J.M. Harper’s documentary “Soul Patrol” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 28th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the first all-Black special forces unit in the Vietnam War, the doc premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“We are so honored to receive this award,” said “Soul Patrol” producer Sam Bisbee, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for “The Perfect Neighbor.” “I’ve always had the best experiences at Sarasota, starting with our film ‘Robot & Frank’ in 2012. The film community there is just so wonderful.”
Despite critical acclaim and winning the Sundance U.S. documentary directing prize, “Soul Patrol” is still seeking distribution. Submarine’s Josh Braun, the film’s sales agent, told Variety that the doc is “on the path” to finding a home.
“Festivals like Sarasota, the Berkshires, the Hamptons, and Woodstock are an important part of the infrastructure,” Braun said. “Particularly for films that haven’t found their deal yet.”
Last month, Braun sold the Sundance 2026 title “Cookie Queens” to Roadside Attractions. The film about the $800 million worth of cookies that Girl Scouts across America sell annually took home the SIFF special jury doc prize.
Rory Kennedy returned to SIFF for the fourth time with her doc “The Trial of Alec Baldwin.” The film is a revealing portrait of Baldwin after the tragic on-set accident on the movie “Rust,” which resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
“We are longtime admirers of the Sarasota Film Festival and its deeply engaged audiences,” Kennedy said. “’The Trial of Alec Baldwin’ is particularly suited to the big screen — where its tension, complexity, and sense of disbelief unfold most powerfully as a shared, collective experience.”
Kennedy said that she has partnered with “a terrific distributor” to release the doc in theaters this fall.
On April 19, after a screening of “In the Hand of Dante,” director Julian Schnabel received the SIFF Achievement in Directing Award. Kenny Anderson received the Achievement in Sport Award.
Libby Ewing garnered SIFF’s narrative feature jury prize for “Charliebird.” The film previously won the Tribeca Festival 2025 Founders Award for Best U.S. narrative feature.
Audience awards went to Ari Selinger’s “On The End” for best narrative film and John H. Cunningham’s “Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers” for documentary.
SIFF awarded “In Plain Sight” the best U.S. narrative short. Best documentary short went to “40 Days In Saratoga” and best animated short was awarded to “My Neighbor.”
“I’m honored to help close out the 28th year of the Sarasota Film Festival by celebrating the exceptional films showcased this year,” said Mark Famiglio, SIFF President and Chairman of the Board. “At its core, the festival exists for the community – to champion diverse voices and the power of storytelling.”
Consisting of 47 features and 39 short films, the festival kicked off on April 10 with a screening of “Deep Water” and concluded on April 19.
When explaining why they chose British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. as the international guest of honor at this year’s Projeto Paradiso National Talent Network gathering in Recife, the initiative’s executive director Josephine Bourgois said it was because Davies Jr’s “My Father’s Shadows” is a film that “could have been made by a Brazilian filmmaker.” This feeling was confirmed over the director’s visit to the Northeastern capital, where he showed his BAFTA-winning film at the imposing Cinema São Luiz.
“I had never seen my skin tone shot like [it],” said director Stefano Volp following the busy Saturday night screening. “‘My Father’s Shadow’ brings such a poetic and honest experience about masculinity, and particularly Black masculinity, to Brazil,” echoed filmmaker Fernanda Lomba. “Akinola bravely and generously weaves a fabulous patchwork of memory, private life, and Nigeria’s history. We have a lot to learn from this filmmaker’s gentle radicality [in Brazil].”
In a conversation with lauded Brazilian screenwriter Jaqueline Souza earlier in the week, the Davies Jr. mentioned how he realized in the last few years that there is a “big bridge between Brazil and Nigeria that maybe a lot of Nigerians are not cognizant of.” “We share a lot within our spirituality, the way we see the world, food, and politically as well.”
‘My Father’s Shadow’
Credit: Cannes Film Festival
Speaking with Variety at the event, the director recalls first visiting Brazil a few years ago and going to Rio de Janeiro to see landmarks such as Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana Beach. “But everybody I met kept telling me I needed to go to Salvador. When I finally visited, it was almost like a psychedelic experience. It was one of the most striking feelings I have ever felt. It was like a fever dream; everything felt so vivid. I was there for maybe four or five days. When people describe ‘My Father’s Shadow’ as a fever dream, this is how I felt about Salvador.”
With “My Father’s Shadow” being released in Brazil at the end of the month, Davies Jr prepared a special treat for the city he felt so connected with: a screening with live score performed by the film’s musicians, Duval Timothy and CJ Mirra. Since the drama is being distributed by Filmes da Mostra, the distribution arm of the Mostra de São Paulo, Davies Jr is also taking the event to the city where he held the Brazilian premiere back in October.
“I remember telling my Brazilian distributors once we struck a deal to show the film in Brazil that it would be incredible to have a proper premiere in Salvador,” adds the director. “I wanted to do something with the film in the city. I wanted to give the audience in Salvador something that felt truly special.” As for the São Paulo screening, the filmmaker called it a “gesture of our appreciation for having the film housed within such a fantastic, prestigious festival.”
The director’s time in Brazil is being captured by a duo of documentarians working on a special short film about how “My Father’s Shadow” resonates in Brazil. Director Lucas Crystal and cinematographer Henrique Alves first approached the British-Nigerian filmmaker at the Mostra de São Paulo, and have been closely following him on his latest visit.
“We thought about making a documentary when we realized that Akinola’s journey through Brazil would mimic that of Brazilians themselves, starting in the Northeast and going all the way down towards the south,” says Crystal. “We felt there was a poetry in this geographical mirroring, and we wanted to tell audiences about this bridge between Brazil and Nigeria, one we didn’t even know existed before meeting Akinola at the Mostra.”
The filmmaking duo says their film will be even more relevant given that Brazil will hold presidential elections at the end of the year. “Akinola’s film is very political and can talk to audiences at this key moment in our political history. We are about to make a choice that will define life for generations of Brazilians,” emphasizes Crystal, with Alves adding that films like “The Secret Agent” and “I’m Still Here” have opened a national appetite for political stories, but there’s still a lack of Black-focused and Black-led political narratives. “As a Black filmmaker, Akinola’s work spoke directly to me in a way Brazilian films haven’t in a while.”
LONDON, ENGLAND: Akinola Davies Jr. accepts the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Award for ‘My Father’s Shadow’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
Getty Images for BAFTA
With such a special connection to the Latin American country, would Davies Jr. ever embark on a Brazilian co-production? “Absolutely, I’d love to,” he says immediately. “It would be incredible to figure out the right relationship. I’ve met incredible Brazilian producers and filmmakers and everybody has been really generous and clever. I am sure when the time is right and the perfect opportunity arises, one hundred per cent, I’d love to work with Brazil. There is a bridge to be built. There is a big Brazilian community in Lagos, so hopefully we can find the right story for co-production. I am completely open to it.”
And the feeling is mutual when it comes to the Brazilian counterparts. Lomba, a filmmaker who works directly with strengthening the presence of Black creatives in Brazilian cinema through Nicho 54, says Davies Jr.’s visit to Brazil is “part of a certain Black zeitgeist, a moment where creative and business connections are heating up between Brazilian and African filmmakers thanks to a shared cultural imaginary. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of a long-awaited collaboration.”
To Davies Jr., being able to connect with the diaspora is even “more important” than he realized while making his film. “The response to the film has been overwhelming. When you make an authentic piece of work, people in the diaspora can resonate with the film regardless of where they are. I think we need to see more of each other’s films. I think there needs to be a lot more collaboration and a lot more sharing of resources, concepts and ideas between filmmakers.”
“I think for so much of the world, especially the Anglophone world, we look towards the U.K. and the U.S. and suddenly that seems to dominate the conversation, but there is a huge underserved Francophone community, there’s a Caribbean community, a Latin American community… We just need to figure out more ways of connecting.”
US President Donald Trump made strong and striking statements regarding the negotiations with Iran. Trump argued that the new agreement being worked on would be “much better” than the previous Iran nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Trump described the previous agreement as “one of the worst deals” for U.S. security, claiming it had pushed Iran down the path of developing nuclear weapons. He asserted that the new agreement would absolutely not allow such a result, and that a deal reached under his administration would guarantee peace and security not only for the Middle East but also for Europe and the U.S.
In his statements, Trump harshly criticized previous administrations, alleging that billions of dollars in cash transfers and economic resources were provided to Iran. The US President argued that these policies further destabilized the region and stated that the current negotiation process would create a stronger global security framework.
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On the other hand, Trump claimed that Iran had fired shots in the Strait of Hormuz, a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. He stated that a French ship and a British cargo ship were targeted in the incident, indicating a rise in tensions in the region.
Announcing that US officials would be traveling to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, to hold talks with Iranian representatives, Trump said the negotiating team would be in the region soon. Commenting on Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, Trump argued that this actually coincided with the blockade imposed by the US and that Iran was suffering the greatest economic losses.
Trump explicitly stated that harsh military options were on the table if Iran did not accept the agreement, saying, “The US can target all power plants and bridges in Iran.”
Crypto asset management company Grayscale has taken a significant step towards developing an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on $HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The company has submitted amendment #1 of its S-1 registration application for “Grayscale $HYPE ETF” to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the documents provided, the Grayscale $HYPE ETF aims to offer investors exposure to $HYPE without directly purchasing the asset. The fund, to be established within a Delaware-based trust, will directly hold $HYPE tokens, and the share price is intended to reflect the value of the amount of $HYPE held. It was also stated that staking income could be included in the fund’s performance under certain conditions.
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If approved, the fund plans to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “GHYP”. However, it must fully meet both SEC approval and Nasdaq listing criteria before it can begin trading. The application states that the ETF shares will not initially have a publicly traded market and will be issued continuously.
According to Grayscale’s application, ETF shares can only be created and redeemed in blocks of 10,000 “baskets” through authorized participants. These transactions can be carried out both in kind (as a form of $HYPE) and in cash. Custody services will be provided by Anchorage Digital Bank, while transfer and administrative transactions will be handled by Bank of New York Mellon.
Circus performer pulls 2,184-pound carriage with his nipples
March 24 (UPI) — A Finnish man used his body piercings to break the Guinness World Record for the heaviest vehicle pulled by the nipples — 2,184 pounds.
BitMine Immersion Technologies added 101,627 ETH or around $235 million worth last week.
It’s the firm’s largest purchase since December and brings its total holdings to nearly 5 million Ethereum, or $11.5 billion worth.
Shares of BMNR are down more than 3% on Monday, but have ticked up nearly 6% in the last month.
Publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies made its largest weekly purchase since December, adding 101,627 ETH valued around $235 million, putting the firm on the brink of topping the 5 million ETH milestone.
The haul pushes the firm’s total holdings to 4,976,485 ETH worth more than $11.5 billion. It also holds 199 Bitcoin, or around $15 million worth, and $1.12 billion in cash as of its Monday update.
“While many believe the crypto winter may last through the fall of 2026, our view remains that the crypto winter is much closer to ending,” said BitMine Chairman Tom Lee in a statement. (Disclosure: Lee is an investor in Dastan, the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.)
Ethereum is down around 1.1% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands at $2,312. The second-largest crypto asset by market cap has jumped 5.4% in the last week.
“As downside tail risks for the U.S.-Iran war diminish, ETH has risen 41% from its early February lows,” said Lee. “In our view, there is a lot of meaning to ETH being the best ‘war-time store of value,’ and to ETH being the asset leading since the war started,” he added.
Last week, the firm reported a net loss of $3.8 billion for the three-month period ending on February 28, 99% of which was attributed to unrealized losses on its Ethereum holdings. BitMine now holds more than 4.1% of the entire ETH circulating supply.
Over the six-month period ending on February 28, the firm had more than $9 billion in reported losses on account of ETH’s slide from its August all-time high mark of $4,946. As it stands, the asset is now trading about 53% off that mark.
BMNR shares are down about 3.3% since the opening bell on Monday and have slightly underperformed ETH in the last month of trading, gaining nearly 3% while ETH has risen 5.5% during the same span.
The firm’s shares have fallen nearly 59% in the last six months of trading ,and are 86% off their 52-week high of $161, recently changing hands at $22.21.
More than 330,000 importers paid up to $166bn in tariffs on 53 million shipments of imported goods.
Published On 20 Apr 202620 Apr 2026
The refund system set up to allow companies to recover illegally collected tariffs from the United States government has gone live as thousands of companies rushed to file claims.
“So far, so good” – though the system is a little glitchy, said Jay Foreman, CEO of toymaker Basic Fun, which had a team in its “war room” at its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, ready to start filing when the system went live at 8am US Eastern time (12:00 GMT) on Monday.
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Foreman said the system didn’t crash as some had feared it might under the onslaught of attempted submissions – but rather would sometimes not allow an upload and force them to retry. The company has over 500 files it needs to upload to the system, although the system permits these to be uploaded in batches.
“However, if you load too many or the system is too busy, it will kick them back,” Foreman said in an email about how the process was working in the early moments. “We’ve got over 50 percent of our invoices loaded so far. We are hoping in the next few hours to have them all loaded. I’m very happy we got this process started early.”
Companies contacted by the Reuters news agency in recent days expressed concerns about the durability of the new system, created by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in response to a court order that it prepare to return up to $166bn to importers.
The US Supreme Court in February struck down the tariffs that President Donald Trump pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, handing the Republican president a stinging defeat.
In court filings, customs officials said as of April 9, some 56,497 importers had completed the necessary steps to receive electronic refunds, an amount totalling $127bn, or more than three-quarters of the total eligible to be refunded. More than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs at issue on 53 million shipments of imported goods.
Companies must submit declarations listing the goods on which they collectively put billions of dollars towards the import taxes the court subsequently struck down. If CBP approves a claim, it will take 60-90 days for a refund to be issued, the agency said.
The government expects to process refunds in phases, however, focusing first on more recent tariff payments. Any number of technical factors and procedural issues could delay an importer’s application, so any reimbursements that businesses plan to make to customers would likely have to trickle down slowly.
It is unclear whether getting a refund claim into the portal as soon as possible will impact how quickly it’s processed, but many companies decided to not take the risk of waiting.
A CBP spokesman said on Friday that the agency created a system that will “efficiently process refunds, pursuant to court order, for importers and brokers who paid” the duties.
This is the latest twist in a drawn-out battle over emergency tariffs collected over the past year as Trump seeks to restructure US trade relations. The constantly shifting tariffs roiled global business as companies rushed to move supply chains to avoid them as well as figure out who would ultimately pay the taxes.
The film, directed by Adam Meeks, casts Poulter and Centineo as two fictional characters (brothers grappling with opioid addiction) amid the real-life participants of a court-sponsored drug rehabilitation program in rural Ohio. Meeks’ extended family lives in this part of the state, and the story developed from those close ties; his uncle introduced him to the drug court judge, who invited him to sit in on a meeting.
“Working with Oscilloscope on ‘Union County’ is an affirmation of the film we made, which aspires to be in conversation with so many of the great independent films they’ve distributed over the years,” Meeks said in a statement. “We’re so proud to partner with them to bring this film about community and human connection to cinemas and audiences across the country.”
“Union County” earned rave reviews and an extended standing ovation following its Sundance Film Festival premiere in January. The Park City audience cheered loudest for Annette Deao, who has worked as a therapist helping people navigate addiction recovery via this program for more than 20 years. Deao appeared in Meeks’ 2020 short film and plays herself in the feature. In fact, nearly everyone in the film is a nonprofessional actor, bearing their own truths on camera.
Oscilloscope Laboratories will release “Union County” theatrically in the summer or the fall of 2026.
Oscilloscope’s SVP of Acquisitions Aaron Katz said, “It’s rare to see recovery portrayed with this level of honesty. Adam delivers a grounded, deeply emotional, and unsensationalized look at a community confronting a crisis that feels all too familiar today, while still leaving room for hope. Anchored by a phenomenal, seamlessly integrated performance from Will Poulter, the film is both moving and uplifting, and we’re excited to bring it to audiences.”
In his review, Variety’s Peter Debruge praised Meeks for his execution of the hybrid narrative and how it tackles the opioid crisis.
“The make-or-break ingredient turns out to be British actor Will Poulter, whose immersive commitment dovetails beautifully with Meeks’ unvarnished sensibility,” Debruge wrote. “Meeks’ raw, honest movie fits neatly within a tradition of red-state escapees who remain committed to depicting the communities they know best with empathy and compassion.”
Poulter and Centineo, who played brothers-in-arms in last year’s A24 drama “Warfare,” also contributed behind the scenes: Poulter is billed as a producer on the film with Centineo as an executive producer.
Other producers on the film include Brad Becker-Parton, Martha Gregory, Stephanie Roush, Faye Tsakas, Sean Weiner, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Ellyn Daniels and Will O’Connor. Executive producers are Anita Gou, Caroline Clark, Luca Intili, Lauren Shelton, David Darby, Christine D’Souza, Julia Nelson and Greg Nobile. “Union County’ is a Ley Line Entertainment and Burn These Words production, presented by Seaview and Arkhum Production in association with Kindred Spirit and Wait A While Films.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Oscilloscope’s Katz, with WME, D’Souza and Nelson representing the filmmakers.
Christina Applegate says she’s “getting stronger and better every day” after her recent hospitalization.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” she wrote in Instagram caption on Monday. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.
AlphaTON Capital has rebranded as Alpha Compute Corp., with its common shares now trading on Nasdaq under the ticker ALP, as the company shifts its public market identity toward AI GPU as a service and confidential compute infrastructure.
Alpha Compute said the name change reflects rising demand for scalable AI infrastructure built around privacy preserving workloads.
The rebrand gives a cleaner label to a strategy the company had already been building for months. In a January update filed with the SEC, AlphaTON said it had raised net $44 million in capital, was generating revenue from confidential compute infrastructure, and had deployed GPU capacity tied to Telegram’s Cocoon AI launch. That filing also outlined a broader infrastructure push centered on Nvidia B200 and B300 systems.
Alpha Compute is entering the rebrand with several recent deals already underway. The company said its existing obligations remain unchanged, including a $43 million AI infrastructure and financing partnership with Vertical Data, support for Telegram’s Cocoon AI, and the GAMEE acquisition.
Animoca Brands said in March that AlphaTON had agreed to acquire a 60% controlling interest in GAMEE, a gaming platform with 119 million registered users, in a deal intended to expand its Telegram ecosystem reach.
The rebrand also comes as the company faces Nasdaq listing pressure. In a March 2 filing, AlphaTON said it received a deficiency notice after its shares closed below $1 for 30 straight business days, leaving it until August 31, 2026 to regain compliance. In that context, the move to Alpha Compute appears designed to sharpen its market identity around AI infrastructure rather than its earlier Telegram linked investment narrative.
