Berlinale 2012 gets under way on Thursday, February 9, and is recognized as the world’s largest publicly attended film festival, attracting more than 19,000 accredited film professionals and hosting screenings for an anticipated 300,000 members of the public. The 11-day event will see the world premiere of 18 films in competition at the festival, so pristine presentation is vital, as Dr. Reiner Chemnitius, Supervising Engineer of the Berlinale, emphasizes:
“Every director in competition wants to ensure that their work is seen exactly as they intended and so we are pleased to be once again working with the Dolby Content Services Group to ensure this. They offer a broad range of expertise and technical solutions, and are dedicated to achieving the highest quality of presentation, so they are an essential part of the team supporting the festival.”
About 1,600 of the 2,000 screenings scheduled for this year’s Berlinale will be digital cinema presentations, to be shown on up to 50 different screens. To ensure trouble-free operation, the festival has worked closely with Dolby to establish a network of 37 digital cinema servers at the festival venues, as well as five Dolby high-speed storage systems to enable a 24-hour transfer connection into the screening booths. The Dolby team will also be on hand to provide technical support for the largest digital cinema presentations during the festival, including those in competition for the prestigious Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards.
It is also anticipated that at least two 3D movies will be screened during the 2012 festival, following the successful 2011 screening of the festival’s first presentation in Dolby 3D before an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The Berlinale is our busiest film festival of the year,” said Julian Pinn, Director of Distribution Services at Dolby, “not least because so many of the screenings are open to members of the public. With such a busy schedule, it is vital for the festival organizers to know that they can rely on first-class technical support, and we at Dolby are glad to help.”
Productions in the competition program this year include entries from Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong/China, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. With major international movies, independent and art-house productions, experimental and foreign-language movies, and short films to be presented in many different locations, the technical needs of the festival are extensive.
“The growth of digital cinema has seen the technical needs of the Berlinale change dramatically over the past few years,” said Festival Director Dieter Kosslick. “Therefore, we are delighted to continue our relationship with Dolby. It is a relationship built on mutual trust, and we really appreciate the quality and flexibility of the service they provide to the festival year after year.”
Tickets for screenings in the Berlinale public program go on sale on February 6.