The European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) is a not-for-profit volunteer organisation funded by its subscribing members. It acts as a “Forum” to discuss key issues surrounding Digital Cinema in Europe. For more information on the EDCF, please visit their brand new website edcf.net
The conference served as a great opportunity to discuss the latest technology and business developments in Digital Cinema. The event was kicked-off by a keynote conversation between David Hancock, President of the EDCF, Christof Papousek, CFO and Co-owner of Cineplexx and Christof Federle, General Manager Austria and Regional Manager Central and Eastern Europe at CinemaNext. We learned more about the history of the Cineplexx brand and how it became a household name in Austria through investments in cinema technology and the Big Screen experience in general. We also had the chance to have Patrick von Sychowski, Editor of Celluloid Junkie, present an updated iteration of his now famous "A to Z of cinema" presentation, exploring a broad selection of key trends in the cinema, AV and retail industry.
The second day of the conference included a visit of the Cineplexx Wienerberg cinema, hosting high-end image and sound technology, which helped set the scene for the workshops and presentations that would follow. Guillaume Branders contributed to the programme through a technology-focused summary of the UNIC Cinema Days, a Q&A conversation with David Hancock and Patrick von Sychowski and an introduction and update on the Digital Cinema Picture Level project launched by NATO - supported by UNIC - in October 2019. Participants engaged on a wide range of issues and challenges related to, among other things, immersive sound, loudness, HDR and the definition of what makes a cinema "premium".
EDCF members will next meet right before CinemaCon in March 2020 for two days of visits in Los Angeles. Stay tuned for more information!