ARTS ALLIANCE MEDIA AND CITY SCREEN HOST LIVE Q&A LINK UP VIA SATELLITE WITH M NIGHT SHYAMALAN FOLLOWING AND EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW OF THE VILLAGE
London, 10th August 2004 - Film fans outside the capital are now able to enjoy some of the special cinema events usually reserved for those living in London. Last night, a Q&A with the writer, director and producer of The Village, M Night Shyamalan, was enjoyed not just by those in the auditorium at The Ritzy, Brixton, where the event was taking place, but also by audiences in Cambridge, Liverpool and York, who were linked in via live satellite and were able to put their questions to the director.
The Q&A was preceded by simultaneous digital screenings of The Village at the City Screen regional cinemas (Picturehouse at Fact, Liverpool, Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge and City Screen, York).
Arts Alliance Media organised and managed all technical aspects of the event in collaboration with City Screen who operate Picturehouse Cinemas, the UK’s leading group of independent cinemas, BVI, the distributors of The Village, and Digital Outlook, online marketing specialists who conceived the event.
“This event builds on our experience managing a digital cinema circuit in the UK in addition to providing equipment and services to film festivals and events across Europe” said Fiona Deans, head of digital cinema services at Arts Alliance Media. “It proves the benefits of digital technology to cinema goers who can now participate in a broader range of film-related events.”
Video images provided by internet media specialists Media Wave were broadcast in real time as an MPEG 2 encoded stream across a 15Mb/s uplink to Eutelsat’s W1 satellite. Receivers at each regional site fed the decoded image direct to digital projectors. The audience at the remote sites were able to put questions to M Night Shyamalan via a moderator and then watch his response live.
A mix of Christie and Digital Projection DLP CinemaTM projectors were used and The Village was played from EVS HD MPEG2 servers installed and owned by Arts Alliance Media as part of their digital cinema network.
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Notes to Editors
About Arts Alliance Media
Arts Alliance Media launched its digital cinema circuit in July 2003 at the Cambridge Film Festival. It has installed six permanent digital cinema sites throughout the UK and has provided equipment and services to the Cannes, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Birmingham and Grimstaad festivals. Arts Alliance Media have shown over 20 feature films digitally in their digital cinema circuit. AAM focuses on the development and deployment of new technologies in order to improve service to independent film consumers and the industry. AAM is part of the Arts Alliance group, which specialises in media and technology investments.
For more information see www.artsalliancemedia.com
About City Screen
City Screen is the UK’s largest independent cinema circuit screening specialised films. The company has 18 sites in key university cities thought the UK including, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, York, Aberdeen, Exeter, and in London at Notting Hill, Brixton , Clapham and Stratford. The company is committed to presenting film using the new HD Digital equipment. The recent Cambridge Festival presented over 40 programmes using the Christie Digital projector from a variety of Digital formats.
About Digital Outlook
Digital Outlook is a specialist new media marketing agency with unrivalled experience in the entertainment sector. Working with a range of leading film, TV, music and gaming clients, Digital Outlook is constantly expanding the role of the Internet and new media within the marketing mix. The company develops creative, innovative, engaging and - most importantly - effective new media marketing solutions for its clients, which include Buena Vista International, Island Records, MGM, Polydor, Xbox, THQ, Activision, Ubisoft, YouthNet, East West and Mercury Records.
About The Village
M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, the Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker who brought you The Sixth Sense and Signs assembles an all-star cast, including Academy Award®-nominees Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver and Academy Award®-winners Adrien Brody and William Hurt, to bring the thrilling tale of an isolated village confronting the astonishing truth that lies just outside its borders. At first glance, this village seems picture perfect, but this close-knit community lives with the frightening knowledge that creatures reside in the surrounding woods. The evil and foreboding force is so unnerving that none dare venture beyond the borders of the village and into the woods. But when curious, headstrong Lucius Hunt plans to step beyond the boundaries of the town and into the unknown, his bold move threatens to forever change the future of the village.
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 107 mins
Stills from the film available at: www.image.net
Further info: www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/pressoffice
or contact the BVI Press Office
Tel: 020 8 222 2877 / 1221 / 2828 / 1653