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IOL News
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Matsulu Film Festival aims to celebrate South Africa's rich storytelling heritage
The inaugural Matsulu Film Festival in Mpumalanga aims to uplift the local community through storytelling, while fostering economic growth and cultural pride. In the heart of Mpumalanga's vibrant township of Matsulu, the inaugural Matsulu Film Festival will bring history, culture, and storytelling to life, launching with a powerful lineup of films from across South Africa's provinces. Powered by Arts At The Village (AATV) and supported by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP5), and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Matsulu Film Festival goes beyond just screening films. It's a bold cultural initiative designed to uplift, educate, and ignite dialogue through the lens of storytelling, while also boosting the township's economy and instilling community pride. Running from July 31 to August 2, the three-day Matsulu Film Festival promises to captivate audiences with a powerful lineup of films exploring themes of identity, resistance, memory, and hope. At its core is the acclaimed documentary KaNgwane by Mandla Qwabe, a haunting yet empowering portrait of the Mbombela community's struggle under apartheid, shedding light on the forgotten legacy of KaNgwane and the resilience of its people. Festivalgoers can enjoy a diverse lineup, including Penda, Liphupho (The Dream), Khwela by Victor Molele, Fornication by Mikateko Pule, Kon-Shus by Nthutuko Gumede, and Ghettor Blaster by Linda Chirwa, alongside filmmaker Q&As, youth workshops, and panel discussions, offering a rich experience that supports emerging talent and sparks dialogue on culture and social issues. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Festival Coordinator Innocent Sambo described the event as more than a typical film festival. He emphasised that it serves as a powerful platform to reclaim and share stories that have often been ignored, highlighting and celebrating voices from communities that have historically been marginalised. 'This is more than just a film festival, it is a reclamation of our stories, a celebration of voices long overlooked, and a powerful call to action for communities to embrace storytelling as a tool for cultural preservation and social transformation.' Sambo emphasised that all festival events are free and open to everyone, with a particular focus on engaging youth and ensuring accessibility for the whole community. The festival is set to draw film lovers, educators, cultural leaders, and stakeholders from across the province and beyond. The festival will also drive local economic growth by showcasing and supporting vendors, service providers, and artisans, creating a lasting cultural and financial impact in Matsulu and its neighbouring communities. The Star
The Star
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Matsulu Film Festival aims to celebrate South Africa's rich storytelling heritage
Masabata Mkwananzi | Published 12 minutes ago The inaugural Matsulu Film Festival in Mpumalanga aims to uplift the local community through storytelling, while fostering economic growth and cultural pride. In the heart of Mpumalanga's vibrant township of Matsulu, the inaugural Matsulu Film Festival will bring history, culture, and storytelling to life, launching with a powerful lineup of films from across South Africa's provinces. Powered by Arts At The Village (AATV) and supported by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP5), and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Matsulu Film Festival goes beyond just screening films. It's a bold cultural initiative designed to uplift, educate, and ignite dialogue through the lens of storytelling, while also boosting the township's economy and instilling community pride. Running from July 31 to August 2, the three-day Matsulu Film Festival promises to captivate audiences with a powerful lineup of films exploring themes of identity, resistance, memory, and hope. At its core is the acclaimed documentary KaNgwane by Mandla Qwabe, a haunting yet empowering portrait of the Mbombela community's struggle under apartheid, shedding light on the forgotten legacy of KaNgwane and the resilience of its people. Festivalgoers can enjoy a diverse lineup, including Penda, Liphupho (The Dream), Khwela by Victor Molele, Fornication by Mikateko Pule, Kon-Shus by Nthutuko Gumede, and Ghettor Blaster by Linda Chirwa, alongside filmmaker Q&As, youth workshops, and panel discussions, offering a rich experience that supports emerging talent and sparks dialogue on culture and social issues. Festival Coordinator Innocent Sambo described the event as more than a typical film festival. He emphasised that it serves as a powerful platform to reclaim and share stories that have often been ignored, highlighting and celebrating voices from communities that have historically been marginalised. 'This is more than just a film festival, it is a reclamation of our stories, a celebration of voices long overlooked, and a powerful call to action for communities to embrace storytelling as a tool for cultural preservation and social transformation.' Sambo emphasised that all festival events are free and open to everyone, with a particular focus on engaging youth and ensuring accessibility for the whole community. The festival is set to draw film lovers, educators, cultural leaders, and stakeholders from across the province and beyond. The festival will also drive local economic growth by showcasing and supporting vendors, service providers, and artisans, creating a lasting cultural and financial impact in Matsulu and its neighbouring communities. The Star [email protected]
Time Magazine
22-07-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
AI Helps Prevent Medical Errors in Real-World Clinics
There has been a lot of talk about the potential for AI in health, but most of the studies so far have been stand-ins for the actual practice of medicine: simulated scenarios that predict what the impact of AI could be in medical settings. But in one of the first real-world tests of an AI tool, working side-by-side with clinicians in Kenya, researchers showed that AI can reduce medical errors by as much as 16%. In a study available on that is being submitted to a scientific journal, researchers at OpenAI and Penda Health, a network of primary care clinics operating in Nairobi, found that an AI tool can provide a powerful assist to busy clinicians who can't be expected to know everything about every medical condition. Penda Health employs clinicians who are trained for four years in basic health care: the equivalent of physician assistants in the U.S. The health group, which operates 16 primary care clinics in Nairobi Kenya, has its own guidelines for helping clinicians navigate symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, and also relies on national guidelines as well. But the span of knowledge required is challenging for any practitioner. That's where AI comes in. 'We feel it acutely because we take care of such a broad range of people and conditions,' says Dr. Robert Korom, chief medical officer at Penda. 'So one of the biggest things is the breadth of the tool.' Read More: A Psychiatrist Posed As a Teen With Therapy Chatbots. The Conversations Were Alarming Previously, Korom says he and his colleague, Dr. Sarah Kiptinness, head of medical services, had to create separate guidelines for each scenario that clinicians might commonly encounter—for example, guides for uncomplicated malaria cases, or for malaria cases in adults, or for situations in which patients have low platelet counts. AI is ideal for amassing all of this knowledge and dispensing it under the appropriately matched conditions. Korom and his team built the first versions of the AI tool as a basic shadow for the clinician. If the clinician had a question about what diagnosis to provide or what treatment protocol to follow, he or she could hit a button that would pull a block of related text collated by the AI system to help the decision-making. But the clinicians were only using the feature in about half of visits, says Korom, because they didn't always have time to read the text, or because they often felt they didn't need the added guidance. So Penda improved on the tool, calling it AI Consult, that runs silently in the background of visits, essentially shadowing the clinicians' decisions, and prompting them only if they took questionable or inappropriate actions, such as over prescribing antibiotics. 'It's like having an expert there,' says Korom—similar to how a senior attending physician reviews the care plan of a medical resident. 'In some ways, that's how [this AI tool] is functioning. It's a safety net—it's not dictating what the care is, but only giving corrective nudges and feedback when it's needed.' Read More: The World's Richest Woman Has Opened a Medical School Penda teamed up with OpenAI to conduct a study of AI Consult to document what impact it was having on helping about 20,000 doctors to reduce errors, both in making diagnoses and in prescribing treatments. The group of clinicians using the AI Consult tool reduced errors in diagnosis by 16% and treatment errors by 13% compared to the 20,000 Penda providers who weren't using it. The fact that the study involved thousands of patients in a real-world setting sets a powerful precedent for how AI could be effectively used in providing and improving health care, says Dr. Isaac Kohane, professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School, who looked at the study. 'We need much more of these kinds of prospective studies as opposed to the retrospective studies, where [researchers] look at big observational data sets and predict [health outcomes] using AI. This is what I was waiting for.' Not only did the study show that AI can help reduce medical errors, and therefore improve the quality of care that patients receive, but the clinicians involved viewed the tool as a useful partner in their medical education. That came as a surprise to OpenAI's Karan Singhal, Health AI lead, who led the study. 'It was a learning tool for [those who used it] and helped them educate themselves and understand a wider breadth of care practices that they needed to know about,' says Singhal. 'That was a bit of a surprise, because it wasn't what we set out to study.' Kiptinness says AI Consult served as an important confidence builder, helping clinicians gain experience in an efficient way. 'Many of our clinicians now feel that AI Consult has to stay in order to help them have more confidence in patient care and improve the quality of care.' Clinicians get immediate feedback in the form of a green, yellow, and red-light system that evaluates their clinical actions, and the company gets automatic evaluations on their strengths and weaknesses. 'Going forward, we do want to give more individualized feedback, such as, 'You are great at managing obstetric cases, but in pediatrics, these are the areas you should look into,'" says Kiptinness. "We have many ideas for customized training guides based on the AI feedback.' Read More: The Surprising Reason Rural Hospitals Are Closing Such co-piloting could be a practical and powerful way to start incorporating AI into the delivery of health care, especially in areas of high need and few health care professionals. The findings have 'shifted what we expect as standard of care within Penda,' says Korom. 'We probably wouldn't want our clinicians to be completely without this.' The results also set the stage for more meaningful studies of AI in health care that move the practice from theory to reality. Dr. Ethan Goh, executive director of the Stanford AI Research and Science Evaluation network and associate editor of the journal BMJ Digital Health & AI, anticipates that the study will inspire similar ones in other settings, including in the U.S. 'I think that the more places that replicate such findings, the more the signal becomes real in terms of how much value [from AI-based systems] we can capture," he says. "Maybe today we are just catching mistakes, but what if tomorrow we are able to go beyond, and AI suggests accurate plans before a doctor makes mistakes to being with?' Tools like AI Consult may extend access of health care even further by putting it in the hands of non-medical people such as social workers, or by providing more specialized care in areas where such expertise is unavailable. 'How far can we push this?' says Korom. The key, he says, would be to develop, as Penda did, a highly customized model that accurately incorporates the work flow of the providers and patients in a given setting. Penda's AI Consult, for example, focused on the types of diseases most likely to occur in Kenya, and the symptoms clinicians are most likely to see. If such factors are taken into account, he says, 'I think there is a lot of potential there.'
USA Today
05-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Report: Magic sign 32nd overall pick Noah Penda to 4-year rookie contract
French forward Noah Penda, the 32nd overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, signed his rookie contract with the Orlando Magic on Friday, the team announced. Penda was named the LNB Pro A Best Young Player last season, averaging 10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals on 44.7% shooting from the field in 30 games. He ranked fourth in the league during the regular season in steals and 13th in rebounding. The 6-foot-7 forward reportedly signed via the second-round pick exception, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. The first two years are guaranteed on the contract, which includes a non-guaranteed third year and a team option for the fourth season. Penda was viewed as one of the top international prospects this year, thanks to his scoring, versatility on the defensive end of the court and size at 242 pounds. He also intrigued the organization with his nearly 7-foot wingspan. The Magic, who ranked second in defensive rating last season, believe Penda can provide coach Jamahl Mosley with yet another perimeter defender who can switch positions and impact games at a high level, with his length, activity and IQ. Penda will suit up for the Magic for at least five games in the NBA Summer League, beginning on July 10 against the Sacramento Kings (7:30 p.m. EDT, NBA TV).
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Frenchman Noah Penda credits past experience for being 'ready' to join the Magic
ORLANDO, Fla. -- After playing professionally for the past three years, Noah Penda believes he is ready to make the jump to the United States and contribute to the Orlando Magic. Penda, born in Paris, was selected with the 32nd pick in the 2025 NBA draft on Thursday, following a productive season with Le Mans Sarthe in the LNB Élite, the top league in France. He was one of 13 European players drafted this year, including a record six from France. Advertisement The 6-foot-7 forward was named the LNB Pro A Best Young Player last season, averaging 10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals on 44.7% shooting from the field in 30 games. He ranked fourth in the league during the regular season in steals and 13th in rebounding. Prior to joining Le Mans, Penda played two years for JA Vichy of the LNB Pro B league, the second division of French basketball. He was the 2023-24 LNB Pro B Best Young Player, posting averages of 9.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.25 steals in 36 games. "Noah is a very unique player," Magic president Jeff Weltman said. "He is exceptionally skilled. (He is) a very good ballhandler, passer and an excellent defender, so he is kind of a unique player. When we first saw him, he struck us on one of our first trips to Europe this year as a guy to flag for the rest of the season, so we have been tracking him pretty closely." Orlando entered Thursday with the 46th and 57th picks, respectively. Advertisement To select Penda, who was considered a possible late first-round pick, Weltman & Co. knew they needed to move up, so the team sent their two second-round picks, along with future selections in 2026 and 2027, to acquire the draft rights to Penda from the Boston Celtics. The move was seen as aggressive by some, considering the team has seldom used second-round picks to select players. However, with the group attempting to position itself to win now, the front office identified Penda as a player who can step in and help achieve that goal. "I think I'm just ready to be on an NBA court just by the fact that I play defense on multiple positions and I don't (make) a lot of mistakes on offense," Penda said. "I think things are going to evolve, and I'm going to be able to do a lot more with the way Americans work." Penda was viewed as one of the top international prospects this year, thanks to his scoring, versatility on the defensive end of the court and size at 242 pounds. He also intrigued the organization with his nearly 7-foot wingspan. Advertisement The Magic, who ranked second in defensive rating last season, believe he can provide coach Jamahl Mosley with yet another perimeter defender who can switch positions and impact games at a high level, with his length, activity and IQ. "Just watching him and seeing how he has played, his physical stature, the IQ (and) the ability to guard multiple positions," Mosley said of Penda. "Sitting in that realm, for us right now, the switchability, I think, sits a lot on the forefront for us." In addition to playing for Le Mans, Penda represented his country in the 2024 FIBA U20 EuroBasket. He helped the Frenchmen to the gold medal, averaging 11.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, three assists and 1.7 steals on 56.3% shooting from 3-point range in seven games. Advertisement Penda will lean on that prior experience to help the Magic, who will enter next season as one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. He is confident he can contribute at a high level and is grateful the organization was aggressive in acquiring him on Thursday. "I think it is a reward of all of the work I've been putting in," Penda said. "I feel like it is really a mark of trust that the organization is putting in me and faith. I'm just really glad to be in that position where I know that people are trusting me for the future." This article originally appeared on Rookie Wire: Magic news: Noah Penda credits past experience for being NBA 'ready'
