Category: Entertainment

International media executive and producer Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann and AI filmmaker Mark Wachholz have launched Dreamkite Studios, a Munich- and Berlin-based AI-native film studio, developing premium films, high-end TV series and IP-based short-form content.

Dreamkite will combine generative AI with traditional filmmaking, employing professional directors and actors to create AI-first and hybrid productions.

The company said it aims to become “one of the leading European premium film studios at the forefront of the rapidly evolving AI entertainment ecosystem, combining exceptional human storytelling, leading creative talent and a strong focus on European sovereignty and IP library.”

Higuchi-Zitzmann, the company’s CEO and founder, is one of Germany’s most internationally experienced media executives and producers. She served as CEO of Telepool, then part of Will Smith’s Westbrook. Before that, she was managing director of Matthias Schweighöfer’s Pantaleon Films and head of international acquisitions, sales and co-productions at Constantin Film.

Her career includes internationally successful titles including the Oscar-winning “La Vie En Rose,” “Asterix at the Olympic Games,” “My Blind Date With Life,” which sold to 54 countries, and the RTL+ event series “Herzogpark.”

Wachholz, who is chief creative director and co-founder, has worked as a writer across various media and genres for over 20 years, including television, video games and three fantasy novels. In the past three years, he has become a leading creative voice in AI filmmaking.

His 2025 AI film “The Cinema That Never Was” attracted attention from leading filmmakers such as Alex Proyas and John Gaeta, and won major international AI film awards, including Grand Prizes at the Omni International AI Film Festival, whose jury was headed by George Miller, and the Artefact AI Film Festival, chaired by Cédric Klapisch.

At Dreamkite, Wachholz will “shape the studio’s core creative and aesthetic vision and develop ambitious original projects together with its international network of AI filmmakers and creative talent,” the company said.

Higuchi-Zitzmann said: “Human creativity is the most valuable thing we have, and AI is a powerful new tool for outstanding storytelling. Dreamkite Studios brings together exceptional creative talent, premium IP and cutting-edge technology to build a new generation of European entertainment. We want to use this technology responsibly, strengthen European sovereignty and create stories that inspire audiences around the world.”

Wachholz added: “A new world needs new stories. We are living in a time of rapid transformation and increasing speculation — about the present, the future, what we thought was true and what we hold dear. Stories are humanity’s way of capturing reality, creating truth and generating meaning. AI technology finally allows us to become much more ambitious, independent, and bold in the worlds we create and the projects we imagine. At Dreamkite, we believe that the future of cinematic storytelling has only just begun.”

CREATIVE TALENT ON BOARD
Dreamkite is developing projects with a network of AI filmmakers, directors and creative technologists – spanning AI filmmaking, animation, directing, commercial and advertisement production and creative technology. These include:

Sylvia Nitzsche: A Berlin-based director and creative technologist specializing in AI-supported storytelling. Her work includes projects for clients such as Axel Springer and Universal Music.

Albert Bozesan: A Munich-based filmmaker, writer and former head of creative technology at Storybook Studios. His work spans bestselling audio storytelling, animation and AI-based productions, including “Space Vets” and “Tarmac.”

Eike Swoboda: A Hamburg-based director and composer, who trained under Wim Wenders. Specializing in AI-generated filmmaking, his work includes the sci-fi epics “Expiration Day” and “Echo Chamber” for Jeff T. Thomas’ Los Angeles AI studio NeoCinema and the folk horror short “It Used to Be Different.”

Florian Meimberg: A commercials director and early pioneer of AI-driven filmmaking. After 12 years as a creative director at agencies including BBDO, he developed hybrid AI productions for major brands including Persil and Lidl.

Shamila Lengsfeld: A German-Iranian director, AI filmmaker and creative technologist. Her superheroine short film “Blake” is now being developed by Dreamkite as an original series.

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
Dreamkite launches with a slate of original AI-native and hybrid projects currently in development. These are:

Wachholz’s “Céremony”: A “visually groundbreaking near-future conspiracy feature in a world where the suffering of children is publicly sanitized.” The story will expand the universe and characters of his 2025 short film of the same name, a Top 12 Finalist in the $1 million AI Film Award by 1BFS & Google Gemini.

Wachholz’s “The Day the World Prayed”: A high-concept global political thriller in which irrefutable proof that Jesus Christ never existed as a historical figure triggers a worldwide crisis of faith that can only be resolved by his supernatural return to Earth. Developed as a “paradigm-breaking” limited TV show, it will explore the systems and powers behind history, storytelling and religion.

Wachholz’s “Children of a Dead Star”: A Cold War sci-fi thriller in which East Germany intercepts an alien message that turns out to be a language virus capable of rewriting human thought and reality. Wachholz was born in East Germany and grew up close to the Berlin Wall. The story will “transform personal experiences into a timely reflection of today’s post-truth world.”

Lengsfeld’s “Blake”: A female-led superhero series set in a dystopian sci-fi world, combining action and striking visual storytelling with a powerful story of female and LGBTQ+ representation.

One of Dreamkite’s first major projects is the hybrid feature adaptation of the bestselling novel “The Color of Stars” (Die Farbe der Sterne) by Curtis Briggs and Stefan Lukschy. The crime comedy will combine cutting-edge AI filmmaking with outstanding live-action performances by professional actors.

Briggs said: “I am thrilled to see ‘The Color of Stars’ enter this new creative dimension. Dreamkite Studios shares our ambition to tell the story at the highest possible level while exploring entirely new cinematic possibilities. I believe this hybrid approach can create something truly unique for audiences around the world.”

Further projects will be announced soon, including the AI-animated adaptation of a high-profile bestselling European IP, as well as a cooperation with one of the world’s leading gaming companies, with whom Dreamkite is in advanced talks.

Created by Vivian Lin, Netflix’s latest YA series “Crew Girl” brings audiences into the competitive world of rowing. The show follows 16-year-old Teagan Tao (Miku Martineau), a single sculler whose entire life is derailed after her father, David (Byron Lawson), a wealthy hotelier, is caught stealing money from his clients. When David flees before the FBI can arrest him, Teagan and her mother, Ella (Jessica Paré), are blindsided, and are forced to leave their affluent Los Angeles community for Ella’s hometown, Eagle’s Cove, a fictional town in Massachusetts. A series about fresh starts, burgeoning romances and becoming a part of a team, “Crew Girl” is pretty to look at, but its lack of realism, choppy dialogue and monotonous themes sink the show.
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“Crew Girl” begins with a celebratory moment. With her parents in the audience, Teagan begins her race in the single sculler. Unfortunately, just before she wins, David steps away, leaving a short apology text in his wake just as the FBI swarms the stands. Six months later, having no resources aside from Teagan’s education fund, the mother/daughter pack up their lives and drive East to settle into Ella’s worn childhood home. Though Teagan isn’t thrilled about the transition, she puts her best foot forward at Easton Prep, quickly befriending border Juliet Morny (Olga Petsa) and getting in the crosshairs of Britney Garner (Sage Linder), the school’s resident Regina George.  
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But Teagan’s hopes for a fresh start are dashed when she hears from Coach Matt Hayden (Thomas Cadrot) that Easton Prep has a crew team only for boys. Determined, Teagan bulldozes her way through the boathouse, eventually becoming the team’s coxswain, the only non-rowing member who is tasked with steering, managing the race plan and motivating the rest of the team. To say Teagan has her work cut out for her is an understatement. The eight-man crew consists of rival cousins Josh (Sam Braun) and Ryder Regis (Connor Paton), scholarship student Cam Dillinger (Kyle Clark) and Britney’s twin brother, Bronson “Baloo” Garner (Jude Wilson), among others. The guys initially act like redpill-coded frat bros, and Teagan has to win the boys over so they can start winning races and get the school administration to consider a girls’ team.
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Across eight episodes, “Crew Girl” does have some redeeming qualities. Casting Martineau (who also stars in Netflix’s “Bet”), a Japanese Canadian, as the lead is an important marker of representation in a genre that rarely puts Black people and people of color in the driver’s seat. Moreover, though most of the adults showcased here are terrible parents who parentify their kids and focus on their own interests, Ella and Teagan’s mother-daughter bond is lovely. It’s built on safety and an appropriate amount of transparency. Moreover, the camaraderie and chemistry between Teagan and her crewmates, especially her respective sparks with both Cam and Josh, give the series some much-needed intrigue. Still, these highlights don’t save “Crew Girl” from falling into the same corny, cookie-cutter narratives we’ve seen countless times.
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The issues plaguing “Crew Girl” are the same problems that affect other recent YA dramas like Netflix’s “My Life With the Walter Boys” or Prime Video’s “The Runarounds”; the story has no real heart, soul or texture. While the show has all the themes expected in series focused on teenagers and young adults, worn-down tropes hinder “Crew Girl,” leaving its cast to sleepwalk through unrealistic, contrived plot points.
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As Gen Z and Gen Alpha come of age, they face many of the same things the generations before them had to navigate. Yet, they are the first to be coming into their own at this specific point in history. By highlighting a posh prep school and an all-boys rowing team divided between the haves and have-nots, “Crew Girl” isn’t speaking to a generation dealing with a hyper-digital world, post-pandemic anxiety and so much more.
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Until creators and writers capture the specificity of this time, audiences will be doomed to watch regurgitated stories that don’t highlight the uniqueness of Gen Z and how they are engaging with the world. Millennials and Gen X can look back in the zeitgeist of television and see their adolescence immortalized; young people today deserve the same reverence.

“Crew Girl” is now streaming on Netflix.

Georgi M. Unkovski’s “DJ Ahmet” leads the contest in the cinema categories for the Adriatic Film and TV Awards, which honor the top films and series from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.

“DJ Ahmet” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic category, and won the Audience Award as well as the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision.

“DJ Ahmet” has seven Adriatic Awards nominations, followed by “Yugo Florida” with six, and “Wind, Talk to Me,” “Mother” and “God Will Not Help,” all with five.

“Black Sun” and “The Hollow” lead in the series categories with four nominations each, followed by “Komar” and “Shame,” with three each.

The nominations were decided by a vote by more than 800 members of the Film and TV Academy of the Adriatic Region, film and television professionals from those countries. They will now decide on the winners.

The awards will be presented on Oct. 24 in Porto Montenegro, Tivat, Montenegro.

The Film and TV Academy of the Adriatic Region was founded by the members of the Adriatic Region Festival Network: Sarajevo Film Festival, Auteur Film Festival Belgrade and Zagreb Film Festival.

2026 AFA Award Nominees:
FILM
DJ AHMET (North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia); directed by: Georgi M. Unkovski; producers: Ivan Unkovski, Ivana Shekutkoska
GOD WILL NOT HELP/BOG NEĆE POMOĆI (Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia); directed by: Hana Jušić; producer: Ankica Jurić Tilić
MOTHER/MAJKA (Belgium, North Macedonia, Denmark, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina); directed by: Teona Strugar Mitevska; producer: Labina Mitevska
WIND, TALK TO ME/VETRE, PRIČAJ SA MNOM (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia); directed by: Stefan Đorđević; producer: Dragana Jovović
YUGO FLORIDA (Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro); directed by: Vladimir Tagić; producer: Marija Stojanović

LEAD ACTRESS
Jasna Diklić – “The Pavilion”/“Paviljon”
Manuela Martelli – “God Will Not Help”/“Bog neće pomoći”
Noomi Rapace – “Mother”/“Majka”
Hana Selimović – “Yugo Florida”
Dora Akan Zlatanova – “DJ Ahmet”

LEAD ACTOR
Stefan Đorđević – “Wind, Talk to Me”/“Vetre, pričaj sa mnom”
Filip Đurić – “How Come It’s All Green Out Here?”/“Kako je ovdje tako zeleno?”
Arif Jakup – “DJ Ahmet”
Andrija Kuzmanović – “Yugo Florida”
Nikola Ristanovski – “Mother”/“Majka”

RISING STAR
Marko Grabež – “The Wedding”/“Svadba”
Arif Jakup – “DJ Ahmet”
Jana Milosavljević – “Yugo Florida”
Lamija Salihović – “Komar,” “The Hollow”/”Kotlina”
Ana Marija Veselčić – “God Will Not Help”/“Bog neće pomoći”

DIRECTOR
Stefan Đorđević – “Wind, Talk to Me”/“Vetre, pričaj sa mnom”
Hana Jušić – “God Will Not Help”/“Bog neće pomoći”
Teona Strugar Mitevska – “Mother”/“Majka”
Vladimir Tagić – “Yugo Florida”
Georgi M. Unkovski – “DJ Ahmet”

SCREENPLAY
Stefan Đorđević – “Wind, Talk to Me”/“Vetre, pričaj sa mnom”
Hana Jušić – “God Will Not Help”/“Bog neće pomoći”
Nikola Ležaić – “How Come It’s All Green Out Here?”/“Kako je ovdje tako zeleno?”
Goce Smilevski, Elma Tataragić and Teona Strugar Mitevska – “Mother”/“Majka”
Georgi M. Unkovski – “DJ Ahmet”

DEBUT FILM
Katarina Bogdanović (Kukla) – “Fantasy”
Stefan Đorđević – “Wind, Talk to Me”/“Vetre, pričaj sa mnom”
Ester Ivakič – “Ida Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose Up and Joined Her in Song”/“Ida, ki je pela tako grdo, da so še mrtvi vstali od mrtvih in zapeli z njo”
Vladimir Tagić – “Yugo Florida”
Georgi M. Unkovski – “DJ Ahmet”

TV SERIES AWARDS
TV SERIES
“Black Sun”/“Senke nad Balkanom” (Serbia)
“Komar” (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
“Shame”/“Sram” (Croatia)
“The Monster Behind the Iron Curtain”/“Pošast za železno zaveso” (Slovenia)
“The Hollow”/“Kotlina” (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

LEAD ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES
Lejla Hakalović – “Komar”
Jana Jakopović – “Shame”/“Sram”
Nina Janković – “Black Sun”/“Senke nad Balkanom”
Nataša Ninković – “Black Sun”/“Senke nad Balkanom”
Snežana Vidović – “The Hollow”/“Kotlina”

LEAD ACTOR IN A TV SERIES
Dragan Bjelogrlić – “Black Sun”/“Senke nad Balkanom”
Boris Ler – “The Hollow”/“Kotlina”
Igor Skvarica – “Komar”
Borna Šimunek – “Shame”/“Sram”
Feđa Štukan – “The Hollow”/“Kotlina”

It’s just a couple of days before Jeff Goldblum is getting ready to head to London to host the Season 2 premiere of “SNL U.K.” on Sept. 12.

“I’m a big Anglophile,” he tells me on a Zoom from Italy, where he and his wife Emilie are enjoying a summer vacation. “I’ve read all of P.G. Wodehouse. We recently filmed ‘Wicked’ there, and I did the last ‘Jurassic’ movie there. I’ve spent a lot of time in London. I’ve done a couple of things on the West End. I’m a big fan. I’m excited and humbled and thrilled to be part of it.”

Goldblum is a two-time host of “Saturday Night Live” in the U.S. in 1993 and 1997.

“It’ll get your blood going and put you on alert,” he recalls. “It’s a fun, exciting, creatively chaotic and delicious week. It seems they’re following something of the same schedule this week. I kind of remember it in my bones. When you finally get yourself out there, you’re trying to just do the assignment. It’s a blast.”

Just three days after “SNL,” Goldblum and Emilie will be honored at Oceana’s annual New York gala at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center on Sept. 15 for their work over the last almost 20 years championing the organization and its work to protect the world’s oceans. Martha Stewart will be named this year’s Ocean Champion. Sam Waterston, an Ocean Board member, will serve as master of ceremonies. The evening will mark Oceana’s 25th anniversary.

Goldblum was first introduced to Oceana through his manager Keith Addis, who is a longtime environmental activist. The Goldblums’ love of the water even inspired their sons’ names, Charlie Ocean, 11 and River Joe, 9.

“Charlie Ocean is so named apropos because he cannot stay out of that water, like just in and out, in and out, swimming all day long, body surfing,” Emilie says.

The couple also loved the ocean when they were kids. Jeff and his family would travel from their Pittsburgh-area home to Atlantic City in the summer. “I have a memory of my mother taking me into the ocean and holding me in her arms, cradling me in her arms and feeling for the first time waves,” he says. “I didn’t know about waves. Like what’s this movement in the water going up and down and up and down, bobbing up and down?”

Emilie, who grew up in Canada, spent time at the beach when she visited her grandparents in France. “There would be these little campgrounds, and we’d always camp close to an ocean,” she says. “That’s where we’d spend the whole day, and I would do gymnastics on the beach, tumbling and playing.”

Jeff joined Oceana in lobbying California lawmakers in Sacramento in support of SB 54, regulations that aim to decrease single-use packaging and plastic waste. The act was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. To date, Oceana’s New York Gala has contributed $20 million to support policy victories throughout the world.

 “It’s magical,” Jeff says of the world’s oceans. “It’s part of our paradise of a planet. And woe be us, and shame on us if we don’t do everything to counteract the damage we’ve already begun.”

Beehiiv, the creator platform that has gained traction through associations with independent journalists such as Oliver Darcy and Joanna Stern, unveiled an expansion of its Media Collective, a roster of journalists who have turned to the company to help launch new digital efforts.

The new creators are Peter Greenberg, a longtime travel editor at CBS News; Dana Harris-Birdson, former editor in chief of IndieWire; and tech and politics reporter David Covucci.

Beehiiv launched the Media Collective in 2024, offering support in areas such as legal, healthcare, technology, audience, monetization and other operations, while journalists tend to their work and business.

“We started the Media Collective to solve a problem I kept hearing from journalists: they wanted to bet on themselves, but going independent meant losing the support system they had spent their careers relying on,” said Tyler Denk, co-founder and CEO of Beehiiv, in a statement. “The Media Collective gives them the scaffolding to build something of their own while staying focused on what they do best: reporting. It’s grown faster and been more successful than we anticipated.”

The company said its “collective” now includes more than 30 journalists, who together reach more than 1 million active subscribers. Media Collective members keep 100% of the revenue they earn.

Greenberg will on September 15 launch “The Upgrade,” reporting on things of key interest to travelers, including airline and hotel practices, cruise ship safety, loyalty programs, travel disruptions and the oversight of aircraft maintenance and airworthiness. Greenberg hosts and produces three long-running television programs: “The Royal Tour,” “Hidden,” and “The Travel Detective.”

Harris-Bridson will launch Flamingo Media in January, 2027. Flamingo will cover what Harris-Bridson calls the “Story Economy,” the increasingly interconnected market spanning entertainment, creators, brands, platforms, technology and capital.

Covucci, a former editor with The Daily Dot and Uproxx Media, recently started FOIAball, an independent investigative publication that uses public-records laws to uncover stories tied to college sports, including political influence, surveillance technology, labor rights and wealthy donors.