Global Creative Leaders To Judge Cannes Lion’s Most Groundbreaking Work
Cannes Lions has revealed the line-up of industry legends who will serve as the 2025 Dan Wieden Titanium Lions Jury. The Dan Wieden Titanium Lions celebrate game-changing creativity, honouring work that breaks new ground, challenges industry norms and redefines the creative landscape. With their combined expertise, this distinguished group of creative visionaries will oversee the Festival’s most forward-thinking and boundary-pushing Lion. “The Dan Wieden Titanium Lions represent the pinnacle of creative excellence and innovation, rewarding work that shifts perspectives, challenges the status quo, and, as Dan Wieden put it, ‘makes the industry stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward’,” said Simon Cook, CEO, Lions. “The 2025 Jury consists of world-class creative leaders, each with a track record of redefining the industry through their work. Jury President Judy John, Global Chief Creative Officer, Edelman, Global, a renowned creative leader, has led work that has shaped modern brand communications. She was instrumental in Edelman’s achievement of a Titanium Lion in 2024 for ‘The Move to -15’ on behalf of DP World, making Edelman the first legacy PR firm to receive this prestigious award. “I am deeply honoured to lead the Dan Wieden Titanium Lions at Cannes Lions this year, one of the most prestigious awards of the festival, as it celebrates the boldest and most transformative ideas shaping the future of our industry and the world,” said John. Cannes Lions is open for Awards submissions until April 10, 2025. Further information on the Awards, including entry kits, can be found at canneslions.com/awards.

Six Directors For Festival de Cannes Residence
FLÓRA Anna Buda, Andrea Gatopoulos, Xiwen Cong, Simon Maria Kubiena, Constance Tsang and Rodrigo Ribeyro are the six new directors welcomed to the 49th session of La Résidence du Festival de Cannes. From March 15 to July 31, 2025, these directors will reside in Paris, where they will benefit from a personalised screenwriting residency programme and a collective programme of meetings with film professionals. Every year, La Résidence du Festival de Cannes welcomes 12 young filmmakers to the heart of Paris for two four-and-a-half-month sessions, to support them in writing the screenplay for their first or second feature film. La Résidence du Festival de Cannes has welcomed over 250 filmmakers from some 60 countries, spotlighting many of the artists who have gone on to be selected at international festivals. Among them: Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel, Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu, Mexico’s Amat Escalante and Michel Franco, Hungary’s László Nemes, Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki, Israel’s Nadav Lapid, Croatia’s Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, Spain’s Carla Simón, Brazil’s Karim Aïnouz, Zambia’s Rungano Nyoni, India’s Payal Kapadia and Singapore’s Chiang Wei. Flora Buda from Hungary expressed her excitement at the invitation thus: “I am deeply honoured to join this prestigious Résidence du Festival de Cannes. This opportunity represents a transformative milestone in my career as a filmmaker. Being a part of this programme is not only a validation of my creative vision but also an opportunity to hone my craft under the guidance of accomplished mentors and alongside talented peers.” The 78th Festival de Cannes opens as from May 13 to May 24. Juliette Binoche will preside over the Jury of the 78th Festival de Cannes, which will award the Palme d’or on Saturday, May 24. The official selection will be announced on April 10. Details about the festival can be sourced at www.festival-cannes.com

TikTok Host Annual Africa Safer Internet Summit In Cape Town
THE city of Cape Town in South Africa played host to TikTok second yearly Africa Safer Internet Summit. The summit brought together government officials, regulators, and industry leaders from across Sub-Saharan Africa. Delegates from South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and other countries convened to discuss critical issues on online safety, content moderation, and digital policy development. The Summit underscores TikTok’s ongoing efforts to prioritise user safety in Africa while fostering an open dialogue with policymakers to shape robust frameworks that protect users’ rights while encouraging innovation and creativity in the digital space. At the official opening held on March 26 South Africa’s Hon. Solly Malatsi, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, highlighted the importance of collaboration among governments, technology platforms, and communities to foster a safer digital ecosystem. Helena Lersch, TikTok’s Vice President for Public Policy, in her remarks, reaffirmed the platform’s commitment to user safety and the role of partnerships in creating a secure digital environment. During the summit, TikTok reported a significant upward trend in its content removal rate across Sub-Saharan Africa, with data showing a 249.81 per cent increase in content removals from the second quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024. This improvement aligns with TikTok’s global standards for content moderation and community guidelines enforcement. Globally, between July and September 2024, TikTok removed more than 147 million videos, of which 118 million were detected and removed automatically using these technologies. In Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok removed over 7.5 million videos in Q3 2024, rising to more than 8 million in Q4 2024—an increase of 14.06 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Notably, 99.5 per cent of these videos were removed before any user reports, underscoring TikTok’s commitment to proactive moderation and swift action. The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Nigerian Technological Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Cyber Security Control Centre were the key agencies that attended the summit from Nigeria.