29 August 2012 - Amsterdam
 
Starting on 29 August, "DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies" is the only course in the framework of the MEDIA Programme to deal with digitalization in cinemas from the theatres' point of view.

The initiative, promoted by MEDIA Salles with the support of the European Union and the Italian Government, reaches its ninth edition this year, coming to the Netherlands. The destination is no coincidence: this country has managed to work out a formula which, combining public and private resources, has allowed even independent exhibitors to convert fully to digital projection.

Gaining knowledge of this experience - known as "Cinema Digitaal" - as well as listening to talks by internationally famed experts like Michael Karagosian and Peter Wilson, discovering what scenarios are opened up to cinemas by digital technologies will be some of the course objectives. 35 participants, 13 nationalities represented, from Bulgaria to the United Kingdom, from Spain to Finland.

The course - programme available here - will close on 2 September 2012.

DGT Online Informer will be issued daily this week, presenting a summary of the course contents.

5 September 2012 - Venice
 
On 5 September the 69th Venice Film Festival will be hosting the event "Dal 35mm al Digitale: l'ora dello switch-off", ("From 35 mm to Digital: the switch-off point"), organized by MEDIA Salles to present the new statistics reporting on digital screens in 34 European countries at 30 June 2012.
The development of digitalization is not coming to a halt: as a consequence the moment when film will be abandoned by distributors approaches, making it even more difficult for theatres that are unable to face digital conversion to access content.

What are the prospects for theatres which, by exploiting digital, wish to offer new content and innovative services to their audiences? What are the risks for those cinemas that do not possess the resources necessary for conversion? Do the successful experiences there have there been so far in Europe to facilitate the digitalization of independent cinemas and those with a cultural vocation offer models that might be repeated?

These are some of the questions the meeting proposes to answer, thanks to contributions by international experts, who will be talking to institutional and entrepreneurial representatives of the Italian cinema sector.

The programme of the conference, which benefits from the collaboration of Open Sky, is available on the MEDIA Salles website: (http://www.mediasalles.it/meet/venezia_12_eng.pdf).