Goa: On November 21, the LA India Film Council announced the winners of the ?LA- India Connect? online short film competition at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. The competition aimed to encourage emerging filmmakers in India and Los Angeles and was judged by a jury of high - profile film industry representatives from Los Angeles and India. The winners of the competition, Piyush Shah from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Manish Sharma from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) won USD 1,000 each for their films ? Loops? and ?Kharratey?. Chirag Mehra from the Asian School of Media Studies (ASMS) won the ?Most Popular Film Award? for his film ? The Blind Date?.

Announcing the winners, Uday Singh, Managing Director, MPDA (India) and Chairman of the LA India Film Council said, ?I would like to congratulate the winners and all the participants of the LA-India Connect competition. Young talent need a global platform to showcase their creativity and this competition was the right step in that direction.?

The films were based on the theme ?Hollywood - Bollywood?. Each entry of no more than ten minutes in duration was judged on the participant?s ability to create a film that bypasses geographical boundaries and appeals to a global audience.

Piyush Shah?s film ?Loops? revolves around a man who is trying to break free from the monotonous cycle of life. ?Kharratey? by Manish Sharma is based on a director?s attempt to capture the perfect shot. ?The Blind Date? with maximum votes on YouTube is based on a young visually challenged protagonist who feels attracted to a young girl sitting at the next table in a restaurant.

Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios said, ?The LA-India Connect short-film competition is a great opportunity for students to showcase their skills and push the boundaries of their creativity. We need more such platforms to help build future talent. ?

"Such a competition is a great initiative and an excellent opportunity to empower the younger generation to meet their creative ambitions.?,said Siddharth Roy Kapur, Managing Director - Studios, DisneyUTV.

The competition was supported by Pocket Films, the short film division of 1takemedia.com, India?s leading aggregator and distributor of alternative content and the Ramanaidu Film School, Hyderabad.

Mumbai: Bindass, the 360 degree Indian youth entertainment brand presents the ?Bindass Swarathma Rest Less tour that will take place across 3 cities beginning May 11th 2012. In sync with Bindass? refreshed brand campaign REST LESS, this tour promises to make you ROCK MORE and REST LESS! It does not stop at this! At the end of the tour, Swarathma will put together an exclusive ?Bindass anthem? that captures the REST LESS spirit of the youth; the composition will be based on the bands interaction with youngsters during their multi-city tour.

The Bindass Swarathma Rest Less Tour marks the launch of the band?s second full-length album titled Topiwalleh. This album follows their critically acclaimed eponymous debut release in January 2009, which introduced the world to their brand of folk rock and won the band the JD Rock Award for Best Band, Album and Song of the Year.

Commenting on the association of Bindass and Swarathma for the Rest Less Tour, Kunal Mukherjee, Director Marketing, UTV & Bindass Networks ?Bindass as a youth brand has evolved over the years and has become much more than just a television channel. Music is the language the youngsters speak and it is important for a youth brand like Bindass to give them a world class music experience. Folk Rock is an emerging genre and Bindass believes that it has strong following amongst the youth and a band like Swarathma with their unique footprint in folk rock fit the bill. It will also be interesting to see the composition of a Bindass anthem by Swarathma that will resonate the brand?s refreshed philosophy encouraging the youth to do more and rest less.?

Since their first album, the Swarathma has quickly grown to become one of India?s premier live acts, with performances over the world including festivals across the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Morocco. This time around, acclaimed composer/producer Loy Mendonsa worked with the band, helping them polish their new compositions, while retaining the ethos of the band?s identity. This album also represents a subtle shift in the Swarathma sound. While they stay true to their folk roots, the compositions reflect the development in the band members? individual musicality over the last three years.

Girish ?Bobby? Talwar, Co-Founder OML and Artist?s Manager says, ?Swarathma?s Topiwalleh album is going to be like a shot in the arm for the Indian folk rock scene, it?s going to be big. The writing process has been mentored by Loy Mendonsa who is one of the most diverse musicians and producers in our country. Having a brand like Bindass on board only ensures that Swarathma?s unique sound will reach out to the largest group of the coolest people in the country and more importantly, the people that really enjoy Swarathma?s blended genre of music?.

Loy Mendonsa, the producer of the album says, ?They are a great live band with a lot of color and a nice Indian touch to the performance. I have always liked the kind of songs they have written and the social messages their lyrics carry. I have tried to bring in the theatrical angle of their performance into the album? Vasu Dixit the vocalist from the band says, ?It?s great that a popular youth brand like Bindass promotes Folk rock as a genre, this will definitely help us reach out to our audience on a much larger scale. All of us in the band are really excited about the Bindass Swarathma Rest Less tour and more so about the anthem that we are going to put together. It?s the first time that we will document our experiences with inputs from the youth and compose such an anthem?it?s truly going to be a unique sound.?

Mumbai: UTV Indiagames, India?s premier gaming company has created history yet again! It has crossed the 100 million downloads mark on the Nokia Store! UTV Indiagames is the first company in the world to have reached this landmark on the Nokia Store with the total number of downloads being 1,00,016,329. Only three months back, UTV Indiagames had crossed the 50 million downloads mark.

Downloads were recorded from countries right around the world, with the top 10 countries being India, Vietnam, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Russian Federation, Mexico, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Cricket, Bollywood, Casual and Action are the top three genres of games downloaded with top 10 games being - Ra. One Genesis, T20 Fever 2011, Aladdin, DLF IPL, Force, Cricket T20 World Championship, D3 Commando, Mowgli in the Jungle Book, Cricket T20 World Championship and Monster Truck Dash.

Today the UTV Indiagames? catalogue offers over 300 games across genres like sports, action, racing, bollywood, cricket etc. Top handsets across all titles are Nokia X2-01, Nokia 2700 Classic, Nokia X2-00, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic and Nokia C3-00.

Speaking on achieving this milestone, Vishal Gondal, CEO, UTV Indiagames, said, "Just three months back we had crossed the 50 million downloads mark. And now three months on its 100 million already! We are delighted that users across the world are enjoying our games. This achievement encourages us to continue to develop world-class games across genres. Nokia though relatively new in the app store market has created a significant mark for itself in the segment and has opened avenues for game development companies worldwide. We hope to continue this amazing partnership with Nokia and create a footprint for Indian gaming industry globally."

Viral Oza, Director-Marketing, Nokia India, said, "The 100 million download mark on the Nokia Store is a huge achievement for UTV Indiagames and demonstrates consumers? appetite for Nokia?s locally relevant content, globally. It is also testimony to the fact that India is has a rich talent pool in the area. As leaders in the industry, Nokia is committed to nurturing a culture of innovation in the mobile app industry and supports developers with tools and insights which can help them develop successful and rewarding applications and games for their consumers. We are delighted with the Indiagames success story and look forward to more such milestones from Indian developers."

For the UTV Indiagames catalogue on the Nokia Store, users can log on to - http://goo.gl/GYQfb

MUMBAI: UTV continues its association with Goafest for the third straight year.

Bindass, UTV Stars, UTV Movies and UTV Action have lined up activities for the festival that kicks off on 19 April.

The channels will be present at the event across three days. Bindass will extend their relaunch campaign to the trade fraternity in Goa not only in the main Goafest venue (Zuri White Sands ? Varca beach) but will have a prominent presence in South Goa in the form of outdoor. Rain dance ? one of main properties Bindass has been taking up year-on-year - will also be supported by an innovative installation along with distribution of merchandise (flip flops and wayfarers).

UTV Movies plans to marry the core proposition of the channel ?Jeeyo Bollywood? (Bollywood Movies) and the core competency of this fest (creativity). In this zone one can come and either use their creativity and finish Bollywood dialogues in their own way and get a customised T-Shirt with their line and name on the T-shirt or play some fun Bollywood games (like trivia or dartboard) and win specially crafted minimalistic Bollywood T Shirts ? a kind of a T-shirt to be introduced into the market by UTV Movies at Goafest.

UTV Broadcasting head marketing Kunal Mukherjee said, "Goafest is one platform where the entire creative and media fraternity comes together making it the perfect opportunity for our network to interact with them. Having successfully established UTV as a brand at Goafest, we have made the network?s presence felt across the festival in the past two years. In the third year of our association with the festival we intend to bring in more fun and zest for all with thrilling brand activities like splendid parties, exhilarating water sports, rollicking rain dances, game kiosks and much more."

UTV Stars is sponsoring the media night party on 20 April which is followed by the media night awards. DJ Akhtar will perform at the event. Also, before entering, each delegate can have themselves photographed with Bollywood celebs (life size poster).