A new Digital Screen Network is to be set up with a £13m investment from the Film Council?s Lottery-funded Distribution and Exhibition Fund.
The cash will be used to provide an infrastructure that will increase the opportunities for audiences to see the types of films that currently fail to gain mainstream distribution. Across the world in 2002 a total of 113 sites (with 125 screens) offered high-level digital projection, and just four of these were located in the UK. Cost-efficient digital projection and delivery will mean an increased access not only to foreign language and niche films, but also to film classics across the UK. In return for providing cinemas with this technology, the Film Council is looking to earmark a certain proportion of screening time for showing specialised films, which to date have had limited opportunity to be seen outside of London and other major cities. 250 digital screens will be set up in approximately 150 cinema sites around the country ? over a quarter of current UK cinema sites. The money will also be used to ensure the creation of digital copies of films so that film distribution companies can maximise the audience opportunity offered by the circuit. Peter Buckingham, who heads the team in charge of implementing the programme, said ?For years the problem in growing the specialised sector has been haunted and governed by the 35mm paradigm. Making prints or copies of films is very expensive, creating a chicken and egg situation. The supply of films to cinemas and audiences is limited because there is no proven demand and demand is restricted because there is restricted supply of films. In this new landscape, specialised cinema can now react fully to the market and have the flexibility to grow a market alongside 35mm. This scheme is open to every exhibitor and distributor who is interested in growing, or is already working in, the specialised film sector.? Following a tender process later this year, a central independent consortium will be set up to operate the circuit and provide the technology, training and support needed by the cinemas. The Digital Screen Network will complement, not replace existing 35mm projection systems currently in place, so that films will be viewed in either format so as not to exclude those wishing to continue distributing films in the traditional way. Further information can be found at http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk