WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Sara Crimeni
Digima, Italy

When Elisabetta Brunella of MEDIA Salles asked me to write an article about Digital Cinema, from my point of view and what my sensations were, the first words that came to mind were transition and opening of a new era. Working in this sector, we have the clear sensation that, after many years of “technological stagnation”, something of great importance is about to happen in Italian cinemas, thanks to the evolution in the equipment, the working methods and the way we are now considering these new movie theatres.

They are the same sensations and changes that encouraged me to take up this challenge of working with Digima, a company active in the electronic and digital cinema field since 2005, which has the objective of advancing film and theatrical shows (lyrics, theatre, concerts, dance) in digital movie cinemas or halls such as municipalities and cultural communities. Digima has created and patented a technological platform for the booking, transmission and final projection in movie houses via high-speed internet access and has made arrangements with Italian distributors to provide the digital contents.

Collaborating as sales manager with the dynamic team at Digima, my primary objective is to advertise the Digima brand, make its image known throughout Italy and expand its network of digital cinemas. There are many tools I use to accomplish this, which can be summed up as follows:

• Direct meetings with the target audience for demonstration of the Digima system
• Management of marketing and communication of the Digima brand through direct market campaigns, coordination with the press and management of the content on Digima’s portal
• Organization of events and informative meetings with exhibitors, distributors and producers.

I believe it’s extremely important to hold these encounters/events with exhibitors, in which the transitional phase mentioned above can inevitably be a phase of confusion with much information provided, not all of which is correct. It is for this reason that we have decided to organize a Road Show Digima in Italy, for all of 2008 (roughly 2 stages per month) in which, with the help of experts in the sector and direct experience with exhibitors, we will spread the technical information and concepts clearly and comprehensively.
I have come to understand that, even before selling, it is of utmost importance to inform these exhibitors and “accompany” them in this new digital world: it may seem obvious but, in reality, not everyone knows the difference between electronic cinema and digital cinema, between 1,9 K and 2 K or how to manage a key, etc.
I also manage the programmes of the cinemas on our network and support them with promotion directly to the general public. The response we have received and the results we have reached from these promotions have been very satisfying, especially with the alternative digital contents such as Opera. We did have difficulty at first with some exhibitors, but I managed to involve them in these promotions, through direct contact with associations in the sector, local cultural authorities and music schools: the final results were exhilarating…we were able to invite numerous people of all ages. This demonstrates the natural evolution of modern digital cinemas which will inevitably bring diversification in the provision of contents and the creation of specific audiences through ad hoc promotions.

I do not deny the difficulty I encounter every day in my work, in an innovative and difficult market such as Digital Cinema, but there is always the great enthusiasm of being part, even in a small way, of this important phase of transition in Italian cinema.

Sara Crimeni graduated in 2001 in Public Relations at IULM in Milan, and during the same year she gained a Master in Human Resource Management and New Technologies. She accumulated a five-year experience in education and training and as a conference manager working as a Training & Conference Manager first with the Gruppo Editoriale Reed Business Information and then with the IIR – Istituto di Ricerca Internazionale.

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