Entertainment
Karan Johar announces Female Filmmaker Award at Mami Film Festival
Mumbai : Karan Johar on Thursday at a press conference of 18th MAMI film festival announced an award for female filmmakers to encourage more gender equality in Indian cinema.
Karan Johar said, “We are also thrilled to announce a special award this year called the MAMI MasterCard Best Indian Female Filmmaker 2016 award. This award for Rs 15 lakh is also for Indian films only. This award aims to strengthen the female voice in Indian cinema.”
“Over the last five years, we’ve made some progress here but it’s much too little. The representation of both genders onscreen can only benefit with the inclusion of more female voices. This award is a step toward that.”
Over 180 films from 54 countries, including features, documentaries, short films to be showcased at the festival. The Film Festival will honour director and screenwriter Sai Paranjpye and acclaimed filmmaker, Jia Zhangke with Excellence in Cinema Award.
Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj said, “Our Indian Excellence in Cinema award goes to filmmaker Sai Paranjpye. Sai Paranjpye’s career has spanned over four decades. Her films are milestones in Indian cinema. Sai’s cinema is defined by certain humanity.
“Her films didn’t have oversized heroes and villains. She told slice of life stories about common people. Her work continues to inspire generations of filmmakers.”
The 18th JIO MAMI Film Festival which was unveiled on Thursday in a press conference witnessed actor Kangana Ranaut along with the Board of Trustees – Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Manish Mundra, Vishal Bhardwaj and Dibakar Banerjee with Star Co-chairperson, Kiran Rao and Festival Director Anupama Chopra.
Festival Co-Chairperson, Kiran Rao said, “It’s been a very exciting year for the Academy. Firstly, we are now a year around presence. We launched the MAMI Film Club in May with a conversation between Sir Ian McKellen and Aamir. We have followed that up with India premieres of films such as Brahman Naman and India in a Day. The Academy is committed to bringing you great film content and conversations not just in October but through the year.”
The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star is less than a month away from offering the city a movie extravaganza unlike any other. The festival is set to kick off on 20th October.
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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