Reg. Trib. Milano n. 418 del 02.07.2007
Direttore responsabile: Elisabetta Brunella

 
 
 
  International Edition No. 51 - year 4 - 22 December 2009

***
 

Dear readers,

writing this message close to Christmas in Copenhagen it is as if global warming is put on hold at least for a while. The thermometer reads 9 degrees below zero. On the other hand it’s a smart way to adapt to the thought of going to Helsinki, Finland, in February, to take part in MEDIA Salles’ “DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies” training course on digital cinema – the 7th in a row.
As in the past, the course is supported by the MEDIA Programme and the Italian Government, but this year the Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish Chamber of Films have graciously offered their support, helping MEDIA Salles to continue its work on the digital scene.
The course will as usual seek a balance between theoretical and practical input: lectures by international experts such as Michael Karagosian (who has provided assistance to NATO in tackling the digital issues - and so much more) and Oleg Berezin (CEO of NevaFilm, Russia); topics like standards, business models and 3D will be dealt with, enlivened by screenings, special events and visits to cinemas. Local players will explain how the Finnish Government/Film Foundation has decided to tackle the transition – expensive as it is.
UK veteran, Anthony Williams, in the cinema business for close to 40 years, has agreed to moderate the course.

Looking forward to seeing you in Helsinki,
  
Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles

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WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Tarja Piiroinen
Savon Kinot Oy, Finland

I run a cinema circuit, Savon Kinot Oy, with my four siblings and our company is a genuine family business – our father started his career in cinemas in 1945. I have been working in cinemas since I was ten and my current position in our company is the Head of Programming.

Our company is the second biggest cinema circuit in Finland, though our market share is only 4% (2008) whilst the biggest operator, Finnkino Oy, holds 70% of the market. We are operating in six towns in Eastern Finland and we have seven cinemas there with 12 screens altogether.

Only one of our screens is digitalised up to now; it's in our latest cinema in Joensuu, where we had the chance to add a digital projector alongside a traditional 35mm projector in the biggest auditorium of this miniplex. It's crucial to have at least one more screen there digitalised in the near future, because of the programming. In this current situation, we still need a 35mm print when the movie shifts to the smaller auditorium.

3D was the main reason for us to start digitalisation in the first place; the audience will see the technical developments best in 3D form and 3D films are selling more tickets than traditional films. I think 3D has brilliant possibilities to get us more customers and widen the content in cinema programming.

In digitalisation we also have a challenge in our older cinemas. They are built – especially the projection rooms – for the use of 35mm projectors. There's simply no room for an additional projector in the old projection rooms, and abandoning the 35mm projectors is not an option yet, especially in smaller towns and cinemas.

Not having any VPF system in Finland, we are lucky to have the Finnish Government to give financial support to digitalisation in cinemas. Even with that support the smallest cinemas have to face the fact that the investment that digitalisation requires may never be covered by the profits from their ticket sales.

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Statistics on cinema digitalisation: the MEDIA Salles co-operation with the European Audiovisual Observatory

MEDIA Salles is proud to announce that for the second consecutive year has provided its statistics on cinema digitalisation worldwide, with a special focus on Europe, to the European Audiovisual Observatory that will publish them in the new edition of its Yearbook.

Among this data there is the situation of the 2,602 European digital screens by exhibition company.

An excerpt of this data is available here below

Europe's leading companies in cinema digitalisation as at June 2009

Number of digital cinema installations in Europe by exhibitor as at 30 June 2009

Company

Total number of screens

CGR

338

KINEPOLIS

175

CINEWORLD GROUP

144

CINEPLEXX

89

EUROPALACES

78

VUE

76

ODEON CINEMAS

48

CINEMA CITY

44

UCI

40

YELMO

38

CINESA

36

UTOPIA GROUP

30

CINEMA PARK

29

CITY SCREEN

26

LUSOMUNDO

26

WARD ANDERSON

25

MULTIKINO

22

GIOMETTI CINEMA

20

WOLFRAM WEBER - CINECITTA

20

MARS

19

EMPIRE CINEMAS

17

GRUPPO FURLAN CINECITY

17

ACEC

16

PALACE CINEMAS

15

HELIOS

14

STAR MOVIE BETRIEBS

14

FINNKINO

13

MEDUSA

12

RISING STAR MEDIA

12

CINESTAR

11

MAX-FILM

11

OSLO KINEMATOGRAFER

11

AFM

10

CINEMAGNUM

10

HOLLYWOOD MEGAPLEX

10

KINO ARENA

10

MOVIES @

10

NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS

10

SF BIO

10

FH&P

9

NLC NEW LINEO CINEMAS

9

NORDISK FILM CINEMAS

9

FINNKINO-FORUM CINEMAS

8

ARCADIA

8

CARAMBA

8

CINEMEC

8

CINEVILLE

8

CURZON

8

EINZ LOCHMANN FILMTHEATERBETRIEBE

8

IMC

8

KARO FILM

8

LYUKSOR

8

MOVIEPLEX

8

ODEON CINEPLEX

8

ARISTON

7

BERGEN KINO AS

7

CINECAP

7

CINELANDIA

7

KITAG

7

KOLOSEJ

7

LIGHT CINEMAS

7

MARKETING DIESEL

7

MK2

7

MINERVA

7

There were 19 exhibition companies with at least 7 digital screens as at 31 December 2007, for a total of 437 digital projectors. A year and a half later, the companies went up to 64 and they now count 1,749 digital projectors. The number of companies increased by 236%, the number of digital installations by 300%. The average number of digital projectors per company was 23 and is now over 27.

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MEDIA Salles announces
the 2010 edition of the training course for
European cinema exhibitors
 
“DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas
Experiencing New Technologies”

 
When: 17 – 21 February 2010
Where: Helsinki, Finland
 
Main venue: Finnish Film Foundation Auditorium in Katajanokka, Helsinki

Application deadline: Tuesday 12 January 2010

Please visit our website to download the application form and for all the information and updates on the course

www.mediasalles.it/training/training.htm

Focus on the Speakers

Michael Karagosian (MKPE)

(click the photo to read the biography)
Oleg Berezin (Nevafilm CJSC)

(click the photo to read the biography)
Ari Saarinen (Finnkino)

(click the photo to read the biography)
Fabrice Testa (XDC)

(click the photo to read the biography)
The course moderator

Anthony Williams, B.Sc.

(click the photo to read the biography)

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Apollo Cinemas signs Sony’s first VPF agreement in Europe

Paul Richards, Projection/ Technical Manager of Apollo Cinema in Redditch, South of Birmingham, in the UK, and participant at the 2009 edition of the training course “DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies” organised by MEDIA Salles, has discussed with us the new big project of digital roll-out of the entire Apollo Cinemas chain in England: “Thanks to the first VPF agreement that Sony signs in Europe, more than 85 screens of our cinema chain will be digitally equipped with Sony CineAlta 4K projectors”, adding: “My site here in Redditch, was chosen to be the first complex in the UK to be able to offer Sony 4K digital projection in all screens. The installation took place in early November; two more sites have now been added, with a fourth soon under way. RealD 3D technology is installed at the same time”.
The decision to convert all the sites/screens of the circuit chain has brought to the creation of Apollo’s “in house” Digital Support Group, in charge of giving practical support to other sites on their opening weekend, plus hands-on advice over the phone, on the day to day operation of the equipment.

Marcello Mazzucotelli

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From the training offer of the
MEDIA Programme



Cultural Cinema Exhibition course
A training course for staff of European cinemas and film festivals

18 - 29 January 2010
BFI Southbank, London, UK

"The ICO Cultural Cinema Exhibition course was like a beacon of light"

"The variety and quality of speakers gave an incredible overview of the industry
and how, as exhibitors, we fit into it"

"My CV jumped to the top of the pile because I did the course -
It's a standard and a brand that the industry trusts"

This course has been running in the UK for eleven years and is now open to participants from across Europe, thanks to the support of the MEDIA programme, with scholarships available. It offers the opportunity for staff of cinemas and film festivals to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of the business of film programming. The course is taught by a wide range of experts from the UK and across Europe working at the forefront of the film industry.
 
What is the course for?

  • Programming, marketing, education and operational staff of cinemas, film festivals and mixed arts venues;
  • Film society organisers;
  • Freelance film programmers;
  • Staff of support and funding agencies;
  • Distributors wanting to gain a better understanding of the exhibition sector;
  • Cinema or festival volunteers looking to develop their career.

What does the course cover?

  • How films reach the screen: introduction to distribution and exhibition
  • Programming independent cinemas, film festivals, TV and non-theatrical venues
  • Screening archive films, shorts and artists' moving image
  • Broadening audiences: children and young people, disability and cultural diversity
  • Marketing and PR, including websites and social networking
  • Digital cinema
  • Rights and formats
  • Funding, sponsorship and sustainable development
  • The way forward for European cultural film

How much does it cost?
€725 for fees OR €1,704 including 13 nights' accommodation.
Scholarships are available if you or your organisation cannot cover the cost.

Find out more:

Tel: +44 207 079 0477
Email: info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk
Web: www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training-2010-culturalcinemaexhibition

This course is funded by the Skillset Film Skills Fund, which is supported by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council and the film industry through the Skills Investment Fund.
 
With the support of the MEDIA programme of the European Union.
 
In partnership with the BFI.
 
Supported by Regional Investment Fund England (RIFE) through the UK Film Council and South West Screen.

All different, all digital
by Elisabetta Brunella

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.

Country

Site

Town

Company

Number of projectors

Projector

Projector’s type

Resolution

Server

No. of 3D screens

Supplier of 3D technology

USA

Michigan Theater

Ann Arbor

Michigan Theater

1

Sony

SRX-R220

4K

Sony

1

RealD

Michigan Theater

Any U.S. town that respects itself has broken at least one record, proudly quoted in publications and on websites: Ann Arbor, halfway between Detroit and Lansing, the capital of Michigan, boasts one of the very few cinema organs that have remained exactly where they were originally installed in the ‘Twenties. The prestigious and fully operational Barton, a survivor of the army of seven thousand cinema organs destined to accompany silent films, is hosted by the Michigan Theater, situated right in the heart of the city center, just a few steps away from its most famous institution, the highly esteemed University of Michigan.
Conceived in 1928, re-designed in 1956 and saved by the local community from the demolition that was to have been its death sentence during the burst of speculation in the ‘Seventies, the Michigan Theater offers its audiences - mostly university students or the greying cultural élites – a range of films that are decidedly unusual outside metropolitan areas like New York or Chicago. The programming, on its two screens, ranges from the work of independent Americans and foreign language films, from all over the world, to milestones in the history of the seventh art. Thus, in the space of only a few weeks, a classic like Nosferatu may alternate with an evergreen like Singing in the Rain, visions of distant worlds with the Tajik Tulpan and The Stoning of Soraya M., set in Iran, and militant documentaries like Food Inc. or Under our Skin, which bring to light everyday events relegated to second place by the mass media, such as the dangerous links between politics and economic speculation involving in one case the food industry and in the other the pharmaceutical business. The Michigan Theater’s “look” has nothing in common with the multiplexes that tower over the vast parking lots of the suburbs: this is why it can be considered a “luxury” version of cinema-going in the American provinces. The brightly lit marquee, an auditorium seating 1,704, decidedly “oversize” compared to present standards, the eight-sided ticket office made of wood and glass, gilded ceilings and Corinthian pillars, as well as the imposing staircase leading to the gallery evokes the days of the “movie palaces”, adding the splendour of their interior decoration and the charm of the setting to the enjoyment of cinema-going.
And yet, beneath this old “skin” some avantgarde technology is hidden: since spring 2009 the Michigan Theater has equipped itself with a 4K digital system which, thanks to RealD technology, is also suited to the screenings of 3D that began on 29 May with Up, more or less the day after its world première at the Cannes Film Festival. This is a particularly important step for an institution like the Michigan Theater, not only a symbol of the cinemas of yesterday, but also an oasis for quality films. To avoid misunderstandings over possible changes in its programming philosophy, on announcing this recent technological leap the Michigan Theater confirmed its loyalty to the policy it had followed up to that time: quality and independence. Russ Collins, the soul of the Michigan Theater, appointed Cavaliere della Repubblica for merits obtained in the dissemination of Italian cinema in the United States, told us: “We are and we continue to be a cultural institution, not just a commercial cinema: but this is no reason for us to remain segregated outside the boundaries of technological developments. And so, the analogical projectors we use for 35, 70 and 16mm films and also for silent films, have been joined by the best available in technological innovation today, to keep up with the times and the demands of audiences. We started the digital transition when we became fascinated by the quality of 2K and now we have decided to take another step forward: I don’t think the quality of 4K will be improved upon for at least 10 years”. An important and demanding step on the financial front: the Michigan Theater is in fact managed by a non-profit organization only 60% dependent on income from ticket sales and concessions. The rest comes from an intense fund-raising campaign, ranging from members’ subscriptions to voluntary work and from donations to sponsorships. One of the not so numerous contributions of the Federal Government went to the Michigan Theater a few years ago and was actually used to launch digital projection. Now a crucial role is played by the Bank of Ann Arbor, which has made it possible to purchase a 4K projector, thanks to the concession of a 5-year loan.
Proof that in the United States, too – and even in Michigan, land of the crudest forms of capitalism exposed by Michael Moore who was born right there – exists an awareness of the cultural, social and economic role that a historical cinema in the center of town holds for the whole community.

This article was published in Italian in the “Giornale dello Spettacolo” no. 21, 27 November 2009

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News on the development of digitalisation in the world
by Marcello Mazzucotelli

Curzon Cinemas becomes the UK’s first fully digital cinema circuit

At the end of November, Curzon Mayfair’s screen 2 was upgraded to include a new Barco projection system thus making Curzon Cinemas UK’s first fully digital cinema circuit.
Curzon Cinemas currently operates six venues in London in Soho, Mayfair, Chelsea, Bloomsbury, Richmond and Wimbledon where, together with UK’s leading entertainment retailer HMV, Curzon Cinemas – which is part of Curzon Artificial Eye, independent film distributor with a library of over 200 films - has opened an all-digital three screen cinema and café-bar in October 2009.

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RealD – GDC partnership clinches new deals on 3D deployment in Asia

After signing an agreement in April 2009 whereby GDC became a distributor for RealD’s 3D platform in Asia (taking care of sales inquiries, technical support, maintenance, installation, marketing support and on-going cinema operations), the two companies recently announced newly signed deals including Broadway Circuit and UA Cinemas (Hong Kong), Blitz Theaters (Indonesia), Ambassador Cinemas (Taiwan) and Shaw Cinemas (Singapore). The partnership to date has accounted for close to 100 additional RealD 3D installations in Asia.

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Reel signs VPF deal with Arts Alliance Media

Reel Cinemas has signed an agreement with Arts Alliance Media to digitise Reel’s entire circuit in the UK. The VPF based deal covers all 60 of Reel’s screens throughout the country, across 15 sites. The deal also covers the installation of 3D in 20 screens, meaning there will be at least one 3D screen in each site, to take advantage of next year’s slate of around 15 3D releases.
Arts Alliance Media will also be providing satellite systems for each of Reel’s 15 sites, allowing the cinemas to show live alternative content and also to receive feature and trailer content via satellite.

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7 December 2009: Carmen opens the Opera Season at La Scala theatre, while digital technology takes it all over the world

263 cinemas throughout the world, from the United States to Russia, from Spain to Estonia, from Ireland to Bulgaria – thanks to satellite connection – were able to give a live showing of Bizet’s opera which opened the 2009/2010 Opera Season of Milan’s La Scala theatre.

Some cinemas in Italy also took part in the initiative, organised by Emerging Pictures and RAI Trade. MEDIA Salles followed the event, collecting opinions from the audience. A significant comment came from Elena Chiappara, who followed the Carmen from the Cristallo Cinema in Cesano Boscone, in the vicinity of Milan: “I don’t think I would have seen it as well, even if I’d been at La Scala itself”.


For more information on Emerging Pictures’ “Opera in Cinema” initiative, please visit: http://www.operaincinema.com/index.htm

Emerging Pictures’ official website: www.emergingpictures.com

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MEDIA Salles’ contacts and address

MEDIA Salles
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24 – 20124 Milano - Italy
Tel.: +39.02.6739781 – Fax: +39.02.6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Sito web: www.mediasalles.it