THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN CINEMAS IN THE ERA OF THE INTERNET AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYAlmost 400 participants, including network exhibitors and distributors, research groups and suppliers of equipment, from 36 countries, as well as Romanian directors, producers and professionals, met in Bucharest from 15 to 18 November for the 12th Annual Europa Cinemas Conference.
Discussions focused on the future of the cinema in the era of the Internet, the transition to digital technology and on renewing audience interest in European films.
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Press releases: -
The Future of European Cinemas in the Era of the Internet and Digital Technology-
2007 Europa Cinemas AwardsPictures to download (from top): -
Conference-
Catalin Mitulescu, Corneliu Porumboiu and Andrzej Puszkiewicz-
Michael Gubbins and Cristi Puiu-
Corneliu Porumboiu and Claude Miller-
Conference (Workshops)________________________________
Worshops and Presentations,
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Newsletter: Focus on Romania________________________________
Press Review________________________________
The network exhibitors are aware that digital projection can help diversify their programming, provided that questions of investment and content are resolved. Participants showed great interest in several suggested economic models seeking to adapt the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) principle to the fragmentation and the multiplicity of parties involved in the European market.
The flexibility retained last year by the RMC Rinke Medien Consult study, commissioned by Europa Cinemas, was largely resumed by third-party investors seeking to translate into reality the participation of distributors in the financing of digital projectors in cinemas.
All of the participants recalled that the solution involved firstly a financial agreement between distributors and exhibitors, although a contribution by local or regional public authorities could be encouraged as support for cinemas in small and medium-sized towns.
From a technical point of view, 2K continues to be the norm for all exhibitors who expressed the need for full interoperability between systems.
As far as content is concerned, exhibitors consider this to be most lacking, failing to see the usefulness of purchasing equipment quickly for the screening of so few European films. However, several companies presented plans to launch European films in digital, new films and retrospectives.
In conclusion, the Conference encouraged
all independents in the sector, both distributors and exhibitors, to find their own economic models without waiting for these to be imposed by the American major companies or large European networks.
Costas Daskalakis, for the European Commission, clearly explained that the MEDIA programme would not finance digital equipment in cinemas. Europa Cinemas will continue to grant additional support to the scheduling of European films screened using 2K technology.
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Exhibitors agreed that the Internet could be turned to their advantage and become the new word-of-mouth for European films, providing better knowledge of films and attracting young audiences to cinemas. The internet has, furthermore, been extended by participants in all technologies and supports which today offer images as clips, games or films to an increasingly young and increasingly captive audience.
A Dutch sociologist present recalled that young people need to get together more than ever. Why not at film theatres?
Several exhibitors gave evidence of the importance of retaining their brand image to their audiences showing that, on the contrary, their originality should be reaffirmed in terms of choice of films and activities. This view will be at the heart of future network meetings since it is crucial in allowing the cinema to maintain its place as market leader in a world of growing competition between the various forms of entertainment and sharing.
Exhibitors recognise that, thanks to the Internet, they must invent new means of communication to encourage their audiences.
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The Conference paid homage to the young Romanian filmmakers, notably Cristi Puiu, Catalin Mitulescu and Corneliu Porumboiu, all of whom took part in the discussions and Europa Cinemas award ceremonies. They highlighted the cruel inadequacy in the number of cinemas across Romania. There are not enough screens to allow their films to be viewed by their intended audiences in their country of origin.
This situation led the producers Oleg Mutu and Nicoleta Talpes, attending the Conference, to establish, alongside Cristian Mungiu, a Caravan travelling through the country to show
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, in unequipped multi-use venues. Thus, the Palm dOr was seen by 87,000 people in total, in a country which has barely 35 cinemas in operation.
The organisers of this Conference in Bucharest expressed encouragement to any Romanian professional wishing to renovate or build the number of cinemas commensurate with a country of 22 million inhabitants known for having been great cinema-lovers until the 1990s.
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The 2007 EUROPA CINEMAS AWARDS were awarded to:
- Best Programming:
Friedrichsbau & Kandelhof, Freiburg (Germany)
- Best Activities for Young Audiences:
Gdansk Film Centre - Neptun-Helikon-Kameralne, Gdansk (Poland)
- Best Entrepreneur:
Circuito Cinema (Italy)
(see our
press release on the Europa Cinema Awards).
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Europa Cinemas would like to thank all of the speakers and everyone who helped make the Conference possible, particularly Eugen Serbanescu and Doina Bostan (Romanian National Centre for Cinematography), the Ambassador Donato Chiarini, Giorgio Ficcarelli and Renate Roginas (representatives of the European Commission in Romania), Constantin Pivniceru, Carmen Zamfirescu and the Cinema Studio team, Anca Mitran, Marian Tutui and the Cinema Union team, Henri Paul, French Ambassador, Henri Lebreton, Didier Montagné, Justine Potier, Laurentiu Bratan and the team at the French Institute in Bucharest and the Elvire Popesco cinema.
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