SLAMDANCE : On The 'BIG Screen'

Slamdance

Founded in 1995 as a counter-point to the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance has built a reputation for jumpstarting the careers of many successful film makers. To further its cinema footprint and reputation, Slamdance has partnered with Cinedigm, a leader in digital independent content and distribution to cinemas.

The Park City, Utah based Slamdance Film Festival and LA-based Cinedigm will bring a slate of independently produced films to cinemas and other digital platforms.
This month they are starting with three award winning films: Stranger Things, Hybred, and The First Season - all entrants and winners of Slamdance and other film awards.  The trio will debut, this month, at cinemas which have signed onto the Cinedigm program, with other films to follow in upcoming months.

"The partnership between Cinedigm and Slamdance is a natural," says Erick Opeka, Senior VP Digital, Cinedigm.  "Cinedigm is the world leader in digital independent content distribution and Slamdance has always been very innovative on the digital front."

This partnership represents but one option for cinemas to obtain and exhibit fresh and heretofore unavailable content to their audiences - made possible with the conversion to digital cinema operation.  This type of content may not 'play well'  at every cinema but for those with the proper demographic it is a money maker and should be considered.

Laser Projection For Cinemas - Moves Forward

Laser Light Engines, LLC, a leader in laser projection for digital cinema announced last week that it will be shipping projectors to equipment manufacturers  for applications outside of the cinema industry.  "Our technology is helping to revolutionize cinema with clearer, brighter images, and this shipment indicates that other industries are ready to take advantage of our production-ready technology, as well," stated Bill Beck, Founder and EVP at Laser Light Engines. "The LLE units will be incorporated into precision 3D metrology systems that will be sold to end-users such as automakers, jet engine manufacturers, mobile phone makers, and others that require extreme measurement  precision and high throughput".

LLE's  Despeckle Green color module technology, enables a new generation of illumination, especially in 2D and 3D digital cinema where the computer-controlled illumination system can retrofit to thousands of cinemas worldwide.  The LLE system delivers light via optical fiber cable, providing almost unlimited flexibility regarding illumination levels.

Whether the cinema industry is receptive to another round of innovation on the heels of the recent conversion to digital projection is doubtful.  There will be early adopters of LLE's technology but I believe the adoption of laser projection at cinemas will take some time.

Best & Happy Movie Going!
Jim Lavorato