21/07/2009

UK distribution company Revolver Entertainment and Dolby Laboratories Inc. have joined hands to physically distribute John Maringouin’s documentary Big River Man in an eco-friendly way.

The film follows the 66-day attempt by Slovenian swimmer Martin Strel to swim the length of the Amazon River to highlight ecological concerns. In keeping with the film’s ecological theme Revolver will use the Dolby Direct Distribution Services (DDDS) digital cinema satellite delivery service to exclusively distribute the film.

Revolver Head of Operations Carly Morell said, “The film will be mastered by Dolby in the US and then transmitted direct to the company’s UK centre. From there, Dolby’s UK mastering facility will produce the Digital Cinema Package and then transmit them by satellite to digital cinemas around the UK – cutting out the need for air freight and couriers, which in the past have been used to transport 35mm film and hard drives containing digital prints. This will reduce Big River Man’s carbon footprint and further help to reinforce Martin Strel’s green message.”

“We believe it is the most eco-friendly and efficient way to deliver digital content to multiple sites across the UK,” Morell added.

DDDS is a pan-European satellite content delivery network for participating digital cinemas in association with digital network solutions provider Arqiva. It uses Arqiva’s international satellite infrastructure to distribute content direct to participating exhibitors and cinemas throughout Europe, eliminating physical delivery and manual upload of digital content onto individual cinema servers.

Big River Man opens in the UK on September 4.