Since 2003, IDIFF (International Digital Film Forum) has been a professional trade-show dedicated to the digital mutation of the entire cinema industry. Its next edition will take place between January 30th and February the 1st 2008 in the Palais des Congrès de Paris. Following the announcement of the installation in the next two years of 400 digital screens in France, IDIFF brings to cinema owners and distributors all the necessary information to assist them in theirtransitions to digital:
• Conferences:
- Political stakes of the digital transition: with the participation of Jocelyn Bouyssy, CEO of CGR.
- Feed-backs from digital releases in Europe: managing the prints, decryption keys, programming, 3D, international sales…
- How to create and transmit a DCP: prices, materials to be provided to the lab, subtitles, logistics
• Next generation theater:
- A demonstration space, which displays the digital equipment of a cinema
- A screening room with showing extracts of digitally available films
- A digital specialist and projectionist answering your questions
• Exhibition: all manufacturers and installers
• Screenings:
- 3D and 4K demonstrations
- 2 preview screenings

More info for Europa Cinemas members in the Member Zone

Website: www.cnfilms.fr/idiff/

For its 7th edition, the Marrakech International Film Festival was host on 13 and 14 December 2007 to discussions on digital cinema attended by numerous professionals.

The producers and filmmakers present stressed the advantages of digital technologies for producing images and sounds. These technologies offer new opportunities, simplify shooting conditions and foster creative work on the set, notably with the actors. Directors today have a wider range of tools at their disposal, including small cameras, high definition production and special effects, for example 3D.

The other side of the industry is more problematic, however, as it requires that distributors and exhibitors abandon a 100 year old standard, 35 mm, for digital technologies that are more expensive and more difficult to master. A new economic model for equipping thousands of cinemas must be discovered and experimented with by distributors and exhibitors. This model should neither generate new inequalities between the theatres, nor alter the relations in supply and demand. Widely implemented digital projection should improve conditions for disseminating films, and enhance theatres' programming diversification, particularly by benefiting more fragile film industries.

Discussion participants included notably: Claude Miller, filmmaker and president of Europa Cinemas, Daniel Goudineau, who presented the report "Farewell to film? What is at stake in digital projection", Faiçal Laraïchi, president of the Moroccan Société Nationale de la Radio-Télévision, Claude-Eric Poiroux, director general of Europa Cinemas, as well as numerous Moroccan and European professionals from the UK, Norway, Germany and France.

Meeting chairman Nour Eddine Saïl approved of the professionals' wish that these discussions on digital technology should become a regular feature of the Marrakesh International Film Festival, allowing participants a close insight into the evolutions taking place in this strategic domain.

Marrakech, 14 December 2007, Press release

- Participants' Biographies (Word)
- Programme of the meeting (Pdf)

The object of this course is to give the participants thorough and up-to-date knowledge of digital projection. A special emphasis will be put on the European market and on the risks and opportunities of digital projection related to cultural diversity, multilingual and multicultural issues as well as in the financial, economical and entrepreneurial implications of the transition from 35mm to digital screening.

Special attention will be given to the examination of the technical and technological aspects of digital screening (international standards, technical equipment) to the economical and commercial aspects (successful business models, investments required), to the market potential (offer of digital products, alternative contents), to the legal and contractual issues linked to the changes in the distribution process of the 'product' film.

The course will also offer European case studies and a practical demonstration of the potential of digital screening, taking place in a real cinema.

SESSIONS AND DATES
9-13 April 2008 in London, UK

PROJECTS AND PARTICIPANTS
30 European cinema exhibitors and professionals from the associations representing cinema owners, with specific attention to small companies and middle management cominf from medium/large size companies, such as heads of programming, marketing and promotion managers, technical experts.

PARTICIPANTS FEE
€550

For further information please contact:
MEDIA Salles - Agis Lombarda - Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24 - I-20124 Milan - Italy - T: 00 39 02 6739781 - infocinema@mediasalles.it - www.mediasalles.it

The decision of French cinema chain Circuit George Raymond to sign a virtual print fee agreement for sharing the cost of digital cinema with Arts Alliance Media represents a significant step in the evolution of d-cinema in Europe.
With its 400 screens, Circuit George Raymond (CGR) is the first significant exhibitor to sign up to a scheme announced by Arts Alliance Media (AAM) earlier this year. However, it remains to be seen whether this will prove a tipping point in the development of digital cinema in Europe.
AAM announced its plans at CinemaExpo in Amsterdam having already signed up Universal Pictures International and Twentieth Century Fox to the most developed model for sharing costs between distributors and exhibitors - the virtual print fee (VPF). Paramount Pictures International added its support recently.

A model agreement?

The VPF model has been proven in North America, with more than 3,700 digital screens installed to date, but many exhibitors elsewhere have been reluctant to sign up.
Bigger European exhibitors are also keen to see if they can strike a better deal than the one on the table, which some believe compares unfavourably with what is on offer in the US. Smaller exhibitors in Europe have been looking at other business models. They are sceptical that d-cinema will yield the savings on print costs that have been widely heralded, particularly given the insistence of the now largely accepted digital cinema initiatives (DCI) standard on a minimum 2k projection quality.
At the weekend's Europa Cinemas conference in Bucharest, many independent theatre owners were still clamouring for another debate on standards and new proposals on business models. Most accept that d-cinema itself is now a fait accompli, but few were convinced the VPF business model was a good deal. In a vote at the conference, 25% of exhibitors said they expected smaller theatres to go out of business.
The CGR deal is therefore a welcome break for the advocates of DCI. It is also timely, given the studios have shown signs of losing patience with the stalling in Europe. Julian Levin, executive vice-president digital exhibition, Fox Entertainment, said he understood the issues around VPF but warned there was a limit to the patience of studios for arguments that had led to what he called "organised chaos".
"What's changed in the last 12 months is that people now know something has to happen," says John Graham, general secretary of the European Digital Cinema Forum.
The AAM deal with CGR will not make sense for everyone, he suggests. Some smaller chains are already discussing a go-it-alone strategy in which they will not be tied into exclusive deals with distributors.
Everyone, however, will be spurred by the announcement into taking a serious look at their plans and timetable, says Graham. "It will give impetus to the discussion and push things forward a lot. Everyone now is anxious not to be left behind."
More announcements from major chains are expected over the coming months.

Plans for a network

CGR's rollout will start in early 2008, with 200 screens to be completed by the end of the first year. Under the pact, AAM will create a fully DCI-compliant digital cinema network within CGR. (...)

Source: Screendaily.com, 23 Nov 2007

Circuit Converts 400 Screens to Digital Cinema in France

Christie, a leading provider of visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, today announced that the company’s CP2000 series of 2K DLP Cinema® Digital Cinema Projectors has been chosen by Circuit George Raymond (“CGR Cinémas”), one of France’s largest cinema chains as part of an exclusive Virtual Print Fee (VPF) based agreement with Arts Alliance Media (“AAM”), Europe’s leading provider of digital distribution services, for the deployment of Digital Cinema in 100% of the circuit’s 400 screens. This agreement sees CGR Cinémas become the first European exhibitor to convert completely to Digital Cinema exhibition.

CGR Cinémas chose Christie out of the brands evaluated and selected by AAM, the rollout entity who procured the complete Digital Cinema system, both the hardware and software elements. Doremi Cinema LLC have been chosen to provide Digital Cinema servers and French cinema integration and services company Cine Digital Service will provide local installation and support services.

The rollout is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2008, with a target of 200 screens during the first year. Eight screens will be equipped in December this year, so that CGR Cinémas’ customers can enjoy the benefits of 3D Digital Cinema screenings during the Christmas holidays.

CGR Cinémas is a leading and expanding cinema chain in France. The company is well known for the success of its multiplexes in many mid-size cities across the country, for the efficiency of its cost management and for its profitability. By becoming the first European cinema chain to adopt the VPF business model and go fully digital, CGR Cinémas is demonstrating that it is an innovative company, ready to embrace new technology to deliver the best possible quality cinema experience.

CGR Cinémas is the first European exhibitor to sign up to a VPF-based rollout. The VPF business model is a means of financing the conversion to Digital Cinema, where both distributor and exhibitor contribute over time towards the total cost of the digital projection and server equipment, funded up front by the rollout entity (Arts Alliance Media). The VPF model has been proven in North America, with over 4,320 digital screens installed to date, all using Christie’s Digital Cinema projection systems.

“We are delighted to be the first movers in the digital transition and to enter into a new era of French and European cinema,” said Jocelyn Bouyssy, Directeur General of CGR Cinémas. “CGR Cinémas is a forward thinking company and its ability to seize new opportunities makes it one of the most successful chains in the French exhibition market. I would like to thank Gwendal Auffret and AAM’s technical team, the staff at CGR Cinémas, as well as the suppliers and installers for their innovation, creativity, skills and efficiency. This teamwork made such a historical agreement possible and now CGR Cinémas will embark on the great adventure of Digital Cinema in every screen in our circuit.”

Christie’s Vice President for EMEA Dale Miller said “This is another momentous step in the advance of Digital Cinema, one that would not be possible without the passion and commitment CGR Cinémas has shown to giving its customers the best possible movie-going experience.”

Richard Nye, Christie’s Senior Market Development Manager for Cinema in EMEA added “We are delighted to be part of the CGR Cinémas deployment team and to have the opportunity to work again with Arts Alliance Media following the earlier successes of the UK Film Council’s digital screen 240 screen network, completed earlier this year”.

This agreement will see the number of theatres equipped with Christie DLP Cinema Digital Cinema projectors break-through the 1,000 milestone in the EMEA region alone; and will add to the over 4,320 installations of Christie’s CP Series Digital Cinema projection systems that account for over 85% of digital theatres installed in the world today.

Source: Dcinematoday.com, Press release, WOKINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - 21 Nov 2007

The powerpoint presentations of the Digital Workshop speakers are available online, here.

3-D driving switchover

LONDON — Half of worldwide screens will be digital by 2013, according to a report by cinema analysts Dodona Research.
This year has seen an explosion in digital conversion with 4,627 screens, 5% of the global total, switched to digital up to September.
Penetration is deepest in the U.S., home to 78% of the world’s digital screens. The U.K. and South Korea boast the second and third most digital screens.
Other advanced Euro digital cinema territories are Luxembourg and Belgium, where aggressive conversion led by forward thinking exhib circuits Utopia and Kinepolis, respectively, means almost 50% of both small markets are digital.
Report predicts upcoming slew of high-profile 3-D releases will increase exhib’s appetite for digital conversion.
Dodona points to the example of the Odeon UCI circuit, which has announced its intention to install 500 3-D systems, despite having fewer than 100 screens converted to digital at present.
Recent widespread adoption has been facilitated by the emergence of third party integrators willing to cover the large conversion costs, says the Dodona report.
These integrators typically finance purchase of the equipment, seeking to repay loans by levying an array of usage charges. While the cost of installation, maintenance contracts and sometimes content delivery charges are paid by exhibitors, the main source of revenues to support conversion comes from virtual print fees. These are paid by distributors out of their notional savings from not having to strike 35 mm film prints.
The report, although upbeat on the prospects for continued conversion, does identify a variety of hurdles standing in the way of the d-cinema revolution.
“The next step in the market’s evolution is probably going to need a fall in the price of equipment, or higher virtual print fees, or bigger exhibitor contributions, or all of these,” report author Karsten-Peter Grummitt said. “Strategies in this market need to move on from the ‘who pays?’ face-off of the last few years to focus on how to get this done.”

Source: By ARCHIE THOMAS, Variety.com, 12 Nov 2007

Through his work in the Scottish exhibition sector, Nick Varley knew that putting classic films on screen had a number of obstacles. "If you want to do a good retrospective, you have to find a print that's worth screening. Programming was being compromised because of the state of prints and their availability."
In 2003, he teamed with John Letham to launch Glasgow-based distributor Park Circus to specialise in back-catalogue and repertory runs. Letham had also worked in exhibition and had a background in marketing and electronics and saw the potential for digital cinema.
"We saw a gap in the market commercially with classic films," Varley says. "It's a hell of a lot of work servicing cinemas with old films, managing rights and materials."
They started with a trial theatrical release for What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? Letham says: "It was a good test case because you couldn't buy it on DVD at the time."
From there, Park Circus took over the UK and international theatrical licensing for Granada International. "We were at the right place at the right time - they wanted to make more theatrical use of their library," Varley says.
Letham says the business "snowballed" from that deal, and Park Circus now manages theatrical rights to more than 7,000 films, including Brief Encounter, Casablanca, Last Tango In Paris, Taxi Driver and Withnail & I. It works with the libraries of Icon Entertainment International, Buena Vista International (UK), MGM/UA and others. Park Circus not only operates in the UK, but for a library like Granada, also serves as worldwide theatrical licensing representative. "For rights holders, it's about increasing revenues from libraries," Letham says.
There is some work to be done before slapping those films on screen. Varley notes: "We inherited some really terrible materials, prints that were 20-30 years old." The company works with rights holders to restore and digitise the films - something that benefits not only a theatrical run but can help DVD and TV sales as well.
Letham says DVD does not pose a threat to Park Circus' emphasis on theatrical reissues. "It's an added bonus. It's fresh eyes coming to a film that also want that big-screen experience; they may also own the DVD."
He adds: "DVDs are making people more film literate, so that might also drive them to see more films on the big screen."
Often Park Circus' releases are helped by the UK Film Council's Prints & Advertising Fund, which supports specialised releases.
Letham says the UK Film Council's Digital Screen Network is also key to Park Circus' business. "We're quite keen to be involved in that. It's very different for cinemas, it gives them so much more flexibility. They can play a film for a day or for a week."
A case in point is Park Circus' one-day showing of Goldfinger on 136 screens in July. "There is no way we could have done that on traditional 35mm prints," Letham says. The James Bond classic, part of the Summer of British Film series with the UK Film Council and BBC2, tallied more than $85,000 (£42,000) in one night.
Releases still to come this year are The Sound Of Music and All About Eve, followed by 2008 plans for The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps and another Bond film. There could be plans to resurrect the successful Summer of British Film again, if the partners wish to continue.
Park Circus is also working with Network for theatrical bookings of Hou Hsiao-hsien's Cannes title Flight Of The Red Balloon.

Source: Wendy Mitchell, Screendaily.com, 28 Sep 2007

Despite growing evidence that digital cinema can offer greater choice that the public wants, rollout in Europe in particular remains mired in an impasse over payment and business models.
That was the message of this year’s Screen International annual digital cinema conference in London.
In his keynote speech, Bud Mayo, CEO of d-cinema pioneer Access IT, spelled out what he believes is the irrefutable argument for new technology – that it will boost off-peak admissions by offering more choice.
“Nobody is in a theatre for the most part Monday to Thursdays,” he said.
“We believe that digital cinema, in addition to better sound and image quality can enable those empty seats to be filled by providing many more choices and scheduling possibilities.”
Slow periods can be filled by alternative screening options for customers, he suggested.
“Music concerts, sporting events ethnic and religious evcnts and lecture series; these choices, live and pre-recorded, will expand dramatically over the next few years.”
“In fact any form of entertainment you find in an arena anywhere in the world will find its way into your screens at off peak hours that are attractive.”
He believes a relatively small amount of supplementary activity to the core film business could bring big results: A 1% increase in admissions in Western Europe alone would mean $600m, he said.
The argument was backed up by other speakers, who offered case studies of experiment in non-film content.
Mark de Quervain, sales and marketing director at UK cinema chain Vue. has experimented with live concerts and is planning a comedy show.
“We are in a learning process, finding out what works and what does not.”
The early efforts, such as a concert this year by veteran rock group Genesis, pulled in customers but de Quervain conceded that it was a huge effort to produce and it was not clear how future global releases would work out.
He estimated that live events and other non-film activity would account for between 1-3% of business.
The potential for charging a premium rate for such content remains one of the more attractive promises of d-cinema, and again there are now proven cases of customers willing to pay a premium rate.
Marc John, head of digital development at the UK’s Picturehouse chain said an opera season from the Met in New York had packed out theatres – both at an initial $25 (£12.50) and the subsequent $50 (£25).
“People did not bat an eyelid at higher prices and cinemas said they not only attracted usual cinemagoers but new people.”
That public demand extends to a wider choice of film rather than simply replacement of feature content.
Peter Buckingham, head of distribution and exhibition at the UK Film Council said the recent experiment during the Summer Of British Film season had been hugely successful.
The council helped put a series of restored classic films – including The Dam Busters, Goldfinger and Brief Encounter in a wide range of cinemas across the country and found audiences highly responsive.
“It proved that people want a wide choice of films on the big screen, even if those films are available on DVD.
Most speakers estimated that alternative content to the current diet would amount to between one and three per cent of their activity.
But such changes inevitably ask questions of the business model.
Despite evidence of benefits digital cinema remains mired in aguments over who pays for installation that is already threatening some parts of the industry.
Nicolette Homes, commercial director at Carlton Screen advertising, which boasts a commanding market share in the UK, warned: “unless we go digital in the next two to three years, I am not convinced we will still be in business.
“To run half the estate digital and half in 35mm is not possible in any way. We will just go bankrupt,”
Major business, she warned, wanted digital advertising but no one would tolerate the costs of a half-digital, half-35mm solution.
What Homes’ point illustrates is that the wider industry knows it cannot stay where it is now, cannot support a halfway house and does not know if it is possible to find an equitable solution to please all parties in the future.
The conference heard that Germany is finding it hard to find a way to reach agreement on a rollout plan that will achieve growth without losing smaller cinemas.
Analyst David Hancock, of Screen Digest, said he feared the debate had led to a damaging “politicisation” of the d-cinema issues in which tensions between demands for fairness and the free market had become a real issue.
The most promising breakthrough in Europe seemed to have come earlier this year when Arts Alliance Media (AAM), which announced a deal with Universal Pictures International and Twentieth Century Fox on the most developed model for sharing costs between distributors and exhibitors - the virtual print fee.
Further deals will come, AAM CEO Howard Kiedaisch promised, saying it was more a question of timing than underlying problems.
Julian Levin, evp digital exhibition, Fox Entertainment, said he understood the issues around VPF but warned there was a limit to the patience of studios for arguments that had led to what he called "organised chaos."
The current deals on the table needed to be taken up by exhibitors, he suggested, or they could end up paying all the bill for digital benefits.

Source: Screendaily.com, 26 Sep 2007

France's CNC and Germany's FFA have signed a joint declaration with regard to the evolution of digital projection and are calling on their European neighbours to join them in certain initiatives to aide in a coherent digital rollout.
Digital projection in Europe, say the CNC and the FFA, must operate with transparency and respect for the specificities and diversity of the European film sector.
Three fundamental principals have been underlined by the two agencies: the quality and security of digital projection; the uniformity of technology across theatres and the neutrality of the technology with regard to the relationship between the various parties involved.
Both agencies have promised to see that the financial modalities, outfitting of theatres and the installment of digital distribution chains are handled in strict accordance with international standards currently being put in place. Further, the groups say they are committed to the digitisation of European films and to helping those films travel.
"These positions are based on the particular conception which we share in Europe that film is an entirely artistic expression which demands that diversity and creative independence are preserved," said a statement released by the two agencies.
Beginning this month, both groups will put in place a common test platform which will gauge the interoperability of digital copies and their conformity to DCI and SMPTE protocols. They will also jointly lay out a structure and interface for a public database of server certification.
A meeting will be held on the subject during the French-German Rendez-Vous in Versailles in November.

Source: Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte, Screendaily.com, 21 Sep 2007

Meeting at La Rochelle for the fifth edition of the International Digital Film Forum(IDIFF), film industry professionals have unveiled the latest advances in digital screening equipment for cinemas. (...)
However, the situation is more complicated in the European market, which is more fragmented than its US counterpart. The main problem concerns the lack of films available in digital, the systematisation of the creation of digital masters, as well a clear distribution of expenses between film distributors and producers. (...)
In distribution, there is a risk that some sectors will be completely left out of the equation, due to a shortage of films or equipped theatres. Claude-Eric Poiroux also pointed out that the Europa Cinemas network, once a pioneer in distribution, is now behind the times because films available in digital are mainly domestic and US productions. Diversity will therefore be under serious threat, with certain film genres no longer distributed and cinemas that will be obliged to alter their programme.
In exhibition, experts think that each complex will need three theatres equipped with digital in order for films to have a full theatrical run. However, independent distributors may be forced to supply prints in digital and 35mm, as their films will often serve as a variable of adjustment in multiplexes. In addition to this double cost is the fact that cinemas equipped with digital facilities are often the largest and therefore beyond the reach of films made by independent distributors, as pointed out by Adeline Monzier of D.I.R.E, who has, however, said that the VPF will be adapted for the French market. (...)
If an economic model is not put in place, the gap may widen quite rapidly between large and small distributors and exhibitors. (...)

Source: Cineuropa.org, 9 Feb 2007, Fabien Lemercier (Excerpts)
Full Article (Link)

The powerpoint presentations of the Digital Workshop speakers are available online.
Digital Workshop

The powerpoint presentations of the Digital Workshop speakers are available online.
Digital Workshop