News ? Arthouse goes digital

The world?s first digital screen network is to be established in an £11.5m deal between Arts Alliance Digital Cinema (AADC) and the UK Film Council.
Designed to broaden the range of films available to audiences throughout the UK, the deal will establish a network of up to 250 screens throughout the UK, each guaranteeing a minimum number of arthouse or foreign language film presentations a week in return for AADC?s digital equipment. A process is now underway to select the cinemas to take part in the scheme, with the first installations of digital equipment expected this autumn. The deal will mean that films that were previously only available on 35mm prints will be digitised and distributed by AADC to the network, reducing the costs of distributing such films outside the current arthouse circuit.