A demonstration of Cybercinema took place in the IFC in Dublin on Wednesday 14 October and will continue until the 16th. Wednesday's demonstration included a live interactive discussion between children and filmmakers in Potsdam, Brussels and Dublin and the projection of two films, "The Alarm Clock" by Marc-Henri Wajnberg and 'My Friend Joe' by Chris Bould. The demonstration programme over the three days consists of a programme of 10 award-winning films for children and will be transmitted simultaneously in Ireland, France, Belgium, UK, Poland, Iceland and Germany.
Cybercinema uses satellite technology to broadcast high definition images to theatres across Europe which are then translated and decoded in the projection boxes. The hope of the co-operating bodies involved is that the this will have exciting implications for the future of cinema technology and culture with the shipment of film prints and the need for subtitling becoming a thing of the past. The aim is to allow people across Europe - particularly those in rural or culturally deprived urban neighbourhoods to have access to a diverse and current range of films. The technology will also be used to provide a platform from which to conduct Europe-wide learning and multi-lingual discussions and debates.
Earlier this year, 'The Last Broadcast', a low budget film made by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler was shown using the same technology. The film was made for the sum of $900 using a combination of digital video, Hi8, celluloid and even a toy camera combined with off-the-shelf computer editing software, was shown in five cities across the US simultaneously. The cost of transferring the final video to 35mm print would have been at least $30,000. These developments will mean that a film maker could have films shown at festivals anywhere in Europe without the cost of making even an initial print, which should be good news for low-budget filmmakers everywhere and is another step in the path to a complete digital studio and distribution process.
The CyberCinema demonstration is co-ordinated by Europaisches Filmzentrum Babelsberge E.V. in co-operation with Aerospatiale MSN Paris, BARCO, Kuurne-Cinecitta Holding, Roma company, Potsdam, Deutsche Telekom, Darmstadt - D- Research, Berlin - FERA, Bruxelles - Hewlett Packard GmbH, Boblingen - Media Salles, Milano - Pathe E.I., Paris - Phillips BTS GmbH, Griesheim - SONY, Kohn - Technische Universitat Berlin and support by the Esperit Programme of the European Commission.
Michael McMahon 15/10/98
