Latest news with #SXSW
Metro
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
King Charles follows Harry and Meghan's footsteps with surprising new move
King Charles has teamed up with an unlikely movie star in a Netflix documentary about the 'power of believing in young people'. The monarch is offering a rare insight into The King's Trust as he celebrates the charity's 50th anniversary alongside Idris Elba. The documentary is set to be broadcast next year with filming to begin next week, according to the Telegraph. This comes after Meghan Markle announced today that she is expanding her As Ever brand with its first alcoholic offering of a rosé wine. The Netflix film is being made in collaboration with The King's Foundation and is being filmed at Dumfries House in Scotland. Made by Elba's own production company, 22 Summers, it will mark the King's first collaboration with Netflix, joining the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who have made several documentaries for the streaming platform. But it will not be his first venture into documentary making. In January it was revealed that the monarch will be appearing in a feature-length film on Amazon Prime about his 'philosophy of harmony'. The Netflix film will also involve young people supported in the trust so that they can build experience in film and TV. The King's Trust began in 1976 when the King used his £7,400 severance pay from the Royal Navy to create The Prince's Trust, helping disadvantaged young people get into education and jobs. Ahead of the documentary, Elba has spoken about how the charity changed his life. The actor was just 16 when he was awarded a £1,500 grant that helped him to train at the National Youth Music Theatre. Despite initially thinking it was a waste of time, he came home from school one day to find a letter containing the money. Discussing the trust and his own charity, the Elba Hope Foundation, he said: 'The King's Trust gave me an opportunity that changed my life. 'At a time when I didn't have the resources to pursue my ambitions, they offered real, practical support – including financial help – that helped me take those first steps to advance my career. 'Today, through the Elba Hope Foundation, I'm focused on creating those same opportunities for young people who are full of potential but lacking access. Around the world, millions are still waiting for that one door to open. More Trending 'This documentary is about shining a light on what's possible when it does – and why the work of The King's Trust remains so important.' Earlier this month, the King made an appearance in east London for the city's first ever SXSW festival. The Kingdom Choir, who performed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding in 2018, sang to Charles while he toured the event in Shoreditch. View More » Elba, Katherine Ryan, Erykah Badu, Alice Glass, and Sophie Turner were among the many actors, musicians, creative minds, and pioneering entrepreneurs who gave talks at the festival. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Royals watch Red Arrows fly past after touching tribute to Air India crash victims MORE: When is Trooping the Colour? Date, time and how to watch on TV MORE: Iconic moments that definitely scored David Beckham his knighthood
Forbes
5 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
America's Secret Sauce Is At Risk, UK Climate Envoy Told SXSW London
King Charles III at SXSW London - from Royal Family website SXSW London last week drew a panoply of high-level speakers, from His Majesty, King Charles III, to Idris Elba, Orlando Bloom and Bryce Dallas Howard, to business leaders from across the U.K. and the global economy. This was the first SXSW outside the annual Austin, Texas event. A few other government leaders spoke too, including Rachel Kyte, UK Climate Envoy, who spoke at SXSW London's Nature & Climate House, which was hosted by Bellwethers Group. As usual, Rachel Kyte did not mince words, while also showing her diplomatic skills. Rachel Kyte (l), UK Climate Envoy & David Gelles of The New York Times, at Nature & Climate House, ... More SXSW London SXSW London Street sign She added that, 'the reason why people maybe vote for a populous party or for a party, fringe either the left or the right, they vote because they feel insecure economically, they feel socially insecure, and they're just not sure that the direction of travel is going to go up and not down. And we have to get into that faith.' Map of funding distributed by Inflation Reduction Act etc. - Gelles pointed out that the Biden administration's investments in clean energy boosted the U.S.'s ability to compete with China in building a clean energy-climate resilient economy. But the Trump administration is trying to gut it all, and knee-capping the scientific community and the climate movement in the U.S., including 'firing scientists, upending regulations,' and defunding and closing scientific research centers. What does Kyte think of the Trump administration's actions? 'The second thing I think, is that the loss of the climate team at NASA is fundamentally disruptive to the global enterprise of understanding what climate change is and how it's affecting the planet,' Kyte stressed, adding that, because its work was 'fundamental to the work of the (U.N.) International Panel on Climate Change,' that 'the destruction of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Weather Service) has a huge impact, not just on the United States.' Demonstrators attend rally outside National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters to ... More oppose the recent worker firings, in Sliver Spring, Md., on Monday, March 3, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Kyte added that these cuts are 'scary' for anyone in the U.S., especially as hurricane season begins. Kyte lived in the U.S. for 15 years, including when she served as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All. 'Americans are less secure,' Kyte warned. As a result of the Trump administration's actions, 'There are going to be less well paid jobs in the renewable energy sector for sure, and, these (actions) are undermining or hollowing out the potential for green growth.' 'The future is cleaner energy,' she added, 'and it is remarkable that that would not be the secret sauce of the future of a strong America.'
Forbes
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
This Indian GenAI Startup Is Reshaping Dubbing and Lip Sync
Co-founders of NeuralGarage after their SXSW win in March 2025. Ever watched a film that felt odd because you watched the dubbed version? The visuals of lip-syncing often do not match what you hear, right? The Indian startup Neural Garage offers a solution that is an AI-powered one and addressees the long-standing problem of "visual discord" in dubbing. In an exclusive interview, Mandar Natekar, Co-founder and CEO, NeuralGarage shares details on the technology - Visual Dub - which fixes lip-sync, and facial expressions for dubbed content. It even works with changes in script. In this exclusive interview, Natekar explains how the technology works by perfectly synchronizing actors' lip movements and facial expressions with the dubbed audio. The attempt creates an authentic and immersive viewing experience, eliminating the visual awkwardness often found in traditional dubbing. Earlier this year, the world's first movie with AI-powered visual dubbing - Swedish sci-fi adventure film Watch the Skies - released in theatres. The Los Angeles-based movie-making AI firm Flawless worked on the visual dub for the English-dubbed version. NeuralGarage's Visual Dub also works on facial expressions and lip movements for dubbed versions without any fresh shoots. Asked about the ways his innovative technology helps enhance the experience of watching dubbed versions of world cinema, Natekar says, 'We've also developed our own voice cloning technology. Let us say, there's a Tom Cruise film that has been dubbed in Hindi. Obviously, Tom Cruise lines will get dubbed by a Hindi dubbing artist - but he does not sound like Tom Cruise. Apart from ensuring that the lip-sync matches the Hindi version, we can even make the Hindi dubbing artist sound like Tom Cruise.' 'With our lip-sync technology and our voice cloning technology, we can actually now make the dubbed content look and sound absolutely natural as if it has been shot and filmed in the language of the audio itself.' SXSW win In March 2025, NeuralGarage created history when they won the SXSW Pitch Competition becoming the first Indian startup to bag the award. NeuralGarage's Visual Dub technology won in "Entertainment, Media, Sports & Content" category. Recalling the moment, Mandar Natekar says, 'SXSW is one of the most prestigious platforms when it comes to entertainment worldwide. This is a platform where people in the business join talent from across the world, including Hollywood. You get to meet people from Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, business executives and actors, directors…..all of them come to the festival. This competition highlights some of the best startups in the world that could contribute to the entertainment industry. Winning meant we were judged by a jury that consisted of people in the business and people in the investor ecosystem - very big VCs were presented and that is the kind of intense validation for the technology we built, both in terms of the potential use cases and also in terms of the potential business valuation.' 'Winning the award gives us a lot of credibility. Being in the US makes us more easily marketable - the entire entertainment industry is kind of located here. Now SXSW award gives us instant credibility. We've been getting queries from some of the largest studios in the world and broadcast operations on how we can work together, ever since the awards." Challenges of building NeuralGarage Recalling his early career days, Natekar says, 'As a co-founder of the company - and I have three other co-founders - there are challenges. I spent more than 22 years in the entertainment business in India before co-founding my own. The startup world is totally different from the corporate life. The startup world is completely DIY - you have to do everything yourself. It has been a very interesting adventure - unlike the corporate life where you work to fulfill somebody else's dream, here you have the chance to turn your own dreams into reality and create your own legacy. There are ups and downs, but they are part and parcel of life. Some days you wake up thinking you'll win the world. Some day you go to bed thinking 'Man, is it all worth it?' But then you wake up in the morning and again restart." 'It is all very interesting. It's been four years now since we started up. And in the last one year since we've put our technology out, we've seen massive success and validation. We got selected by AWS and Google in their global accelerators. We got selected by TechCrunch to participate in TechCrunch Battlefield in SF last October. We also won the L'Oreal Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Competition, then this win at SXSW recently. Our ambition is to build software in India that can actually create a global brand. And we are on our way there.' A few years ago, right in the middle of raising funds for his startup, Mandar Natekar faces major medical and personal hurdles. He refuses to revisit the time and delve on the hardships, but agrees to share what he learnt from the period of struggle. "I'll tell you my biggest learning - in your life, there are three very strong pillars of any successful person. The first one is obviously your own determination and thought process while the second one is family. The third pillar is health. You have to ensure that all of these pillars are on very, very strong foundation. You have to nurture all of these pillars. If anything goes wrong in any one of these three, it can cause massive upheaval in your life. Suggestions for aspiring tech startups founders 'I tell people to always chase dreams. If you think that you have a compelling idea that can change the world, work on it. And there is no better time to start on anything you want to do than now. Generally, people procrastinate - 'I'll build this after five years' but these plans don't work. If you are passionate about something and have a compelling idea that you want to bring to the world, do it now. There is no better time than this moment. If you base your decision-making on goalposts, you will always be calculating,' Natekar signs off with his bits of suggestions for aspiring founders of tech startups all across. (This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Buzz Feed
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Brooke Shields, Meghan Markle Podcast Story Explained
Let's talk about Brooke Shields' recent remarks on Meghan Markle. The two appeared on a keynote SXSW panel in 2024 to discuss "women's representation in entertainment and media," titled "Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen." It stems from a report that Meghan's Archewell Foundation supported that year about representations of motherhood. Earlier this month, Brooke went on India Hicks' (AKA King Charles' goddaughter) podcast and spoke about her recollection of the panel. Brooke said, "Katie [Couric] asks the first question to Meghan and talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women." Brooke then said that Meghan told the story of how she wrote letters to P&G over a sexist dishsoap commercial, prompting the company to change "She kept saying she was 11," Brooke said. 'I go, 'Excuse me, I'm so sorry, I've got to interrupt you there for one minute.' I was trying not to be rude, but I wanted to be funny because it was so serious." Brooke then told the crowd that when she was 11, she was playing a "prostitute." In her recollection, "The place went insane, and then luckily it was more relaxed after that." She continued, "It was just too precious, and I was like, they're not going to want to sit here for 45 minutes and listen to anybody be precious or serious." Then, earlier this week, publications noted that the podcast episode had apparently been removed, with Page Six going for the headline, "Brooke Shields' podcast interview criticizing 'too precious' Meghan Markle taken down." Here's the thing. Footage from the panel is still available. The panel, which was partially presented by the Archewell Foundation, begins with other questions about the importance of representation in the media. After answering a question on the broad theme, Meghan was then asked by fellow panel member Katie to "tell the story about when you wrote that letter to P&G" at a young age. Meghan then speaks for under a minute in response: "At 11, I just found that infuriating and wrote lots of letters and put pen to paper and they ended up changing the voice is not small, it just needs to be heard." When she is done, Brooke then says, "This is one of the ways that we're different. When I was 11, I was playing a prostitute. I wish I'd known you when I was 11. I would have been writing very different letters, but very important, I hope." The following question, directed towards sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, is about the declining proportion of women playing leads in film. serious was a fine vibe...
Economic Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
This Shark Tank billionaire investor started first business at 24 and didn't take a vacation for 7 years, for one inspiring reason
ET Online Mark Cuban's entrepreneurial journey began at 24, with no job and no money—but an unstoppable work ethic. For seven years, he took no time off. In a world increasingly drawn to the idea of 'work-life balance,' one man chose an unrelenting, all-in path—and it paid off in billions. Long before he became a household name on Shark Tank or owned an NBA franchise, he was just another 24-year-old with no money, no job, and a singular obsession: to build something of his own. That man was Mark Cuban. In an interview for The Playbook , a video series by Sports Illustrated and Entrepreneur , published on June 3, Cuban reflected on the early years of his career. 'I didn't take a vacation for the next seven years,' he said. 'All I did was learn, learn, learn.' Fired from a computer software store and living in a cramped three-bedroom apartment with six roommates, Cuban launched his first company—MicroSolutions—with nothing but grit and an appetite for risk. Looking back, Cuban doesn't believe he could've achieved his level of success with a more balanced lifestyle. 'There is no balance,' he stated plainly. 'If you want to work 9-to-5, you can have balance. If you want to crush the game, whatever game you're in, there's somebody working 24 hours a day to kick your ass.' By 32, his first venture sold to CompuServe for $6 million. His next big leap, was acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for a whopping $6 billion—setting the foundation for what would become an empire. Today, Cuban has an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion, according to Forbes . But success for Cuban was never just about the money. After becoming a millionaire, he famously threw away his watch. As he shared during a SXSW panel in March 2024, the act was symbolic of reclaiming his time. 'I wanted to make enough money so I didn't have to respond to anybody else,' he said. 'I could make my own schedule and live my own life the way I wanted to do it.' In a February 2024 MasterClass , Cuban reiterated what he sees as the ultimate advantage: effort. 'The one thing in life you can control is your effort,' he noted. 'And being willing to do so is a huge competitive advantage, because most people don't.'
