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  • Sundance Institute Sets Native Lab Participants

    Sundance Institute Sets Native Lab Participants

    Sundance Institute is hosting a group in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the latest installment of its Native Lab.

    Four fellows selected include three U.S.-based participants Taylor Foreman-Niko (Samoan), Miles T. RedCorn (Osage/Caddo) and Sabrina Saleha (Navajo) with Canadian participant Ashley Qilavaq-Savard (Inuk/Inuit), the latter of whom was selected in partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office. Also joining this year are two artists-in-residence: Sayun Simung (Tayal) and Taylour Chang (Kanaka Maoli).

    The lab, taking place April 6-11, is the signature program of the institute’s Indigenous program and it offers filmmakers “a nurturing, immersive environment to develop their projects and refine their artistic voice” under the guidance of creative advisors. Over five days, the group will refine scripts for feature and episodic projects through feedback sessions, readings and roundtable discussions.

    Creative advisors for this year include Patrick Brice, Bernardo Britto, Alex Lazarowich (Cree) and Graham Foy. The Native Lab is overseen by Adam Piron, director of the institute’s Indigenous program, alongside Ianeta Le’i, the program’s senior manager, and Katie Arthurs, coordinator. Sundance Institute’s Indigenous program is supported by Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the 11th Hour Project, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Crystal Echo Hawk, Merrell, Indigenous Screen Office, SAGindie, Susan Friedenberg and Indigenous Media Initiatives.

    “The Native Lab is grounded in storytelling development and how that can progress when it’s approached in community through a lens of Indigeneity,” said Piron in a statement.

    Foreman-Niko was previously selected for 2022’s BloodList of best unproduced horror and thriller scripts, the inaugural PEAK Writers Fellowship and the 2024 Stowe Narrative Lab. He’s working on The Long Fang about a half-Samoan man who returns to his estranged Samoan family only to confront an ancient demon that feeds on shame. The encounter forces him to face buried secrets and fight for the life of a cousin he left behind.

    Qilavaq-Savard is a writer, director and producer whose work explores decolonization and Indigenous narratives. She’s working on Carrying, which focuses on Miali, who endures failed in vitro fertilization treatments and a failed marriage. She then endeavors to become a mother, finding her baby in the most unusual way — buried in the land of her home community.

    RedCorn is a self-taught writer-director from Oklahoma who has a short film, Two Brothers, expected to premiere this year. At the Native Lab, he’s working on Once Upon a Time in Indian Country, which is set in the late 1990s and focuses on a young, obsessive Native attorney who plunges into the wild west of the Indian gaming industry. As he attempts to keep construction of a casino on track, his plans are threatened by a drug-addicted tribal chairman, the Russian mob, the FBI and a crumbling personal life.

    Saleha, a writer-director who is a staff writer on AMC’s Dark Winds, saw her debut short Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough win a best New Mexico short jury award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and an audience award at deadCenter Film Festival. She’s working on Grief Camp about a rebellious Navajo teenager who is sent to an all-Native grief camp. While there, she discovers it’s a liminal way station between the living and the dead, and she is tasked with solving a magical map’s riddles in order to reunite with her younger brother.

  • Cameron Diaz Was Shocked by Jonah Hill’s “Outrageous” Transformation in Their New Movie ‘Outcome’

    Cameron Diaz Was Shocked by Jonah Hill’s “Outrageous” Transformation in Their New Movie ‘Outcome’

    Jonah Hill rocked a very different look in his new movie Outcome, one that even left his co-stars speechless.

    Hill co-wrote and directed the dark comedy, which follows a beloved Hollywood star Reef Hawk (played by Keanu Reeves) who learns that someone is blackmailing him with a bizarre video from his past. He goes on a journey to make amends with anyone he could have wronged in an attempt to find the blackmailer, with help from his best friends (Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer) and crisis lawyer Ira (Hill).

    To play Ira, Hill shaved his head and sported a bushy gray beard, which his fellow actors weren’t aware of until they were on set. At the film’s New York premiere on Monday — with Hill, Reeves, Diaz and Bomer all doing red carpet interviews in a group rather than traditional one-on-ones — Diaz noted that because she doesn’t have any scenes with Hill’s character she was thrown “when I showed up and he approached me as the director” with the new look and while still in costume as Ira.

    Keanu Reeves, Matt Bomer, Cameron Diaz, Jonah Hill and Apple TV’s Zack Van Amburg at the premiere.

    Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

    “I looked at him and I was like, ‘Is this…?’ And he’s like, ‘It’s Ira.’ And I was like, ‘Oh God,’” she continued. “The gray beard and the bald head, it was outrageous, and I could not have imagined how outrageous it was until I saw a cut of the movie. And then it all made sense.”

    Hill offered more insight into the transformation “Whenever I’m playing a character I just find lots of references, a lot from docs and reality TV and books, photography books,” he said. “Ira’s look came pretty quickly. Because I wrote it, I have the luxury of living with the character for a pretty long time before anyone else is even invited in.”

    Hill revealed that originally he was not going to play the character and intended to just write and direct the film but was convinced to take on the role by casting director Ellen Lewis. “I was like, ‘What about this person, what about this person?’ And she’s like, ‘You’re doing it, Jonah,’” Hill joked. “I was like, ‘OK I’ll let someone great tell me to do it, I won’t assume I’m the best person for the job.’”

    Outcome starts streaming Friday on Apple TV.

  • Solo Bitcoin Miner Beats the Odds, Scores $210K Block Reward

    Solo Bitcoin Miner Beats the Odds, Scores $210K Block Reward

    In brief

    • A solo Bitcoin miner successfully mined block 943,411 to earn 3.139 BTC worth approximately $210,000.
    • Operating with just 230 Terahash/s, the lucky miner overcame 1-in-28,000 daily odds to win the “lottery.”
    • Listed Bitcoin mining companies are shedding millions of dollars worth of BTC as they pivot to AI infrastructure.

    A solo Bitcoin miner operating with minimal computing power validated block 943,411 and earned 3.139 BTC on April 2. The reward, worth approximately $210,000 at current prices, included both the standard block subsidy and transaction fees.

    The miner was running roughly 230 Terahash/s per second of computing power, representing about 0.00002% of Bitcoin’s total estimated hashrate of around 1 Zhash/s.

    Bitcoin mining involves racing to solve cryptographic puzzles using computational power to secure block rewards. Once the preserve of individuals mining on CPUs, an “arms race” in computing power has seen miners switch first to GPUs and latterly to specialized ASIC mining rigs. Nowadays, mining is mostly the preserve of large mining pools with massive amounts of computational power at their disposal—but solo miners do occasionally win the “lottery.”

    In a tweet, CKpool developer Con Kolivas said the miner had roughly a 1-in-28,000 chance of finding a block on any given day. For perspective, major mining operations like Riot Platforms operate roughly 30 exahashes—approximately 130,000 times the hashrate of Thursday’s solo winner.

    The miner used solo.ckpool.org, an anonymous solo mining pool introduced in 2014 that lets operators keep their full block rewards minus a 2% fee.

    The solo miner’s windfall comes as industrial-scale operations are shedding their Bitcoin holdings. Last week, Riot Platforms sold some $250 million worth of BTC, while MARA Holdings sold $1.1 billion in Bitcoin late last month, as part of a pivot to AI infrastructure.

    While it’s a long shot for solo miners hoping to win block rewards, it happens surprisingly often. In December, a solo miner secured a $282,000 reward in just such a David-versus-Goliath scenario, swiftly followed by two separate miners who each won roughly $300,000 block rewards within days of each other in January, and another lucky miner who earned $200,000 after renting just $75 worth of hash power in February.

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  • Altcoin Resilience Signals ‘Compelling Entry Points’ for Crypto Markets: Grayscale

    Altcoin Resilience Signals ‘Compelling Entry Points’ for Crypto Markets: Grayscale

    In brief

    • Grayscale’s Zach Pandl thinks a bottom could be forming for the crypto market’s leading altcoins, based on their recent resilience.
    • Despite macroeconomic uncertainties heightened by conflict in the Middle East, Ethereum and Chainlink have notched gains over the past month.
    • Pandl pointed to tokenization and stablecoins as factors that are driving the adoption of cryptocurrencies on Wall Street, potentially improving fundamentals.

    Crypto’s leading altcoins have fallen far from all-time highs notched last year, but their recent resilience indicates that downward pressure could be abating, according to Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl.

    In a blog post published on Thursday, Pandl wrote that the crypto asset manager “can’t be sure that crypto markets have bottomed.” In an interview with Decrypt on Monday, however, he expressed positive sentiment toward the performance of altcoins amid geopolitical turmoil.

    “Altcoins are trading remarkably well over the last month in the context of a challenging macro environment,” Pandl said, in reference to headwinds like the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and a significant drawdown in stocks. “The price action may be telling us that we found a more durable bottom. That remains to be seen, but I think [it’s still] very encouraging price action.”

    The crypto industry’s leading altcoins, from Ethereum to Avalanche, have been hammered since the value of all cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinGecko peaked around $4.37 trillion in October. The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.47 trillion on Monday, or 43% lower. 

    Despite the drawdown, Ethereum has risen 9.2% to $2,160 over the past month. Solana has edged down 1.9% to $82 over the same period. Chainlink, meanwhile, has risen 3.8% to $9.08. Still, there is broad consensus that the crypto market is mired in a bear market at this point.

    Pandl wagered that some traders may want to wait for clearer catalysts for altcoin allocations. At the same time, he said investors with longer horizons may consider current levels. In recent months, industry onlookers have looked to the passage of the Clarity Act crypto market structure bill with hope.

    Experts say the bill could drive the adoption of crypto on Wall Street through regulatory clarity. After months of tension over stablecoin rewards, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal signaled last week that a resolution among lawmakers could be coming soon.

    “If you have some patience for some further range-bound markets and choppiness over the short term, these are potentially very compelling entry points,” Pandl added.

    Slumping trading volumes for altcoins have tilted the market towards Bitcoin. Some analysts have attributed that shift to expectations of tighter monetary conditions and macro uncertainty.

    From Grayscale’s perspective, there’s a striking disconnect between the valuations of some altcoins and the ongoing improvement in fundamentals, from regulatory clarity to the growing adoption of stablecoins and tokenization. In particular, Pandl said that Ethereum and Solana “stand to benefit significantly from those trends,” despite their recent slides.

    “You’re getting a surprising opportunity, in my view,” Pandl added. “Bitcoin, in fact, will benefit less than many of these assets from regulatory clarity and adoption of tokenized assets.”

    Pandl may be bullish on leading altcoins’ prospects, but the sentiment stands in contrast with some expectations that more pain could be ahead. 

    Although Bitcoin has already dropped nearly 45% to under $70,000 from its October all-time high of $126,000, Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone reiterated on Sunday that $10,000 is in the cards this year. Other analysts have called for Bitcoin bottom marks of $55,000 or $50,000 in recent months.

    As for the top altcoin on the market, Ethereum, traders still appear to be bearish on its short-term prospects. On Myriad, a prediction market platform operated by Decrypt‘s parent company Dastan, traders penciled in a 58% chance that Ethereum’s next stop is a fall to $1,500 rather than a jump to $3,000.

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  • Jamaica-Set Horror Drama ‘Duppy,’ From ‘Seventeen’ Director Ajuán Isaac-George, Set for Cannes Frontières Platform (EXCLUSIVE)

    Jamaica-Set Horror Drama ‘Duppy,’ From ‘Seventeen’ Director Ajuán Isaac-George, Set for Cannes Frontières Platform (EXCLUSIVE)

    London-based writer-director Ajuán Isaac-George is headed to the Croisette with his film project “Duppy,” which will be part of the Proof of Concept section of the Frontières Platform, Cannes’ biggest genre showcase. 

    The film is a co-production between the U.K. and Jamaica and takes place in Jamaica in 1998, the most violent year in the island’s history.  It tells the story of 12-year-old Rainbow, who’s left in the care of her grandparents in the Jamaican countryside.  Feeling lonely and abandoned, she summons a hostile spirit in order to get back at her strict religious grandmother, unknowingly forming an unbreakable pact with a shapeshifting demon.

    “‘Duppy’ is a culturally specific horror that transforms Jamaican folklore into a universal story about grief, loneliness, and the destructive power of childhood emotion. Despite Jamaica’s profound worldwide cultural influence, its folklore is rarely explored through a cinematic horror lens. It’s a cinematic, visceral, character-driven horror where a child’s need for control unleashes something far more terrifying,’’ Isaac-George told Variety.

    “I don’t think we’ve ever had a Jamaican project that explores its folklore, myths and legends that we know about,” added Annick Mahnert, Frontières Platform executive director.

    The film will be Isaac-George’s first feature-length project.  His short film, “Snowfalls in the Summer,” premiered at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival and played at the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts. His short documentary, “Seventeen,” followed a group of roller skaters over the final summer of their adolescence and premiered at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival.

    The Duppy team, from left to right: producer Dorottya Székely, writer-director Ajuán Isaac-George, and producer Aleksandra Bilić

    “Duppy” was presented to an industry audience at Film London’s Production Finance Market in 2025, which showcases projects from emerging filmmakers. It is produced by My Accomplice, with U.K. producers Aleksandra Bilić and Dorottya Székely, and Jamie Clark executive-producing, in co-production with Mental Telepathy, Jamaica’s Robert A. Maylor co-producing.

    Organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival, in partnership with the Marché du Film, the Frontières is the world’s leading international genre co-production market and networking platform between Europe and North America.  The Frontières Platform takes place at the Palais des Festivals over May 16-17.

    John Hopewell contributed to this article.

  • ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Powers to No. 1 at U.K., Ireland Box Office

    ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Powers to No. 1 at U.K., Ireland Box Office

    Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” blasted to the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £14.9 million ($19.8 million) opening weekend, according to Comscore.

    “Project Hail Mary,” distributed by Sony, moved to second place in its third weekend, adding $4.5 million to reach $29.1 million in total. Entertainment Film Distributors’ “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, debuted in third place with $2.9 million.

    Also new in the upper tier, Entertainment Film Distributors’ “The Magic Faraway Tree” held strong in fourth place in its second weekend, grossing $2.8 million and pushing its cumulative total to $10.1 million.

    Further down the chart, Disney’s “Hoppers” placed fifth with $723,000, bringing its total to $16.6 million. Studiocanal’s “Fuze” was the highest new mid-chart entry in sixth place with $402,000.

    Moviegoers Entertainment’s “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” followed in seventh with $374,000, reaching $5.3 million overall, while Berkshire Dreamhouse’s “Vaazha II: Biopic of a Billion Bros” debuted in eighth place with $332,000.

    Universal’s “Reminders of Him” continued its run in ninth with $271,000, lifting its cumulative total to $5.4 million. Rounding out the top 10, Disney’s “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” added $217,000 for a $2.5 million total.

    Looking ahead, the mid-April frame is led by a mix of star-driven releases and event cinema, with Universal’s “You, Me & Tuscany” emerging as the primary wide commercial play. Directed by Kat Coiro and starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page, the romantic comedy rolls out across 300-plus locations.

    Also opening wide is Vertigo Releasing’s horror “Undertone,” which arrives across 300 sites, while Jim Jarmusch’s ensemble feature “Father Mother Sister Brother,” starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits and distributed by Mubi, adds prestige weight to the lineup. Additional new entries include Francois Ozon’s Camus adaptation “The Stranger” from Curzon and Studiocanal’s music-based “California Schemin’,” the directorial debut of James McAvoy.

    Park Circus marks the 40th anniversary of “Stand by Me” with a 4K restoration across 100 locations, while CinemaLive presents stage production “Musik (Theatre).” Trafalgar-style event programming also extends into music with “BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ in Goyang: Live Viewing” over the weekend, followed by MusicScreen’s classical presentation “Cosi Fan Tutte – Mozart” at the start of the next week.

    Indian titles remain a consistent presence, with Bakrania Media’s “Bhoot Bangla” and Dreamz Entertainment “Dacoit: A Love Story” entering the market.

  • NHTSA closes probe into Tesla’s remote parking crashes

    The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation into Tesla’s remote parking features, after it found that previously reported incidents led to minor issues and happened in low speed. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations opened an evaluation into incidents involving the company’s Actual Smart Summon feature in January 2025. It’s a level 2 automated driving feature meant for parking lots or private property, allowing Tesla owners to control their cars from an app within short distances.

    Investigators said there were 159 incidents involving the feature overall, but those make up less than one percent of the millions of Summons sessions owners have done. Further, almost all of the incidents happened when users “did not have a complete 360-degree view of the surroundings in the app to assess situational awareness.”

    In most of the incidents involving crashes, the vehicles hit parking gates, adjacently parked vehicles and short parking bollards. The investigators identified two incidents that happened because some of the vehicles’ cameras were blocked by snow, and the Summons feature didn’t detect the problem. In one other incident, the system didn’t identify a gate arm blocking a garage exit lane.

    Tesla has since rolled out over-the-air updates improving the vehicles’ camera visibility checks and object detection capabilities. Since the reported crashes involved minor problems and didn’t lead to injuries, deaths or any major incidents that resulted in air bag deployment or in the vehicle being towed away, the agency has decided to shut down the probe altogether.

  • Spotify’s Prompted Playlist feature now works for podcasts

    Spotify’s Prompted Playlist tool now works for podcasts, after launching the feature for music earlier this year. As the name suggests, this is an AI thing. It lets users use natural language, or prompts, to describe what they’re looking for in a playlist and the algorithm does the rest.

    The platform says the tool is a good match for podcasts, as listeners can use it to discover a new favorite show or “dive deeper into a topic or piece of culture.” Spotify adds that the algorithm generates playlists based on both the prompt and a person’s listening history, along with “what’s happening in the world today.”

    The tool in action.

    Spotify

    Spotify gives some examples of the kinds of prompts that could be used to generate podcast playlists, which include a user asking the bot to build a playlist “all about science and innovation” and another “with the biggest entertainment news from the past few days.” It’ll be interesting to see if the algorithm prioritizes podcasts from its ever-growing stable of in-house creators over third party releases.

    Spotify says the tool “unlocks powerful new opportunities” for creators. This is because it can recommend older episodes from a back catalog, thus giving them a little boost.

    The feature is rolling out now in a beta form to Premium users in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden. It remains to be seen when Spotify will open up the tool to other languages.

  • Why Michael Saylor’s bitcoin buys aren’t moving the needle anymore

    Why Michael Saylor’s bitcoin buys aren’t moving the needle anymore

    Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, announced on Monday that it purchased 4,871 $BTC for $330 million, marking one of its largest acquisitions of 2026.

    Yet a recurring question remains, why do these sizable purchases fail to move the market? In fact, bitcoin’s price often declines around the time these announcements are made.

    The answer lies in understanding market flows. MSTR demand currently accounts for roughly 7% of total gross inflows, rising to about 9% of net flows, according to checkonchain data. Gross flows reflect only positive demand entering the market, while net flows account for both buying and selling, giving a clearer picture of overall pressure. While Strategy remains a consistent buyer, its impact is relatively small compared to broader market forces.

    Historically, its influence was larger. MSTR demand peaked above $15 billion in November 2024, coinciding with its all-time high stock price high and bitcoin over $100,000. Since then, activity has normalized to a range of $1 billion to $4 billion, with current demand around $2.8 billion over the past 30 days.

    The dominant force is long-term holders (LTHs), coins held for more than 155 days, which are driving roughly $28.5 billion in supply change. A key subsection is revived 1+ year supply — older coins moving on chain over the past 30 days — which represents roughly $9 billion in change.

    Elsewhere, U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have added roughly $1 billion of inflows over the past 30 days, while miner issuance, at 450 $BTC per day, contributes around $880 million of monthly supply pressure.

    More importantly, capital continues to leave. Bitcoin’s realized cap saw a $29 billion drawdown since February over a 30-day window, while BlackRock’s IBIT open interest is down over $4 billion. Together, these outflows dwarf MSTR’s demand.

    Strategy may be buying aggressively, but it is being overwhelmed by larger forces distributing supply and capital being pulled out of the system.

  • Weekly Critical Report for Bitcoin (BTC) and Altcoins is Here! XRP Pulls Off a Big Surprise! – This Major Altcoin Lags Behind Again!

    Weekly Critical Report for Bitcoin (BTC) and Altcoins is Here! XRP Pulls Off a Big Surprise! – This Major Altcoin Lags Behind Again!

    Bitcoin and altcoins started the new week with gains following US President Donald Trump’s indication of a possible ceasefire. However, this rise was short-lived. Trump gave Iran two days to open the Strait of Hormuz, and that deadline expires today.

    This increases uncertainty and limits the rise in Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

    While the market closely follows today’s developments between the US and Iran, Coinshares has released its cryptocurrency report, stating that there was a $224 million inflow last week.

    “There was a $224 million inflow into cryptocurrency investment products, but the momentum reversed towards the end of the week due to stronger macroeconomic data and hawkish expectations.”

    $XRP Makes a Huge Surprise Attack, Outperforming Bitcoin!

    Looking at crypto funds individually, $XRP made a significant surge in inflows, outpacing Bitcoin.

    Bitcoin saw inflows worth $107.3 million, while $XRP experienced inflows worth $119.6 million.

    Ethereum (ETH) experienced an outflow of $52.8 million.

    Looking at other altcoins, Solana (SOL) saw inflows of $34.9 million and Chainlink (LINK) saw inflows of $0.1 million.

    “$XRP recorded its largest inflows ever, reaching $119.6 million, the highest inflow figure since mid-December 2025.”

    Bitcoin saw a total inflow of $107.3 million, showing an improvement compared to the poor start to the month.

    Solana also saw inflows totaling $34.9 million last week.

    Ethereum continues to lag behind, with outflows totaling $52.8 million last week due to investors assessing the negative news stemming from the Clarity Act.

    Looking at regional fund inflows and outflows, the picture was surprising. Switzerland ranked first with an inflow of $157.5 million.

    After Switzerland, Germany ranked second with $27.7 million in inflows, while the US, the leading country in inflows, came in third with $27.5 million.

    These entries saw minor exits from the Netherlands and Sweden.

    *This is not investment advice.