Milan, 9 April 2005

PRESS RELEASE

The digital screening of Dust to Glory, a United States documentary by Dana Brown, opened the fourth day of the MEDIA Salles’ course “DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for European Cinemas”, which is taking place in Kuurne, Belgium. For Dust to Glory, the first documentary to be made about the famous Mexican overland car race “Baja 1,000”, with 250 hours of shooting in a wide variety of formats – including 35mm, 16mm, DVCam, 30i DV and Hi8 video – post-production was entirely digital. Denis Kelly, Director for Europe of Eastman Kodak Digital Cinema Activities, introduced the screening.
A work session in groups then involved the participants in an evaluation of the opportunities and risks of screening for their cinemas.
Lastly, Angelo D’Alessio, International Manager of SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) explained the main novelties and future prospects for digital cinema. “2006 – said D’Alessio – will be a crucial year in which definitive standards will be available and the system will have an accessible price. Not until 2015 will we see the full digital roll-out”. D’Alessio also pointed out that in a new sector of topical interest like digital cinema, new professional skills need to be constantly up-dated.
In the second half of the day the participants had the chance to visit the “Château du Cinéma” cinema, owned by Kinepolis at Lomme, near Lille. The cinema, which has a grand total of 23 screens and 7,500 seats, is equipped with a Barco DP100 2K projector and, as well as films in digital format, also offers special content, for example children’s programmes.
And as part of an image strategy that aims to involve spectators in the technological advancement of the cinema, Kinepolis has also produced a short but captivating film: just a few minutes showing, by means of breathtaking shots and a few rapid explanations, the advantages of digital technology compared to 35mm.

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