International Edition No. 26 - year 2 - 21 December 2007
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I’m particularly glad to announce the 2008
DigiTraining Plus, now approaching its fifth edition, which moves from
Belgium to Great Britain.
A new venue and a new subtitle for the course on digital technologies
for cinemas, which MEDIA Salles has been organizing every year since
2004 – in 2008 the name of the initiative is “European Cinemas
Experiencing New Technologies” – but a constant aim: to
give exhibitors the tools for understanding the risks and opportunities
of a phenomenon arising out of the substitution of projection techniques
but with far wider implications.
As stressed by its new name, in 2008 (the dates are 9-13 April) the
course will place the emphasis on “experiences”: this is
another reason for choosing Great Britain, which can be considered an
authentic workshop of both public and private initiatives in the field
of digital technologies.
Here, for example, 244 out of the total 694 digital screens operating
in Europe at the end of June this year are to be found, making The United
Kingdom the second world market for digital cinema after the United
States. Another characteristic of Great Britain is the significant number
of titles available in digital format. New films, both made in the USA
and from Europe and the rest of the world – thanks also to the
UK Film Council which has financed the installation of digital projectors
in order to diversify the offer – and films from the archives,
due to work by specialized distributors who place their odds on the
new appeal that digital can bring to classics like Casablanca.
The MEDIA Salles course which, thanks to support from the MEDIA Programme
and the Italian Government, has been conceived to be accessible also
to exhibitors from small and medium-sized companies, will offer an overview
of technology, business models and forms of public intervention, focusing
on accounts by the key players of the digital transition worldwide and
on visits to significant sites.
The objective: to help exhibitors answer the questions that the prospect
of digital cinema brings with it and equip themselves with the necessary
competences for taking informed decisions on their companies’
future strategies.
I trust, that this edition of the MEDIA Salles course may contribute,
as emphasized by participants at the previous training sessions, to
the development of a sector of European exhibition that is increasingly
competitive and closer to spectators’ demands and, at the same
time, I wish you all a happy festive season and a peaceful 2008.
Jens Rykaer,
President of MEDIA Salles
(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
The Turin Film Festival has faith in Digital
by Giovanna Arrighi
For years in festivals and conferences around
the world there has been talk of the possibilities of digital technology
for the future of the cinema: the new formats, the new supports, the
new media, and how they may influence the survival or demise of the
seventh art.
Whilst there have been dark forecasts as to the imminent disappearance
of this illustrious and over 100-year-old expression of human imagination
from many quarters, from the vantage point of the 25th Turin Film
Festival this prospect is, to say the least, reversed.
Not only does the cinema enjoy splendid health today, but technological
innovations only seem to help it along. Of course, most f the works
on the programme are still presented on an analogical support but
already a certain number of films in digital or semi-digital format
are present.
A glance through the programme shows that there are around twenty-five
full-length or medium-length films, as well as a dozen or so shorts
in DigiBeta format and ten works entirely in HD.
This may seem to be a small number, compared to the classic 35 and
16mm formats, and they cannot yet be projected in all the Festival
theatres but they certainly represent a beginning.
Moreover, this is already the third year that it has been possible
to project films in high definition – as confirmed by Luca Andreotti,
responsible for programming and film-finding – even though the only
screens equipped for digital projection are those of the Multisala
Cinema Massimo, which is an integral part of the Film Museum. “Of
course,” continues Andreotti, “we also have a satellite connection
but films still arrive on a material support. It would also be possible
for us to organize a whole series of decentralized screenings starting
from here, if the other theatres had digital booths, like ours. For
now, the problem is linked to the high costs of this equipment, which
limits widespread diffusion.”
(Click here to read the whole
article)
(Per leggere
il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
Season's
Greetings
MEDIA Salles presents
DigiTraining Plus 2008:
European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies
London (Great Britain, 9-13 April 2008)
Main topics:
- The present state of the European and international market
for digital screening
- Overview of technologies
- Exhibition and Distribution
- Digital cinema economics
- Market potential
The course will also offer:
- visit to a cinema equipped with digital projector
- European case studies
Deadline for application: 3 March 2008
Fee: 550 Euro covering tuition, teaching material, accommodation.
Scholarships available on request.
The new edition of the European Cinema Yearbook publishes the freshest
data on digital cinemas worldwide
The world’s digital
screens are now over the 4,000 mark, whilst the growth of multiplexes
in Europe slows down, following a 2006 that totalled 999 million European
spectators (+4.6% compared to 2005).
These are the main results emerging from the sixteenth edition
of the European Cinema Yearbook, published by MEDIA Salles, presented
on 18 October 2007, in Rome, during the Eurovisioni session at the Italian
Parliament, in Rome.
In June 2006 there were 1,354 digital screens throughout the world equipped
with DLP CinemaTM technology. Now - at 30 June 2007 - MEDIA Salles “photographs”
a figure that has more than tripled: 4,205 with an increase over 12 months
that is nearing 211%.
North America’s leap forward is confirmed, claiming 76% of the world’s
stock of digital screens, with 3,106 units.
News from Poland
Silver Screen in the avant-garde of digital projection
Three digital projectors have been installed
in the Silver Screen complexes in Warsaw and Lodz. Two are Christie 2K,
with Doremi servers, also fitted with 3D technology by NuVision: Beowulf
is the first film to be offered in this format in both cities.
The third digital projector, installed in the Warsaw cinema, is a 4K (SRX
220).
Robert
Bajkowski, Silver Screen’s chief projectionist, says: “The
Christie projectors and the Doremi servers are very simple to use and
create no problems for our projectionists. Our experience to date has
been highly positive, so much so that we have been encouraged to plan
other 2K installations, with 4K projectors for the bigger screens. Prospects
regarding the availability of products are also bright, both as far as
the majors are concerned and for Polish production companies, which are
preparing to supply films in DCI compliant digital format.”
WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Silvana Molino
Microcinema, Italy
Microcinema
was founded in 1997 on the initiative of five founder partners and the
technological support of the RAI research centre in Turin, to study and
develop digital cinema in Italy. Today Microcinema is a reality that manages
content for cinemas, in areas that are currently not “served”
by premises and/or by products. It also offers new services through digital
technology and bidirectional satellite transmission, such as: live events,
remote systems control and maintenance, automatic invoicing of royalties
by means of the ticketing system, and, most of all, it turns the cinema
into something more flexible, usable / user-friendly, open and closer
to the real needs of users (owners and public).
Silvana Molino was born in 1974 in Turin, to a couple of great parents and with the logistic support of two fantastic brothers. Today she is the chief financial officer and head of network relations for Microcinema.
Microcinema and Silvana came together in December 2003: a very cold winter and love at first sight!
From that moment on, the story has been a crescendo, starting from a single note and becoming a symphony, an aria, the sound of opera which, from Pordenone to Bari, crossed Italy on April 20th 2007 on the satellite connection that Microcinema had set up as the first Italian bidirectional digital cinemas network.
“Personally, I took up the challenge of
demonstrating that digital cinema management is possible and economic
if it is run as a network: digital projection is the only choice for small
and medium exhibitors and it is the only chance for interesting independent
content to circulate across the Europe and worldwide.
When I started studying the system, the market and the sector, I immediately
realized that I was in front of an epoch-making change and it was my own
personal challenge to find a way of making this magic come true: small
exhibitors needed to solve the problem of the lack of films on celluloid
and the high running costs. In this direction I handled the business planning,
which starting out from the single cinema balance sheet, explored the
possibilities of a functional and cost effective network solution.
And this is what was achieved. The business planning proceeded and allowed
the company to find new partners, to gather the necessary funds and to
set up a very involved and enthusiastic technical and management team.
Today Microcinema is the practical demonstration that digital cinema is
possible and that digital projection is cost effective.
As financial officer I’m sure that digital cinema via satellite needs
networking as the first answer to its problems; I’m also sure that digital
projection doesn’t need over-expensive 2K projectors but needs good content
(that means good stories) entirely HD-projected in spaces that are well
equipped not only with projection systems but also in terms of screens,
seats and audio systems.
As head of network relations for the cinemas, I understand that the real
concern of exhibitors is the flexibility of their investments and their
premises - the possibility of increasing their catalogue by adding other
content that is not strictly feature-film-related, like documentaries,
concerts, opera, theatre, distance learning, conventions, stage sharing,
screening of own productions.”
The challenge of my digital adventure grows with me day by day in two ways: as a woman in a predominantly male sector and as a manager in field that is innovative, difficult, interesting and full of possibilities. I think tomorrow my son will be able to say, “My mom trusted and worked hard for a revolution that today allows me to have this kind of cinema and this kind of content, and this kind of place near my home in which I can learn, dream and spend time with friends.”
News from Italy
The Microcinema network and the live opera screenings
Live opera screening is a product that is
proving to be particularly appreciated by the Italian public.
On 20 April 2007, live screening of the opening night of Giuseppe Verdi’s
La Traviata at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, directed by Franco
Zeffirelli, inaugurated full operations on the Microcinema circuit, which
appears as the first Italian digital satellite network.
Based on an agreement with Acec, the association linking parish cinemas
in Italy, Microcinema proposes members a kit, including a 7000 Ansi lumens
DLP high definition (1.3K) projector, an hp XW8400 pc player and related
software, a two-way satellite connection and a satellite connection for
live reception.
Following the presentation of Tristan and Iseult at the Scala on 7 December,
the Microcinema circuit is preparing to present a rich opera programme
to start in January with Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine from the La
Fenice theatre in Venice. This will be followed in February by Gaetano
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Teatro Alla Scala, in March, once
again at the Scala, by Mediterranea, a ballet with music by Mozart, Ligeti
and Da Palestrina and Giacomo Puccini’s Trittico. April will bring
us Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma from the Teatro Comunale of Bologna.
The calendar will close with Carmen by Georges Bizet, from the Teatro
Comunale of Florence.
Further information on the Microcinema circuit appears in the “Women in Digital Cinema” column published in this issue.
(To visualize the cinemas belonging to the Microcinema circuit, click here)
(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
(to visit the Microcinema
website click here)
3D digital screenings on the increase
Last summer, four Italian cinemas held 3D screenings of “Meet the Robinson”: Arcadia in Melzo, Cinecity in Limena (PD), Multiplex Le Befane in Rimini, Multiplex Giometti in Porto S. Elpidio (AP).
For Robert Zemeckis’ latest film “Beowulf” these cinemas have been joined by four more sites belonging to the Gruppo Furlan and the Gruppo Giometti: Cinecity in Trieste, Cinecity in Silea (TV), Cinecity in Pradamano (UD) and Multiplex Giometti in Fano (PU).
(Per
leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
3D digital screenings at the newly opened Arcadia multiplex
The new Arcadia multiplex, owned by the Fumagally family, was inaugurated on 18 December at Bellinzago Lombardo, in the outskirts of Milan. It offers ten technologically advanced screens. Three of them are equipped with Barco 2K digital projectors and Doremi servers. Thanks to the NuVision system they can offer 3D digital screenings.
(Per
leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
A Sim2/Digima alliance for the cinema and events screened high definition
Launched
with the live screening of Simon Boccanegra in Bologna last November,
the alliance between the Pordenone company, producers of projectors for
high definition, and the cinemas belonging to the Digima circuit gained
peak visibility with the live screening of Tristan and Iseult, the opera
that opened the new season at the Milan Scala on 7 December.
Amongst the venues that offered Wagner’s masterpiece in high definition,
was the Istituto dei Tumori of Milan.
Up to the present the agreement between the two companies has regarded
the supply of Sim2 (1920x1080) projectors and Doremi servers, as well
as training for technical staff.
(To visualize the list of
Digima cinemas, click here)
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
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