As Alamo Drafthouse moves closer to the opening of its Downtown Brooklyn theater, the company is pleased to announce the addition of Mike Sampson to its New York City team as senior marketing and promotions manager. Along with New York creative manager & programmer Cristina Cacioppo, Sampson will be a key member of the team guiding and executing the creative vision for Downtown Brooklyn, as well as future NYC venues.
Composer John Williams was honored with the American Film Institute's 44th Life Achievement Award last week, in an evening filled with music and memories from his treasured collaborators, including J.J. Abrams, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. This marked the first time in history that America's highest honor for a career in film was bestowed upon a composer. The televised special, AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams, will air on TNT June 15 at 10:00 p.m., followed by an encore presentation on sister network Turner Classic Movies on September 12 during a night of programming dedicated to Williams.
Barco today announced that it has acquired MTT Innovation Inc., based in Vancouver, Canada. MTT is a developer of projection technology with expertise in high dynamic range, applied imaging algorithms, advanced color science and specialized hardware development.
New York Women in Film & Television has announced the results of the 2016 board of directors election. As a nonprofit 501c3 public charity, NYWIFT is governed by an 18-member board of directors. Board members serve on committees in the areas of Development, Membership, Communications, Programming and Special Events. The board is elected by the membership. Six spots on the board have been filled, with four new members and two returning members.
Cinema immersive sound is upside down. Technology providers invest in intellectual property for immersive sound rendering engines, but they compete on the availability of content. Trading on content has been counterproductive to growth, contributing to a lackluster immersive sound installation count that is less than two percent of worldwide screens. Immersive sound has more moving parts to address than distribution, but the industry is fixated on a design from scratch, do-everything, distribution standard that’s two and a half years in the making and at least as many years from finding its way into cinemas. A deeper look shows that the key friction point of production for competing systems has been addressed. It’s time to put immersive sound right side up and grow the format.
The SoHo International Film Festival has announced the films that will appear in this year’s event. The festival returns to New York City June 9-16 at Village East Cinemas.
The television series The Young Pope, a joint production by Sky, HBO and Canal Plus, produced by Wildside and co-produced by Haut et Court and MediaPro, is currently using WCPMedia Services’ virtual screening room and collaboration platform to share media during production and post, and to deliver trailers to target buyers.
Ymagis Group has announced the June 8 launch of Celluloid Angels, the first crowd-funding platform to finance the restoration of heritage/classic films. Celluloid Angels will enable visitors to participate in a unique experience by assisting in the conservation of international heritage films in a meaningful way.
One million Australians 14 and older see art house or foreign language movies at the cinema—but they still go to mainstream movies too, Roy Morgan Research cinema attendance data shows. More than half (58 percent) of art house-foreign film-goers saw just one such film in an average three month period last year, while 30 percent saw two or three, and the remaining twelve percent saw four or more. Overall, at an average of two such films each per quarter, it adds up to a total of eight art house/foreign films over the year.
CinemaNext, part of the Ymagis Group, has opened its first French regional sales and technical support office at the Pôle Pixel in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon. Olivier Douet, head of sales for CinemaNext France, Switzerland and Africa, manages the office.
