XDC News

XDC News http://www.xdcinema.com/news/index.phtml News from XDC Globule Bleu Hugues Lismonde <hugues@globulebleu.com> http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/08/XDC-Offers-Grupo-Compay-Segundo-Concert--as-HD-Satellite-Live-Broadcast-to-European-Theatres-_2 XDC Offers Grupo Compay Segundo Concert as HD Satellite Live Broadcast to European Theatres Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tableau Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tableau Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} With the help of Open Sky Italia, XDC offered an amazing  live Latino concert to its exhibition clients in Europe.Angleur – Belgium – August 7th, 2008 – An extraordinary live musical show was transmitted in HD satellite broadcast to European theatres. The 2-hour concert was performed in Livorno (Italy) on August 2nd, 2008 to commemorate the 100th music of a symphonic orchestra composed of 30 elements that played along with the band. For this occasion, the group performed a few famous Caribbean songs such as "Besame Mucho", "Perfidia e Guantanamera" and some special arrangements from the famous Cuban composer Tony Taño. birthday of Compay Segundo, the most famous Cuban musician in the world. The group of nine musicians, some of which participated in the Wim Wenders film "Buena Vista Social Club", was accompanied by Compay Segundo himself with his two sons, Salvador and Basilio. This Italo/Cuban project brought forward by the Orchestra Director Stefano Mazzoleni and by the sons of Compay Segundo was very peculiar, as it presented a fusion of Cuban traditional music from the Grupo Compay with the full  “The event theme was attractive and original." said Fabrice Testa, Vice President, Sales & Business Development, XDC. "It was an opportunity for XDC to offer to its exhibition clients a new kind of alternative content. It was really very successful technically speaking as well as in regard to the value of the content..Alternative content programmes are an added-value for digital cinemas and offer a new way to entertain the audience. The quality of the sound and images gave an impressive sensation of being in Livorno with thousands of people attending the event."    Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-08-07T17:17:24+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/08/XDC-Official-Partner-of-the-61st-Locarno-Film-Festival-40-Motion-Pictures---100-Digital-Screenings---5-Digital-Systems--- XDC Official Partner of the 61st Locarno Film Festival 40 Motion Pictures - 100 Digital Screenings - 5 Digital Systems ! As the official digital cinema technical partner, XDC is providing all of the necessary projection equipment and technical support for the digital screenings which will be performed on the famous Piazza Grande and in the Teatro Kursaal, the Auditorium Fevi, La Sala and the Rialto. "This year, XDC assures that the Festival will be efficiently deployed by the most advanced digital cinema technologies, such as Barco 2K DLP Cinema® projectors and XDC G3 JPEG2000 DCI compliant D-Cinema servers.", says Patricia Boillat, Image & Sound Supervisor for Locarno Festival.  "Together, we will give the assurance to the Festival that the digital workflow operations are achieved in due time and with the required level of reliability."The theatre rooms will be equipped with Barco 2K DLP Cinema® projectors. Barco has been selected by XDC as Official Supplier for this 61st Locarno Film Festival. The Piazza Grande will be equipped with the Barco DP-3000 projector while Barco DP-2000 projectors will be installed into the other auditoriums.  "Being the brightest digital cinema projector in the industry, the DP-3000 is the perfect solution for such an amazing show experience.  Imagine an open-air theatre with an attendance of 10,000 moviegoers and a screen width of 26 metres for a projection distance of 80 metres.  This will demonstrate the high performance of Barco's 2K digital cinema projectors.", points out Tim Sinnaeve, Sales Director Digital Cinema at Barco.XDC will provide the technical support for all digital projections in collaboration with its Swiss integrator Protronic AG Kinotechnik.  "We are very excited about the partnership with the Locarno Festival.  Indeed, this Festival is an outstanding opportunity on the Swiss market. With about 100 digital screenings, it enables XDC to show filmmakers, producer's cinematographers, in fact all members of the production and delivery chain the comprehensive tools and services they can use to get their stories to screen the way they intended.  The motion picture community can enjoy the benefits of XDC's optimal screening conditions" concludes Patrik Engler, Protronic CEO.40 films will be digitally processed and quality controlled by the XDC Digital Content Lab in comparison with 17 films last year"Moreover, digital screening helps avoid expensive operations to convert to 35mm, which is particularly crucial for some independent films with limited budgets," says Fabrice Testa, Vice President Sales & Business Development at XDC International.XDC will participate to the Future of Cinema Panel on Digital Distribution in association Cineuropa.orgSaturday August 9th, 2008 - Forum - 11:00am Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-08-06T08:00:00+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/06/XDC-Signs-Cooperation-Agreement-with-Emerging-Pictures-For-European-Digital-Distribution-Services XDC Signs Cooperation Agreement with Emerging Pictures For European Digital Distribution Services XDC, the leading digital cinema service company in Europe, signs a cooperation agreement with Emerging Pictures, New York-based digital entertainment company, to provide, in selected European countries, digital mastering and distribution logistical services for La Scala opera titles.Amsterdam, Cinema Expo 2008 - The opera performances from La Scala, the legendary 229 year-old Opera house in Milan, as well as other opera titles distributed by Emerging Pictures, will now be digitally processed by the XDC Digital Content Lab in order to allow audiences in cinemas in Europe to enjoy the magic of opera. The initial agreement signed between XDC and Emerging Pictures is for the technology cinema services required for the distribution of content in digital file format to digital screens installed in Benelux, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain. Other territories should be added soon. "We are very proud to have been selected by Emerging Pictures as its technology partner in continental Europe. This results from our successful track-record for several years with hundreds of titles and thousands of digital copies processed by our Digital Content Lab," said Fabrice Testa, Vice President Sales & Business Development, XDC. "We are used to serve a lot of cinemas all over Europe. Besides the digital mastering, we also offer added-value services like extranet applications, NOC (Network Operations Centre) services and a multilingual helpdesk available all the day and all the week."The current digital cinema series of operas from the Teatro all Scala (La Scala) includes "La Traviata" (Verdi), "Aida" (Verdi) "Maria Stuarda" (Donizzetti), "Il Triittico" (Puccini) and "Tristan und Isolde" (Wagner).The 2008/2009 La Scala season will begin with Verdi's " Don Carlo" and then Rossini's "Viaggio a Reims". "The collaboration with XDC, Europe's leading provider of digital cinema technology services is a logical choice in expanding the digital cinema distribution of Emerging Pictures's programs of operas from La Scala and other Italian grand theatres, as well as Ballet from the Bolshoi. No other company has the experience and record of excellence in performance that XDC has demonstrated over the years as a pioneer in this field," stated Giovanni Cozzi , President of Emerging Pictures.Bernard Collard, Executive Vice President & General Manager, XDC concluded: "We know Giovanni and his team for a while . and we are really happy to be able to work with them. Today, alternative content programmes like operas are seen by exhibitors, equipped with digital equipment, as important contributors to expand their revenues. For sure, the superb operas of La Scala are offering amazing experiences on the big screen." Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-06-25T08:25:29+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/06/XDC-Signs-its-First-Large-Scale-Deployment-Agreement-With-Cineplexx-for-193-Digital-Screens-in-Austria- XDC Signs its First Large-Scale Deployment Agreement With Cineplexx for 193 Digital Screens in Austria XDC, the leading digital cinema service company in Europe, announces to have signed an exclusive agreement with Cineplexx Kinobetriebe GmbH, the largest cinema chain in Austria, for the deployment of digital cinema systems in 100% of the circuit's 193 screens. This agreement represents a contract of a total value of about 24 millions Euros.Amsterdam, Cinema Expo 2008 - The agreement signed between Cineplexx and XDC includes the roll out of DCI-compliant projection systems co-financed by the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) model. The rollout is scheduled to begin in the last quarter of 2008, with a target of 50% of each complex screens converted during the first contractual year.Serge Plasch, XDC's Chief Executive Officer said: "We are very proud to announce this first VPF deal with one important European exhibitor, just one month after having signed our digital cinema deployment agreements with the studios. This demonstrates that the XDC's VPF-based business proposal meets the requirements of European exhibitors. We expect to announce additional deployment deals in other countries soon."Christian G. Langhammer, Cineplexx's Chief Executive Officer said: "We are delighted to be the first exhibitor to go fully digital with the XDC's VPF-based business model. We have been working with XDC for several years. They have financed, installed and serviced our first 16 digital screens. XDC has the best team to support exhibitors into their transition to digital, and I'm really excited to extend our cooperation with this major milestone, which will give to Cineplexx huge opportunities to benefit from all the advantages of digital cinema." Christof Papousek, Cineplexx's Chief Financial Officer added: "Besides offering pristine image quality to our audience, we will extend our programming to alternative content, 3D shows and live satellite events (opera, concerts, sports .). Last but not least, digital will allow us to reduce our operational costs."Under the terms of the agreement, XDC will exclusively install DCI-compliant digital projection systems: Christie 2K DLP Cinema® projectors and XDC's CineStore® Solo G3 D-Cinema servers. XDC will also implement a fully integrated and networked solution in each complex, thanks to its advanced Theatre Management System and Central Library, the XDC's CineStore® Plaza.Film Ton Technik (FTT), via its Austrian subsidiary FTT Digital Cinema GmbH, will carry out the installations and the maintenance, as well as the frontline helpdesk. Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-06-24T08:12:42+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/06/XDC-Previews-its-Dolby-3D-Compatible-D-Cinema-Server-at-Cinema-Expo-2008- XDC Previews its Dolby 3D Compatible D-Cinema Server at Cinema Expo 2008 XDC announces that its CineStore® Solo G3 D-Cinema server was approved for Dolby 3D Digital CinemaAmsterdam, Cinema Expo 2008 - Thanks to its expert Technology team, XDC makes another breakthrough in the digital cinema industry by integrating the Dolby® 3D Digital Cinema playback capability inside its recent D-Cinema server, the Solo G3. "Our current exhibitor clients already equipped with the XDC CineStore® Solo G3, and all the other exhibitors deploying digital screens and selecting our server because of its assets, will now be able to install Dolby 3D Digital Cinema technology," said Thierry Van der Kaa, General Product Manager, XDC."Our work with XDC underscores Dolby's commitment to interoperability in the digital cinema industry," said John Carey, Vice President Marketing, Dolby Laboratories. "3D digital cinema is transforming the movie-going experience, and our 3D playback compatibility licensing program lets exhibitors around the world take advantage of the numerous 3D titles scheduled to be released with Dolby's 3D solution."Today, the XDC CineStore® Solo G3 is then fully agnostic with respect to the 3D stereoscopic projection system requested by exhibitors. Indeed, the Solo G3 works now either with the XpanD active system or with the REAL D passive system or with Dolby 3D Digital Cinema. Dual projectors are also another possibility."This achievement was possible because of our strategic choice to design the Solo G3 with flexible technologies allowing to upgrade the system through a set of dedicated tools that we have developed," concluded Jerome Delvaux, Vice President Technology, XDC. A 3D demo show was successfully performed by means of the "Dolby 3D" XDC CineStore® Solo G3 during the ICTA seminar at the Mustsee Cinema in Delft. Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-06-23T08:48:20+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/06/XDC-Signs-Digital-Cinema-Deployment-Agreements-with-Sony-Pictures-Releasing-International-and-Universal-City-Studios-LLP--and-Is-the-First-Deploying-Entity-in-Europe-to-Have-Signed-with-Six--6--Major-U-S--Distributors XDC Signs Digital Cinema Deployment Agreements with Sony Pictures Releasing International and Universal City Studios LLP, and Is the First Deploying Entity in Europe to Have Signed with Six (6) Major U.S. Distributors XDC, the leading digital cinema service company in Europe, has signed non-exclusive agreements with Sony Pictures and Universal and is now the first deploying entity having signed with six (6) major U.S. distributors to target the deployment of up to 8,000 DCI-compliant digital cinema installations across Europe.Amsterdam - Cinema Expo 2008 - Sony Pictures Releasing International ("Sony Pictures") and Universal City Studios LLP ("Universal") will support XDC, acting as a Deploying Entity, to roll out DCI-compliant digital cinema systems for theatrical presentations in several countries in Europe. Under the terms of the agreements, Sony Pictures and Universal have independently and non-exclusively agreed to supply European exhibitors with their feature films in digital form (if booked) for projection on DCI-compliant digital cinema screens, as well as to make financial contributions in order to promote DCI-compliant digital cinema projection systems (a new and higher quality delivery format).These agreements, together with those signed with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and The Walt Disney Studios, are a major milestone in Europe, and for XDC in particular . the company is now the first one to offer a full Hollywood slate and will work with the European Distributors.Commenting on the announcement, Mark Zucker, President of Distribution for Sony Pictures Releasing International, said: "Digital cinema is not just about the evolution of motion picture exhibition; it's about the technological revolution that allows consumers to experience our motion pictures the way filmmakers intend, with beautiful, clear images and pitch perfect sound. Enhancing the theatrical experience for audiences everywhere is the goal of Sony Pictures and we are delighted and excited to support XDC as we work together to provide state-of-the-art projection systems to moviegoers."David Kosse, President, Universal Pictures International agreed: "XDC is warmly supported by Universal. The digital world is the future, and we as a studio are committed to its continual and sustained growth. We look forward to supplying our movies to this new digital platform and, along with audiences, reaping the rewards by continuing to enhance the theatrical experience."Serge Plasch, XDC's Chief Executive Officer commented: "These agreements with Sony Pictures and Universal, together with the ones signed with the other studios, mark and ease the beginning of the large scale deployment of digital cinema in Europe. For XDC, the next steps are the negotiation of similar agreements with European movie distributors, the sale of this co-financing proposal to cinema exhibitors across Europe and last but not least, both equity and debt raising to fund the digital roll-out phase. This infrastructure deployment will also help XDC to develop its other activities: first, the design and sale of cinema advanced solutions, secondly, the installation and maintenance of complete digital cinema systems for exhibitors, and thirdly, digital content processing and distribution services for movie distributors and advertising sales houses." Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-06-23T08:36:44+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/05/John-B--Birchell-Hughes-is-leaving-XDC John B. Birchell Hughes is leaving XDC Angleur, May 30th 2008 – XDC’s CEO Serge Plasch said today “We regret to announce we’ll be bidding farewell to our esteemed colleague John B. Birchell Hughes at Cinema Expo in Amsterdam. We wish him every success, as he leaves XDC at the end of June to pursue other activities in the motion picture and entertainment industries. We have known John for just about as long as EVS, and latterly XDC have been involved in digital cinema. We retained his services early in 2005. As Senior Vice President, Production and Distribution Relations, he built the indispensible relationships with Hollywood and international distributors and content providers so crucial to keep the XDC screens showing digital movies. Without John his languages, and his astounding technical and industry knowledge, our team would have had a much tougher task to service over 100 titles to the over 150 digital cinemas it installed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the time he was with us.”“From the advent of the Virtual Print Fee financial model in the US in 2006, John has guided XDC’s approaches to the major Hollywood studios leading to our recent announcement of the success of those negotiations for nonexclusive deployment agreements in Europe Latterly, John served on our management board. Although he’ll no longer be under the XDC banner, we do look forward to seeing him at industry events.” John comments: “In 2000, Frank Stirling at Boeing encouraged me back into the motion picture area from telecoms. These last few years, building bridges between Los Angeles and Europe and supporting a major content program in German speaking countries, have been such an exhilarating time for me. XDC has been fantastic and has given me unequalled opportunities to get to grips with the workflow processes facing the distribution and exhibition of digital movies in a quality of which directors and filmmakers can be proud. I’d like to thank all of the team, but particularly Bernard Collard, Till Cussman and Philippe Grandclaudon for their support. With Serge Plasch, XDC has an energetic and proven CEO to lead the team through the next challenges.“Many friends and industry colleagues have unselfishly supported during my time at XDC. Of course we’ll see each other in the future, but Sven Andresen, Leo Baumgartner, Michael Beckmann, Patrik Engler, Tom Molter, Walt Ordway, Joe Peixoto, PamelaTarrabe, Thomas Rüttgers and so many more (including my friends from the erstwhile Boeing Digital Cinema), and particularly my mentor, the late Charles Swartz, thank you all for putting up with me at unspeakable times of night and sometimes even during the day!“I feel my task is now to make sure that digital cinema content and its precursor steps have both end-to-end production and integrated artistic technical concepts and creative ideas, ideas which culturally and internationally exploit creative potential beyond 35mm excellence. I hope this will help everyone in this wonderful industry reach far beyond what is being done today. For instance, my wish to see all forms of classical dance from Ballet to Kathkali being exhibited in stereoscopic display (3D) to large cinema audiences around the world is on the cusp of realization.“Finally, I wish my colleagues at XDC well. To date, XDC is the only company to have realized significant commercial digital cinema footprints in 10 continental European countries and deserves the greatest of recognition for this accomplishment. Laurent, well done! ” Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-05-30T18:00:40+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/05/XDC-Signs-Digital-Cinema-Deployment-Agreements-with-Warner-Bros--Entertainment-Inc---Paramount-Pictures-Corporation-Twentieth-Century-Fox-Film-Corporation-and-The-Walt-Disney-Studios XDC Signs Digital Cinema Deployment Agreements with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation,Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and The Walt Disney Studios XDC, the leading digital cinema service company in Europe, has signed non-exclusive long-term agreements with four (4) major distributors to deploy 8,000 upcoming DCI-compliant digital cinema installations across Europe.Cannes Film Festival 2008 – Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (“Warners”), Paramount Pictures Corporation (“Paramount”), Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (“Fox”) and The Walt Disney Studios (“Disney”) will support XDC, acting as a Deploying Entity, in order to roll out and fund digital systems for theatrical presentations in several countries in Europe. Under the terms of the agreements, Warners, Paramount, Fox and Disney have independently agreed to supply European exhibitors with their feature films in digital form for projection on the digital screens, as well as temporarily contribute to the financing of XDC’s DCI-compliant digital cinema projection systems. The agreements with Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures are in a very advanced stage and are expected to close shortly. Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, International Distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures commented: “Warner Bros. has established a strong working relationship with XDC over the last few years, supplying more digital releases in Europe than any other studio. This is the first digital cinema deployment agreement for Warner Bros. Pictures International, and I’m pleased to be crossing this milestone with a company as experienced and committed as XDC.”Andrew Cripps, President for Paramount said: “Paramount is delighted to have reached this agreement with XDC to deploy DCI-compliant digital projection systems across Europe. We look forward to working together to bring digital cinema to exhibitors and consumers alike, which we believe will help to expand and improve the experience of going to the cinema.”Paul Hanneman and Tomas Jegeus, Co-Presidents of Twentieth Century Fox International, jointly commented: “This agreement with XDC represents another significant plan to finance and roll out DCI-compliant digital projection systems across Europe. Fox remains committed to the transition to a digital cinema platform and looks forward to supplying its movies to DCI-compliant digital projection systems installed by XDC. We are delighted to collaborate with XDC staff, which has the experience and technical expertise to manage this process.” Anthony Marcoly, President of Sales and Distribution for Disney, stated, "Digital cinema represents the absolute best and most enjoyable way to experience motion pictures, and we're excited to be working with XDC as they expand the number of theaters capable of exhibiting films digitally. XDC's commitment to install DCI-Compliant digital cinema systems throughout Europe is great news for moviegoers, and provides Disney and the other Studios the ability to release films in the highest quality digital format possible. These XDC D-Cinema installations are also 3D-ready, which means more great 3D experiences for European moviegoers. With our latest 3D animated feature, 'Bolt,' due to arrive at the end of this year, and more than 10 other Disney 3D titles already in the pipeline, audiences are in for some amazing new entertainment in the very near future.”Serge Plasch, Chief Executive Officer for XDC said: “We are very happy to announce these milestone agreements which offer European exhibitors a viable business model to convert their screens to digital cinema. The support of Warners, Paramount, Fox and Disney is a key factor for XDC and will allow us to keep our momentum in Europe, where XDC, along with over 120 staunch pioneer customers have shown that commercial digital cinema works.”“Successes like this are the result of great team efforts. XDC thanks and recognizes its team members for their unflagging business, technical and legal support during the negotiations. John Birchell Hughes, our Senior Vice President, has guided us on the exciting and challenging journey that produced these four agreements. We are now working intensively on enhancing our products and services in order to offer the best solutions to our first customers who will start their deployment plans within the next 12 months," concluded Bernard Collard, Executive Vice President for XDC. Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-05-23T08:27:45+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/05/XDC-Makes-Digital-Breakthrough-at-The-61st-Cannes-Film-Festival---48-Motion-Pictures---100-Digital-Screenings---18-Digital-Systems--- XDC Makes Digital Breakthrough at The 61st Cannes Film Festival : 48 Motion Pictures - 100 Digital Screenings - 18 Digital Systems ! As the Official Partner of the Cannes Film Festival, XDC is providing all of the necessary equipment and expertise to support over 100 digital screenings including the parallel sections during the May competition, to more than 18 Cannes theatre rooms – including the famous Louis Lumière auditorium.The Opening film, 13 long-feature films of the Official Selection, including 5 motion pictures in competition, the Beach Cinema which will be fully booked with 10 long-feature films and 10 cartoons, renewing 14 classic movies during Cannes Classics … XDC makes digital breakthrough during this 61st Festival, by implementing, under the technical supervision of the French CST, the most advanced digital projection technical solutions (and especially the roll out of its new JPEG2000 CineStore® Solo G3 server) and by offering to the cinema industry the best of the technology.Bernard Collard, EVP & General Manager of XDC International: “XDC is very proud to be part again this year to Cannes Film 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. 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.” List of the 48 digital films – 61st Cannes Film FestivalOfficial Competition: “Blindness” (Opening Film), “Three Monkeys”, “24 City”, “Che”, “Palermo Shooting”, “De moins en moins”Un Certain Regard: “Tyson”, “Tulpan”Out of Competition: “Vicky Christina Barcelona”, “The Good, The Bad, The Weird”, « Kung Fu Panda »Special Screenings: “Of Time and The City”, “C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons”The President Screening: “The Third Wave”Cannes Classics: “Guide”, “Let’s get Lost”, “Santa Sangre”, “This happy breed”, “The Passionate Friends, “Il était une fois … Lawrence d’Arabie”, “You must remember this”, “Lola Montes”, “No subtitles necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos”, “Fingers”, “Hanyo”, “Orphée”, “The Cinema Cinemas Collection”, « The Savage Eye »Beach Cinema: “Enter The Dragon”, “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang”, “What’s Up Doc?”,“Dirty Harry”, “Captain Blood”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Blazing Saddles”, “Matrix”, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane ?”, 10 cartoons from the « Looney Tunes » collection, « Le mystère de Samba » Installations to support the 100 digital screenings of the FestivalXDC has selected Christie as the exclusive Official Supplier of the digital projectors.Film Festival: 7 Christie 2K DLP Cinema® projectors will be installed in the following auditoriums: Lumière, Debussy, Bazin, Buñuel, 60th Auditorium and the Beach Cinema.Film Market : 2 Christie 2K DLP Cinema® projectors will be installed in Bory auditorium (which will also be used for 3D projections) et auditorium J while 8 Christie high definition DLP Standard projectors will equip the other HD video rooms.To be highlighted this year: one 2K digital control room will be installed in the Palais des Festivals in order to check the digital copies.D-Cinema JPEG2000 servers: CineStore® Solo G3 and Doremi DCP-2000.About half of the digital films screened during Cannes Film Festival have been digitally processed in JPEG2000 format (by using a Doremi DMS-2000 mastering station) and quality controlled by the XDC Digital Content Lab. As Official Partner of the Festival and the Film Market, XDC charges the producer, filmmaker or distributor a very attractive flat fee amount which includes conformation of the source material, encoding, encryption and quality controls. “Thanks to that contribution, XDC gives to the motion picture community (major studios as well as small producers) the possibility to enjoy, during Cannes Festival, the benefits of the world’s optimal screening conditions.”, said Alain Remond, General Manager of XDC France, who also pointed out: “Today, digital cinema allows all members of the production and delivery chain to have the opportunity to get their stories to screen the way they intended. Indeed, since more and more movies are shooted and post-processed digitally, digital screening helps avoid expensive operations to convert to 35mm, which is particularly crucial for some independent films with limited budgets.”Moreover, XDC has selected VPS, a leading company in daylight video walls, to install the giant video wall on the red carpet. Together, both XDC and VPS will offer the opportunity to thousands of movie-goers and millions of TV viewers to join the stars at this red carpet event.PRESS CONFERENCE BREAKFAST, XDC FRANCE, Friday May 16th at 10:30 AM on the CST Booth (Pantiero)  With the presence of Pierre William Glenn, CST President and Technical Director of the projections during Cannes Film Festival, and Alain Remond, General Manager of XDC France. Contact: +33 (0)6 73 09 29 83.  Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> 2008-05-14T17:09:20+02:00 http://www.xdcinema.com/news/2008/05/XDC-Launches-its-New-Website XDC Launches its New Website XDC is unveiling its restyled website (www.xdcinema.com) featuring a more dynamic interface adapted to its different target audiences.XDC now has a new look on the Web! After several months of work, the new XDC website is finally unveiled. It meets XDC's needs for better communication with a more dynamic interface adapted to the different target audiences of XDC, mainly exhibitors and distributors.Fabrice Testa, VP Sales & Business Development at XDC, said: “The new website has been completely restyled to provide full information about XDC services and products. We have also integrated several map locators which can help the user find the details they need more quickly and easily. This tool is also interesting when the web visitor goes on the 'Screens' page to get information about digital cinema installations in Europe, over 350 of which are part of the XDC network.”www.xdcinema.com features community interfaces like the MyXDC platform, an online resource that offers various XDC tools, like extranet services to exhibitors and distributors, and information services to subscribers. A Blog section is also provided in order to allow web visitors to be part of XDC's online community and stay informed about the company’s latest and future events, articles about digital cinema, and glimpses of life inside XDC.MyXDC subscribers will receive the latest industry news, technology developments, product launches, training programmes, software updates, and much more. The new XDC website has been developed with the client experience in mind, a philosophy that is at the heart of XDC. “For example, our extranet portals will be accessible to the exhibitors and the distributors and our clients can access the continuously updated list of D-Cinema screens serviced by XDC, with all practical details about the installed system. They can also retrieve the server security certificates,” added Fabrice Testa.The new site aims to satisfy the needs of both technical and non-technical visitors, to reflect the vast range of services and solutions XDC offers. Frédéric Dimola <fdi@xdcinema.com> Website, map locators, community, XDC 2008-05-08T17:12:50+02:00