Dear readers,

it is time to turn that important diary note into a firm booking: “DigiTraining Plus 2010” in Helsinki from February 17 to 21 is rapidly approaching, and it will be my pleasure to welcome you to the land of the Northern Lights on behalf of our President Jens Rykaer and the MEDIA Salles Executive Committee.

We have joined forces with The Finnish Film Foundation and The Finnish Chamber of Films to construct a course exploring the programming issues for a digitally equipped cinema and the extra uses for this equipment open to exhibitors.

Does this equipment make down time in cinemas into a profitable time? What is “alternative content” and where does it come from? How is it received? What is an “integrator” and what can it do for me?

We have all seen the huge figures for Avatar 3D worldwide: is it a one-way trip to Pandora or is it the start of a new fantastic journey for us all?

All these questions and many more will be answered in Helsinki: thick coats, boots, woolly hats and gloves essential…that sounds like the UK in the past few weeks, but we only experience that weather every 25 years or so!

Mike Vickers
Treasurer of MEDIA Salles

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To the participants at the “DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies” 2010 course

Dear friends,

digital cinema is a topic which has been discussed by cinemas for over 10 years but there are still no simple answers to the many questions that arise. Some cinemas have installed digital projectors and recent 3D films demonstrated one reason for doing so. The technology has proved itself but justifying the substantial financial investment needed remains a challenge, especially for small cinemas. The programme for this year's “DigiTraining Plus” course in Helsinki covers all the current issues and promises to be of great value to the very wide range of participants who will be there.
I was very pleased to be asked to be the Moderator for the course and will be doing my best to ensure everyone attending benefits from it. I greatly look forward to meeting you all.

Anthony Williams
Course Moderator

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Message from Kerstin Degerman, Head of the MEDIA Desk Finland

We are happy to welcome participants from all sectors to the “DigiTraining Plus” course in Helsinki in February 2010, both cinema owners and distributors and other professionals. During the days they spend in Helsinki the participants will have the possibility to get to know both the digital transition in general and its development in the region: there are presentations on both Finland and the Nordic countries, and Russia as well.

The first “DigiTraining Plus” course ever in Finland also offers a Studia Generalia on Thursday 18 February, in the morning, open to Finnish professionals and thus offering a possibility for the participants to meet the field more broadly. The American-based digital cinema expert Michael Karagosian will be talking about the structure and the contents of the digital cinema chain. Mr Karagosian has a vast experience in the cinema industry, and he will lecture on both the present situation and on future prospects for digital cinema in the world.

Finns are known to be very enthusiastic about new technologies and, accordingly, many Finnish screens are digital already; for the moment there are 48 digital screens in Finland, and it is predicted that 25% of the screens will be digital by the end of 2010, thanks to help from domestic public support. The Finnish digital experts will generously share their knowledge on how the transition in Finland was carried out: among others Harri Ahokas, Head of Domestic Distribution at the Finnish Film Foundation, Tero Koistinen, CEO of the Finnish Chamber of Films, and Ari Saarinen, Technical Supervisor and Manager at Finnkino.

Dear participants, Helsinki is – at least for the moment – in the most beautiful winter shape ever; so there will be lots for you to explore also outside the theatres, and don’t forget to bring warm clothes and cameras!

See you soon

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WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Riitta Haapiainen
SES Auditorium Ltd

The Finnish Film Foundation is an independent foundation which is supervised by the Department for Cultural Policy in the Ministry of Education.
The Foundation´s task is to support and develop Finnish film production, distribution and exhibition. The Finnish Film Foundation owns SES Auditorium Kino K-13, the cinema which is located at the Foundation´s headquarters in Katajanokka, in Helsinki.
Kino K-13 serves the Finnish film producers, distributors and post production companies as a test cinema. We have many opening evenings, especially of short and documentary films and television productions. We hold screenings of children´s films and film cultural events. Our cinema can also be rented and used as a meeting and congress facility.
Kino K-13 was renovated in 2008. It was given a real face lift: we changed the 1980 pink style to dramatic black and grey. Our new look was designed by architect Heikki Lamusuo and artist Jaana Partanen.
The same year, 2008, we also installed the digital projector into our booth, the 16mm film projector had to go. However, the 35mm projector Cinemeccanica, Victoria 5, is still beside the new digital one, although in our cinema the digital equipment is already working more hours than the film projector.
The digital projector we have is a Barco 1500 and the server store and player are Dolby`s DSS 100 and DSP 100. Just one week ago we got our XpanD 3D system.

Something about myself: I have been working in the cinema industry for a long time. I started my film work in the film lab, in the evenings I was selling tickets, coffee and candies in the cinema. I left the laboratory and found myself in the projection room, where I was very happy. I had, for example, the possibility to show 70mm film, and I felt like being on the top of my career … actually I still feel the same: that was the most challenging moment. This change to a digital system brings a whole different challenge: you don’t need muscles for lifting the hard disks but knowing the data technology helps a lot. I took part in the “DigiTraining Plus” course in 2007 and it was very important to gain knowledge from the experts and meet colleagues who already had some experience of the new technology.
Here in the Finnish Film Foundation I started working in 2001, I am also the Managing Director of the Cinema, but deep in my heart I am a projectionist and very proud of my profession.

I myself and the Finnish Film Foundation warmly welcome “DigiTraining Plus 2010” course participants to our beautiful Helsinki.

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Dear participants to the “DigiTraining Plus 2010”,   we invite you to visit our “Advance News” section of the page of MEDIA Salles’ website dedicated to the course, where you’ll be able to find: - the updated programme of the course - helpful information about the contents, venues and how to organize your trip to Helsinki - the updated section “Focus on the speakers”, offering information on the lecturers at the course. A small piece of advice alongside your preparations: please do not forget to pack sturdy shoes for the still partly very icy and slippery sidewalks in Helsinki, and suitable winter clothing.

Participants at the 2010 edition of the “DigiTraining Plus” course will visit, among other venues, the National Audiovisual Archive of Finland (NAVA), where the 4K presentation and screening will be taking place, thanks to the collaboration of Sony, on Friday 19 February 2010. The National Audiovisual Archive of Finland (NAVA) focuses on preserving the Finnish audiovisual heritage for posterity. NAVA's role as the safe-keeper and conservator of national film, television and radio content is defined by law and funded by the Finnish government. NAVA has been committed to systematic film preservation work since 1972, at the time under its former name Finnish Film Archive (founded in 1957). The newest element of NAVA's functions, television and radio archiving, was initiated on 1st January 2008. Today the main bias of both of these challenging areas bends towards digitalization. Not only does NAVA take excellent care of its domestic and foreign film collections, it also seeks to promote Finnish film heritage around the world by taking part in festivals and other cultural happenings. NAVA's annual exhibitions, dvd and print publications and active domestic screening programs create a unique whole unmatched by any other museum or archive in Finland. Mikko Kuutti, Deputy Director of NAVA MEDIA Salles was present when the Sony CineAlta 4K system was installed at NAVA on November 1st 2009. (Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

What Digital Times?
By Tobias Jacobsen, participant at the ”DigiTraining Plus 2009”

Knowledge. A fundamental condition for making the right decisions must be based on an updated and solid knowledge of the subject. To achieve an overview of the consequences of the digitalisation of cinemas is a huge challenge. The business is a complex and ramified organism with many areas of interest and corresponding partners each with their own agenda. As digitalisation is an international change in a standard dating back more than 100 years the change of medium is a manoeuvre that calls for a certain respect and cautiousness. Much money is to be earned and also to be lost if you do not make the right decisions based on knowledge.

Without any solid knowledge of digital cinema and as a first-time participant on a course on this very subject, the following is my experience of the situation in general within the EU as it was reflected at the “DigiTraining Plus 2009” course in London.

To distinguish between 3D-technology and digitalisation as such is a necessity in order to introduce light and shade into the challenges facing the move to another medium. At present it is the 3D-locomotive that drives digitalisation and the chains which have a commercial interest seem to succeed in achieving this. But 3D alone is not enough to stimulate a change of medium for those cinemas that do not have a specific priority in positioning themselves in the marketplace or have an audience segment that fits into exactly this context. For them conventional 2D and its content is central. And even if many promises are made by those who hail 3D as the format of the future for any film, it is doubtful that this will happen in the near future – if ever. There are obvious possibilities but also limits in telling stories in 3D and only the future will show if 3D is as revolutionary as some predict.

Probably 3D will merely be an add-on and not the nucleus in a business model that will have to finance the heavy cost of digital equipment in the cinema. Certainly insecurity still remains as to realistic depreciation models which are central in order to relate to the eventual assets or disadvantages of the investment. Digital technologies become obsolete very fast in all other areas worldwide and there is no reason to believe that it should be any different in our business. Of course it is of prime importance whether today’s standards (DCI, SMPTE, NATO etc.) that have almost fallen into place after long and troubled negotiations will be changed. It is probably doubtful that anybody feels like shaking the foundation of today’s definition of digital cinema.

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