Dear
readers,
it
is a pleasure for me to announce the new edition of the Yearbook –
the sixteenth – which, reconfirming our collaboration with Eurovisioni,
is being presented in Rome.
The Yearbook we’ll present tomorrow brings together the basic figures
on cinema-going in 34 European countries, covering a period extending
from 1989 to 2006.
During this period of time the cinema has not remained indifferent to
changes in society and in the political, economic and technological situation.
In the same way, the European Cinema Yearbook has continued to evolve,
extending its field of observation and analysing the new aspects that
emerge. Over time, the number of countries on record has thus risen from
the initial 17 to 34, a section has been added to deal with multiplexes,
a structure and at the same time a type of offer that has marked a profound
change in the market, and, more recently, the decision has been taken
to offer reliable and complete figures on the advent of digital projection.
To meet this objective, we became aware of the need to position ourselves
in a worldwide perspective, in view of the planet-wide dimensions and
interdependence of this new frontier of technology. The internationalisation
of the cinema industry, which cannot be reduced to the role of Hollywood,
however dominant this may be, also led us to broaden our comparison between
the situation in Europe and that of the most important markets in the
rest of the world.
These efforts are evidence of MEDIA Salles’ desire to offer to the
European cinema exhibition companies useful tools to strengthen their
competitive edge and develop that special mission of movie theatres expressed,
when MEDIA Salles was first founded, in the slogan: “Europe gets
together at the cinema”.
Whilst stressing the significance of European exhibition theatres, I should
like us to remember someone who believed firmly in the cinema as an opportunity
for coming together, exchanging ideas, getting to know one another: Pierre
Todeschini, President of CICAE, member of the MEDIA Salles Executive Committee,
joint founder of the festival Annecy Cinéma Italien. We lost Pierre
this summer but the memory of his passion and commitment to quality cinema
will continue to accompany our work on behalf of Europe’s films
and theatres.
Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles
|
On
18 October the new edition of the
MEDIA Salles
European Cinema Yearbook
will be presented
Cinemagoing in Europe over the past 18 years, a precise
picture of European multiplexes in 2007, the situation of digital screens
worldwide as registered at June 2007: these are the main contents of the
European Cinema Yearbook – 2007 Advance Edition, to be presented
in Rome at the customary appointment with Eurovisioni, on 18 October 2007,
at 11 a.m., at the Italian Parliament, Palazzo Marini, Via del Pozzetto
158.
The publication, edited by MEDIA Salles,
the initiative supported by the European Union’s MEDIA Programme
and the Italian Government, will be presented by Piervirgilio Dastoli,
Director of the European Commission’s Representation in Italy.
Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles, will comment on
the figures.
Now at its sixteenth edition, the European
Cinema Yearbook, a cornerstone of the information service provided on
the international cinema industry by MEDIA Salles for professional players,
public institutions, the press and researchers, becomes available, still
in four languages, in a new, lighter and more practical online format
on the website www.mediasalles.it
Thanks to this innovation, MEDIA Salles
aims to make it easier and more convenient to consult what Nikolaos Sifunakis,
Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament,
terms in his preface, “a statistical source familiar to professionals
in the cinema industry and European policy makers as well to all those
who are keen on boosting the potential of European culture as a source
of innovation for the future.”
(Per
leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui) |
Digital revolution in China, digital evolution in Japan
A seminar on digital cinema organised by ANEC at
Venice Film Festival
by Elisabetta Brunella
Will the cinema of the future be known as Fareastwood?
There
are several signs that the centre of gravity in world cinema is moving
east: Asia is shooting an amazing number of films – which Hollywood
often draws on as a reserve of clones and remakes – and is fuelling
a whole network of exchanges, both internal and external. It is sufficient
to remember that last year 27 Chinese titles won 44 awards at 22 international
festivals and that Japanese cinema achieved the excellent market share
of 53% on the domestic market, overturning thirty-years of U.S. supremacy.
In terms of movie theatres, too, the prospects
are such as to whet the appetite of international investors: today a Chinese
citizen buys a ticket every five years. To succeed in getting him in front
of the big screen even once a year would generate a market of 1.3 billion
tickets (i.e. almost as many as are sold today in the U.S.A.). A vitality
that spreads to various markets – China, Korea, Japan – which
a privileged observer such as the Far East Film Festival of Udine, calls
“Fareastwood”, the new Hollywood of the Far East.
New ideas and enormous potential audiences.
But the aesthetic and economic aspects of Fareastwood are closely bound
up with technical and technological ones.
(Click here to read
the whole article)
(la versione in italiano è pubblicata dal Giornale
dello Spettacolo N. 23/2007)
|
WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Brecht van Eyndhoven
The Netherlands Spread
the understanding of digital cinema and reap
For some people the term ‘digital
cinema’ can be confusing. But producers, exhibitors and distributors
usually share a clear and ‘technical’ interpretation of the
concept. The confusion starts outside of the film sets, theatres and projection
booths. Many may think it has something to do with computer generated
images, games or the transition from analogical material to any type of
digital format that can be viewed via internet.
In my work as a teacher and researcher in digital communication and media
studies, I have noticed the confusion about the interpretation of digital
cinema in other, often related, sectors. I have come across all sorts
of assumptions, in particular in three important domains: media education,
digital communication research and local governments dealing with ‘digitalisation’.
These interpretations – of an obviously very general and ‘open’
term – are not ‘wrong’, but what surprises me most is
the lack of knowledge on the innovation of digital cinema as the industry
understands it. This blind spot of information is not helping the understanding
of digital cinema in general, and most of all, the supporting, discussing
or further innovation of it.
(Click here to read
the whole article) |
New MEDIA Salles offices
On 30 June 2007 MEDIA Salles relocated
its offices to the Milan headquarters of Agis, Italy’s entertainment
industry association.
Our new address is:
MEDIA Salles
c/o Agis Lombarda
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24
I-20124 Milano
Italy
Tel. +39 02 6739781
Direct line +39 02 67397823
Fax +39 02 6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
We inform our readers that the e-mail
address database@mediasalles.it is no longer active.
To communicate with MEDIA Salles,
please use the following e-mail address only: infocinema@mediasalles.it |