Reg. Trib. Milano n. 418 del 02.07.2007
Direttore responsabile: Elisabetta Brunella


 
 
 
  International Edition No. 107 - year 9 - 16 June 2014

***
 

Dear Readers,

9 July is drawing closer, i.e. the starting date for the course "DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for the European Cinemas of the Future", to be held in Munich. This initiative, which reaches its eleventh edition in 2014, has succeeded in keeping up with the times and accompanying European exhibitors in the process of the digital transition, responding to their demands for acquiring new knowledge and sharing their experiences.

One of this year's new developments is that our partners include the ARRI, a prestigious name thanks to their long tradition of excellence in filming techniques but not only this. DigiTraining will have the privilege of being hosted in the ARRI headquarters and, above all, taking advantage of the competences provided by their experts dealing with digital cinema. Amongst the topics they will be dealing with will be the creation of DCP in various versions, including those that offer the content needed to make screenings accessible to the visually- or hearing-impaired. An overview of the mode of delivery of these materials to the movie theatre, as well as a demonstration of the most advanced technology in the ARRI Cinema, will be further opportunities provided for participants at DigiTraining.

The objective of all this is to give European exhibitors the tools for drawing every possible advantage from a technological conversion that has demanded large investments at an economic level and from which we trust that numerous advantages will result both for theatres and their audiences.

We look forward to seeing you in Munich,

Luigi Grispello
President

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Pick up your copy of DiGiTalk at CineEurope!

This year again, thanks to the collaboration with Barco, the latest edition of DiGiTalk will be available at the Barco stand (suite E) at CineEurope, Barcelona, from 17 till 19 June.

Necs Conference - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan (19 - 21 June 2014):
MEDIA Salles will be present at the conference, to be held in on the university premises in via Sant'Agnese 2, Milano, with their own desk, where it will be possible to obtain both DiGiTalk and other material or information.

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Join
the eleventh edition of the
"DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for the European Cinemas of the Future"

Munich and Lake Constance (Germany)
9 - 13 July 2014

Further information is published on our website, at the page dedicated to the course:

http://www.mediasalles.it/training/training.htm

Application form

DigiTraining Plus 2014: New Technologies for the European Cinemas of the Future
9 - 13 July, Germany
 
Course programme

Wednesday, 9 July Thursday, 10 July Friday, 11 July Saturday, 12 July Sunday,13 July

Arrival of participants

in Munich

Munich at ARRI headquarters (Movie Theatre)

Session open to the audiovisual professionals from Bavaria and Baden Württemberg and to cinema schools

9.00 a.m.
Welcome message, by Franz Kraus, Chairman of ARRI
4K demo introduced, by Franz Kraus, Chairman of ARRI

10.00 a.m.
Digitalization in Europe and worldwide: facts and figures, by Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles

10.30 a.m.
Digital Cinema 2.0
Innovative efforts in the cinema experience have moved away from high frame rates (HFR) to high dynamic range (HDR), immersive sound, and higher brightness 3D, by Michael Karagosian, MKPE

Q&A session

Coffee break

11.50 a.m.
ARRI booking system, by Matthias Ritschl, ARRI

12.30 p.m.
Visit to the ARRI digital cinema dept
(DCP duplicating, digital delivery colour grading suite, demo of HDR content)

Constance

Programme focused on the impact of digitization on independent, quality and countryside's theatres

9.00 a.m.
Visit to Scala Filmtheater (Constance) with presentation of the cinema and its programming and marketing strategies, by Detlef Rabe

9.30 a.m.
Session on public policies:

MFG funding policy in the region of Baden-Württemberg,
by Maria Gomez, Head of Cinema, Distribution and Sales Funding of MFG

10 a.m.
The future of film distribution: different possibilities for electronic delivery, by Carsten Schuffert, VP Content Services (dcinex)

Move to Überlingen
(Bus transfer organised by MEDIA Salles)

  

Munich - at ARRI headquarters (Movie Theatre)

9.15 a.m.
Accessibility in Cinemas

Presentation for CCAP, by Daniel Vogl, Sound Division Manager of ARRI

Demo of Sony's Entertainment Access Glasses

Q&A session

Transfer to ARRI Dubbing Studio

11.00 a.m.
Coffee break

11.30 a.m. (at Dubbing Studio)

Event cinema

Added content and its role for the enhancement of the social and cultural role of cinemas, by Klaudia Elsässer, Pannonia Entertainment and Isabelle Fauchet, Founder and CEO of Live Digital Cinema

Q&A session

Munich - at ARRI headquarters (Dubbing Studio)

Group work based on experiences of participants.

Off the beaten track: a critical look at conventional wisdom on digitization by Vittorio Polin

The Spanish market and its digitization, written contribution by Pilar Sierra, Gremi d'Empresaris de Cinemes de Catalunya

Open letter on the cinema of tomorrow: group work

Ideas and inspiration for exhibitor training initiatives

Conclusion of the course

  Lunch at ARRI headquarters

Free time in Überlingen including lunch

Free time in Munich including lunch  

At ARRI headquarters in Munich (Studio 2)

2.00 p.m.
Registration and welcome coffee

2.45 p.m.
Welcome speeches from the organizers and partners

- Mike Vickers, Treasurer of MEDIA Salles
- Klaus Schaefer
Director of FFF Bayern
- Martin Schwertführer, Head of Cinema Distribution of ARRI

3.30 p.m.
Introduction DigiTraining Plus 2014: structure & content, by Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles and moderator of the course

4.15 p.m.
Panorama of German cinema and how digitization is proceeding in Germany, by Andreas Kramer, Director of HDF Kino

Digital technology at the service of quality cinema: the German experience, by Felix Bruder, AG Kino

Presentation of participants

Move to Monopol (tram 27)

At ARRI headquarters (Studio 2)

1.30 p.m.
Xenon vs Laser, by Jens Kayser NEC

2.15 p.m.
Masterclass: Benjamin Dauhrer (CineCitta), a pioneer of the digital transition

3.00 p.m.
Move to Constance
(Bus transfer organised by MEDIA Salles)

  

7.00 p.m.
Visit to the cinema Zebra Kino (Constance)

Welcome speech from Dieter Krauß, Member of the Management Board of MFG

Presentation of the cinema and its programming and marketing strategies, by Marvin Wiechert followed by drinks and finger food

2.00 p.m.
Visit to Cine Greth (Überlingen) with presentation of the cinema and its programming and marketing strategies, by Nicole Lailach and Thomas Aux

3.30 p.m.
Move to Munich
(Bus transfer organised by MEDIA Salles)

At ARRI headquarters (Dubbing Studio)

2.00 p.m.
The Digital Kitchen Sink (DCP, KDMs, Accessibility, Immersive Sound and High Quality Projection), by Michael Karagosian, MKPE

3.00 p.m.
Panel: How to contain the costs of managing a digital cinema

- Till Cussmann, dcinex,
- Gerrit Doorn and Albert Jan Vos, JT Cinema

4.30 p.m.
Programme focused on the offer to the public: new content and new services

Exchange of experiences on:

Insight into electronic delivery in 2014 and beyond/New possibilites with Cinema on Demand, by Harry Schusterov, Director Business Development of Gofilex Germany GmbH

Gaming - A case study by Tom de Bont, Heerenstraat Theater b.v.

Restored film: a new opportunity for cinemagoers, by Tereza Czesany Dvorakova, National Film Archive

The use of social media for theatre marketing and audience development, by Marian Plieštik, Kino Aero

Q&A session

6.30 p.m.
In collaboration with EDCF

The European cinemas of the future: which prospects for cinema experience?
by Dave Monk, EDCF

Q&A session

Departure of participants from Munich

Visit to Cinema Monopol - opening dinner

Free evening in Constance

Free evening in Munich

Closing dinner in Munich

 

ALL DIFFERENT ALL DIGITAL
by Elisabetta Galeffi

This column hosts portraits of cinemas in Europe and the rest of the world which are quite different from one another but have in common the fact that they have all adopted digital projection.

Cinemathèque and MegaStar Vincom, Hanoi

I wandered the streets of Hanoi, visiting out-of-the-way courtyards in search of a cinema that would make me dream that I was still in Indochina. On the map a few were still shown but in actual fact they have all disappeared. Nevertheless, the capital of Vietnam maintains a certain old-time allure and in the end I found it - the last cinema of the past, hidden between a restaurant with low tables outside and a garden glimpsed behind a locked gate. It's the Cinemathèque, an independent movie theatre run by lovers of quality cinema, open to members only. In this Hanoi that is growing so fast and so massively after a decade of amazing economic development, there is no more room for such a nostalgic place. The big multiplexes are all the rage now and springing up like mushrooms but to get to them you need a good motor scooter and the ability to ride it through the traffic. The original city centre has expanded exponentially and at lightning speed, randomly, with no overall plan to it, so that it's easier to win the lottery than to find an address.
The biggest and newest of Hanoi's multiplexes is the MegaStar, located high up in the Vincom Tower which is certainly not the best piece of architecture in the Vietnamese Capital. The area is South Hanoi: to get to the entrance without ending up under the wheels of a motor scooter is already quite an adventure.
You would hardly find a screening like "The Scent of Green Papaya" or "Cyclo" by the Vietnamese director Anh-Hung Tran. Visually too sophisticated and story too slow, so that whilst they won the director the Golden Lion at the 1995 Venice Film Festival and fascinated cinephiles in Europe, they don't go with the atmosphere and excitement of coloured neon lights which reign in the large foyers and auditoriums of the MegaStar.
Vietnamese audiences come here to see action films or historical melodramas, often 100 per cent made in Vietnam, which rely heavily on special effects. MegaStar is the right place for this as the company has invested heavily in advanced technology, including 3D and immersive sound. Production of these films is growing: the story always develops between punches, or better, between one "wushu" or "taekwondo" match and another, not forgetting a touch of "tai-chi", "aikido" or the more exotic "vovinam". The important thing is the hard fighting.
Digital effects are the main ingredient for dressing up a product made to amaze the spectator, and yet being acceptable in the eyes of the censors, extremely strict in Vietnam.
The big American blockbusters also arrive in Hanoi: digital effects, though perhaps more elegant ones and always action-packed. They are in English, which is now far more widely spoken than French, at least amongst the young. A ticket for the MegaStar costs 80 VND, which is a considerable sum for the average inhabitant of Hanoi, but judging from the many enthusiastic comments on the chain's website, the cost of the ticket does not seem to be a problem for many spectators.
"At long last the films that come to Bangkok and Singapore don't take a whole six months to get here, too" say the posts from some enthusiastic bloggers.
Naturally the MegaStar has the same, recurring problems as all the multiplexes in Southeast Asia: mobile phones ringing at full volume, even during screenings, and conversations held at the same volume. So loudly as to outdo the soundtrack, which is also played several decibels above the average in European cinemas.
"You risk going deaf!" is the comment posted by a judicious blogger. I would add that there is also the risk of freezing to death or at least catching a cold, caught between the boiling damp of Hanoi's streets, already in April, and the freezing air conditioning of the MegaStar.

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WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Klaudia Elsässer
Founder and manager of the cinema events agency Pannonia Entertainment

A passion for languages - as well as Hungarian, I speak French, English and Italian - and for literature were what led me to obtain my two degrees in these fields and, more in general, devote myself to spreading culture and art internationally.
For thirteen years I worked in publishing, ranging from children's books to university texts and then, a little over four years ago, I began organizing HD screenings of cultural events for the Urania, the National Film Theatre of Budapest. I translated marketing material, adapted texts and also launched English conversation classes connected to the operas, ballets and theatrical performances on offer at the Urania: all this with the aim of promoting our programming and encouraging the interest of the press and the general public.
This was what prompted the decision I took two years ago: to open an agency specialising in the distribution of added content for movie theatres. And so Pannonia Entertainment was launched with the main objective of developing what is known as "event cinema": bringing quality entertainment to the big screen and helping cinemas to become poles of aggregation for cultural events and internationally important entertainment.
Having worked in this field from the perspective of the cinemas, I tried to select the most interesting content, in order to offer spectators, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe and the Balkans, the various different expressions of visual music - from classic opera to pop and rock concerts.
However, our role is not limited to providing exhibitors with performances produced by prestigious institutions like La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden or Shakespeare's Globe Theatre: we organize supporting events so that audiences in Hungary, Slovakia or Romania feel they are at the centre of these special evenings.
And so, to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, we created a photographic exhibition on the Globe's history and a gala in which two choirs took part and an actor recited poetry, as well as an exhibition of books, a lecture by an academic and a screening of The Tempest from the Stratford Festival in Canada.
This new adventure in the area of world culture, made possible by digital technology, represents a challenge for me, which I intend to meet by paying close attention to the quality and entertainment value of the content, while at the same time trying to satisfy the demands of the exhibitors and their audiences. "Made to measure" content for each cinema and considerable flexibility are the features that I focus on to try and make Pannonia Entertainment an authentic ally of movie theatres.

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Klaudia Elsässer will be at the DigiTraining Plus

 
News on digitalization worldwide

by Elisabetta Brunella

ITALY: regional support for digitalization*

BASILICATA
With the start of 2014 the Region of Basilicata moved towards the so-called "switch-off" of analogical film by investing one million euros in the digital conversion of cinemas now in operation or having operated for five years between 1997-2013.
The contribution can cover up to 50% of eligible costs, up to a maximum of 50 000 euros.
In publishing the call for applications relating to the digitalization of film theatres, it was the Region's intention to offer support to the audiovisual sector in order to consolidate and aid the qualitative development of business enterprises. The measure is accompanied by initiatives on media education, providing incentives for production and for the circulation, conservation and consumption of film heritage.
When presenting the measures, the President of the Region emphasized the fact that they are a response to the need to prevent the closure of cinemas which should, on the contrary, become venues for the promotion, enjoyment and study of audiovisual works.

LIGURIA
In the framework of the regional operational programme Por-Fesr, Liguria has set up measures to facilitate the shift to digital projection in small and medium-sized cinemas. The contribution can cover up to 60% of eligible costs which must not, however, come to above 200 thousand euros.
By means of this intervention, in which the call for applications was published at the end of March, the Region intends influencing the modes of programming in movie theatres, which will be able to make use of technological innovation in order to diversify their offer to include concerts, live sports events and theatrical and music performances.

PIEDMONT
In March the Piedmont Region approved a call for applications regarding the allocation of one and a half million euros for small and medium-sized businesses intending to update industrial or parish cinemas by purchasing installations for 2K or 4K digital screening, as well as technological equipment to support it, such as internet connections, audio and energy-saving systems.

SICILY
The Region of Sicily has signed the decree on financing assigning three million euros for the technological and digital updating of movie theatres. 60 screens qualify for this type of intervention.

* This text updates the articles published in DGT Online Informer nos. 100, 99, 98, 91, 89, 88, 82

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FRANCE

Survey on the advantages of digital projection
It is no easy task to take stock of digital conversion from the perspective of the cinemas. The French trade magazine Côté Cinéma has attempted to do so in collaboration with Médiametrie, launching a survey to which a little under 500 exhibitors replied voluntarily, 58% of whom represented at least 8 screens each, 63% were not linked to national circuits and 72% were situated outside Paris and its outskirts.
From this initiative, it emerges that the main advantage for medium-sized and larger exhibitors lies in flexibility of programming. For small exhibitors this aspect comes in second place, after the quality of the screening. Comments on the opportunities offered by added content are of a more varied nature; added content is appreciated mostly by medium and large exhibitors, who quote it as the third advantage, after flexibility and quality of projection.
From the point of view of diversification of offer, small exhibitors seem to prefer focusing on arthouse films: together with the theatres in the city of Paris, they declare that they have increased the programming of these films.

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Globecast delivers digital content to the VEO circuit
VEO, the programming group that comprises 220 French arthouse cinemas situated in small or medium-sized towns throughout the country, has chosen Globecast Cinema Delivery, a sister company of Orange, to deliver its digital content. This allows the dispatch of digital copies to the circuit as a whole to be carried out in the same way, avoiding the need for members themselves to deal with obtaining content. The commercial negotiations with distributors will, of course, continue to be managed by VEO.
Thanks to this agreement, the number of cinemas to which Globecast delivers digital content in France has risen to 750.

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Movie theatres belonging to the cultural circuit also shift to digital
If commercial cinemas in France are now fully digital, the circuit of cinemas in cultural centres, which constitutes a network for spreading French culture abroad, will now also be changing over to the new technology. This was announced by the Minister of Culture and the Secretary of State at the latest Cannes Festival.

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Please join our online questionnaire at http://www.mediasalles.it/modulo
 
Your data will contribute to MEDIA Salles "International Database of Digital Cinemas"
After registering with an individual password for his/her protection,
each exhibitor will be able to enter the data regarding his/her own cinemas.
The questionnaire is designed to make the compilation extremely quick and error-proof.
The data registered can only be consulted by MEDIA Salles for statistical use and each company will be able to view ad edit its own data.

 
 
MEDIA Salles' contacts and address

MEDIA Salles
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24 - 20124 Milano - Italy
Tel.: +39.02.6739781 - Fax: +39.02.6690410

E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Website: www.mediasalles.it