www.pickle.co.in JuL 27-2 Aug | 2020
THE
BLOCKCHAIN WAVE
Futurist Alexander Shulgin on how Blockchain technology, endorsed by India for its transformation, can impact Media industry and why he considers PM Narendra Modi among wisest global leaders alive today
INSIDE
STORIES
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Meet, Erica. AI Actor In A Sci-Fi Film
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Virtual Victory For Animation Masters Summit
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What’s New To Stream This Week
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Vidya Balan Set To Shine As Shakuntala Devi
Not Right Time To Open Cinema Halls: Ravi Kottarakara
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Venice Will Open With Two Italian Films India’s Only Media BIZ magazine for the world
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fro m t he editor
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rime Minister Narendra Modi’s keynote address at the recent US India Business Council’s India Ideas Summit was the spark of this week’s cover feature. His pointers related to frontiers of technology including 5G, Blockchain, IoT, Big Data, Quantum Computing are already a boardroom talk around the world. A casual Whatsapp chat with Alexander Shulgin, a visionary and a Blockchain Technology evangelist made us think deep. Alexander has been presenting keynotes in global media markets on the impact of Blockchain in media and entertainment industry. Check out the detailed interview with Alexander. Countries like Russia, China Singapore among others are embracing Blockchain. Global Standards are on anvil for Blockchain platform similar to standard protocol for Internet in 1993. No doubt, Blockchain Technology will disrupt and transform the media and entertainment sector. This week also showed clear signs of the revival of film festivals and markets across the world. Over a dozen film festivals and markets – in limited physical and virtual formats are taking shape. Most physical festivals are restricted to local audiences. In all likelihood, Berlin International Film Festival and European Film Market set for February 2021 will be the first major outing for global delegates.
There are promises of the availability of vaccines by the end of the year. We condole the death of Gone With the Wind actress Olivia de Havilland (104 years). She passed away on Sunday (July 26) of natural causes in Paris, France, where she lived for the past 60 years. She was the last surviving star of Hollywood’s Golden Age. de Havilland won Best Actress Academy Awards for her roles in 1946’s To Each His Own and 1949’s The Heiress. In addition to Gone With the Wind and her Oscar-winning and nominated roles, de Havilland also starred in The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, They Died With Their Boots On and My Cousin Rachel. The Indian media ecosystem is changing fast. The Over-the-Top (OTT) space is gaining attraction among viewers with the presence of Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, ZEE5, Sony Liv, ALT Balaji, Shemaroo Me, MUBI, Sun Nxt, VOOT, HOICHOI and growing the marker in India and beyond. A close look at What’s New Streaming This Week gives an idea of where we are heading. We were checking the availability of Vidya Balan film catalogue in OTT. We found every major film of Vidya Balan for viewing. That’s brilliant way forward. Feel free to email your thoughts and suggestions.
n vidyasagar pickle media nat@pickle.co.in, www.pickle.co.in
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Pickle Business Guide 2020 Copyright 2020 by Pickle Media Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Pickle is an ad supported business guide tracking the filmed entertainment business in India.
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12 - 15 October 2020 Cannes, France
The World’s Entertainment Content Market
For the love of television
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The World This Week Business VideoTap – The video technology startup founded by N Dilip Venkatraman, former CEO of CNN-IBN, now CNN-News18 and IBN7, now News18 India and Savvy Dilip, former Group CMO of ITV Network, has announced that it has been awarded 7 patents by US Patent and Trademark Office for its dynamic, adaptive, real time and non-linear video streaming technology, which enables Personalized MultiFunctional Streaming of videos.
BY THE NUMBERS 2.1 million
South Koreans have gone to the cinema to see Peninsula
2,000 screens
New York’s entertainment chief is hoping to see content production begin to return in a significant way by September. Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the powerful Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, said she expects to see TV productions return to soundstages and studio facilities by September. A handful of projects with tiny crews — under 10 people in one case and under 25 in another — have lensed in the city in recent weeks, but those were rare exceptions
Peninsula is released in 2000 screens in South Korea
1.8 Million
Number of people who bought tickets to watch Peninsula
Peninsula is Yeon Sang-ho’s long-awaited follow-up to his 2016 action-horror smash Train to Busan, in which the country is ravaged by an undead plague
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Punit Goenka has resigned as non-executive, nonindependent director of Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL), a network of news channels owned by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group. ‘This is to inform that Mr. Punit Goenka, non-executive, non-independent director, has tendered his resignation from the directorship of the company with effect from the close of business hours on July 22, 2020,’ the company said in a filing to the National Stock Exchange.
Vistas Media Capital has announced the addition of Raj Nayak to its board of advisors. He will be a sounding board and will advise the co-founders Abhayanand Singh and India Partner, Piiyush Singh, to grow the business units in India. He would also assist in strategy which will put Vistas Media and its existing businesses on the growth path in India and will play a critical role in launching a few of their upcoming initiatives in the market.
HDF Kino, Germany’s largest cinema association, has called for a reduction to the 1.5M social distancing measures in cinemas to ensure that exhibitors survive the Covid crisis. The organisation, which has 620 members who account for more than 3,200 cinema screens across Germany, made the call in light of a new study by the Hermann Rietschel Institute at the Technical University of Berlin, which claims that cinemas are safer than offices when it comes to airborne disease transmission.
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The World This Week Business
104 years Drinking champagne every day was her secret to eternal youth.
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland, the last remaining star of Gone With the Wind who received her two acting Oscars after helping to take down Hollywood’s studio system with a landmark legal victory in the 1940s, died Sunday. She was 104. De Havilland died of natural causes at her home in Paris, where she had lived for more than 60 years, publicist Lisa Goldberg announced.
Mercury Capital, the private equity firm that recently purchased the Bauer Media stable of magazines in Australia for less than $50m, swiftly shuttered eight titles this week, including highprofile licensed glossies Harper’s Bazaar Australia, InStyle Australia and Elle Australia. Writing in The Guardian, Kirstie Clements said, “as someone who has worked in fashion magazines since the mid 1980s, including 13 years as the editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia and who was until Tuesday the features director of Harper’s Bazaar, I know firsthand that these are not exactly the glory days for women’s publishing, the pressures of a global pandemic notwithstanding.”
John Saxon, the rugged actor who kicked around with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and appeared in three Nightmare on Elm Street movies for director Wes Craven, died Saturday. He was 83. Saxon died of pneumonia in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, his wife, Gloria, told The Hollywood Reporter. An Italian-American from Brooklyn, Saxon played characters of various ethnicities during his long career.
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A newly appointed board of directors at Saudi Arabia’s Film Authority will help develop the Kingdom’s film industry. The Saudi Ministry of Culture announced the formation of the board, with Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan as chairman and Deputy Minister of Culture Hamed bin Muhammad Fayez as vice-president. The Film Authority will be responsible for developing the industry by creating and proposing strategy for the sector.
Netflix has found itself in the middle of a controversy over censorship and LGBT rights in Turkey after cancelling production of a drama that featured a gay character. Netflix decided to abandon a Turkish production rather than yield to government complaints over its perceived immorality. Ece Yorenc, a Turkish screenwriter who wrote the script for the planned Netflix series If Only, revealed that her drama was cancelled last week on the eve of filming because the government refused to grant a licence.
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EGOPRO TAGS
PREVENTING COVID
SPREADS AT
FILM SHOOTS The tags are currently wearable on an individual’s wrist or belt, but there are opportunities to deploy them more widely, such as on shopping carts in grocery stores or with self-guided tour technology at museums or in film shooting spots
A
new product EGOpro Social Distancing wearable tag from Italy based A.M.E (Advanced Microwave Engineering) is emerging as solution for social distancing in many parts of the world. A product which was primarily meant for logistics, industrial security and safety is used now used by museums and other institutions. Most likely, this will be embraced by production executives while film shooting. The company offers highperformance, flexible solutions using active automatic identification (RFID) wireless technologies and sensors
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for industrial applications. A.M.E. designs, develops and implements integrated, turnkey solutions for industrial security and safety. One of Florence’s most frequented sites, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) is the first museum complex in the world to execute the usage of social distancing necklaces for its visitors. The EGOpro Active Tag uses radio technology to sense the measure between two tags. The device will flash, vibrate and softly beep when one visitor accidentally walks within two metres or six feet of another, signalling they are too close.
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One of Florence’s most frequented sites, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) is the first museum complex in the world to execute the usage of social distancing necklaces for its visitors The devices will be handed out free of charge upon entering the museum and will have to be handed back at the end of the visit after which they will be disinfected before being used again. The usage is anonymous and does not track any kind of data. Magazzino Italian Art is the first museum in the United States to adopt the EGOPro Tag. The primary objective is to promote social distancing among visitors. Visitors are explained that the device is not invasive and just a reminder. They hope to make the best use of it during weekends. So, what exactly is an EGOpro? Think of it like those buzzers you get at some restaurants to notify you when your order is ready. The buzzing is the same, although this time the sound occurs when visitors get a little too close to one another. As for the devices themselves, they hang on eco-friendly, individually wrapped lanyards available to individuals and/ or groups upon entering. If someone gets too close to another visitor, the device will begin to flash red and buzz with increasing urgency to remind parties to widen the gap.
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“The usage of this technology in the current pandemic is groundbreaking,” said Rob Hruskoci, owner and CEO of Advanced Industrial Marketing. “Employees can see how much room they have to work with one another, and employers can use this data to reconfigure workspaces to maintain the minimum safe distance while operating.” The tags are currently wearable on an individual’s wrist or belt, but there are opportunities to deploy them more widely, such as on shopping carts in grocery stores or with selfguided tour technology at museums or in film shooting spots. Each EGOpro Active Tag is equipped with a unique serial number and has the potential to be connected to a custom software solution. This can be used for counting the number of people in a given area, keeping track on how long they are in certain areas, and even sending alerts to managers if there is overcrowding. Additionally, in a situation where a facility may have been exposed to Covid-19, the software could be used for contact tracing using the device’s individual serial numbers. The pandemic has baffled medical professionals everywhere, but social distancing protocols that necessitate people in public keeping at least six feet away from other strangers have already been accepted as a basic public health defense against the novel coronavirus. Until a vaccine is developed, it’s likely that devices like the EGOpro tags will become increasingly ubiquitous not just in museums, but in all arenas of public life.
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ROBOT ACTOR
MEET , ERICA.
AI ACTOR IN A
SCI-FI FILM What India saw in ‘Robot’ (‘Enthiran’) and its sequel ‘2.0’, both starring Rajinikanth, has become a reality now, with Erica, world’s first fully autonomous artificially created intelligent actor, created by humanoid roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, along with fellow scientist Kohei Ogawa financed titles including nominated Loving Vincent.
Oscar-
SYNTHETIC SMILE
Despite her flawless features and easy smile, her pupils are clearly plastic. Her synthesized British voice has a slight metallic tone that sounds like she’s speaking into a pipe. When she walks, the motion of her air compressor joints makes it look as though she’s performing either a sped-up or slowed-down version of the robot. For that reason, a majority of her scenes will be filmed while she’s sitting down. But she does have one advantage over the Margot Robbies and Brad Pitts of the world: She’s immune to the coronavirus. Producer Sam Khoze with Erica
BEAUTY & BRAIN
Erica was created by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a roboticist at Osaka University in Japan, to be ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. He modeled her after images of Miss Universe pageant finalists — and the most humanlike robot in existence. But she’s more than just a pretty face: When she makes her debut, producers believe it will be the first time a film has relied on a fully autonomous artificially intelligent actor.
BIG ‘B’
The film Erica will star in is simply called b, and is being backed by Bondit Capital Media, which previously
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HUMAN TOUCH
Ishiguro developed Erica with the goal of creating an android that people wouldn’t just relate to, but also confide in and feel affection for. According to him, the more humanlike he could make her appear, the more people would trust her. When he unveiled her in 2015, she was the most advanced of the dozens of androids he had produced over his career that have performed in plays, sung in malls and even delivered the news. Sam Khoze of LIFE Productions, was looking for an android to headline a feature film in 2017, he entertained pitches from several robotics companies. But the moment he met Erica, Khoze said he knew she was their star, because she ‘really looks like a human’ including such small details as her tongue and eyelids.
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Erica
When Erica makes her debut, producers believe it will be the first time a film has relied on a fully autonomous artificially intelligent actor. The film Erica will star in is simply called b, and is being backed by Bondit Capital Media
SCI-FI STORY
In the story, which was written by Khoze, Eric Pham, the visual effects supervisor, and Tarek Zohdy, Erica plays an artificially intelligent woman, b, who can surge into the body and mind of any human host. The film follows her creators’ efforts to gain control of her as she becomes selfaware. But while she awaits her human counterparts, Erica is rehearsing. There’s just one problem: She has no emotional memories.
ACTING SCHOOL FOR ANDROIDS
When Helderman initially met her, Erica’s acting chops were nonexistent. At first, she didn’t understand what acting was. It was like teaching a child why we respond the ways we do. The team taught her how to perform over more than two years of daily sessions using what Helderman calls a ‘Marlon Brando’ method. Some stars might draw on their own experiences to create a character, but they instructed Erica to emulate other actors’ performances. Actors explained out loud how they were feeling in each scene to Erica.
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BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Their biggest challenge was hardly memorization — she immediately mastered her lines. But it took her months to grasp the concept of not just reciting a line, but speaking it softly or in full voice depending on the context, and bolstering the words with body language. They taught her the dialogue for a scene in one session, then worked on the emotions, character development and body language in another.
GETTING READY
While she awaits co-stars, Erica continues to run lines with amateur local actors. The script calls for three supporting human lead actors, but the makers are also looking at several other robots for supporting roles and are in negotiations to hire a robot for a crew position.
DUAL DELIGHT
She speaks both English and Japanese, and can talk to a stranger in Japanese for 10 minutes on more than 80 topics. But they’re still working toward conversations that are deeper or involve multiple people. Given that Erica has no emotions of her own, she would have to rely on the algorithm integrated into her operation to simulate whatever emotions are required.
PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Erica was originally set to debut in a different project that was to have been directed by Tony Kaye (American History X), but producers parted with Kaye over scheduling. The director of b and the human co-star for Erica are not yet attached, but producers filmed some of her scenes in Japan in 2019. They expect to shoot the rest of b in Europe in June of 2021.
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Making magic with Masters
Virtual victory for
Animation Masters Summit It was a very unique experience as Toonz had never conducted a virtual event before. Everything was planned and executed in about a month’s time, says Hiranmayi Narayanan, Festival Director, Animation Masters Summit 2020 hosted by Toonz Media Group
T
oonz Media Group has had an unwavering commitment towards the art of animation, and has relentlessly strived to further the growth of animation in India. It is as part of this mission that Toonz conceptualized Animation Masters Summit. The first edition of this event was held 21 years back soon after the establishment of Toonz in 1999. The event has grown and transformed itself into a major platform for not just animation, but for the entire entertainment industry to converge, celebrate and promote diverse art forms as well as artists. The five-day event (July 20-24) had sessions by masters from various fields in the media and entertainment industry across the world. This includes senior cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, who is famous for the works in movies like Virasat, Black, Dil Chahta Hai, and Kannathil Muthamittal, to name a few. National Award-winning composer Shantanu Moitra is also taking another session. Academy Award-winning character animator Sajan Skaria, who worked in movies like Finding Nemo, Inside
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Out, ACE Eddie award winner Fabienne Rawley (Zootopia fame), animation director, and illustrator Chris Appelhans and Cinzia Angelini, a freelance animator and story artist, was also be part of the master sessions. For the first time in two decades, Animation Masters Summit was virtually organised by TOONZ amid Covid-19 Pandemic? How was the experience? It was a very unique experience as Toonz had never conducted a virtual event before. We did not have a lengthy planning phase. Everything was planned and executed in about a month’s time. The organizing team worked meticulously with passion and dedication. We paid close attention to details and also had a strategy for managing any unexpected circumstances. In the end, the Summit turned out to be better than we had expected and we’re both proud and humbled by that. Our speakers were amazing and they contributed towards the success of the Summit.
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Vizdem is an App and online education platform dedicated to creative art forms. Besides animation, motion graphics, VFX, etc for college level students and professionals; fine arts courses like painting, sketching etc will be offered for school students via Vizdem Junior
You had successfully managed to bring India and North America with prized masters? How did you manage timings? While bringing in speakers from North America/Europe, there is always a challenge of time-zone differences. For any North American speaker, sessions were scheduled for 9:00 am or 9:30 am Indian time, which is about 9:00 pm in California. To us, this was the only time that seemed neither too early for the Asian audience nor too late for the speakers/American audience. The most touching part was Legend of Indian Animation award to Arnab Chaudhuri... Arnab Chaudhuri has been a twotime Master at our Summit (1999 and 2016). Toonz has also worked with him in various capacities. His creative vision remains a very integral part of Toonz and the entire creative fraternity. His passing away in December 2019 came as a shock to the entire media community and the loss is irreplaceable. He is a true legend and we wanted to honour him in a befitting manner by conferring the Legend of Indian Animation award this year on him posthumously. His family graciously accepted this gesture. Through this award, we hope to keep his creative spirit and his great work alive. Who are the Masters that attracted the audience the most? This year’s line-up of Masters and speakers was excellent and each one is a real veteran in their field. Therefore we had more or less the same number
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Hiranmayi Narayanan, Festival Director, Animation Masters Summit 2020
of audience members tuning in for all the sessions. Will some of the AMS sessions be available online -- especially for students and also for practitioners? As of now, the highlights of sessions are available on the social media handles of Animation Masters Summit as well as Toonz Media Group. Tell us more about the online education initiative VIZDEM announced by Toonz in the inaugural? This is an online education platform dedicated to creative art forms. Besides animation, motion graphics, VFX, etc for college level students and professionals; fine arts courses like painting, sketching etc will be offered for school students via Vizdem Junior. This is a joint initiative of Toonz and Bangalore-based Native Puppets – an online animation academy. The USP of Vizdem is mentors who are all professionals or ex masters from the industry and one-on-one mentoring for students. The Vizdem app is being currently developed and will be launched in the near future.
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WHAT’S NEW TO STREAM THIS WEEK
A remake of the French film A Gang Story, the film is about the rise and fall of four friends’ rustling operations across the Nepal-India border. It chronicles the friendship between four criminals. This gang of four is nabbed by the police and serve their time in jail. However, two men who once ruled the drug smuggling, gunrunning and looting struggle in their own different ways to escape their past and start a new life after being released.
Yaara
JULY 30
ZEE5
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia Starring: Vidyut Jammwal, Shruti Haasan, Amit Sadh, Vijay Varma, Kenny Basumatary Friendship, Feature Film Hindi
It is a war thriller based on the theme of Indian Army and Uri Surgical Strike. Avrodh is based on Rahul Singh and Shiv Aroor’s book India’s Most Fearless. Every Indian knows about the surgical strike but not enough people know the ‘real’ story behind it. The film follows some diplomatic and mostly military preparations for the strike.
Avrodh
Director: Raj Acharya Starring: Amit Sadh, Darshan Kumaar, Madhurima Tuli War, Webseries Hindi
JULY 31
SONY LIV
It is a bio-pic on Shakuntala Devi, who was also known as the ‘human computer’. The movie throws light on the extraordinary life of the mathematical genius. The film will show how we all as child start our mathematical journey from basic tables and how Shakuntala Devi started off with complex mathematical problems.
Shakuntala Devi
JULY 31
Amazon Prime
Director: Anu Menon Starring: Vidya Balan, Jisshu Sengupta, Sanya Malhotra Biography, Feature film Hindi
Nandan Kumar comes across a suitcase and discovers it is full of cash. He knows nothing about who it belongs to, where it’s from, or how it got there. Nandan has to decide whether or not to take it or leave it. He takes the suitcase and soon enough, finds himself being chased by a notorious gangster, an honest cop and a Minister, who want the suitcase at any cost.
Lootcase
Director: Rajesh Krishnan Starring: Kunal Khemu, Gajraj Rao, Vijay Raaz, Ranvir Shorey, Rasika Dugal Drama, Feature Film Hindi
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JULY 31
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Raat Akeli Hai
July 31
Netflix
Director: Honey Trehan Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shivani Raghuvanshi Crime, Web film Hindi
A defending lawyer uncovers the hideous truth about his client’s wife. It tells the story of a married couple and the crimes of which they accuse each other. The plot thickens as Hashmi’s character enters the scene as an inquisitive lawyer. Who is to be trusted? What is real? What is fiction? The film is said to be an ode to Hitchcock.
My Client’s Wife
Director: Prabhakar Meena Bhaskar Pant Starring: Anjali Patil, Sharib Hashmi, Gireesh Sahedev Mystery, Thriller, Web film
JULY 31
Shemaroo ME
In 1985, DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena is kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Mexican drug lords. Special agent Hector Berellez reveals the truth about the conspiracy behind Camarena’s murder that stretches from Mexico to Washington, D.C. The Last Narc aims to tell the true story of who this fallen hero really was, and what really happened to him once he made life difficult for drug cartels. It also follows the one man who risked everything to find out the truth.
The Last Narc
JULY 31
Amazon Prime
Director: Tiller Russell Starring: Hector Berrellez, Geneva Camarena, Jorge Godoy Docu Series English
Immigration Nation, as the title suggests, is about Immigration in the United States. The film tracks the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the experience of immigrants in the US following President Donald Trump’s election in 2017. With unprecedented access to ICE operations, as well as moving portraits of immigrants, this Docu Series takes a deep look at US immigration today.
Immigration Nation
Director: Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz Docu Series English
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August 3
Netflix
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WHAT’S NEW TO STREAM THIS WEEK
When a newly married landlord is murdered, a misfit cop’s investigation is complicated by the victim’s secretive family and his own conflicted heart. Raat Akeli Hai follows police officer Jatil Yadav who is out to investigate the murder of a local politician. While his family continues to call it an accident, Jatil believes there’s more to what meets the eye. From the politician’s first wife to daughter to even his widow, everyone is a suspect for him.
Bio-pic on legend
Vidya Balan
SET to shine as
Shakuntala Devi With Shakuntala Devi directed by Anu Menon, a Biopic on the legendary maths genius, getting ready for a direct release on Amazon Prime Video, Pickle presents you 10 interesting things about the film The film stars Vidya Balan as Shakuntala Devi, who was also known as the ‘human computer’ along with Jisshu Sengupta, Sanya Malhotra and Amit Sadh.
The Hindi biographical movie is directed and written by Anu Menon and produced by Sony Pictures Networks India and Vikram Malhotra under his banner Abundantia Entertainment.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the film will not be released theatrically and will stream on Prime Video worldwide on 31 July 2020. It can be watched in 200 countries simultaneously and in 4000 towns of India. Vidya Balan expressed her delight on social media platforms regarding the release of the movie on the OTT platforms. Vidya too knew Shakuntala as an exemplary mathematician, but as she delved deeper into her life with director Anu Menon, she learnt that the academician defied every notion you have of a mathematical genius. According to the actress, Shakuntala was so full of life, had a wicked sense of humour. She was like a complex equation.
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Shakuntala Devi is being released amid the coronavirus pandemic. Theaters all over the country are still closed, but with Amazon Prime Video stepping in, the film is getting a digital release. Its result would be one of the factors that would decide the impact of OTT platforms and its future when it comes to streaming ‘big films’ directly. Shakuntala Devi was a mathematician, an astrologer, the writer of guides to arithmetic, a cookbook for men and a crime novel, the author of one of the earliest studies of homosexuality in India, an aspiring Member of Parliament. She was also very emotional and possessive, affectionate and loving and so much more rolled into one. Vidya Balan did a lot of homework to get things right. Shakuntala Devi was often called a ‘human computer’ and the world knew her as a genius who could solve complex equations in a few seconds. Anu Menon’s upcoming biopic, which stars Vidya Balan, aims to discover the heart that ticked inside the machine. Shakuntala Devi has been made in consultation with her daughter Anupama Banerji, who lives in London with her family. Shakuntala Devi was born on November 4, 1929. Her father was a trapeze artist and a magician. Shakuntala Devi gave her first
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professional performance at the age of six, in which she demonstrated her prodigious memory and ability to solve arithmetic problems with extraordinary speed. Director Anu Menon had grown up with reports of Shakuntala Devi’s mathematical genius. It started out with a stray comment by her daughter who was eight at the time. Menon’s quest became richer and deeper after she met Anupama Banerji and her husband, Ajay Abhaya Kumar, in London in 2016. The meeting lasted six hours and was equally moving for Banerji and Menon. Anu Menon’s research for the film included viewing clips of Shakuntala Devi performing calculations on television. In an undated programme filmed for the Canadian broadcast network ATN, the mathematician impresses a panel and the studio audience by coming up with answers nanoseconds after the questions have been asked. Wearing a sari and a big grin, Shakuntala Devi revels in her brilliance. Shakuntala used to perform Maths on stage. And there was a lot of joy involved in it. According to Anu Menon, they tried to capture as much as they could from the daughter’s perspective. She made Maths an art form. And, the film is aimed at paying a memorable tribute to the genius.
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Anandi lives in an extended family along with her parents, siblings and uncle and is in love with Babua, her brother’s friend. However, things change drastically in her life when Babua goes abroad
WATCH
VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
NOW
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Streaming ON HoiChoi Director: Goutam Halder
Bhalo Theko
2003
The lifelong romance between Lolita (Balan) and Shekar (Khan) is upset by the arrival of another man.
Streaming ON Netflix Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Parineeta
2005
Munna Bhai embarks on a journey with Mahatma Gandhi in order to fight against a corrupt property dealer.
Streaming ON Netflix Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Lage Raho Munna Bhai
2006
A villager, Gurukant Desai, arrives in Bombay 1958, and rises from its streets to become the GURU, the biggest tycoon in Indian history.
Streaming ON YOUTUBE MOVIES Director: Mani Ratnam
guru
2007
Six couples face problems in their lives when fate forces them to move away from each other. They must overcome these issues in order to make their love triumphant.
Streaming ON ZEE5 Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love
Director: Nikkhil Advani
2007
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Streaming ON NETFLIX
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Eklavya: The Royal Guard
2007
Three bachelors who are compulsive womanizers find their lives turned upside down when a baby is left at their doorstep. The trio suspect each other of being the father.
Streaming ON YOUTUBE MOVIES Director: Sajid Khan
Heyy Babyy
2007
An NRI and his wife decide to stay in his ancestral home, paying no heed to the warnings about ghosts. Soon, inexplicable occurrences cause him to call a psychiatrist to help solve the mystery.
Streaming ON YOUTUBE MOVIES Director: Priyadarshan
Bhool Bhulaiyaa
2007
A popular Bollywood actor witnesses a murder but refuses to come forward to identify the killer(s)
Streaming ON Voot
Director: Rajkumar Santoshi
Halla Bol
2008
A luckless architect discovers a social activist to be his lucky charm. Unfortunately, she’s protecting the community center he’s aiming to win a contract to tear down.
Streaming ON YOUTUBE MOVIES Director: Aziz Mirza
Kismat Konnection 19
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VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
As the kingdom of Devigarh comes apart at the seams, an aging bodyguard attempts to protect the Royal Family, as well as keep its darkest secrets from ever coming to light.
2008
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WATCH
A father tries to help his son cope with a rare condition that causes the young boy to age beyond his years.
NOW
VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
Streaming ON YUPP TV Director: R. Balki
Paa
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper’s seductive widow.
Streaming ON Amazon Prime Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Ishqiya
2010
A journalist, who is more of an activist teams up with the sister of a murdered model, as she gets interested in the case and wants to bring justice to her case.
Streaming ON Netflix Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
No One Killed Jessica
2011
Chirakkal Kelu Nayanar, a warrior in 16th century Kerala wants to avenge his father killed in a confrontation with Vasco da Gama and his troops and is assisted by his best friend Vavvali and warrior princess Ayesha.
Streaming ON ZEE5 Director: Santosh Sivan
Urumi
2011
The love story between an actress and a director, inspired by the life of the late south Indian actress Silk Smitha.
Streaming ON Viu
Director: Milan Luthria
The Dirty Picture 20
2009
2011
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Streaming ON NETFLIX Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Kahaani
2012
A safe cracker claims he has lost his memory when two criminals come calling for their cut of the bank heist loot.
Streaming ON NETFLIX Director: Rajkumar Gupta
Ghanchakkar
2013
A complicated relationship develops between a man and woman after getting married and having a baby.
Streaming ON Disney+hotstar Director: Saket Chaudhary
Shaadi Ke Side Effects
2014
Bobby Jasoos is a film that celebrates the aspiration of Bobby, who wants to become the number one detective in the old city area of Hyderabad.
Streaming ON Disney+hotstar Director: Samar Shaikh
Bobby Jasoos
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2014
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VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
A pregnant woman’s search for her missing husband takes her from London to Kolkata, but everyone she questions denies having ever met him.
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WATCH
A single mother finds solace with a wealthy, but lonely hotel magnate, together they find love until her past comes back to confront her.
VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
NOW
Not available for streaming Director: Mohit Suri
Hamari Adhuri Kahani
A woman with a mysterious past is charged with kidnapping and murder.
Streaming ON ZEE5 Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh
2016
The story of eleven prostitutes who refuse to part ways with their brothel and each other during the partition between India and Pakistan.
Streaming ON Amazon Prime Director: Srijit Mukherji
Begum Jaan
2017
Sulu is an ambitious housewife with a loving husband and a happy family. Things start changing for her when she accidentally lands a job as a radio jockey and her show becomes an instant hit.
Streaming ON Amazon Prime Director: Suresh Triveni
Tumhari Sulu
2017
Based on the journey of the legendary Telugu actor, filmmaker and ex-Chief Minister Late Taraka Rama Rao Nandamuri.
Streaming ON Amazon Prime Director: Krish
N.T.R: Kathanayakudu 22
2015
2019
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Streaming ON Amazon Prime Director: Krish
N.T.R: Mahanayakudu
2019
When three young women are implicated in a crime, a retired lawyer steps forward to help them clear their names.
Streaming ON ZEE5 Director: H. Vinoth
Nerkonda Paarvai
2019
Based on true events of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), making it the least expensive mission to Mars.
Streaming ON Disney+hotstar Director: Jagan Shakti
Mission Mangal
2019
A doting mother tries to correct the course of her child through her bedtime stories.
Not available for streaming Director: Shaan Vyas
Natkhat
2020
Based on the life of Shakuntala Devi who is a well-known mathematical genius and calculating prodigy from India. She has been nicknamed ‘Human Computer’ because of her extraordinary talent and skill in solving complex mathematical problems without any mechanical aid.
Streaming ON Amazon Prime Shakuntala Devi 23
2020
Director: Anu Menon
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VIDYA BALAN CATALOGUE
A follow up to NTR: Kathanayakudu which was based on N.T. Rama Rao’s life and acting career. This movie will focus on his political career.
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Covid -19 impact on single screens
Single screens demand separate
SOPs
Over two dozen theatre owners representing single screen theatres in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Karnataka and Kerala participated in a recent virtual meeting organised by South Indian Film Chambers of Commerce
W Owners of single screen theatres felt they should not be treated on par with Multiplexes. Both work on two different sets of guidelines, concessions, rules, strategies, policies and enterprises 24
ith the Central Government (I&B Ministry and Home Ministry) working on standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the reopening of cinema halls, which remain shut due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown, owners of single screen theatres have urged for separate SOPs, compared to Multiplexes. Over two dozen theatre owners representing single screen theatres in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Karnataka and Kerala participated in a recent virtual meeting organised by South Indian Film Chambers of Commerce. As cinema screens are a state subject coming under the ambit of state governments they would soon seek appointments to meet the Chief Ministers concerned representing the issues and concerns in person with a small team of prominent exhibitors from each State.
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Majority of them, who are GST payers, have complained that banks are not lending to them under the Central government’s scheme for the MSMEs. According to them, single screen theatres are not to be treated on par with Multiplex theatres. Both work on two different sets of guidelines, concessions, rules, strategies, policies and enterprises. They said renewal for theatre license must be worked on auto renewal mode for an additional year and there should not be separate additional fees or procedure other than an online request Theatre owners said property tax should be reduced by 50 per cent. There are existing property tax rebates in Andhra Pradesh which have to be given in all states in India. “Electricity charges will be paid only on the consumption and not on minimum due, irrespective of high tension, low tension or commercial establishments category,” they said. They also added that the Licensed Projector operators mandatory clause has to be removed as it is only digital projection these days and that is a draconian law which has to be modified. “We are 100 per cent digital cinema.” Local Body Tax is to be exempted in states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, theatre owners urged the government. “We will make a submission that we won’t by LBT henceforth,” said an exhibitor. “Clarification that theatres operate in the gambit of MSME sector and all concessions given to MSME sector (loans criteria, concessional interest, interest wavier during moratorium period) must be given the exhibition sector.” According to theatre owners, harsh enforcement conditions should not be imposed during opening of theatres post COVID scenario. Theatre staff and workers should be included under cinema workers scheme and some necessary support should be given to them, they said and added that GST tariff has to be put under a reduced tax slab from the existing 18 to 12 and 12 to 8 per cent. “Theatre construction rules should be simplified and ease in conversion needs to be given from one big screen to two small screens. Ease the setbacks condition, rules, application and sanctioning formalities”. It has been decided to send letters recommending the above to Central and State governments by e-mail, post. “Cash flow is the need of the
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Not Right Time To Open Cinema Halls: Ravi Kottarakara Amid reports that the government was set to unveil standard operating procedures paving way for the opening of theatres which remain shut ever since the Covid-19 induced lockdown was implemented in March, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce has felt it is not conducive for cinema halls to open in current conditions and amid restrictions. SIFCC Secretary Ravi Kottarakara has said cinema theatres should resume operations only after two months of cinema production. This would allow free flow of content into cinema screens. The timing also has to align with the availability of Hollywood and other foreign language films. Many Hollywood films have postponed films slated for release scheduled for the next three months. There are over 3800 single screen theatres in South India (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh., Telangana, kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry). hour as working capital for single screens. Banks should be advised to lend under MSME scheme equivalent to three to six months of fixed costs which could be the hard costs of rentals; electricity; wage bill. These could be easily established by a self-declaration with the auditor’s confirmation.” theatre owners said. They also wanted the proposed increase in electricity tariff to be deferred. “The above mentioned recommendations and requests are critical for the survival of the single screens in India,” owners felt. Out of 9500 screens in the country, 3500 are Multiplex screens and South India has many single screen theatres, which are part and parcel of not just the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries, but also an integral part of the lives of people for whom cinema is like a religion.
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Blockchain
The Future is Now The ongoing COVID-19 crisis necessitates a fast transformation of the global economy in order to build resilience against unprecedented challenges humankind faces today. With media & entertainment, edutainment and datertainment set to play a critical role in the new world, Blockchain, one of the frontier technologies embraced by India, will be the key to a decentralized and more transparent future of the world says Alexander Shulgin 26
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Alexander Shulgin
A
lexander Shulgin is a visionary, investor, composer, entrepreneur, futurist, and a Blockchain specialist, who has 20 years of investment and venture capital experience. He is a unique Russian composer who successfully combines creative work with business. He effectively manages GRUPPA KOMPANIY FAMILIA (www.familia.ru), which specializes in investment and venture capital in Blockchain, media, new media, publishing, and entertainment sectors (BitFury, Minery. io,dotBlockchainMedia,Clickky, Ticketland, AviaSales, QIWI post, SeoPult Group, Garpun, MFM Solution and others.) His personal investments are in sectors: Blockchain infrastructure, e-Sport, and Mixed Reality. Alexander was for last five years a Member of Expert Council under the Prime Minister of Russian Federation (areas of responsibility are IT and digital economy). In an exclusive interview with Pickle, he provides deep and useful insights into how Blockchain will be a critical technology to reset the old form of global economy, and transform the way media and entertainment is consumed in a post-COVID-19 world. Excerpts…
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How are you spending your time during Corona pandemic?
In this context, I recollect a verse from the Bible: “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together.” I used to travel around the world 330 of the 365 days in a year for my business, but the Corona pandemic in the last five months provided me a much needed break – time for me to reset. I have been utilizing this time to reflect on new technologies. I have been thinking about the big crisis we would face beginning next February that would last for a few years and would necessitate the global great reset. We have to be strong and build resilience to face it. I have also been contemplating about the emerging new future of mankind. Because technology will change the way a person consumes media and multimedia. This will be the big future of video.
We need to reset capitalism, the old form of economy
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Alexander Shulgin Media and information is set to become a part of the post industrial society. Entertainment, media, edutainment, and ‘datertainment’ (dating plus entertainment) will play an important role in the life of mankind. The new economy will switch from hardware to software, driven mainly by entertainment and lifestyle technologies. The media in multimedia entertainment will be in holograms. This will be a new form of entertainment. E-sport with holograms, e-sport with real sport and holograms, etc, will give birth to a new form of media, content, spectaculars and audience. We will soon have a new generation of people and the creative productions will have to embrace this generation of decentralized natives, which may be called ‘Generation A01’. They will be completely different from the people of ‘Generation X’, ‘Generation Y’ and ‘Generation Z’ which are older generations now. Millennials formed the last generation of the old cycle of generations. It will be difficult to explain the new generation as to why people use vinyl records or VHS tapes. It will also be difficult to explain them why there is a Senator or a Governor. They will
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not understand because they were updated from birth like new updated mobile applications. So it is very crucial for us to think about them.
India has endorsed Blockchain among other frontier technologies like 5G, Big Data, IoT…What are your thoughts on this?
I think there is a great opportunity for India. In the next three to four years, India will be among the world’s top three economies. India is innovating and adopting latest technologies. Indian Prime Minister has already mentioned few technologies like 5G, Big Data, Blockchain as frontier technologies. I have great appreciation and respect for him. He’s a very wise guy. Unlike many naive global leaders, he understands that Blockchain technology is not only about crypto currency. Blockchain is not crypto currency. Blockchain is a technology. Bitcoin was invented as part of the Blockchain technology. You won’t find any mention of the term crypto currency in the white paper of Satoshi Nakamoto (who deployed the first Blockchain database).
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Bitcoin is electronic cash. But it is not similar to the cash that you can get in the market when someone buys a carpet or gold from you. It is an electronic asset. Bitcoin helps to identify your assets, stores and enables transactions quickly. It is not paper currency. Of course, many people tried to do business in the so called crypto currency. They traded on the exchange—buy, sell—and tried to make some crazier things. It is not related to the nature of this decentralized ledger technology. Blockchain is a great technological opportunity to tap because our world is headed towards a reset. We need to reset capitalism, the old form of economy. We need to reset the old form of multi-agreements between governments and the people. Our society needs it. Russia is the country of greatest revolutions. Over 100 years ago, Lenin said that when revolution happens the people at the top don’t know what to do. And the people at the bottom don’t want to follow the people at the top who don’t know what to do. So, this is the time for revolution— the right time for redistribution of capital. There’s so much gap between 26 people who control 51 percent of the global economy, and the millions of poor people who have nothing to eat. Blockchain has the potential to become a great balancer. It’s time to give a chance to decentralized economy which is only possible with the help of Blockchain technology. This asset can be of great value for media and entertainment industry or agriculture. It’s time to embrace this new technology.
How do you think India can benefit out of this and how do you visualize that India should move forward?
With Blockchain technology and decentralized processing, India would yield huge benefits in building Smart Cities and smart future. Media and data will spur a lot of SMEs to build Smart Cities, IoT, drones and industrial IoT. By using data, India will be the producer of ‘new oil’. This will make India great again. I’m sure that in the decade beginning 2030, India will be ahead of China and will become number one economy of the world.
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In Blockchain you will be able to trace and find out who was the original person who spread the fake news. We can fight misinformation with Blockchain technology
The Indian middle class will be about 24 percent of the global middle class. Now it’s only four. So, it will be short but very productive. India will become the world’s top economy because India’s huge population will create a lot of data and data is the new gold. India will need to generate a lot of energy to maintain that data. When I was in India for the first time in 2018, India’s energy consumption was equivalent to Argentina’s. However, by 2022, it will be equivalent to European Union’s consumption of electricity. So electricity will be the next equivalent of energy. Therefore India will need effective and low cost energy. We will need new social pacts and agreements as well. Transparency will be necessary for the new pacts. There is trust deficiency among people. People see a lot of fake news, double standards, and so on. Many politicians say one thing and do another thing. Blockchain would help us build trust, Smart Cities, smart technologies and smart supply chains. It holds immense promise to improve life standards of people. Fake news is one of the global menaces. Do you think Blockchain has a solution to contain fake news? Of course yes, because in Blockchain everything is in written form that cannot be changed. In Blockchain you will be able to trace and find out who was the original person who spread the fake news. We can fight misinformation with Blockchain technology. News organizations can create Blockchain networks and track such news.
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Take cinema. The producer or the production company has no idea of who their customers and audiences are. Netflix, YouTube, Amazon will never give data to creators. They have centralized data. The content creator will never know who their audiences are. Blockchain is decentralization. This will change
How do you think Blockchain is going to change the landscape for media and entertainment industry? Blockchain is set to change everything. It will change how people access content; it will change industrial businesses and,
of course, our lifestyle. Media and entertainment is one of the most important aspects of our lifestyle, which is already a two-trillion dollars industry. Blockchain will transform it dramatically. It will change the way the content is created and allow its decentralization. One will be able to create content while streaming or accessing it. Blockchain is not going to be about distribution of content, rather it will be about accessing it. Before the digital era arrived, there used to be a Mastertape, which could be used to create limited copies of cassettes, DVDs, CDs, etc. When the digital era came, the Mastertape disappeared because you could make unlimited copies of the same quality and distribute it. However, now distribution of unlimited copies of a film has become more and more expensive because you need to distribute the content in terms of Gigabytes and Terabytes. Blockchain resolves this issue smartly. For instance, if a new series of ‘Games of Thrones’ is launched there will be only one copy of it which will be in the DotBC standard. This standard is comparable to standards like MPEG or MP3, but it allows unlimited access to smart content. So instead of distributing that one copy of ‘Games of Thrones’ to 100 million fans, Blockchain allows you to give them access to this content.
Alexander Shulgin
30
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Alexander Shulgin and his girlfriend Katya It will significantly reduce the cost of distribution and help the creator monetize every view by the users. For instance, if you have distributed the copy of the content there may be people who will watch it for just five minutes and don’t like it. But in this case you have already spent heavily on distributed Terabytes. However, if you give access of the content to the people even if they don’t like it you will save lot of bytes. Also, the data used can immediately give you statistics. It is much like pay for what you watch. Today, if you put your content on YouTube you”ll be paid by advertisers only if you have more than, say, 10,000 views. If only 300 people watch the content, they don’t pay you. But the Blockchain will allow you to get paid for even one view that too immediately.
Why are people not able to understand Blockchain?
When you are flying in a plane, do you try to understand how it is flying and the parts it has. I know the rules of aerodynamics, but I still don’t understand the aeroplane. Many people don’t understand how electricity works, but understand its benefits. So you don’t have to
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understand how Blockchain works. Get to know the benefits. Blockchain is like Internet. Internet doesn’t make money. What makes money is the applications. The global standards are being formulated. G20 countries are working on the standardization and expected in a year. For Internet, TCIP was chosen as a standard. Then, institutional money came. Similarly, it will be the same here. You will have platforms like IoS or Android. It is in these applications, people will make money.
Can you give certain examples to understanding the benefits of Blockchain when deployed?
Can you imagine famous musician like Taylor Swift, Beatles or any Bollywood singer, when a new single comes 300 million copies have to be distributed. There is so much traffic. Everyone has to own a copy. With Blockchain deployment, there is only one Master and instead of distribution, you will give access. So 300 million people will come to your capsule and they will have access, which smart contract will regulate. Access, territory, free, monetization, advertisement, barter -- will be regulated by a smart contract in this capsule.
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With this, the singer will be able to understand his/her audience. There are no middlemen. He will understand who likes chorus or who doesn’t. He can create special songs to his fans. The creator can also raise money directly from fans. If you want to make a new series or an album, you can ask 10 million fans to pay 10 cents. You get $1 million to start your work. A decade ago, a creator would get 5 per cent royalty from music from DVDs. Sometimes, he may not get at all. Today, creator get majority share. In the next decade, the creator will get all. Take cinema. The producer or the production company has no idea of who their customers and audiences are. Netflix, YouTube, Amazon will never give data to creators. They have centralized data. The content creator will never know who their audiences are. Blockchain is decentralization. This will change. If you have data then you can barter it with other things. Blockchain will allow this to happen. Let’s say if I need fruit from India, you can give me fruit and I can give you my music. Money is something just to be equal to exchange.
If you are watching a new TV series or a film and you don’t like it, and you watched for five minutes. You just pay for those five minutes. You can also pay for just 30 seconds or three seconds. Now it’s not possible, but that’s the way forward. In Telecom, you pay for the number of call minutes or seconds. You can co-create in real time, adaptive media will be adapt for your behavior. You will listen to the same song, but with different mixing. With holograms, you don’t need real actors, anymore. You can create a perfect actor, with no ego.
Will Blockchain kill piracy?
Yes of course, because now you will have one Mastertape. No one will have another copy.
How did you get into the world of Blockchain?
I am from music, media and entertainment industry. Blockchain started as a peer-to-peer project in 1999. The first peer-to-peer project was Kazaa. I know the founders of Kazaa and I tried to find more about this technology because I was very angry about piracy. But it was not piracy; it was a peer-to-peer sharing. Later, the US government shut down Kazaa.
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STRAIGHT ANSWERS FROM ALEXANDER SHULGIN
Alexander Shulgin and his girlfriend Katya
What is your motto? In business - Everything is possible. In life- All will be good! What is your greatest fear? I have no fears. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself ? Weakness. What is the trait you most deplore in others? 33
#stoneinsteadofhead Which living person do you most admire? You shall not make for yourself an idol. What is your greatest extravagance? Collecting authentic\ethnic music instruments from all over the world (from every culture of the world).
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What is the quality you most like in a man? Blagorodstvo (The grandeur of character with a big heart)
What is your current state of mind? Calm happiness. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? None. There is a big deficit of virtues in our world. On what occasion do you lie? I try not to lie. I only lie to myself when I’m trying to make it up to myself that I’ve done enough good when I had to do more. What do you most dislike about your appearance? Some extra kilos. Which living person do you most despise? None / I have no rights to despise. What is the quality you most like in a man? Blagorodstvo (The grandeur of character with a big heart). What is the quality you most like in a woman? Blagodetel (The grandeur of mercy). Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Create. Future. All will be good.
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What is the quality you most like in a woman? Blagodetel (The grandeur of mercy)
What or who is the greatest love of your life? God. Life. My work. My family: mom, kids, My Katya. Which talent would you most like to have? The talent to heal people, to help them see themselves on their right path. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Nothing. I wasn’t my creator, but there’s a lot to change in my thoughts and actions for the next self-transformation. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Still alive and active / so my greatest achievement will be within next (some) years. What is your most treasured possession? My intangible assets: my memories, my knowledge, my IP, my feelings, my emotions etc (you choose). What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? To be separated from God. Then all miseries will come and increase. What is your greatest regret? People still fight with each other.
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TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020
AMERICAN UTOPIA
TO OPEN TIFF 2020 American filmmaker Spike Lee masterfully directs a transformative experience, as the show raises political injustice, revealing how audiences can come together during challenging times through the power of entertainment
T
he HBO, Spike Lee-directed filmed version of David Byrne’s Broadway theatrical concert “American Utopia” will be the opening night presentation of the 45th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10. The film documents musical innovator and former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s powerful Broadway show, where
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he performs songs on stage and shares the spotlight with 11 musicians from around the world, including Toronto’s own Jacquelene Acevedo. Lee masterfully directs a transformative experience, as the show raises social and political issues, revealing how audiences can come together during challenging times through the power of entertainment.
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Spike Lee has somehow always been exactly of his moment and ahead of his time. With David Byrne’s American Utopia, he brings Byrne’s classic songs and joyous stagecraft to the screen just when we need it. Spike’s latest joint is a call to connect with one another, to protest injustice, and, above all, to celebrate life TIFF continues to work closely with the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto, and public health officials on the safe execution of the Festival, with its number-one priority being the health and well-being of both Festival filmgoers and the residents of the entire community. The presentation of TIFF’s traditional in-person film festival will be contingent on the Province’s reopening framework to ensure that Festival venues and workplace practices meet and exceed public health guidelines. “Spike Lee has somehow always been exactly of his moment and ahead of his time,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, TIFF. “With David Byrne’s American Utopia, he brings Byrne’s classic songs and joyous stagecraft to the screen just when we need it. Spike’s latest joint is a call to connect with one another, to protest injustice, and, above all, to celebrate life.” “This joyful film takes audiences on a musical journey about openness, optimism, and faith in humanity,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF. “This is especially poignant at a time of great uncertainty around the world. We’re eager to share the excitement of Opening Night with audiences.” “HBO is enormously fortunate to be able to bring David Byrne’s American Utopia to the Toronto International Film Festival,” said Nina Rosenstein, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming. “David’s poignant
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Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head Toronoto International Film Festival
vision paired with Spike’s impeccable direction is a visual journey. TIFF Festival attendees are certain to be captivated by this unique viewing experience during these demanding times.” David Byrne’s American Utopia played at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in New York City with plenty of fanfare from October 2019 to February 2020. The concert consisted of performances of songs from Byrne’s 2018 solo album of the same name, including popular Talking Heads favourites such as “Once in a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House.” Janelle Monáe’s “Hell You Talmbout” is also featured in the set list and contributes to tackling the impactful subjects surrounding Black Americans who have been killed at the hands of law enforcement. The 11-person troupe performs choreography by Annie-B Parson and dances with their instruments throughout the stage, creating a high-energy performance. In Canada, David Byrne’s American Utopia will premiere on Bell Media’s Crave dayand-date with the US broadcast on HBO this fall. Spike Lee makes short films, ads, documentaries and feature films. He is also a teacher. Mr. Lee is a tenured film professor at New York University Graduate Film School and artistic director too. The 45th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10–19, 2020.
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VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
VENICE
WILL OPEN WITH TWO
ITALIAN FILMS Molecole, a documentary film by Andrew Segre will be the festival’s pre-opening film on September 1 and ‘Lacci’ by Daniele Luchetti will be its opening film on September 2
1. The Venice International Film Festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia The festival’s opening film for 2020 will be Lacci (The Ties) by Romeborn director Daniele Luchetti. Lacci will be screened Wednesday September 2nd, in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido di Venezia, on the opening night of the 77th Venice Film Festival. Produced by IBC Movie with Rai Cinema, Lacci was written by Domenico Starnone, Francesco Piccolo and Daniele Luchetti
LACCI (The Ties)
F
or the first time in 11 years, the Venice International Film Festival will open with two Italian films. The festival has announced that the pre-opening film for its 77th year will be Molecole, a documentary by Italian director Andrew Segre. The film, which was made in Venice during the coronavirus lockdown, will be screened on Tuesday, September
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“Recently, we have all feared that cinema might become extinct,” says Daniele Luchetti. “Yet during the quarantine it gave us comfort, like a light gleaming in a cavern. Today we have understood something else: that films, television series, novels, are indispensable in our lives. Long live festivals, then, which allow us to come together to celebrate the true meaning of our work. If anyone thought it served no purpose, they now know it is important to everyone. With Lacci I am honoured to open the dances of the first great festival in unexpected times”.
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“It’s been eleven years since the Venice International Film Festival was opened by an Italian film.” says Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera. “This happy opportunity was offered by the wonderful film directed by Daniele Luchetti, an anatomy of a married couple’s problematic coexistence, as they struggle with infidelity, emotional blackmail, suffering and guilt, with an added mystery that is not revealed until the end. Supported by an outstanding cast, the film is also a sign of the promising phase in Italian cinema today, continuing the positive trend seen in recent years, which the quality of the films invited to Venice this year will surely confirm”. Naples, early 1980s: the marriage between Aldo and Vanda begins to break down when Aldo falls in love with young Lidia. Thirty years later, Aldo and Vanda are still married. A mystery about feelings, a story of loyalty and faithlessness, of resentment and shame. Betrayal, pain, a secret box, a home laid waste, a cat, the voice of people in love and that of people out of love. From the novel by Domenico Starnone, one of the New York Times’ 100 notable books of 2017, this is the new film by Daniele Luchetti.
Molecole The new film by Venetian director Andrea Segre (Io sono Li, La prima neve, Il pianeta in mare), the documentary Molecole (70’), made in Venice when it was locked down for the coronavirus, will be screened on the Pre-opening night, Tuesday September 1st, of the 77th Venice International Film Festival of the La Biennale di Venezia, in the Sala Darsena theatre (Palazzo del Cinema) at the Lido. Between February and April 2020, while preparing two projects, one for the theatre and one for film, director Andrea Segre was held up in Venice by the spread of the coronavirus and the consequent national quarantine
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measures. Many of his projects have been and are based in Venice, his father’s city, a complex city from many points of view. This pandemic “froze” and emptied out the city, restoring it to nature and to its history, and – at a personal level – to the family memories of the director, who used that time to gather visual notes and stories in the documentary Molecole. The film brings to the surface his bond with his Venetian father, a scientist, chemist and physicist and the real protagonist of the film, who passed away ten years ago. The isolation of the city merges with the more personal, intimate isolation of the director, who wrote the original screenplay. The film will be released in theatres starting September 3rd 2020. “To make a film you have to conceive it, write it, organize it and film it. None of this happened for MOLECOLE. I didn’t even realize I was making it. It was an experience for me and the film came out by itself, in a timeframe and dimension I could not have anticipated. MOLECOLE just spurted out. Like water. To present it as the pre-opening film of the Venice Film Festival is a great honour for me, the best way to thank the city that gave birth to it.”
VIRTUAL VENICE GAP FINANCING MARKET The Venice Production Bridge, the festival’s informal market will take place for the seventh edition of the Venice GapFinancing Market, which will take place online from September 4th to 6th, 2020, during the 77th Venice International Film Festival (September 2nd - 12th, 2020). The Venice Gap-Financing Market is a platform for selected projects that aims to support European and international producers to secure financing for their projects (Fiction Films, Documentaries and VR Immersive Story Projects) through oneto-one meetings with potential and pertinent international professionals (producers, sales agents, distributors, financiers, broadcasters and funds)
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At Locarno, for the last 50 years visitors enjoy and experience watching movies on open air on the Piazza Grand
Locarno Film Festival Switzerland August 5-15
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The 73rd Locarno Film Festival is reinventing its 2020 edition and has developed a new initiative, The Films After Tomorrow, aimed at supporting projects that aim to help filmmakers (10 international and 10 Swiss filmmakers) who had their projects put on hold because of Coronavirus pandemic. Locarno managed to raise $220,000 of prize money for The Films After Tomorrow initiative. 40
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Hong Kong FilMart is Asia’s largest film and TV market
FilMart
Hong Kong August 26-29 REGISTER NOW
Amid lockdown and travel restrictions, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council has decided to migrate the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) to a virtual platform. FILMART Online will take place from August 26-29 and Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum will take place from August 26-28. The virtual FILMART will enable buyer-seller meets, showcase content and seminars. 41
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Founded in Venice, Italy in August 1932, the festival is part of the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s oldest exhibitions of art, founded by the Venice City Council on 19 April 1893
Venice International Film Festival Venice, Italy September 2-12
The 77th Venice International Film Festival will be a toned down physical festival. Around 50 films will be part of official selection on July 28. The main competition, Venezia 77, will feature approximately 20 films. All other titles in official selection will debut either in Out of Competition or Horizons sections. Venice Gap Financing Market will happen in virutal format. 42
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Priyanka Chopra at TIFF 2019. The Sky is Pink was premiered in TIFF 2019
Toronto International Film Festival And Market Canada September 10-20
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The 45th edition of Toronto International Film Festival will take place September 10–19 with socially distanced screenings, digital screenings, virtual red carpets, press conferences and industry talks. For the first time, TIFF will launch a digital platform, affording new opportunities to connect with audiences beyond Toronto. TIFF has partnered with Shift72 to develop this platform to host screenings and events. 43
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Moscow International Film Festival is one of the oldest in the world. The first edition took place in 1935
Moscow International Film Festival Moscow October 1-8
The 42nd edition of Moscow International Film Festival, Russia’s main international film event, is scheduled to run October 1-8. The objective is to promote cultural exchanges and mutual understanding among nations and to develop further cooperation among filmmakers of the world. It is supported by the Ministry of Cultural Federation and the Department of Culture of the City of Moscow. 44
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Since 1993 MIPJunior is the number one destination for Kids community the weekend before MIPCOM
MipJunior
JW Marriott, Cannes, France October 10-11 REGISTER NOW
MIPJunior 2020 will push beyond physical boundaries with its first ONLINE+ Digital Hybrid Edition. MIPJunior gathers the most influential buyers, commissioners, producers, development executives and distributors from the global Kids TV industry. MIPJunior is the perfect destination for producers to stand out and for buyers to discover the latest kids programming before sealing partnerships at MIPCOM. 45
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MIPCOM is the World’s Entertainment Content Market
MipCom
Cannes, France October 12-15 REGISTER NOW
MIPCOM 2020 will push beyond physical boundaries with its first ONLINE+ Digital Hybrid Edition. MIPCOM is the world’s largest exhibition of studios and distributors, as well as the top showcase for content across all genres and platforms. A world-class market place where leading professionals gather to promote hit-defining content, strike distribution and co-production deals and network face-to-face with creative forces. 46
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AFM is a marketplace where production and distribution deals are closed. More than US$1 billion in deals are sealed every year
American Film Market Santa Monica, California November 9-13
The American Film Market will bring its 2020 edition online, said the Independent Film & Television Alliance® (IFTA®). AFM 2020 Online will run from November 9 to November 13. This year will be the 41st market. “AFM 2020 Online will give global film community opportunities that are always critical to our success,” said Michael Ryan, Chairman, IFTA and Partner, GFM Films.
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Celebrating the Joy of Cinema: IFFI Inaugural in 2019
IFFI
Goa, India November 20-28 Preparations for 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) have begun. Asia’s oldest event of its kind, IFFI still holds on to its pre-eminent position as a showcase of cinematic excellence. It has remained steadfast in its emphasis on showcasing the diversity of Indian cinema The festival will take place in limited physical and online format.
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