Arts Alliance Media and Yelmo Cines have been working together on
the digital cinema rollout since 2008 when AAM installed digital equipment in 5
screens of Yelmo’s new Izla Azul complex in Madrid.
Howard Kiedaisch, CEO of Arts Alliance Media, added “Working with
Fernando and the team at Yelmo over the past 3 years has allowed us both to
learn a great deal and benefit from each other’s digital experience, and we’re
delighted that they’ve been proactive and enthusiastic enough to be the first
fully digital cinema chain in Spain.”
Enrique Martínez, Technical Director of Yelmo Cines, said “To
install 402 screens in 12 months has been made possible through hard work by
AAM, Kelonik, and all departments at Yelmo, and
we’ve achieved our goal and are very proud to be the first 100% digital
chain in Spain. The quality of service from AAM and Kelonik has meant a
seamless installation period, and we look forward to working with them to
maintain our new equipment to the highest standards.”
Guillaume Thomine-Desmazures, Sales Manager for AAM in Spain, added
“It’s been a great experience working with Yelmo to achieve this digital cinema
first in Spain, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to ensure
they can reap all the benefits of digital cinema across their whole circuit.”
The installation and maintenance of the screens was carried out by
AAM in conjunction with local Spanish integrator Suministros Kelonik.
Tomás Naranjo, CEO from Kelonik added “For
Kelonik, it has been a real challenge to complete this roll out with Yelmo and
AAM, in record time. Only the very close collaboration and the great
professionalism of both companies made it possible to achieve it with the
highest standard of quality”.
All sites are equipped with
AAM’s Theatre Management System and Library Management Server. All sites have
also been equipped with satellite systems from AAM’s partner Arqiva, allowing
them to show live events, and also to receive features and trailers via
satellite directly into their servers. Yelmo recently participated in the first
transmission of a feature film via satellite in Spain, when A Contracorriente’s
release El Caso Farewell was
distributed this way, by AAM, to sites across the country.
Arts Alliance Media has previously achieved several European digital
cinema firsts, including the first circuit in France to be fully digital (CGR
Cinemas – 400 screens), the first circuit in the UK to commit to being fully
digital (Cineworld – 790 screens) and the largest digital cinema rollout in
Italy (The Space), all contributing to a total of over 3000 signed screens, as
well as many content distribution firsts across Europe.
