Milan, 22 September 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Today Budapest saw the start of the 2004 edition of "European Cinema Exhibition: A New Approach", the well-established training course for cinema exhibitors promoted by MEDIA Salles and specifically devoted to theatre management and marketing. Over forty professional figures from all over Europe are taking part, from France to Finland and from Greece to the United Kingdom. Domenico Dinoia, President of MEDIA Salles, welcomed the participants, thanking the Hungarian collaborators who "thanks to their efforts, their will to collaborate and their strong sense of hospitality, have made it possible for our 2004 course - held in the year during which the European Union has become larger and more populous - to be held in Hungary, providing an extra interest for the participants". After reading the warm message to the participants from Costas Daskalakis, Head of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles, reminded them that "this is the first course ever for movie theatres within the framework of the MEDIA Programme". Thanks to the support of MEDIA Salles and to that of the Italian Government, the course has thus reached its fourth edition.
Satisfaction with the venue chosen for this international initiative was expressed by Miklós Taba, Director General of the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's National Film Office recently set up, by Éva Vezér of Magyar Filmunió and by Sándor Pétróczy, President of the Hungarian exhibitors' association.
The main theme of the course regards possible prospects for the cinema market, following the situation determined by the presence of the multiplexes: the future developments, the marketing models that appear to be taking the lead, the spaces open to European films in multi-screen cinemas and others. These aspects were examined in detail thanks to talks by Ferenc Port, President of the distribution and exhibition company Budapest Film, that bases its strategy on the balance between a commercial policy and the transmission of cultural values, and by Adnan Akdemir, President of Afm, the leading exhibition company in Turkey, soon to be quoted on the stock market. .

For further information:
MEDIA Salles
Via Soperga, 2
I-20127 Milan
Tel.: +39.02.66984405 - Fax: +39.02.6691574
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it