Musikmesse in Frankfurt
Somewhat similar to the annual NAMM event in Anaheim, Musikmesse in Frankfurt is Europe’s biggest trade fair for musical instruments, sheet music, music production, and marketing. On display is a range of products with everything required for making music, innumerable workshops, concerts, product demonstrations and discussion events. Musikmesse (#musikmesse2018) brings together companies with retailers, professionals from the musical-instrument sector and musicians from all over the world.
More than 1.000 events at the fairground and throughout Frankfurt help to make Musikmesse the musical event that it is. Musikmesse runs concurrently with Prolight + Sound (April 11-13), the international trade fair of technologies and services for entertainment, integrated systems and creative output.
Prolight Conference
The Prolight conference will feature free lectures and presentations, e.g., with speakers from the media-technology field, system integration or security. Tickets for either one will be honored at the other so anyone can visit both fairs. There will be a special Musikmesse Festival ticket giving a reduced price or even free admission to the events. Musikmesse visitors can obtain one free of charge ticket at the entrance gate to the fair.
Musikmesse is structured along themes and events: Business DJ and Recording, Drums, Education, Guitars, Piano and Keys; Wood ‘n’ Brass, Acoustic Stage, Festival Arena, Musikmesse Festival, Awards and Specials, MerchDays, Street Food Session, Social Media, Special Interest. Out of this considerable grouping, interesting events are set to occur in the new and innovative Silent Stage.
Silent Stage
Learn how the Silent Stage set-up can help improve the mix and performance of musical acts, demonstrated through event-technology companies Audio-Technica, Box of Doom, Cymatic Audio, Variophone, Hearsafe, InEar and others showing their products and technologies.
Sound and Recording Lounge
The Sound and Recording Lounge will be a place to exchange ideas and information with internationally successful producers, engineers, and artists, take part in practice-oriented workshops and presentations and expand a networking circle in a café arranged for discussions about recording subjects in the Sound and Recording Lounge. Visitors can hear live music from various genres on several stages.
Other Special Musikmesse Themes and Events
In other special themes and events planned for Musikmesse, an all-important Business Area (Lounge) will allow attendees a refined setting to meet in fully equipped meeting rooms, with snacks cold drinks offered. Music Education sessions at Musikmesse will offer lectures, tutorials, workshops and discussion groups for those involved in the educational sector. The popular Discover Music (formerly ‘Music4Kidz’) returns and the program will include an overview of courses that are offered by trade associations, music colleges, and academies. The Musikmesse Guitar Camp will offer extra emphasis for that particular instrument – not to mention the ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears Box’ for musician close-ups – and is split into four sections: ‘Guitar Camp’, ‘Guitar College’, ‘Guitar Academy’ and ‘Guitar Brand Area’. Separately from Guitar Camp is the Guitar Boutique Village that will showcase customized, hand-made instruments which can be played in peace in a special testing cabin. But similar to the ‘Guitar Camp,’ is the Musikmesse Drum Camp featuring its own ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears Box’: in the sound-proof cabin as well.
Digital Games Conference in Dubai
Digital Games Conference in Dubai (#DGCGAMESDUBAI) is a convention for the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region games industry. Over 500 companies participated to the 2017 edition from more than 35 countries, in addition to the presence of 54 renowned speakers.
Industry and Community-Oriented
DGC is both industry and community-oriented bringing together developers and publishers as well as companies servicing the games industry from the MENA region. It is also a platform for international games companies to capitalize the full potential of the region and its 300+ million gamers.
Attendees include games developers and publishers, experts from the games industry and Virtual reality and augmented reality, technology solutions providers, telecom companies, stores, in addition to advertising agencies, media agencies, social media agencies and influencers, payments providers, external development providers, localization experts and more.
This conference/convention will pave the way for industry influencers, gamers and e-sports teams to discover and play exhibiting publishers and developers games, participating to e-sport competitions as well as experiencing the latest innovations, in VR, AR, Motion Capture and more.
Speakers
Speakers lined up to make presentations come from some of the top achievers in the gaming ecosystem. Daria S. Tarawneh, Amazon; Mohammad El-Saadi, Google Play; M33KY, Gaming Youtuber; Dan Burgar, VR/AR Association & Archiact; Dean Takahashi, Gamesbeat; Yannick Theler, Ubisoft Emirates FZ LLC; Malek Teffaha, Ubisoft; Cvetan Rusimov, Imperia Online; Gregg Katano, Hologate; Matteo Aliberti, Accenture; Alberto Gonzalez-Lorca, Bandai Namco; Hitesh Uchil, IGN; Bob Slinn, EMEA, “facebook:; AgentGB, Gaming Youtuber; Tobias Knoke, EMEA Google Play; Walid Sultan Midani, Digital Mania; Felipe Iregui, Google, and many others not listed here are slated to take part in conference speakers sessions.
Exhibition
Exhibition and showcasing opportunities will be set up in such a way to allow the pursuit of opportunities to distinctive groups with differing intentions. Exhibition stands in the B2B section will be reserved for exhibitors that are looking to meet other participants from the conference and B2B/matchmaking. This area is reserved for the conference attendees, the B2B attendees, the sponsors, and speakers.
Then there are showcasing stands in the open to the public area where gamers and visitors can play games, try innovations, compete in e-sport competitions, and learn about services and products for gaming and gamers. Three developers competitions will also be hosted for the first time in the region, including DGC’s MENA Universities Competition, that will gather talents from universities in the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
Coachella
Out in the Inland Empire’s Coachella Valley, in the Colorado Desert (about 125 miles east of Los Angeles), Coachella, the anticipated annual music event is held over two consecutive three-day weekends in April (beginning April 13) and features many genres of music including alternative rock, indie, and electronic music, as well as large sculptural art and installations on display. Coachella (#coachella) showcases popular and established musical artists, as well as emerging artists and reunited groups.
Main Stages
The main stages are Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, Yuma Stage and the Sahara Tent. The event has several stages/tents set-up throughout the (camping) grounds, each playing live music continuously. The festival also features installation art and sculptures. Many of the art pieces are interactive and are stimulative to interact with for attendees walking throughout the Polo Grounds. On-site camping is a staple of the Coachella experience. Camping themes include Car Camping, Tent Camping, Lake Eldorado, Safari Tents and ADA, and there are campground amenities.
Expected Performers
A very partial listing of some of the expected performers will include: Buttertones, Chloe, Princess Nokia, Los Angeles Azules, Nile Rodgers, Peggy Gou, SZA, Tash Sultana, Eminem, Skip Marley, Sudan Archives, Fidlar, DeJ Loaf, Hannah Wants, Ibeyi, Greta Van Fleet, Black Madonna, Petit Biscuit, Jamiroquai, alt-J, Portugal, Carpenter Brat, Beyonce, Chloe X Halle, Droeloe, Greta Van Fleet, Hayley Kiyoko, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kamasi Washington, Lion Babe, Los Angeles Azules, Migos, Otoboke Beaver, Peggy Gou, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Cardi B, Sacha Robotti, SUPERDUPERKYLE, The Neighbourhood, X Japan, Alina Baraz, Japanese Breakfast, The Weekend.
A full listing of artists can be found at this webpage. Though musical headliners may be the big story at Coachella, the Festival commissions a number of original, large-scale, site-specific art installations – which include established and up-and-coming artists – to be displayed throughout the festival and campgrounds.
Betterment of the Coachella Valley
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is committed to efforts that contribute to the betterment of the Coachella Valley. That, in part, means there will be interactive events the visiting public can be part of, or witness, to further these goals. Most notably there will be an Energy Playground to charge mobile devices and recall “childhood days.”
TRASHed Coachella 2018 will celebrate 15 years of the Art of Recycling at Coachella and call on artists to reuse and redesign contents of a 65-gallon recycling bin at Coachella 2018. Selected artists will receive a VIP pass for the festival and other benefits. Separate from the recycling art contest, the Recycling Store and 10 for 1 Bottle Exchange encourages anyone on the festival grounds to pick up bottles, cans and cups found on the Coachella grounds and returned to the The Recycling Store to earn points toward Coachella sweatshirts, t-shirts, posters, Ferris Wheel tickets, VIP upgrades and other swag.
POSTed Studio will welcome the ideas of Coachella attendees to join with their poster designers to conceptualize ways to solve world issues. The POSTed Studio will select the most innovative concepts each day to send over to the headlining professional artists for a redesign and redesigned posters will be made available to the public for free downloads on the Coachella and Global Inheritance online platforms.
Tribeca Film Festival
The annual Tribeca Film Festival (#Tribeca2018) is a wide-ranging event that brings the international film community and the general public together to experience independent, socially-minded cinema. Among the program sections to this year’s festival, there is Tribeca N.O.W. Showcase, the Gala, Tribeca Talks: Storytellers, Tribeca Immersive, Spotlight Documentary, Tribeca TV, Tribeca Games, Spotlight Narrative, Cinema360, Tribeca/ESPN, Tribeca Festival Hub, and more activity areas that can be discovered via the website.
Opening Night Gala Screening
Tribeca Film Festival’s opening night Gala screening, ‘Love, Gilda,’ a feature documentary with director Lisa D’Apolito using rare personal recordings and journal entries from the comedian, actress, and writer, known for the comedic characters she created and played on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, to tell Gilda Radner’s story in her own words, opens the festival on April 18.
TFF’s Rush tickets function as a standby line that will form at the venue approximately 45 minutes prior to scheduled start time. Admittance is based on availability and will begin roughly 10 minutes prior to program start time. Beyond the Festival, Tribeca Film Institute prepares fledgling media makers through hands-on training, exposure, funding, and resources to undertake socially relevant films.
Top Picks
There are festival “Top Picks” that headline the screening/talks portion of the program. ‘Zoe’ (Drama, Science Fiction), Director Drake Doremus, with a cast of Theo James, Rashida Jones, and Christina Aguilera, screens on April 21. Actor, musician, and comedian Jamie Foxx will take part in a Tribeca Talks: Storytellers forum, set for April 23.
An April 26 screening of 1993’s ‘Schindler’s List’ with a follow-up conversation with director Steven Spielberg and actors Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley and Embeth Davidtz, moderated by NY Times critic Janet Maslin.
An April 27 talk where actor, producer, writer, and director Ed Burns journalist and lead sports columnist for The New York Post, Mike Vaccaro, discussing his latest directorial effort and career in front of and behind the camera. Also on April 27, a screening of feature documentary, ‘Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1,’ Director Dexton Deboree.
And in a Tribeca Talks: Director’s Series slated for April 28, Academy Award-winner Alexander Payne (‘Election,’ ‘Citizen Ruth’ and ‘Downsizing’) will discuss his career as the writer/director of satires and dark comedies.
Tribeca Games
Tribeca Games, spotlighting an exploding area in media entertainment, will emphasize the artistic and technical achievement in video games by hosting demos, discussions, an IBM “Acceleration” Game Jam, and an NYC-wide Battle of the Boroughs Tournament. On the heels of the March 2018 re-issue of Lara Croft adventure, Tomb Raider, festival attendees can attend an April 27 presentation with the creative team behind the Tomb Raider franchise, which has sold over 63 million copies globally.
They will discuss the evolution of Lara Croft and share their techniques, tools, and inspiration behind the series. Daniel Chayer-Bisson (Senior Game Director), Noah Hughes (Franchise Creative Director), Jill Murray (Writer), Rich Briggs (Senior Brand Director) and special guest Camilla Luddington (performance artist for Lara Croft) will be on hand for this special event moderated by The Game Awards producer, Geoff Keighley.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Panel attendees will be the first to witness an exclusive extended gameplay demo for the upcoming Shadow of the Tomb Raider game, which launches this coming September 14. Also on April 27, Santa Monica Studio and Creative Director Cory Barlog, will conduct a play session for visitors, and then take those players inside the creative process of reimagining the God of War franchise, with the story behind it! Kratos, one of PlayStation’s most recognizable icons, and its Nordic inspirations.
Tribeca Immersive
Tribeca Immersive was devised to showcase cutting-edge entries in the emerging field of Virtual Reality. There is Virtual Arcade, featuring STORYSCAPES, and Cinema360. The Virtual Arcade lineup, presented by AT&T, includes 21 world premiere virtual and augmented exhibits, as well as five Storyscapes experiences. The newer Cinema360 is a VR theater featuring four screening programs of 360 degree mobile content in a cinema setting, running daily from April 21-28 at the Festival Hub.
In the separate Tribeca Talks series, discussion topics addressing the new immersive technologies and their use in storytelling will include, “TRIBECA TALKS: FUTURE OF FILM – INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN STORYTELLING” on April 20; “TRIBECA TALKS: FUTURE OF FILM – EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY IN VR” on April 24. The Festival concludes April 29 with a day dominated by award ceremonies.
Hot Docs
Hot Docs, the Toronto based documentary festival, conference, and market, opens for its 25th annual edition from April 26 – May 6. Festival-goers can expect approximately 200 documentaries from Canada and around the world for presentation to Toronto audiences and international delegates. Hot Docs (#HotDocs25) will also offer an assemblage of conference sessions and market events and services for documentary practitioners, including the popular Hot Docs Forum, Hot Docs Deal Maker and The Doc Shop.
In partnership with Blue Ice Group, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, a century-old landmark located in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood. Hot Docs opening night film, ‘The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution,’ examines how women are taking command of the world’s top restaurant kitchens, revolutionizing food service, and challenging its longstanding culture of harassment. Hot Docs Opening Night Party follows the opening night screening and happens at the Royal Ontario Museum. Jesse Wente, an Ojibwe (Serpent River First Nation) writer, broadcaster, producer and speaker, will deliver a keynote address on the importance of advancing Indigenous narrative sovereignty.
Multiple Sessions
Hot Docs hosts many different types of sessions that present ideal learning and mentoring opportunities. Conference sessions will present industry visionaries discussing the evolving art and business of the documentary. There are also pitch idea and networking sessions. Distribution Rendezvous will offer pre-arranged one-on-one meetings with various distributors for filmmakers with finished and/or rough-cut films.
Planned Micro-Meetings will include opportunities to meet with representatives from Amazon Video Direct, meet with CBC Docs and documentary Channel commissioning executives on how to pitch your project, meeting with TVO of Ontario to learn of the priorities of their main documentary areas, commissioning process and evolving digital content strategy; a FUJIFILM Touch ‘n’ Try session with their new X-H1 digital camera and MKX cinema lenses.
Another prominent learning series, “Close Up,” will have sessions with commissioners and key funders from Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, A&E IndieFilms, yesDocu, PBS American Documentary POV, CBC, BBC Storyville, New York Times Op-Docs, NHK, Nat Geo Wild, Knowledge Network and other entries on the program.
Official International Delegations
Each year Hot Docs host a number of official delegations from around the world. At the 2018 Festival, Hot Docs will host 12 official delegations from: Italy, led by the Italian Trade Commission, Japan, led by Tokyo Docs, Mexico, led by the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), The Nordic Region, led by Nordisk Panorama, Northern Ireland, led by Northern Ireland Screen, South Africa, led by National Film and Video Foundation, USA, led by IFP, Atlantic Canada, led by Lunenburg Doc Fest, Bermuda, led by Wishing Step Pictures, Chile, led by ChileDoc with support from Chilean National Council for Culture, Europe, led by EFP (European Film Promotion), Germany, led by AG DOK.
Delegates take part in the professional development sessions, market events and services Hot Docs provides, the delegations will be available to network with fellow delegates throughout the Festival at specially scheduled parties and receptions, and as accredited participants in the Hot Docs Forum scheduled for May. Hot Docs strongly encourages and facilitates submissions to its film program, Pitch Project, Film Fund or training program. The application process and FAQs are handled through the website.
And There’s More
The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Calendar of Global Media and Showbiz Industry Social Networking Events” page. If you like this report and other content found on The Actor’s Checklist, like the Facebook page at this link. Next month is May and here are dates to know about that will be coming in May.
Variety’s Entertainment and Technology happens for one day only in New York City, annual Streaming Media East convention arrives in New York City, the 28th Korea International Broadcast, Audio and Lighting Equipment Show (KOBA) is in Gangnam-gu, Video Anywhere Summit will be in Scottsdale, the second VR_Sci Fest opens in Stockholm, Canadian Music Week is held in Toronto and Magnify World AR/VR Business Summit is folded into the program agenda, TV Connect – Where Video Distribution Meets IP meets in London, PALM Expo stage, entertainment venue and music creation and production technology event will be in Mumbai, annual Cine Gear Expo returns to Los Angeles.
