Reg. Trib. Milano n. 418 del 02.07.2007

 
 
 
  International Edition No. 25 - year 2 - 17 October 2007

***

it is a pleasure for me to announce the new edition of the Yearbook – the sixteenth – which, reconfirming our collaboration with Eurovisioni, is being presented in Rome.
The Yearbook we’ll present tomorrow brings together the basic figures on cinema-going in 34 European countries, covering a period extending from 1989 to 2006.
During this period of time the cinema has not remained indifferent to changes in society and in the political, economic and technological situation. In the same way, the European Cinema Yearbook has continued to evolve, extending its field of observation and analysing the new aspects that emerge. Over time, the number of countries on record has thus risen from the initial 17 to 34, a section has been added to deal with multiplexes, a structure and at the same time a type of offer that has marked a profound change in the market, and, more recently, the decision has been taken to offer reliable and complete figures on the advent of digital projection. To meet this objective, we became aware of the need to position ourselves in a worldwide perspective, in view of the planet-wide dimensions and interdependence of this new frontier of technology. The internationalisation of the cinema industry, which cannot be reduced to the role of Hollywood, however dominant this may be, also led us to broaden our comparison between the situation in Europe and that of the most important markets in the rest of the world.
These efforts are evidence of MEDIA Salles’ desire to offer to the European cinema exhibition companies useful tools to strengthen their competitive edge and develop that special mission of movie theatres expressed, when MEDIA Salles was first founded, in the slogan: “Europe gets together at the cinema”.
Whilst stressing the significance of European exhibition theatres, I should like us to remember someone who believed firmly in the cinema as an opportunity for coming together, exchanging ideas, getting to know one another: Pierre Todeschini, President of CICAE, member of the MEDIA Salles Executive Committee, joint founder of the festival Annecy Cinéma Italien. We lost Pierre this summer but the memory of his passion and commitment to quality cinema will continue to accompany our work on behalf of Europe’s films and theatres.
Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles

On 18 October the new edition of the
MEDIA Salles
European Cinema Yearbook
will be presented

Cinemagoing in Europe over the past 18 years, a precise picture of European multiplexes in 2007, the situation of digital screens worldwide as registered at June 2007: these are the main contents of the European Cinema Yearbook – 2007 Advance Edition, to be presented in Rome at the customary appointment with Eurovisioni, on 18 October 2007, at 11 a.m., at the Italian Parliament, Palazzo Marini, Via del Pozzetto 158.

The publication, edited by MEDIA Salles, the initiative supported by the European Union’s MEDIA Programme and the Italian Government, will be presented by Piervirgilio Dastoli, Director of the European Commission’s Representation in Italy.
Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles, will comment on the figures.

Now at its sixteenth edition, the European Cinema Yearbook, a cornerstone of the information service provided on the international cinema industry by MEDIA Salles for professional players, public institutions, the press and researchers, becomes available, still in four languages, in a new, lighter and more practical online format on the website www.mediasalles.it

Thanks to this innovation, MEDIA Salles aims to make it easier and more convenient to consult what Nikolaos Sifunakis, Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament, terms in his preface, “a statistical source familiar to professionals in the cinema industry and European policy makers as well to all those who are keen on boosting the potential of European culture as a source of innovation for the future.”

(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

In terms of movie theatres, too, the prospects are such as to whet the appetite of international investors: today a Chinese citizen buys a ticket every five years. To succeed in getting him in front of the big screen even once a year would generate a market of 1.3 billion tickets (i.e. almost as many as are sold today in the U.S.A.). A vitality that spreads to various markets – China, Korea, Japan – which a privileged observer such as the Far East Film Festival of Udine, calls “Fareastwood”, the new Hollywood of the Far East.

New ideas and enormous potential audiences. But the aesthetic and economic aspects of Fareastwood are closely bound up with technical and technological ones.

(Click here to read the whole article)

(la versione in italiano è pubblicata dal Giornale dello Spettacolo N. 23/2007)

Spread the understanding of digital cinema and reap

For some people the term ‘digital cinema’ can be confusing. But producers, exhibitors and distributors usually share a clear and ‘technical’ interpretation of the concept. The confusion starts outside of the film sets, theatres and projection booths. Many may think it has something to do with computer generated images, games or the transition from analogical material to any type of digital format that can be viewed via internet.
 
In my work as a teacher and researcher in digital communication and media studies, I have noticed the confusion about the interpretation of digital cinema in other, often related, sectors. I have come across all sorts of assumptions, in particular in three important domains: media education, digital communication research and local governments dealing with ‘digitalisation’. These interpretations – of an obviously very general and ‘open’ term – are not ‘wrong’, but what surprises me most is the lack of knowledge on the innovation of digital cinema as the industry understands it. This blind spot of information is not helping the understanding of digital cinema in general, and most of all, the supporting, discussing or further innovation of it.

(Click here to read the whole article)

 
New MEDIA Salles offices

On 30 June 2007 MEDIA Salles relocated its offices to the Milan headquarters of Agis, Italy’s entertainment industry association.
Our new address is:

MEDIA Salles
c/o Agis Lombarda
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24
I-20124 Milano
Italy
Tel. +39 02 6739781
Direct line +39 02 67397823
Fax +39 02 6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it

We inform our readers that the e-mail address database@mediasalles.it is no longer active.
To communicate with MEDIA Salles,
please use the following e-mail address only: infocinema@mediasalles.it