Liege - Belgium—May 4, 2007
XDC To Install 16 Digital Systems at The Cannes Film Festival
Over 60 Digital Screenings Confirmed!
As the official digital cinema partner of the Cannes Film Festival, XDC is providing
all of the necessary equipment and technical support to more than 16 auditoriums
with over 60 digital screenings including the parallel sections during the May competition.
More specifically, seven 2K DLP Cinema® projectors1 will be installed into the following
auditoriums: Lumière (2 projectors in order to perform 3D projections), Debussy,
Bazin, Buñuel (also equipped for 3D projections), 60th Anniversary Theatre and the
Beach Cinema.
For the Cannes Film Market, one 2K DLP Cinema® projector will be installed into
the Bory auditorium whereas Gray d’Albion and Palais will be equipped with seven
full HD DLP Standard projectors. In addition, one 2K DLP Cinema® projector will
be placed inside Espace Miramar for Critics’ Week.
“Last year, XDC collaborated with the French CST to operate the digital cinema equipment
for all the digital movies presented during the Festival,” said Bernard Collard,
General Manager of XDC International. “This year, XDC assures that the Festival
will be efficiently deployed by the most advanced digital cinema technologies, i.e.
2K DCI 2 compliant systems including JPEG2000 compression format and 3D projections.”
XDC will rely on two expert manufacturers which will deliver their state of the
art products. First, XDC has selected Christie as their exclusive supplier of digital
cinema projectors for the Festival. “As the leading manufacturer Digital Cinema
projection technology, Christie is deeply committed to helping movie-makers around
the world bring their vision to the screen and show the highest possible image quality”
said Dale Miller, Vice-President of Christie EMEA. “Cannes is probably the most
recognized film festival in the world and a major cultural influence in cinema.
We consider it a privilege that our digital cinema projectors can be used here to
help audiences appreciate the work of so many artists, technicians and experts of
their craft.”
Secondly, Doremi has been selected by XDC as the exclusive supplier for the JPEG2000
digital cinema servers. Patrick Zucchetta, General Manager of Doremi Europe,
said: “We are very proud to have been selected by XDC, for the prestigious Cannes
Film Festival, as exclusive supplier of the JPEG2000 encoding stations and play-back
servers. This demonstrates once more the technological leadership of our D-Cinema
solutions.”
EVS Broacast Equipment, the world leader in instant tapeless technology and a significant
shareholder of XDC, has been a partner of the TV Cannes Festival since last year.
Moreover, XDC has selected VPS, leading company for the installation of daylight
video walls, the red carpet giant video wall. Together with their high expertise
in the most advanced digital technologies, both XDC and EVS will offer the opportunity
to thousands of movie-goers and millions of TV viewers to join the stars at this
red carpet event.
“Producers, filmmakers and distributors are now convinced of the advantages to screen
their movie digitally. There will be a higher number of films to be digitally
processed and quality controlled by the XDC Digital Content Lab compared to last
year.” said Michael Gillessen, Content Operations Manager of XDC Digital Content
Lab.
As Official Partner, XDC charges the producer, filmmaker or distributor a flat fee
amount which includes conformation of the source material, encoding, encryption
and quality controls. The digital print is generated at XDC Digital Content Lab
where an encrypted backup is kept in case of digital release. The print is
recycled after the Film Festival.
“Thanks to digital cinema, all members of the production and delivery chain have
the opportunity to get their stories to screen the way they intended. More
and more movies are shooted and post-processed digitally. Then, digital screening
helps avoid expensive operations to convert to 35mm, which is particularly crucial
for some independent films with limited budgets.” says Alain Remond, General Manager
of XDC France. “Hence, XDC offers the motion picture community (major studios as
well as small producers) the opportunity to enjoy, during Cannes Festival, the benefits
of the world’s optimal screening conditions.”
The provisional list of the motion pictures to be screened digitally is as follows:
- Official Competition: Zodiac, The Last 15, The Oate’s Valor
- Out of Competition: Ocean’s Thirteen
- Midnight Screenings: U2 3D
- Special Screenings: 11th Hour, The War, He Fengming, … The 60th Anniversary film:
- To Each His Own Cinema
- Cannes Classics: Maurice Pialat - L’amour existe, Brando, Lindsay Anderson - Never
Apologize, Bound by Chastity Rules, Suspiria, Man of Cinema - Pierre Rissient, Donne
moi tes yeux, Hondo, Rio Bravo, Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III, …
Critics’ Week: Heroes, El Asaltante, …
- Film Market: Elvis and Annabelle, Night Train, The Women of Chiapias, Scar, …
- Director’s Fortnight: Cruising, Un autre homme, Zoo, …
“XDC is very proud to be part of this 60th Festival, an optimal competition that
will showcase the best of the digital cinema industry. This exciting commitment
gives XDC the opportunity to exemplify themselves as a deploying entity aiming at
a large-scale digital cinema roll-out,” confirmed Bernard Collard. “As the
leading digital cinema company in Europe, the pan-European roll-out target for XDC
is 8,000 digital screens within the next 5 years.”
PS: XDC will hold a Press Conference in Cannes on Friday, May 18th at 10:30 AM on
the CST Booth (Pantiero) with the presence of Pierre William Glenn, CST President
and Technical Director of the Cannes Film Festival, Bernard Collard, General Manager
of XDC International, and Alain Remond, General Manager of XDC France. Breakfast
will be offered. Contact: +33 (0)6 29 43 28 13.
