The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) joined a broad coalition of partners lead by the U.S. Department of State in sponsoring the Democracy Video Challenge a worldwide video contest recently launched at the United Nations. The video competition challenges young filmmakers from around the world to create short films that capture what democracy means to them and thereby promote the international dialogue on democracy.
Networking vendor D-Link announced that Arts Alliance Media a European provider of digital film distribution services selected D-Link to supply the network infrastructure for each of the digital cinemas being rolled out by AAM. The agreement will enable existing cinemas across Europe to make the transition to fully digital cinemas thus providing an optimized viewing experience for filmgoers.
Professor Doctor Karlheinz Brandenburg the multi award-winning scientist often referred to as the father of MP3 will deliver the keynote address at SMPTE 2008: Annual Tech Conference & Expo. The director of the distinguished Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (Fraunhofer IDMT) Dr.
Ingelheim Germany-based A/V post-production provider Omnimago has purchased a DVS-SAN from DVS. Sven Lohnke responsible for IT at Omnimago says With the DVS-SAN DVS has offered us precisely the storage solution that we had been looking for for such a long time. We are achieving extremely high data rates and we also benefit from the excellent tools offered by the Spycer software. With its open design DVS-SAN integrates seamlessly into our workflow and enables us to use our time efficiently. The existing third-party SAN system has been replaced with the DVS-SAN.
The American Society of Cinematographers dedicated the 2009 Heritage Award to the memory of Burton “Bud” Stone who was president of Deluxe Laboratories for 18 years. The organization has simultaneously issued a call for entries in the 23rd annual competition for undergraduate graduate or recently-graduated film school students. The deadline for submissions is November 1 2008. The Bud Stone Heritage Award will be presented to one or more recipients during the 23rd Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards on February 15 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
HTV illuminate has purchased two Digital Vision Film Master color grading systems. The Film Masters will become an integral part of an expanded workflow and service offering at the Hollywood post-production facility well-known for digital cinema packaging digital intermediate mastering restoration and standards conversion for film and television. Ron Sabatino technical director of HTV illuminate says “We meticulously evaluated the solutions that we needed to introduce into our workflow as our offerings expand and the facility was upgraded.
Digital Cinema solutions provider Access Integrated Technologies has announced that film distributor Overture Films will provide all of their movies to digital cinema equipped theatres in AccessIT's Phase 1 digital cinema plan and will pay virtual print fees (VPFs) under a 10 year agreement similar to those signed by all the other major studios. This agreement expands upon the strong relationship the companies have built since Overture's inception last year as Overture is already a customer of both AccessIT's distribution software and satellite delivery services.
India-based Adlabs Films part of Reliance ADA Group announced that it will premiere the 3D Hollywood movie Journey to the Center of the Earth in digital 3D for the first time at the Adlabs Cinema in Vashi in New Mumbai. In a press statement Patrick von Sychowski chief operating officer of Adlabs Digital Cinema says that the digital 3D technology was a new form of cinema entertainment where the audience can view the movie with enhanced clarity.
Internet-based distributor IndiePix announced its latest collection: a series of adaptations of famous plays and films with a Shakespearian theme. For the first time film lovers and educational bodies can access this new collection which includes such classics as Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare compilation including Henry V (1944) Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). In addition many of the films provide a cultural twist to the story making it unique to the filmmaker's home country.
Vivitek Corporation formally announced its entry into the growing marketplace for high-quality signage visual display and professional presentation products. The company based in Southern California has already begun shipping its first line of DLP projectors and flat screen digital signage offerings. Vivitek has taken a unique industry position of offering only the best-of-breed technology in each category. Its projector line products are all equipped with Texas Instruments' exclusive DLP technology and its digital signage products will all display in LCD technology only.
