This column hosts portraits of cinemas in Europe and the rest of the world which are quite different from one another but have in common the fact that they have all adopted digital projection.
 

Odeon
by Elisabetta Galeffi

It was 14 December 1922 when the Cinema Odeon opened in Piazza Strozzi in the centre of Florence, just a few steps away from Brunelleschi's great Dome and the fashionable literary cafés of Piazza Repubblica.

Acting as a theatre or cinema, according to need, it housed a large stage onto which the cinema screen could be lowered; the seating, for 1,200, was divided between the stalls arranged in a large, ellipsoid ground plan and a gallery with an elegant staircase leading up to it. The furnishings and interior architecture were faithful to the tradition of Florence the capital.

In the ‘30s the first American film with sound was screened, The Singing Fool, while in 1934 the theatre welcomed screaming football fans for the world cup match between Italy and England and then for the tragic match between Primo Carnera and Max Baer.

Today the Odeon has transformed itself into a cultural association, choosing to screen quality films mainly in their original language, with Italian subtitles. In addition, thanks to modern, digital technology and satellite distribution systems, it has the merit of screening in Florence documentaries and films from far-off countries, which do not use the classical distribution channels.

“In Florence there are twenty American universities, as well as foreign schools;” this is how Signora Germani, owner of the venue, explains these choices. “We started screening films in their original language, especially in English, around twenty years ago. At the beginning it was for one or two days a week, then we realized it was a good idea: the Florentines, too, come to see the subtitled films and we have fewer constraints on movies' run.”

“The Odeon uses a multiprogramming approach; today, for example, the newly released Turner is being screened at 5.30 p.m. and at 8.30 p.m. a historical Scorsese. We also have a programme of theatre performances,” she continues, “and the special events, such as the series of classical films linked to the programming of the Palazzo Strozzi museum: Kubrick's Spartacus, Pasolini's Medea... following a route starting out from the exhibition Power and Pathos - Bronzes of the Hellenistic Age at the Strozzi Museum.”

“Cinema is doing very well and digital has made it possible to cut production and distribution costs drastically but it isn't easy to keep a theatre open today. Exhibition costs have not gone down;” stresses Signora Germani, “there is such a vast offer of means to see a movie today that you can watch it lying on your sofa at home with a remote control device and a subscription to a film channel, without even having to make the effort to go out and pay for a ticket.”

In Signora Germani's opinion the future of cinema theatres lies in transforming them into a cultural circuit, as she has done with the Odeon.

A cultural circuit with a place where you can also have a chat, a drink and something to eat. Inside the Odeon there is a pleasant café-brasserie, open from morning until late at night - a sophisticated meeting place right in the centre of Florence.

The sofa at home can't compete with all this.

(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

European digital rollout nears completion
by Elisabetta Brunella

During 2014, European digital screens continued to increase: whilst there were 33,915 at the beginning of the year, or 84% of total screens, twelve months later they were touching on 34,000 units (33,881) with a penetration rate of 91%.
Amongst the main factors to affect this phenomenon is the acceleration in conversion in some countries where digitization had remained below the average for the Continent. This is the case on a large market such as Italy, where at the start of 2014 digital screens accounted for 76%; here around 600 new digital projectors were added over the last 12 months. In the same way, Spain, which started 2014 with 70% digital screens, installed around 300 units, whilst, on the other hand, witnessing a reduction in the total number of venues and screens.
The increases recorded in Turkey are also considerable, with around 200 new digital projectors and a penetration rate rising from 51% to a little under 60%, and on smaller markets, such as Estonia, where the number of digital screens rose from 29 to 38, and Serbia, where they increased from 27 to 43.

All in all, the efforts of European cinemas to achieve technological updating seem to be making progress, though in a context where, as emerges from the data on admissions 2014, many countries record decreases in admissions, a situation that is a cause of concern to exhibitors, particularly in view of the investments that will be needed to keep up with technological innovation or to replace projectors nearing obsolescence.

Number of digital screens and 3D screens by country as at 1^st January 2015 (overview)

© copyright MEDIA Salles

  Note: the figures in italics are estimate