International Edition No. 10- year 1 -
8 April 2006 
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PRESS RELEASE
“To offer audiences the best technology:
this is the objective we fixed in the phase of planning our cinema. We
are increasingly persuaded that digital is the best choice we could have
made”. This is how Miguel Devriendt, General
Manager of Cityscoop in Roeselare, introduced
the visit of the “DigiTraining Plus” participants to his cinema
today. Opened on 22 June 2005, the complex comprises 7 screens fitted
with state-of-the-art technology for sound and vision. The largest theatre,
with 320 seats and an 18.5-metre screen, is fitted with a Barco DP 100
projector and an EVS server, installed by the German company Film Ton
Technik.
At Cityscoop a wide selection of European titles digitalised by XDC has
been screened, including Joyeux Noël/Merry Christmas,
by Christian Carion, which was chosen as the “European Film of the
Year” by MEDIA Salles during Focus on Europe at Cinema Expo International
2005.
However, Cityscoop is not only a cinema: the complex is also equipped
to host conferences and business meetings, for which the digital projector
represents an added value. This allowed Patrick Van Dijck
of Screenvision, a joint venture with Thomson/ITV, specialised in the
field of cinema advertising and operating in 9 European countries (France,
Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, the Czech
Republic and Slovakia), to present on the big screen the strategies adopted
by his company thanks to the digital technologies: to define and capture
the attention of precise sectors of the public, to carry out surveys with
the aim of offering increasingly innovative and up-to-date marketing and
advertising services.
In the afternoon at the Barco headquarters, Steve Perrin
presented the project by the UK Film Council. Backed by 18 million euro,
it aims to install 240 digital projectors throughout Britain, involving
all types of theatres, from art-house to multiplexes.
Lastly, David Monk contributed his point of view on the
future prospects for cinemas, films and content in digital format.
This evening the group will visit Ypres/Ieper, memorial
to the First World War, with a conceptual connection to the topic of the
film Joyeux Noël/Merry Christmas. Later on the draw will be made
to decide the winners of the special prize that Barco has decided to offer
to three exhibitors taking part in the course: a projector for digital
cinema on free trial in their theatres for one month.
Miguel Devriendt, General Manager of the Cityscoop cinema in Roeselare, Belgium, during “DigiTraining Plus” 2006.
MEDIA Salles, a project operating within the framework of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, with the support of the Italian Government, fosters theatrical distribution of European audiovisual products, both by high profile campaigns involving Europe's cinema exhibitors and by initiatives to raise the visibility of European productions with industry players and potential audiences, creating specialized information channels on a global scale. Thus the current initiatives from MEDIA Salles dovetail in a program with a triple focus – training, promotion and information – and maximum combined effect.
MEDIA Salles
Via Soperga, 2 – I-20127 Milan
Tel.: +39.02.66984405 – Fax: +39.02.6691574
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Website: www.mediasalles.it