The New York Indian Film Festival kicks off June 4-13 with 58 screenings and interactive discussions. Presented by the Indo-American Arts Council and powered by MovieSaints, NYIFF celebrates the 21st year of independent, art house, alternate cinema from India and brings this rich collection of films to audiences in the U.S. and North America. Some films will also stream globally.
The social cinema platform Kinema has launched following a $2 million seed funding round backed by key investors, including Kindred Ventures, Lupa System, Galaxy Interactive and I2BF Global Ventures. According to the company, the Kinema platform expands the film marketing and distribution industry by enabling a social and immersive cinema experience. With the goal of eliminating ‘theater deserts’ and expanding access to engaging film, Kinema is building a world-wide network of screening hosts, filmmakers and filmgoers.
Liquid Media Group has signed a letter of intent to acquire IndieFlix, the subscription video-on-demand streaming service focused on content with a purpose. IndieFlix has evolved its initial offering, by expanding into the live social impact space, and transforming into an edutainment company with a foundation to further support its mission and vision.
The streaming platform Kinema, in partnership with a coalition of business, entertainment and creative leaders and GoFundMe.org, today announced it will leverage its virtual screening technology to host the first annual Asian American Pacific Islander Storytellers Festival, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. The Festival starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET with the global virtual premiere on Kinema of The Paper Tigers, an action comedy starring Alain Uy, Ron Yuan, and Mykel Shannon Jenkins ahead of its wide release date of May 7.
Event cinema distributor Abramorama’s documentary Long Live Rock … Celebrate the Chaos is now streaming on The Coda Collection.
Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar accounted for 50 percent of all streaming video-on-demand subscribers in India in 2020, according to Omdia’s latest 2021 Online Video Market and Consumer Trends Report. Omidia’s principal analyst, TV and online video, consumer Constantinos Papavassilopoulos said, “The online video market of India is steadily growing its foothold in every direction. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth rate of an already dynamic and robust OTT market.”
Cardiff-based film and video post-production house Gorilla has chosen an MTI Film Cortex Enterprise mastering and validation system for a new 4K high dynamic range mastering suite at its recently expanded GloWorks facility. Supplied by MTI Film distribution partner Big Pic Media, the Cortex forms part of Gorilla's investment in new 4K HDR technology.
Goldcrest Post recently performed a feat of post-production magic for one of the most unusual film releases of the year. Grizzly II: The Revenge, a thriller about a giant bear that attacks fans at a rock concert, was shot in 1983 by the late Hungarian director André Szöts. Starring Steve Inwood, and including appearances by George Clooney, Laura Dern, Louise Fletcher and Charlie Sheen, the film was intended to be a sequel to Grizzly, a modestly budgeted independent film that became the top grossing independent film of all time upon its release in 1976, but it was left unfinished. That changed late last year when executive producer Suzanne C. Nagy retrieved the nearly 40-year-old original elements from storage and sought Goldcrest’s help in getting the film ready for its long-delayed release.
Cinenso has launched the Cinenso Channel, a secure platform, with multi-digital rights management, and payment infrastructure and storage at a nominal cost for global programmers of independent film content, from short films to niche genre films. It will enable curators – including scholars, rights holders and programmers – to create channels for film screenings, discussions, and archival content.
Nagra has been selected by U.S.-based Eventive, a leading platform in virtual cinema, to use Nagra’s forensic watermarking and multi-digital rights management tools to protect every film on its virtual screening platform.
