London—Apr 27, 2007
ACE/Met Film & TV Digital Cinema Conference hailed a great success by all…
On 25th April 2007, over one hundred feature film producers from across Europe converged on The Gate Cinema in Notting Hill to share their knowledge and discuss the exciting digital future which is rapidly changing the landscape of film production, distribution and exhibition.
Director of Atéliers du Cinema Européen and Chair of the Irish Film Board, Simon Perry opened the day with an introduction to ACE, before handing over to Luke Montagu, CEO of Met Film & TV, who raised the issues which would frame the day; how digitisation is disrupting traditional patterns of production, post-production, distribution and exhibition and what the film industry needs to do to accommodate and exploit the new technologies.
Speaking on the morning’s panel about the challenges of digital production, were independent producers Jonny Persey of APT Films, Arvind David of Slingshot Studios, Mark Herbert of WarpX, Fiona McGuire of Revolution Films and Sol Gatti of The Bureau as well as Lee & Thompson media lawyer, Reno Antoniades. Each producer gave a different view of the way digital technologies are affecting both the role of the independent producer in the production process as well as encouraging new business models to be adopted by independent production companies which are better aligned with the increased flexibility and lowered budgets of digital filmmaking.
Following this lively panel discussion, Fiona Deans from cutting-edge media technology company Arts Alliance Media and Peter Buckingham from the UK Film Council presented the UK Digital Screen Network, which now operates on over 240 cinema screens across the country. Their presentation sparked an animated discussion between the speakers and the delegates on the real benefits of digital cinema exhibition for producers, distributors and exhibitors.
After lunch followed a panel discussion on the shifting shape of distribution and how the role of the distributor is changing as new digital platforms open up new distribution channels. Chairing the panel was Terry Ilott from the Cass Business School and he was accompanied by Pierre-Alexandre Labelle from French VoD network Universcine, Media Lawyer Christos Michaels from Lee & Thompson, Eve Gabereau from Soda Pictures, Liz Rosenthal from Earthy Delights, Penny Nagle from Shooting People, Elizabeth Draper from Slingshot Distribution and Claire Binns from City Screen.
The final session was led by CEO of Arts Alliance Media, Howard Kiedaish, who presented his view of the future of digital cinema, with a focus on how producers can hold on to their rights in digital exploitation and ensure that they continue to share in the profits of all new digital distribution and exhibition platforms for their films.
Luke Montagu closed what had been an inspirational and informative day with a short question and answer with a number of ACE producers on their experiences of digital filmmaking so far and a discussion of the key points the producers would take away with them as the industry continues to find its way in the digital revolution.
“I was so pleased that I came to what was a very stimulating day. Congratulations to everyone involved! Brilliant organisation and great panellists - I wouldn't have missed it for anything.” Clive Parsons, Producer (Tea With Mussolini)
“It was an excellent day and I would like to thank the organisers for such an excellent event. I came away inspired to go forth and produce in HD!” Helen Cromarty, Producer
