Crash Course Trailer launch and Press Conference: Puppets on a chain From ambitions, aspirations and rivalry, to forging everlasting friendships... the trailer of Amazon Prime Video’s new OTT show, Crash Course, was launched at the R.D. National College’s Hekandbai Hall, Bandra, Mumbai, on 24 July. Created by Manish Hariprasad and directed by Vijay Maurya, Crash Course is produced by Owlet Films. It is set in Kota, Rajasthan and explores the twists of student life, after leaving s...

Escaype Live, trailer launch and press meet: Two Sidhharths, one JJ and many escaype artistes Disney + Hotstar, one of a handful of leading OTT platforms, has formulated what it calls the “biggest social thriller of the year”. They have named it Escaype Live and it is described as “the most relevant story of current times.” Created and directed by Siddharth Kumar Tewary, it took three years to make, against an estimated six months, and will release only on Disney+ Hot...

RIFF 08, 2022, 09: Films for change in society As a regular feature, the Rajasthan International Film Festival (RIFF) holds Talk Shows, on the lines of the Open Forum, conducted by the Federation of Film Societies of India, at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). In the first talk show, ‘Films for change in society’, held on 26 March 2022, Bollywood trade analyst Komal Nahta, Indian film producer, writer and director Chandrashekhar Narvekar (N. Chandra), famous Indian...

Jhund, Review: Every Jhunderdog has his day Literally translated, Jhund means herd. Only in this case, the reference is to a group of young slum-dwelling, smoking, drinking ragamuffins, who are also petty criminals, but are transformed into a high class football team, thanks to the efforts of a neighbouring school-teacher, who is about to retire. The film is many films in one and can be seen from several perspectives, each of which would be a valid point of ‘view’. But at its core...

IFFI 52, 039: “We are just here to make honest cinema,”—Ganesh Hegde To be or not to be. The very same existential question that vexed Hamlet in Shakespeare’s timeless eponymous play is what troubles 10-year-old boy Sidda, albeit in a somewhat different avatar. Having been forced to bid adieu to the pristine beauty and serenity of his village, the young boy is confronted with the inevitability of having to choose between the chaotic and alienating hustle of the city, t...

IFFI 52, 038: Shiraz Bazin Moussi on the value of short films Every edition of IFFI adds to the breadth and depth of the cinematic experience, greeting film lovers with many festival firsts. As part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the festival and OTT platforms, cine enthusiasts attending the 52nd edition of the International Film Festival of India got a rare opportunity to attend a virtual Masterclass on the topic “Why short films are valued by producers?”, by none o...

IFFI 51, 16-24 January, 27: “OTT is here to stay”: G.P. Vijayakumar “There was a big opposition when OTT made its initial appearance citing that it will end theatrical releases and shut movie businesses. However, the traditional film industry, theatres and blockbuster movies will continue to stay despite OTT and TV channels being around. They only complement the entertainment business of cinema financially, making it more lucrative.  The viewership on OTT is ever increa...

FICCI FRAMES, VII: India’s filmed entertainment sector, 2016-2020E EY--Re-imagining India's M&E sector; Ernst and Young  Report, released 04 March, 2018, at FICCI FRAMES 18, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Mumbai Most multilateral agencies see India grow above 7% in the medium-term. While the World Bank forecasts India to grow by 7.5% in both 2019 and 2020, IMF forecasts suggest the growth rate to be 7.4% in FY19 and further increase to 7.8% in FY201. The M&E sector grows with the ...

“Film is the most regulated medium in India”—Uday Singh, MD, Motion Picture Distributors’ Association Copyright, intellectual property and piracy issues were discussed at the one-day conference on Copyright and the Creative Economy, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in association with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Interactive sessions were held at the Sofitel Hotel, Mumbai, on 21st July, wherein th...

Siraj Syed covers CommunicAsia 2017, Post-event reportage, 03: Brightcove Unveils Ground-breaking Technology Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV) announced at BroadcastAsia2017 (held in conjunction with CommunicAsia in Singapore, May 2017), the beta availability of Context Aware Encoding, a new video compression technology that lowers the total cost of ownership and improves video quality. Context Aware Encoding uses machine learning and deep video analysis to achieve optimum quality for each video wit...

The New York-based online video solutions firm Muvi LLC has made its way in to FierceOnlineVideo’s ‘Fierce 15’ list for 2015. Having been nominated in the ‘Enterprise OTT Platforms’ category, Muvi Studio (the VoD platform solution by Muvi) has finished on top on its category and graces the inaugural Fierce 15 Online Video Companies list. Easily amongst the most visible video streaming platform builder on web today, Muvi Studio’s contribution to the industry...

CommunicAsia2015, VII: Getting HOOQed Peter Bithos, CEO, HOOQ Globe Telecom (Singtel), BroadcastAsia2015 International Conference speaker, shares his perspective on the OTT video industry in Asia. Bithos studied at University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School and has earlier worked with Virgin Mobile Australia (Singtel), Optus (SingTel), Bain & Co. “In the world of television and video, the days of the “off” switch are largely gone. With the rise of smart device owne...