Filmotechnic, a major provider of remote camera systems, has launched a sales division to meet demand for the new carbon fiber telescoping camera cranes named TechnoScope along with the new gyrostabilized Flight Head Colibri. Previously, all Filmotechnic USA equipment was only available for rental to filmmakers. The TechnoScopes, which were recently awarded a Cine Gear Expo 2021 Technical Award in the Support Technology category, are ultra-lightweight, extremely compact and user friendly. The cranes have a very small footprint in contrast to their telescoping range of 8m/ 27ft and 5.3m /17ft. Both units can be powered from batteries and are smooth and quiet in operation. They can carry a nose load up to 25kg / 55lbs, which pairs them perfectly with a Filmotechnic gyrostabilized Flight Head Mini IV or Flight Head Colibri but also with the popular DJI Ronin, Freefly Systems MoVI, Shotover G1 and ARRI SRH-3 remote heads…..
Flowics, creator of the platform for powering remote and in-studio production of live graphics and interactive content, has hired two sales directors–Sachin Agnihotri, who serves India and South Asia, and Sergey Pribyl whose territories are Eastern Europe and the Baltic region. Both positions are new. With Agnihotri based in New Delhi and Pribyl in Barcelona, Spain, each leads Flowics’ sales and business development efforts in his respective market, introducing the company’s Flowics Cloud Graphics and Audience Participation solutions to linear and digital broadcasters, sports organizations (leagues, teams, federations), and esports organizations, among other verticals in the live production industry. Agnihotri and Pribyl are also in charge of establishing partnerships with resellers and systems integrators in the regions to accelerate the adoption of the Flowics platform. Agnihotri has extensive experience of more than 20 years in the broadcast industry, working with clients in India and the Southeast Asia region. He has held sales roles at multiple companies in the industry, including KIT Digital, the systems integrator Benchmark Broadcast Systems, and most recently at TVU Networks. With nearly 20 years in the broadcast industry, Pribyl is a sales veteran with an engineering background, an entrepreneurial spirit, and cross-functional work experience across wide territories for EMEA markets. His most recent role was EMEA sales manager for VSN. He has also held sales roles at companies including Panasonic, Avid, and Snell Advanced Media (acquired by Grass Valley). Both Agnihotri and Pribyl report to Flowics CEO Gabriel Baños….
Maggie Smith, Star of Stage, Film and “Downton Abbey,” Dies At 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs. Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies. She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that "when you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything." Smith drily summarized her later roles as "a gallery of grotesques," including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: "Harry Potter is my pension." Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of "Suddenly Last Summer," said she was "intellectually the smartest actress I've ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith." "Jean Brodie," in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for "California Suite" in 1978, Golden Globes for "California Suite" and "Room with a View," and BAFTAs for lead actress in "A Private Function" in 1984, "A Room with a View" in... Read More