Grayscale’s $AVAX ETF. Grayscale launched Avalanche staking ETF (GAVA), which began trading on Nasdaq and offers institutional investors exposure to $AVAX, combined with on-chain staking rewards.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • JPMorgan’s Report Will Disappoint Gold Investors! “There’s a Sharp Difference Between Bitcoin and Gold!”

    JPMorgan’s Report Will Disappoint Gold Investors! “There’s a Sharp Difference Between Bitcoin and Gold!”

    Bitcoin ($BTC) and gold continue to move in opposite directions. In this context, JPMorgan has revealed the latest data between $BTC and gold and the sharp divergence between them.

    US banking giant JPMorgan stated that $BTC and gold ETFs have seen opposing flows since the US-Iran war.

    According to The Block, JPMorgan analysts have noted a significant contrast in Bitcoin and gold ETF flows since the start of the conflict in Iran.

    JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated in their latest report that SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the largest gold ETF, has experienced outflows equivalent to approximately 2.7% of its holdings since the war. In contrast, BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest spot Bitcoin ETF, recorded inflows equivalent to approximately 1.5% of its holdings during the same period.

    Analysts noted that this significant divergence stemmed from investors shifting their positions between the two assets.

    “We are seeing investors rebalancing their positions between gold and Bitcoin.”

    Analysts also added that there are signs that Bitcoin’s volatility is gradually decreasing as institutional investment increases and market liquidity improves.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • NBA Fantasy: Waiver wire adds for playoffs

    NBA Fantasy: Waiver wire adds for playoffs

    The Warriors’ Gui Santos has averaged 14.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 31 minutes played over his past 18 games.

    We have seen some crazy stat lines lately, including Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points Tuesday. We have also witnessed several less prominent players turn in some stellar stat lines, including many who can still be had off the waiver wire. Here are six players to consider adding who are still available in the majority of Yahoo leagues.

    Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami Heat (42% rostered)

    The Heat are surging as the playoffs approach, despite dealing with several injuries right now. Normal Powell (groin) has missed six straight games and still doesn’t have a timetable for his return. Andrew Wiggins (toe) will miss his fourth straight game Thursday. Even Nikola Jović (back) has only played one game since the All-Star break.

    Jaquez has averaged 29 minutes over the last seven games with the Heat missing some key players. During that span, he provided 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.3 3-pointers a night. He also shot 50.0% from the field, 82.1% from the free throw line and 47.4% from behind the arc. He should continue to play around 30 minutes a night, making him a great fantasy option moving forward.

    Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings (40% rostered)

    It’s incredible that Raynaud is still available in this many leagues. Over the last 13 games, he has averaged 15.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists, while shooting 57.4% from the field and 90.9% from the charity stripe. During that stretch, he logged 32 minutes a night.

    Reinforcements aren’t coming for the Kings, especially at center. There have been no positive updates regarding Dylan Cardwell (ankle), who we might not see again until April in the best-case scenario. With little competition for playing time, Raynaud is a must roster, even in 10-team leagues.

    Collin Gillespie, Phoenix Suns (40% rostered)

    Gillespie did not log more than 14 minutes a night in either of his first two seasons in the league. An early injury to Jalen Green thrust Gillespie into a more prominent role to begin this season and he has run with it. In 29 minutes a night, he averages 13.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 3.1 3-pointers. After shooting 43.3% from three last season, he has shot 42.6% during the current campaign.

    Green is back in the fold for the Suns, but Dillon Brooks (hand) is likely out until at least April. He was averaging 20.9 points in 31 minutes per game. Minutes shouldn’t be difficult for Gillespie to come by, and the Suns are one of only two teams that will play five games next week. He should be considered as a priority add.

    Quentin Grimes, Philadelphia 76ers (36% rostered)

    The wheels are coming off for the 76ers. In addition to Joel Embiid (oblique) and Paul George (suspension) being out, they have now lost Tyrese Maxey (finger) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow). Maxey is expected to miss at least three weeks, and Oubre should be sidelined for at least two weeks. Those four players average a combined 86.3 points per game.

    As the 76ers continue to lose vital players, Grimes has assumed a larger role, playing at least 31 minutes in four straight games. Over that span, he averaged 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 3-pointers. There should be no shortage of minutes and shot attempts for him moving forward, so be sure to add him where you can.

    Gui Santos, Golden State Warriors (33% rostered)

    The Warriors provided an update for Stephen Curry (knee) on Wednesday, and it wasn’t a good one. Already out since Jan. 30, Curry will miss at least 10 more days. The Warriors are virtually locked into a spot in the Play-In Tournament, so it’s wise for them to take a cautious approach with him now so that he will be healthy when it matters the most. In a bit of good news for the Warriors, Kristaps Porziņģis has appeared in two of their last three games. However, he didn’t top 23 minutes in either contest and should remain limited moving forward.

    One of the lone positives for the Warriors has been the performance of Gui Santos, who has averaged 31 minutes over their last 18 games. He turned that into averages of 14.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.7 3-pointers. The Warriors have four games next week, leaving Santos with significant fantasy upside.

    Cameron Payne, Philadelphia 76ers (18% rostered)

    It’s going to take more than just increased production from Grimes to try and keep the 76ers afloat. The team did get back VJ Edgecombe, who played 35 minutes in his return Tuesday versus the Grizzlies. He didn’t skip a beat, posting 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He and Grimes will be tasked with leading the 76ers until their health situation improves.

    Another player who should see an increase in production is Payne, who posted 32 points, 10 assists and eight 3-pointers over 30 minutes against the Grizzlies. He went 9-for-10 from the field, including 8-for-8 from three. That’s not sustainable, but he did have 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two 3-pointers the game prior against the Cavaliers. With him likely to play 25-to-30 minutes a night for at least the next two weeks, he can help fantasy managers make a title push.

  • The Athletic: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s chase for Wilt’s record: How absurdity can become reality

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can break Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive 20-point games with a strong performance Thursday against the Boston Celtics.

    Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams. 

    ***

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s current run is testing his tunnel vision.

    He’s racked up trophies with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Four NBA All-Star selections. Three first-team All-NBA selections. A scoring title. NBA Finals MVP. League MVP — and likely on the verge of another during an undeniable run.

    A decorated window for a composed superstar who feigns indifference. One on the verge of crystallizing an all-time ascension.

    His climb hit like a crash test, same as his latest historical streak. The burden now is being in the same statistical breath as a legend whose legacy is defined by impossible numbers.

    On Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, Gilgeous-Alexander can surpass a 63-year-old Wilt Chamberlain record: His streak of consecutive games with 20 points or more can extend to 127 games, best in NBA history.

    “It’s still a lot to even wrap my head around,” Gilgeous-Alexander said Monday night after tying the streak. “To be honest with you, I try not to even think about it, especially during the season. So much is going on, and so many things have to go right for you to get what you ultimately want.

    “But obviously being in the conversation with a guy like (Chamberlain) is special.”

    Gilgeous-Alexander has authored this storyline for 496 days. Repeatedly offering 30-pieces until they became his bare minimum. Virtually no one knew the names he’d leapfrog, or the record he unconsciously chased while floating toward 20 points nightly. Consistency morphed into his tagline. Zooming out, he’s signified a redefinition of what it means in the NBA.

    But consistency to this degree can feel difficult to measure. His averages don’t detail the extent of his ease. In an era of nauseating pace and mind-boggling offense, Gilgeous-Alexander has equally distanced himself from a 70-point game as he has a single-digit outing. In these past 126 games, Gilgeous-Alexander has only scored 21 points or fewer a mere five times. As if teetering toward the teens is beneath him.

    “He’s just been out of this world the past four or five years, especially scoring the ball,” Houston Rockets All-Star Kevin Durant said Tuesday night. “I think he’s averaging 30 (points) over the last four years. I love players who care about leaving their mark in the history books. You can tell Shai cares about it. Obviously, he’s a team-first player. But you can tell he wants to be great.

    “He wants to be considered one of the greatest of all time.”

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.7 points per game this season and hasn’t scored fewer than 20 points since October of 2024.

    To understand the magnitude of Gilgeous-Alexander’s run, you need to grasp the dominance of a giant whose greatest feats took on lives of their own, most of them written off as inaccessible. More than half a century removed from his reign, Chamberlain exists primarily as a myth. His 100-point game elicits conspiracy theories. His 50-point single-season average evokes head shakes of disbelief.

    His physical description, from those left to accurately depict it, is folklorish. He endures as an idea, an impossible 7-footer who was quicker and stronger than a storyteller’s imagination can perceive.

    Chamberlain’s records from his Hall of Fame NBA career almost all remain untouchable. All but one, a streak of proportions previously so far-fetched that it wasn’t dusted off until Gilgeous-Alexander threatened it.

    On Jan. 20, 1963, Chamberlain’s 126-game streak of consecutive 20-point games snapped in St. Louis. It’s not that he suddenly became incapable of sleepwalking to 20 points. Rookie official Leo “Red” Oates altered history.

    Rookie forward Wayne Hightower — who trailed Chamberlain at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, then the University of Kansas, then as a member of the San Francisco Warriors — was whistled for an early foul. Chamberlain, at Hightower’s defense, barked at Oates. The first technical didn’t stop him.

    Four minutes into what ultimately became a 116-115 Warriors loss, Chamberlain was ejected, believed to be the only such instance in his 14-year career. He left with six points and one rebound.

    “He must have had a real big beef, Wilt, because he never got thrown out of a game, and he never argued with officials,” 87-year-old Tom Meschery told The Athletic in an exclusive interview. Meschery played 21 minutes that night and started beside Chamberlain for several seasons.

    “Believe me,” Meschery said, “people beat up on him more than anybody I’ve ever seen — except maybe Stephen Curry. He never gets a damn call.”

    The image plastered in the sports section of the San Francisco Examiner the following morning showed Chamberlain hunched over, hands draping above his kneecaps and knee-high socks, towering over Oates. “The Ref Scores,” the subhead read. Chamberlain would’ve otherwise.

    “The ejection of Chamberlain got major attention,” Oates recalled to the Milford Daily News in 2005. “I started by hitting Wayne Hightower with a pair of technicals, then Wilt got involved and started swearing. He had a technical, and I called another, and he was out.”

    He added: “The commissioner reminded me that 14,000 fans had come out to see Wilt. After the ejection, Wilt and I got along fine.”

    Chamberlain entered that night averaging 47 points, a season removed from averaging 50.4 points. His run of consecutive 20-point games lasted 457 days. He averaged 16.3 free-throw attempts and shot 51.1 percent from the field.

    The 3-point line was 17 seasons away from its NBA introduction. Nine teams existed in the NBA after welcoming the Chicago Packers that year. Dolph Schayes topped the NBA’s all-time leading scorers with 18,304 points.

    One month later, Chamberlain’s rule resumed. From Feb. 26, 1963, to March 18, 1964, Chamberlain produced a 92-game stretch of consecutive 20-point games that long held second place — until Gilgeous-Alexander came along.

    In both the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons, Chamberlain played full seasons of 80 games apiece, averaging 47.6 and 46.1 minutes, respectively. A different world, a different game. By all accounts, Chamberlain’s motor never stalled.

    “He was never tired,” Meschery said. “I mean, he was a mammoth, physical presence and a physical strength. It has a lot to do with it, probably. You know that he picked up Arnold Schwarzenegger with one arm, don’t you?”

    Added Meschery, who was 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds in his heyday: “He picked me up by one arm, too. One time, I was going to get into a fight with a guy named Gus Johnson in Baltimore. Wilt saved my life by picking me up and carrying me away.”

    The average NBA height in Chamberlain’s day was 6-6. The average mark in Gilgeous-Alexander’s NBA is 6-7, though the greatest rim protector of his era is listed at 7-4 and would be as difficult to explain as Chamberlain if not for the internet. It’s tough to explain with it.

    Chamberlain’s nicknames sound as fittingly hyperbolic as the recollections of him. The Big Dipper. Goliath. Wilt the Stilt, a moniker he despised.

    “He had such long arms, such long legs,” Meschery said. “His athleticism was quite good. … He could run the 600 meters; he did that in college. He could high jump. I don’t think there’s ever been an overall athlete like him, ever.

    “He was a constant presence on the court. You couldn’t avoid him. There was no way that you could not pass him the ball if he was open.”

    On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain famously scored 100 points in a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania — a game at the center of conspiracy theories in the absence of footage. Meschery remembers the big man requesting a substitution that night. But Frank McGuire, the Warriors’ coach for that lone 1961-62 season, refused. McGuire eyed history, so the Warriors shoveled to Chamberlain more than usual.

    “By the time we got to the point where Wilt was within 10 points,” Meschery recalled, “I was already on the bench, Paul (Arizin) was on the bench. We had (Joe) Ruklick and a few of the other guys in there that just bumped the ball to Wilt.

    “Once McGuire said, ‘No, you’re staying in,’ Wilt just thought, ‘OK, the door’s open, I’m going to walk through.’”

    Wilt Chamberlain (13), playing with the Philadelphia Warriors in the early 1960s, made history by scoring 20 points or more in 126 consecutive games. Bettman

    Chamberlain’s constituents describe an athlete so formidable that he grew immune to schemes. Sonny Hill, an 89-year-old Philadelphia basketball legend who founded an eponymous league and serves as an adviser for the 76ers, was linked to Chamberlain dating back to their high school days.

    He remembers Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach finding short-lived ways to keep Chamberlain behind plays.

    “What he would do,” Hill recalled, “he would have Tommy Heinsohn step in front of Wilt so Wilt could not get back down the floor. And they did that for a period of time. … It worked up until the point that Wilt got upset. Tommy Heinsohn did it one time, and Wilt picked him up off the floor.”

    “You would have to see it to believe it, because if somebody is telling you, it’s unbelievable.”

    Chamberlain lived almost exclusively near the rim and excessively at the free-throw line — which makes his new link to a 6-6 Canadian ballhandler all the more striking.

    The big fella wasn’t a stellar foul shooter. Gilgeous-Alexander’s worst season of his past four from the free-throw line came in 2023-24, only his second year as an All-Star, when he shot 87.4 percent on 8.7 attempts — less than half as many average attempts as Chamberlain averaged during his streak.

    “My grandson criticizes Shai because he says that Shai seeks out fouls, that he’s the guy who’s looking to get fouled and to get to the line,” Meschery said. “I know players who have always done that. In my era of Frank Ramsey, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, they jumped into you. So did Paul Arizin. Paul had a wicked jump shot, but he was always jumping into you, and the referees were always calling him and putting him on the line. It’s not a strategy that hasn’t been used before. But what’s significant about Shai is, he doesn’t necessarily jump into you. He jumps sideways.”

    “That’s what you tried to do,” Hall of Famer Rick Barry told The Athletic. “When I drove, s—, I was trying to get fouled. I wanted to get fouled. I wanted contact. … Shai’s a 90 percent free-throw shooter. Why the hell would you not want to?”

    During Gilgeous-Alexander’s streak, his true shooting percentage is 65.2, compared to Chamberlain’s 53.9. He’s also shooting better from the field (53.5 percent) than Chamberlain did (51.1) during those 126 games.

    In that span, Gilgeous-Alexander is connecting on 58.5 percent of his 2-pointers. This season alone, he’s shot 60.1 percent from that range, good for 18th-best in the NBA and one of just three non-bigs in the top 20.

    His historic steadiness has warranted Wilt watch for months now. On Jan. 15, when Gilgeous-Alexander scored his 20th point with just over three minutes to play in a win in Houston, those keeping score were shook. It’s as close as he’s come to mortality in a streak that suggests his superpower is stability. By now, with how menacing he is from his favorite spots — consider the stepback 3 his newest toy — it takes too much to keep him from delivering.

    Gilgeous-Alexander’s automation, however, is defined by his midrange mastery. With endless drives and angles unique to him. With putty for ligaments and joints, bending his way around defenders to every spot on the floor. Past point-of-attack stoppers, around daunting shot blockers.

    To find himself in the same breath as Chamberlain, for a streak that underscores uniformity, means he embodies it.

    “The bottom line is he’s an exceptionally consistent performer,” Barry said. “The reason that he’s where he is with the scoring and the potential to break this record, or tie the record or whatever, is because he’s been just really fortunate, injury-wise.”

    What kept this streak out of mind, in part, was how short the game’s most prolific scorers previously fell. Oscar Robertson held the longest non-Chamberlain streak with 79 games. Kevin Durant topped out at 72; Michael Jordan did the same. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it for 71 straight. Kobe Bryant strung together 63 in a row. LeBron James pulled off 49.

    Through his reign, which began more than 16 months ago, Gilgeous-Alexander has racked up multiple accolades. Now, he’s a heavy favorite for a second consecutive MVP.

    “I think with what he’s already done, he’s already an all-time great,” Thunder teammate Jaylin Williams said. “He’s just adding onto it. Every game, every situation, he just continues to impress.

    “When you’re the best in the world, it’s hard to continue to impress. And he’s doing it night in and night out.”

    Gilgeous-Alexander’s greatest act might be desensitizing those who’ve watched him score this way for years. For those who never watched Chamberlain, he’s provided a generation with a view of truly numbing consistency. He’s brought legitimacy to a number that felt theorized next to Chamberlain’s name.

    It, like almost everything Chamberlain accomplished, sounds fictitious.

    “Why would they (believe)?” Hill said. “Wilt is a mythical character. Nobody can do the multitude of things that he did. It’s easy to say, ‘Well, there was nobody in Hershey to any large degree and no film that he really scored 100 points.’ In his career, with the things that we are talking about, no human being could do.”

    Not until the braided Canadian guard in a Thunder uniform happened to turn the improbable into the possible.

    ***

    Joel Lorenzi is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the NBA via Chicago. Prior to joining the Athletic, he covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for The Oklahoman for two seasons. He’s the recipient of the 2023 USBWA Rising Star Award. A graduate of the University of Missouri, Joel was born and raised on the West Side of Chicago. Follow Joel on Twitter @JoelXLorenzi