27/05/2005

European arthouse films such as Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile], Vera Drake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Touching the Void [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will by the end of the year be available to a much wider audience across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland thanks to the creation of the world’s first ‘Digital Screen Network’ set up thanks to £11.7m funding from the National Lottery via the UK Film Council.

209 cinemas (and 238 screens) including 31 mainstream independent cinemas (ex City Screen, Curzon Cinemas), 129 multiplexes (UCI, Cineworld, VUE chains) and 49 specialized cinemas (including the Chelsea Cinema and Barbican Centre in London) will be equipped with state of the art digital film projectors and related equipment and in return for this new equipment, cinema owners have committed to providing more screening time to showing a wider selection of specialized (non-Hollywood) classics and foreign-language films.
Although not included in the first 209 awarded cinemas, 83 other cinemas have been offered the option of buying the services provided by the Digital Screen Network and its management company Arts Alliance Digital Cinema, such as training, installation of equipment and maintenance.

This digital screen revolution is a turning point for the distribution of European and foreign language films in the UK as print costs alone of around £1,500 per 35mm print (not to mention advertising costs) often restrict those films to a very limited release and audience. But with the Digital Screen Network, those films will reach almost 30 million people in the UK and their screenings will be increased by 75,000 the first year and by 165,000 by 2009 according to the Film Council.

Commenting on this major initiative, James Purnell, Minister for Film said: «Many cinemagoers often only get the pick of a crop of big budget blockbuster films, particularly outside London. That is going to change. The groundbreaking digital network will give film fans more choice- they’ll get to see more British, critically acclaimed and small budget films, alongside classics on the big screen, where they belong».