Entertainment
Indian filmmaker’s work chosen for Cannes Cinefondation’s l’Atelier
New Delhi: Director Aditya Vikram Sengupta, known for his award-winning film “Labour of Love”, is glad that his second feature which is tentatively titled “Memories and My Mother” has made it to Cannes Cinefondation’s l’Atelier 2016, which promotes new cinematic works.
After getting shortlisted, Sengupta has got a platform to pitch his idea on the foreign shores, and form a team to make his cinematic vision into a reality.
This is said to be the fourth Indian film and the first Bengali film ever selected for the programme, which was initiated in 2005 by the Festival de Cannes to promote the creation of new, exciting and original works. It enables filmmakers to gain access to international financing and speed up the production process.
Sengupta’s film is an expression of his innermost feelings and explores the constant conflict and tension between him and a rapidly changing Kolkata.
The feature film, which is an Indo-French-German co-production, produced by ‘For Films’ – Jonaki Bhattacharya and Vikram Mohinta and renowned French producer Catherine Dussart, is currently in development and pre-production.
“We are really grateful and humbled at the same time for being selected for l’Atelier 2016. It is a validation of all the preparation we have put into the project so far. What interests me most about filmmaking is the journey and the creative and collaborative process that goes towards making a film,” Sengupta said in a statement.
Cinefondation’s Atelier has selected 16 different projects from around the world this year and will take place from May 13-19 in Cannes, France.
He added that a forum “such as the Cannes Film Festival’s l’Atelier program allows us to potentially collaborate with partners from different backgrounds and sensibilities from all over the world.”
“I am really excited about all of this coming together to create a more fulfilling and enriching experience,” he said.
Under this programme, the filmmakers are selected according to the quality of their project and that of their previous films, as well as on the state of progress of their finance plan.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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