I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s a good coincidence that my interview with Devindra Hardawar is coming out on the week that the first Star Wars movie in years is being crushed at the box office by two low budget horror movies. Something is extremely off at Hollywood, or at least the old studio executives and streamers who control most of the money that funds movies. 

This week we’re joined by Devindra Hardawar. Devindra is a senior editor at Engadget and a co-host of The Filmcast, a podcast about film I’ve been listening to for 15 years. We’ve covered the intersection of the movie industry and AI here and there on 404 Media, but Devindra lives at that intersection. He’s the perfect person to talk to about AI and film, but also the state of the industry more broadly, how to fit movies into your life in the age of the infinite scroll, how to introduce kids to film, and more. 

404 Media is a journalist-founded company and needs your support. To subscribe, go to 404media.co. As well as bonus content every single week, subscribers also get access to additional episodes where we respond to their best comments. And, they get early access to our interview series too. Gain access to that content at 404media.co.

​​De Speld Sport Quote van het weekend.

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KYIV (ANP) - Meer dan 60 procent van de Oekraïners noemt een staakt-het-vuren langs de huidige frontlinie onacceptabel als daarbij geen veiligheidsgaranties of financiële steun worden gegeven. Dat blijkt uit een studie van het Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, een privaat maar gerespecteerd onderzoeksinstituut.

Onderzoekers legden meer dan 2000 willekeurig geselecteerde respondenten uit het hele land telefonisch vier scenario's voor rond een staakt-het-vuren langs de huidige frontlinie, oplopend in de mate van veiligheidsgaranties. De bereidheid tot zo'n bestand nam algemeen toe als meer garanties werden gegeven, bijvoorbeeld over de afstand tot het front van mogelijke militairen die toezicht houden op een bestand.

In het positiefste scenario, waarbij militairen dicht bij het front mogelijke aanvallen afslaan, noemt nog steeds 33 procent van de respondenten die optie onacceptabel.

Oekraïners in het buitenland of in door Rusland bezette gebieden werden niet meegenomen in het onderzoek.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Overheid en politiek houden zich te afzijdig als het gaat om discriminatie en racisme. Dat zei Joyce Sylvester, voorzitter van de Staatscommissie tegen Discriminatie en Racisme, maandag bij de presentatie van haar eindrapport. "Wie de macht heeft om grenzen te stellen, en zwijgt wanneer mensen worden gediscrimineerd om wie zij zijn, houdt de status quo in stand."

De afzijdigheid die de staatscommissie opmerkt, is volgens Sylvester een van drie belemmeringen in de aanpak van discriminatie. De commissie ziet daarnaast dat mensen die worden geraakt door discriminatie, niet genoeg bij plannen worden betrokken. "Daardoor worden hun signalen te laat herkend, of niet serieus genoeg genomen."

Sylvester noemt de overheidsaanpak "reactief en gericht op incidenten". Pas als iemand al is gediscrimineerd, wordt ingegrepen. "Daardoor blijven structurele patronen buiten beeld."

We’d like to hear about your favourite films made by the director and why you love them

On Sunday we published the best Steven Spielberg films chosen by directors, critics and super fans. Now we’d like to hear from our readers – what is missing from our list and which Spielberg movie means the most to you?

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Annual killing of infant gannets has been carried out on a remote Scottish island for at least 400 years

Animal welfare campaigners have called for talks on phasing out the “inhumane” hunt for infant gannets known as guga, which are killed by hunters on a remote Scottish island once a year.

OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports said it should be slowly phased out in dialogue with the Hebridean islanders who see the hunt, which has been carried out for at least 400 years, as a cultural pursuit and as sustainable food harvesting.

Chokehold on shipping route draws Houthis in Yemen back into conflict as commenters see ‘no turning back’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iran’s reversion to large-scale military exchanges with Israel broadened the conflict that began in February not only by making the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah a direct casus belli for Iran for the first time, but also by drawing the Houthis in Yemen back into the conflict with as yet incalculable consequences.

Some in Tehran, buoyed up by past perceived military success and emboldened by the chokehold of the strait of Hormuz, would like to turn this moment into the point of no return in the conflagration with Israel. A minority would welcome the abandonment of ceasefire talks with the US, an outcome for which they have been agitating for weeks.

‘A big dude came up to me and said, “My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to see your movie – and it was the best thing she’s ever done”’

Baz Luhrmann was this cool guy two years ahead of me at NIDA, the drama school in Sydney. When I graduated, I joined his theatre company Six Years Old and the play of Strictly Ballroom came out of that. It was inspired by Keith Bain, who taught movement at the school. He was a ballroom-dancer who had left Australia for South America in the 1950s then came back with these shocking new steps. We talked a lot in rehearsals about the paso doble, and from that came Fran’s Spanish immigrant background. I thought up the name Frangipani because Sydney has frangipani trees everywhere. On my walk to rehearsals, I’d often pick one of the flowers to put in my hair.