Register

    SXSW Teams With Amazon Prime To Put Its Film Festival Online

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1940 Views
    This March 12, 2016 file photo shows flyers advertising comedy on a light pole on Sixth Street during South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File)

    By Jake Coyle, Film Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    The popcorn will be bring your own and the barbecue won't be as good, but the Austin, Texas, SXSW Film Festival is moving online after having its 27th edition canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.

    SXSW announced Thursday that it's partnering with Amazon Prime Video to stream as much of its movie lineup as possible for a 10-day period in the U.S. It will be free to viewers with or without an Amazon Prime membership. 

    South by Southwest organizers have worked frantically to salvage what they could of the festival and bring attention to the many films that had been planning to premiere there. SXSW, which had been scheduled to run March 13-22, last week announced awards for its competition categories, anyway. 

    Individual films will choose whether they want to opt in to the 10-day "SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection" on Amazon. Don't count on movies acquired by Netflix, for example, to participate. The festival declined to say how many films it expects to host. 

    But for the filmmakers that do join in, the digital platform could offer a measure of solace for their missed SXSW premiere, and all the promotion benefit that a major festival entails. Filmmakers who participate will receive a screening fee. 

    "Ever since SXSW was canceled by the City of Austin, we've been focused on how we could help the incredible films and filmmakers in the SXSW 2020 Film Festival lineup," said Janet Pierson, director of film at SXSW. "We're inspired by the adaptability and resilience of the film community as it searches for creative solutions in this unprecedented crisis."

    SXSW and Prime Video are aiming to hold the 10-day online event in late April. 

    Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said she hopes the online SXSW "can help give back some of that experience, and showcase artists and films that audiences might otherwise not have had the chance to see."

    Category:News
    Tags:coronavirusSXSW. Amazon Prime



    A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.

    The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.

    Here's what it all means:

    What is the Justice Department's goal?
    Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.

    "The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."

    Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."

    It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More

    MySHOOT Profiles


    Add A Comment