Documento senza titolo

WOMEN IN DIGITAL
Rita Stella,
Cinema Exhibitor
Apollo Spazio Cinema
Milan, Italy

In 2004 I took part in the first “DigiTraining Plus” at Kuurne. Partly as a consequence of this experience, when we started out to restructure the old Apollo cinema (1,200 seats right in the centre of Milan) with my partner Lionello Cerri, in 2004, we aimed to create a place that was technologically in the avant-garde.
Today it is called Apollo Spazio Cinema and has 5 screens, for a total of around 900 seats. The 5 projecting booths are each fitted with 2 traditional Cinemeccanica Victoria 5 projectors and with video projectors. In the Sala Fedra, the Cinemeccanica digital CMC-D2, using Barco technology, has also been installed.

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Digital screens in Switzerland as at 30/06/2006:
12 projectors DLP Cinema^TM
click here to see the table

Interview with Jens Schneiderheinze
Cinema & Kurbelkiste – Münster
by Elisabetta Brunella

Jens Schneiderheinze showing the digital projector installed at Cinema & Kurbelkiste

How interested are arthouse cinemas in digital projection in Germany?
About 50 cinemas, mainly members of AG Kino – Gilde deutscher Filmkunsttheater – or Bundesverband Kommunale Filmarbeit, became part of CinemaNet Europe, starting in autumn 2004 or spring 2005 with digital cinema. Now approximately 100 screens are equipped with LCD or DLP projectors supplied by ROWO which meet the CinemaNet Europe requirements. Also compatible with these two systems there are around 40 servers from Ropa, which has equipped the cinemas with 1.4K projectors.

And on the distribution side, what sort of offer is there in digital format?
In 2005 Salzgeber distributed 26 films as part of the contract with the members of CNE. There were also around ten films from other distributors. In 2006 there was more interest by the art-house distributors. Kinowelt began to distribute in digital format, like X-Filme.

Alpha Medien Kantor has supplied films for children, digitalising old titles. The result was not excellent from a technical point of view but the offer for that particular audience sector was broadened. The documentary We feed the world, distributed by Delphi, had great success. Again in the field of documentaries Ventura has been very active whilst EYZ Media has given us a special programme based on a series of 8 titles on the topic of mental disorders that we have screened with commentary by experts. A further series has already been announced on working conditions and the theme of globalisation.
We can safely say that about 12 distributors have launched films in digital format, some exclusively in digital format, some additionally to the 35mm prints. It can also be observed that an increasing number of small art-house distributors are now launching their films in dvd only.

To read the full interview, click here.

News from Spain

Yelmo Cineplex tries out the Barco 2K projector

The Spanish company Yelmo Cineplex is the first to have installed the digital projection system offered by Barco on a free trial run to three participants in the 2006 edition of the “DigiTraining Plus” course organized by MEDIA Salles. Based on a Barco 2K projector, the initiative is also sponsored by XDC and Kodak. Enrique Martinez del Molino, Technical Director of Yelmo Cineplex, emphasizes the importance of this test run for gaining a wider knowledge of the characteristics of digital screening through hands-on experience. It is Yelmo Cineplex’s intention to try out the new technology both for the presentation of films and for alternative content. Infact the 2006 edition of live Red Bull X-Fighters event, a motorbike race held every September on Madrid’s Las Ventas circuit, was successfully projected by Yelmo using the Barco digital projector and a satellite dish transmission.
A Barco 2K projector on trial at Yelmo Cineplex

Launch of the Catalan Digital Cinema Circuit

Five cinemas have launched the CCCD, Catalan Circuit of Digital Cinema, breaking away from the network set up in Spain by the Cine Digital company. The new, independent group works on the programming of films and live events using Sanyo 1.3K projectors, already tried out over the past few months for the presentation of the documentary The Dragon House, a Spanish production on Bhutan, and the Catalan theatrical work, Mar I Cel. The Circuit’s baptism consisted in the digital projection of a rock concert held on 23 November in Barcelona at the prestigious “Auditori”. Filmed on seven TV cameras by the Catalan public television network, the event was shared, live, by audiences in the five centres served by CCCD, towns counting from 15-20,000 inhabitants, with the sole exception of Leida, which counts 125 000. The coordinator of the Circuit, Montserrat Guiu, an exhibitor from La Seu d’Urgell in the Pyrenees, stresses that one of the objectives of the initiative, supported by Catalan television and by the production company Benecé, is to bring new and interesting shows, of a cultural, musical or sporting nature, to audiences far away from Barcelona. “It has been a positive start,” comments Guiu, “the spectators felt well and truly involved in the atmosphere of the rock music event.”
As regards films, priority will be given to Catalan productions: coming shortly will be Dies d’agost by Marc Recha.

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"Cinegames": interactive, online videogames on the big screen

On 29 December the Spanish circuit Yelmo Cineplex opened the first “Cinegames” screen, devoted to interactive, online videogames, in its Leganés complex on the outskirts of Madrid.
Here, thanks to an investment of around three hundred thousand euro, fifty spectators placed in “animated” seats, arranged as stadium seating and fitted with individual 17-inch screens, can actively take part in the game digitally projected on the big screen and accompanied by a high quality sound track (surround 7.1). A commentary on the action taking place, as well as special effects including laser lights, complete the experience.
For the first trial month – at half price – (after 31 January the ticket will cost 5.80 euros, compared to the 6.50 euros for a film), the “gamespectators” can get to grips with a car race, of which there are 6 versions with 140 vehicles and 19 tracks. Other proposals have already been announced, both in terms of pure entertainment (with a videogame on the second World War and another version, defined “futuristic”, set in 2142), and in terms of education (with the 3D game “Aymun”, designed for children).
Enrique Martinez, technical director of the Yelmo Cineplex, who worked for three years on the realisation of Cinegames, for which developments are foreseen both in Spain and abroad, stated: “Cinegames represents a great opportunity for us to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, in view of the explosion of multiplexes in Spain. It is part of a strategy that concentrates not only on the classic offer of films but also on innovative products such as 3D.” Moreover, Cinegames makes it possible to get the most out of smaller theatres, too, which, thanks to the avant-garde technology, allow videogame fans to enjoy game quality that cannot be reproduced in other surroundings.”

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