“It is only through the support of Christie that we are able to maintain the standards of excellence that filmmakers expect and deserve,” said Alan Franey, Festival Director & CEO, Vancouver International Film Festival.
The projectors and equipment, to be installed and managed by Christie partner ZOOM Audio Visual Networks, will ensure that festivalgoers enjoy their cinematic selections in the crisp colors, brilliant image quality and 3D possibilities available only through state-of-the-art digital projection.
“Christie’s technology and support have made it possible to transform many of the Festival’s screens to digital,” said Michael Stewart, president of ZOOM. “Their exceptional image quality and expert service help make the festival a big success for exhibitors and patrons alike.”
“We have a longstanding relationship with the VIFF and the VIFC, and when we introduced Christie to them we, did so knowing that together ZOOM and Christie could offer them the best product and the best support in the industry. We have Christie projectors installed in the Festival’s permanent theatre at the VIFC, including a Christie CP2210 installed early this year, making the Festival DCP compliant. This is why we proudly promote Christie technology throughout western Canada,” Stewart added.
Dave Muscat, Christie’s senior director of sales for Canada said “Our participation in major film festivals is part of our commitment to the Canadian and international film industries. Our network of highly skilled and dedicated integration partners helps us make it happen, and ZOOM’s work on VIFF is indicative of that commitment.”
In terms of admissions and number of films screened (about 150,000 attendees and almost 380 films), VIFF is among the five largest film festivals in North America. The international lineup includes selections from the world’s top film festivals as well as numerous titles from smaller studios and providers. VIFF screens the largest selection of East Asian films outside of that region, is one of the biggest showcases of Canadian film in the world (with 80 Canadian titles this year alone being screened) and includes a large and significant non-fiction program.
Kathryn Cress, vice president, global and corporate marketing at Christie, notes that Christie’s digital solutions are helping festivals as well as the industry in general with the transition to digital projection. “Christie’s state-of-the-art projection technologies and skilled business partners make our firm the preferred choice for film festivals across the globe. And the arrangement with the Vancouver festival has a strong Canadian component, as Christie is the only provider of high-performance digital cinema projectors with its main engineering and major manufacturing site located in Kitchener, Ontario.”
Christie digital projectors are used by leading film festivals around the globe, including the Toronto International Film Festival. This year, Christie renewed its official technical sponsorship of the Festival de Cannes for the next three years, a position it has held since 2006. In addition, Christie was the exclusive projection sponsor of the “Water for Elephants” screening at the opening gala of the 14
th Shanghai International Film Festival last year. This year, Christie’s DLP Cinema® 4K resolution projector platform will support screenings at the 56
th BFI London Film Festival October 10 to 21 with 2K projectors from Christie’s Solaria Series also being used by cinemas supporting the festival.
Christie equipment is found in more than half of all DLP Cinema® projection rooms – about 33,000 projectors – installed worldwide and utilizing a global network of skilled installation and support partners, Christie serves exhibitors of all sizes with products and services that provide the best cinema experience for exhibitors and their guests.
Christie’s Commitment to HFRThe two main goals of Christie’s HFR activities are to help the industry develop the best high frame rate (HFR) content and the best delivery system for HFR content. The first goal involves assisting leading-edge filmmakers and post-production companies in perfecting HFR movie creation, so the industry has the most engaging, entertaining content possible. The second goal is to assist exhibitors in showing these 3D HFR movies in all their glory. To these ends, Christie is helping create the standards for 3D HFR movies through the formal and informal technology-development alliances with major producers and directors, post-production facilities, studios and technology partners. On the exhibitor front, Christie provides one stop shopping for all the hardware, software and services that enable exhibitors to deliver a filmmaker’s vision in stunning 3D HFR quality. For more information, visit
http://www.higherframerates.com.
