Entertainment
‘Cinema of Resistance’ fest comes to Kolkata Jan 22
Kolkata: Films and documentaries portraying the common man’s resistance to fascism and the fight against gender violence will be screened at the second edition of Kolkata People’s Film Festival (KPFF) that begins here Jan 22.
The KPFF is also the 44th edition of the ‘Cinema of Resistance’ festival and is centred on ‘people’s culture with people’s support’.
Running till Jan 24, this year’s fest will pay homage to famed Bengali writer Nabarun Bhattacharya, a Sahitya Akademi awardee known for his radical left and anti-establishment views and championing of the marginalised urban milieu.
As many as 18 films and documentaries will be screened, spanning sections like ‘Tributes’, aNew Indian Feature’, ‘New Indian Documentary’, ‘Documentary Classic’ and ‘Feature Classic’.
Prominent shows include Nagraj Manjule’s “Fandry”, Deepa Dhanraj’s “Invoking Justice”, Ajay T.G.’s “First Cry”, Goutam Ghose’s “Hungry Autumn” and renowned documentary maker Anand Patwardhan’s “Jai Bheem Comrade”.
Guests at the fest include directors of the participating films.
In addition, thought-provoking discussions on ‘Our Nationhood Redefined’, ‘Faces of Fascism’ and ‘Class, Caste, Gender and Cinema’ will see human rights activists, filmmakers such as Binayak Sen, Nakul Singh Sawhney, Samik Bandyopadhyay, Vidyarthy Chatterjee and Biren Das Sharma as participants.
Organised by and People’s Film Collective (Kolkata), the event will be held at the Jadavpur University campus.
Cinema of Resistance is the film society of New York’s Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts.
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.
Content provided by Adverloom