Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF), and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, is bringing the 2010 edition of LAFF to downtown Los Angeles from its prior roost in Westwood, Calif.
LAFF runs from June 17-27 and will encompass venues throughout the City of Los Angeles and be centered at L.A. LIVE. The move is reflective of the LAFF’s continued growth and its efforts to embrace the cultural diversity and energy of Los Angeles. The Festival will present its screenings and events at the new Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14, the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), the Downtown Independent, the Soundstage Theatre at the GRAMMY Museum©, JW Marriot Hotel Los Angeles at L.A. Live, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Los Angeles, Orpheum Theatre, and California Plaza. The Festival will also continue its tradition of nighttime screenings at the outdoor John Anson Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood and the Los Angeles Times will again serve as presenting partner, as it has since ’06.
Over the past 16 years, LAFF has grown from being held in one theater with 5,700 attendees to include a sprawling list of event venues that attract more than 85,000 attendees. The Festival moved to Westwood Village in 2006 to accommodate its growing audience, which doubled in the four years it was based there.
“The Festival’s move to downtown Los Angeles allows us a unique opportunity to celebrate the history and future of our City,” said LAFF director Rebecca Yeldham. “Our new location will continue to pave the way for LAFF to realize its potential as an international destination event, and unites our filmmakers and audiences with the diverse arts community that exists downtown.”
More than 200 features, shorts, and music videos from more than 30 countries make up the main body of the Festival. LAFF’s official film selections will be announced in early May.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More