LOS ANGELES: “Star Wars” producer Kathleen Kennedy on Sunday accepted a lifetime achievement award from the organizers of the Oscars and said she hoped it would open the door for new voices in the movie industry who “might bring the world back to its senses.”
Honored with her producer husband Frank Marshall, Kennedy was the first woman to receive the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Irving. G. Thalberg award.
In 2012, Kennedy became president of LucasFilm, reviving the sci-fi saga and producing multi-billion dollar movies “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” that have made her one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood.
“I am very proud to be the first woman to accept this award. But I am also not the first to deserve it and I am 100 percent sure I am not the last,” Kennedy said to wild applause at a gala dinner attended by studio executives and many of Hollywood’s biggest actors and directors.
Kennedy and Marshall co-founded Amblin Entertainment with director Steven Spielberg in 1981 and produced of blockbusters including “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park” and “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.”
Kennedy said recent efforts to improve diversity in Hollywood and give women better roles in front of and behind the camera must be embraced.
“It is my hope that with the inclusion of these powerful new voices, we might just bring the world back to its senses and maybe, just maybe, shatter a few glass ceilings along the way,” Kennedy said.
Veteran actress Cicely Tyson, who turns 94 in December, was presented with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, along with Argentinian musician Lalo Schifrin, the composer of scores for “Dirty Harry” and “Mission: Impossible,” and publicist Marvin Levy, who has worked with Spielberg for more than 40 years.
New York-born Tyson, who has appeared in numerous films, television shows and stage plays, was praised by record producer Quincy Jones for her “grace, dignity and class” and for focusing on roles that highlight the struggles of African-Americans.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry noted that Tyson began her career in 1950 “when black people weren’t allowed to come in through front doors.”
She became known for playing strong black women in TV series such as “Roots” in the 1970s, the 1972 movie “Sounder” and more recently “The Help.” “She is a queen to us,” Perry said.
‘Star Wars’ producer Kennedy wants new movie voices ‘to bring world to its senses’
‘Star Wars’ producer Kennedy wants new movie voices ‘to bring world to its senses’
- Kennedy was the first woman to receive the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Irving. G. Thalberg award
- Kennedy said recent efforts to improve diversity in Hollywood and give women better roles in front of and behind the camera must be embraced
Burkinabe teen behind viral French ‘coup’ video has no regrets
- “Coup d’etat in France,” declared the video, posted by the 17-year-old, showing what appeared to be journalists reporting on an ongoing takeover by an unidentified colonel
- Posted on December 9 on TikTok, then shortly afterwards on Facebook, the post went viral, garnering more than 12 million views and tens of thousands of “likes”
PARIS: A Burkinabe teenager who used artificial intelligence to post fake news of a French coup on Facebook got more than he bargained for.
As well as millions of views and tens of thousands of “likes,” he also acquired a certain notoriety — and French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, was not amused.
And what he had planned as a money-making scheme only netted him seven euros, he said. But he has no regrets.
“Coup d’etat in France,” declared the video, posted by the 17-year-old, showing what appeared to be journalists reporting on an ongoing takeover by an unidentified colonel.
In one shot, the Eiffel Tower and the blue lights from a police car flashed in the background.
“Demonstrators have gathered to support the colonel who seems to have taken power yesterday,” said the reporters.
It was all fake, of course: the product of his online training in the use of artificial intelligence.
Posted on December 9 on TikTok, then shortly afterwards on Facebook, the post went viral, garnering more than 12 million views and tens of thousands of “likes.”
Last Tuesday, when Macron was asked about the video during a visit to Marseille, he spoke of his frustration at not having been able to force Facebook to take it down.
They had told him that it did not violate their rules, he said.
Money-making goal
In the end, it was the creator himself who deleted it, shortly after the French news media started contacting him.
Speaking to AFP, he explained that he had got into creating AI-generated videos last year after finding a training course on YouTube. But he only really started producing in October 2025.
He was taken aback by his sudden celebrity and that the French media was reporting on and even interviewing him.
He laughed about all the fuss in a video posted to his Facebook page.
But the teenager, who preferred to remain anonymous, was clear that his real aim had been to make money from advertising attached to his posts.
Not that he was living in poverty, he added.
“I eat, I can get to school, my parents take good care of me, thank God,” he told AFP.
But he wanted more to gain “financial independence,” he added.
He had seen “loads of pages that get millions of views” and had heard that TikTok paid money to producers, so he jumped into social media to see what he could do.
After a bit of trial and error, he latched on to AI-generated fake news because it generated more online traffic.
“I haven’t yet made a lot of money that way,” he admitted.
His Facebook page was not yet monetised, though he had made a little money from TikTok.
Normally, Africa is not a region that is eligible for monetization on the platform but he said he had found a way around that.
While his viral video on the fake coup in France may not have been a moneyspinner, he has used it to promote an offer of online training in AI-generated content on Facebook.
“There are people who have got in touch with me after this video, at least five people since last week,” he said.
For one hour’s coaching, he makes 7,000 CFA francs (10 euros).
No regrets
France is frequently the target of disinformation, in particular from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Since a string of military coups there, all three countries have distanced themselves from France, the former colonial power, and moved instead toward Russia.
The Burkinabe junta in particular has become adept at AI-generated propaganda videos. They have included false clips of celebrities such as singer Beyonce or Pope Leo XIV singing the praises of Ibrahim Traore, the military government’s leader.
Burkina Faso also has a group of influential cyberactivists who promote the government’s propaganda online, known as the “Rapid-Intervention Communication Battalion.”
The teenager behind the fake French coup video told AFP he was not part of that group.
But while his main motivation was far from being political, he was happy to take a passing shot at France.
“I also created this video to scare people,” he said.
Some French media personalities and politicians do not present a fair view of what is going on in Africa’s Sahel region, instead broadcasting “fake news,” he said.
He cited recent reports that the Malian capital, Bamako, was on the point of falling to jihadist forces.
Informed sources agree that if the military government there was in difficulty recently from a jihadist blockage of supply routes, it has not so far been threatened to the point of losing power.
The French authorities “have no regrets about publishing false statements on the AES,” said the teenager.
“So I’m not going to regret publishing false things about them!“
