Milan, 6 April 2005

PRESS RELEASE

“I hope that this course will enable you to profit from the potential offered by these new technologies, which offer increased opportunities for European cinema to tackle the inherent difficulties of the global marketplace”. With this message from Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission, Responsible for the Information Society and Media, “DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for European Cinemas”, began today in Kuurne, Belgium. This is the second edition of the training course for exhibitors promoted by MEDIA Salles and specifically devoted to digital cinema. Around forty professional operators are taking part in the course from eleven European countries, ranging from Portugal to The Netherlands and from Finland to Italy. The venue for the event, which will end on 10 April, is the headquarters of Barco, a company with an international reputation in the production of equipment for digital projection on the big screen. The intense programme foresees sessions devoted to the experiences and strategies of chains of European cinemas, the creation of networks for the circulation of digital content, the exchange of opinions between exhibition and distribution, as well as the viewing of films and trailers and visits to movie theatres equipped with digital technology.
“MEDIA Salles – pointed out Primitivo Rodriguez, Vice President of the Association – is the only MEDIA organisation, amongst the 70 training initiatives financed by the MEDIA Programme, to deal with digital cinema from the exhibitor’s point of view”. And Rodriguez also thanked Barco, in the person of Stephan Paridaen, President of Barco Media & Entertainment, which, by hosting the course, offers participants the opportunity to get a full overview of technical and commercial topics linked to the shift to digital.
Glenn Wastyn, Business Development Manager for Barco Digital Cinema, presented an overview of the market for digital cinema in Europe, the United States and Asia, giving details of the main projects for circuits of digital screens.
The course materials include figures on the diffusion of digital cinema throughout the world, to which a specific section of the MEDIA Salles’ “European Cinema Yearbook – 2004 final edition” is devoted. Here a detailed picture (updated at December 2004) can be obtained of all the screens equipped for digital screening (using DLP CinemaTM technology) and the films produced or distributed in digital format.

The course programme is attached.

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