Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Hassani’s drama ‘Adjustment’ will participate in the 26th International Film Festival of Zoom – Zbliżenia, which is slated to be held in the Polish city of Jelenia Góra from March 6 to 12.
The film will compete with 58 short films, IRNA wrote.
Hassani’s drama follows Shahrokh, a nine-year-old boy humiliated and pushed away by his family and friends, who makes up his mind to assume a new identity and comes out to the people of his village. Having been through a series of ordeals, Shahrokh, dressed in girl’s clothes, shows up at school and confronts his classmates.
The film was previously screened at several festivals including the Busan International Short Film Festival, the Raindance Film Festival in London, the Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival.
It received the Grand Prix at the Busan International Short Film Festival and the Best Film Award of the Barcelona Human Rights Festival.

 

At first glance, it is a house like dozens of others in the crowded favelas of Brazil. But this seemingly modest dwelling of 66 square metres (710 square feet), with its exposed brick walls, has just been recognised as the “house of the year” in an international architecture competition.
The house honoured by specialised website ArchDaily belongs to Kdu dos Anjos, a 32-year-old artist living in the bustling Aglomerado da Serra favela at the bottom of a hill on the edge of the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, aljazeera.com reported.
The two-storey structure defeated some more imposing contest entries from India, Mexico, Vietnam and Germany.
“I’m very proud that my house won this prize, because most of the news about the favelas talks of violence and homes destroyed by landslides,” said dos Anjos.
“Today, my home is on top of the world!”
The house, built on a small lot dos Anjos purchased in 2017, is well ventilated and enjoys abundant natural light; it features horizontal casement windows and a large terrace.
“The design of the house represents a constructive model that uses common materials in the slums, with an adequate implementation and attention to lighting and ventilation, resulting in a space with great environmental quality,” ArchDaily wrote on its website.
For dos Anjos, who founded a cultural centre in his community, the prize carries special significance.
“I know my house isn’t the most chic in the world, but it’s a well-built shack,” he says with a grin.
Dos Anjos has been living there since 2020, along with two dogs, a cat and more than 60 plants.
“What the architects did is pure magic,” he added. “We barely have 66 square metres, but I’ve had parties here with close to 200 people.”
One apparent difference with nearby houses is in the arrangement of the bricks, laid horizontally — not vertically — and in staggered rows, which adds solidity and improves insulation.
“Winning this prize after having suffered from architecture-related problems represents a great victory for me.”
 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting more advanced and complex at a daily rate, with generative AI the most visible in our current online environment. While experts remain divided on whether AI is a force for good or evil in the long run, a variety of companies are rushing forward with their advances in what has been dubbed an “AI arms race.”
The current form of generative AI went viral after OpenAI released its ChatGPT tool, which allows anyone to interact with its AI to produce a variety of written text and even coding. While ChatGPT received the most attention out of all the current AI technology in development, it is by far the most advanced system on offer.
Over the past year Generative AI has expanded into AI-produced visuals, with paid tools such as MidJourney and OpenAI’s DALL-E. These tools offer users the ability to produce striking, and sometimes unnerving, imagery using simple textual prompts, moroccoworldnews.com wrote.
The advances in generative AI took another leap when an open-source tool, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, allowed users to run AI models directly from their computers, away from the control and content moderation of the companies that typically produce such tools.
For Moroccan artists, this element of an AI learning and copying a particular style has the potential to allow anyone around the world to replicate their local style, whether it be orientalist paintings of fantasias seen at most Moroccan tourist shops, or even the intricate patterns of Zelige and Moroccan fashion.
While generative AI holds great potential for creatives without much actual artistic skill, for many artists around the world the tools present an “adapt or die” moment. With governments being years behind on AI-related legislation, many are trying to use existing copyright law to fight back. Yet AI companies such as Stability AI insist that allegations of copyright infringement “represent a misunderstanding about how our technology works and the law.”

 

Mazandaran Province to be destination for Kazakh tourists: Kazakh official

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“Convenient tourism and visa-free travel in Mazandaran are among our plans,” said Zhanbyruly.
“We will use the capacity of Mazandaran’s knowledge-based companies as well as the production units to broaden our experiences, the Kazakh official noted.
In addition, Hassan Kheirianpour, deputy governor-general for coordinating economic affairs in Mazandaran, said that the province is ready to have joint investments in the fields of economics, infrastructure and engineering.
Establishing communication with neighboring countries is one of the main programs of provincial officials for economic development and growth, he pointed out.
The provincial official said that some commercial agreements were signed between the province and Kazakhstan, adding that Iran is making attempts to implement these agreements.
Stating that Mazandaran is one of Iran’s tourist-friendly provinces, he called for visa waiver for Kazakh tourists.

Scotland’s first cinema still screens movies

A Scottish cinema built over 100 years ago that is said to be the oldest surviving purpose-built movie theatre in the country remains open to this day.
Scotland has earned a reputation for being a Hollywood hotspot in recent years, with blockbusters such as ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ ‘The Batman,’ ‘Skyfall,’ and ‘Fast & Furious 9’ all using the country as a filming location.
Journey back to the early 1900s, however, and it was a very different story. Back then, the only way most people could experience moving pictures was to attend special events and exhibition spaces, dailyrecord.co.uk reported.
In Scotland, that all changed in 1912 with the construction of the Hippodrome Cinema in Bo’ness near Falkirk. Believed to be the oldest picture house in the country, it was built for pioneering Bo’ness cinematographer Louis Dickson.
The building was designed by local architect Matthew Steele, and is a rare surviving example of pre-art deco cinema architecture. It originally consisted of a circus-like circular auditorium with a wrap-around gallery and a small stage.