A classic never dies: digital classics in the Ciné Lumière, London
Every month, Europe’s Finest chooses a ‘cinema of the month’ and presents a European cinema that is particularly committed to digital film.
The Ciné Lumière is part of the Institut Français in London and is situated beside the seminar rooms and the library in a wonderful Art Deco building in the South Kensington area. It was opened by Catherine Deneuve in 1998 and since then it has been screening French, European and international films in their original version with English subtitles.
Due to its select programme of classics, art house films and events, the cinema is highly regarded, and not just by Francophiles. For the series “Sunday French Classics”, the programme director, Guillaume Silvy-Leligois, weekly screens almost forgotten French classics and cult films such as Jacques Deray’s LA PISCINE. He regularly books films with Europe’s Finest.
“The classics themselves are timeless, but unfortunately they are not 35mm copies. Before digitisation, it was very difficult for cinemas to screen old films - the copies were very valuable and could be damaged. Through the digitisation process we can now show old masterpieces more often, and, indeed in excellent quality”, says Silvy-Leligois.
For more information on the Ciné Lumière: http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/schedule/blog
Interview with Guillaume Silvy-Leligois, programmer of Ciné Lumière, London
When did the Ciné Lumière change over to digital cinema technology and how did this come about?
Ciné Lumière reopened in January 2009 after a 6 months closure. The cinema has been totally refurbished and we can now show 16mm, 35mm, DVD, Blu-rays and 2K digital films.
What changes have you experienced in programming through digitalization?
Flexibility and access to films are the key benefits of going digital. It is now easier to book films "on-date". Film distributors can send us a digital drive, we load the film onto our server, test it and then send it back to them even before the first screening. They can then send the drive to another cinema. This means cost-savings for them as they do not need to immobilize a 35mm print for the whole duration of its run in our cinema.
This flexibility has transformed the way I am programming: I can now extend the time I give to a specific film by adding spread shows after the first 2 weeks of release and rely on word of mouth to help the success of a film. It allows me to to do more niche-programming without putting too much pressure on our projectionist team. We are a one-screen cinema, however, are showing more than 250 different films a year and very often for a few shows only. With 35mm prints it means a lot of time spent on making-up and breaking down the prints; with digital we just load, test and we are ready to play. Over 60% of our screenings are digital today.
How did you come across the Europe's Finest platform and what are your thoughts about the catalogue and service?
Every Thursday I have a World Cinema screening and I was looking for great European films. I was really impressed by the quality of Europe's Finest catalogue. For instance I programmed Danish Thomas Vinterberg's 'When a Man Comes Home' and Icelandic Baltasar Kormakur's moving 'White Night Wedding'. I also found out that Europe's Finest had Jacques Deray's cult film 'La Piscine'. I first programmed it as part of a Romy Schneider season, then a few months later as part of our Sunday French Classics due to popular demand. Europe's Finest service is wonderful. We received the drives without hassle and it was always possible to be in contact on the phone to talk about the catalogue. Last but not least, there is a lot of marketing material available on the website for the films such as synopsis, hires pictures which makes things easier for the printed programme.
What are your visions or ideas for the future of cinema with respect to digital technology?
After refurbishing the screen, web-ticketing and moving to digital I think the next revolution for movie theaters around the world will be to promote their film programme on screen just like TV channels do through their channel branding. We show the best films around the year and receive trailers for the new releases, but we very rarely promote our one-off screenings, our film seasons or our events in the screen. You can use digital projection to build a strong identity through in-house trailers that promote all the special screenings that take place in the cinema : creating trailers for film classics seasons, World Cinema series, Festivals or promoting preview screenings that are followed by Q&As will be a must in the future. This could never be done in 35mm because it was too expensive, digital suddenly makes it affordable...Audiences for specialised films love to come back to cinemas that have a strong identity.
VOD is also going to play a new role in the way cinemas are programmed. I believe that for an Art-house cinema it will be a great addition to propose a catch-up cinema service online: we often show some great films for a limited number of screenings because of the lack of space. We just launched Culturetheque (http://www.culturetheque.org.uk) a digital platform where people from all over the UK can download e-books, documentaries, etc... In the future, we will also propose online films that have been screened in the cinema. Each month 3 new films that had a cinema run at Cine Lumiere will be available in VOD on Culturetheque: a French film, a European one and a World Cinema documentary. Our first film will be 'Libres francais de Londres', a 90 minute documentary directed by Timothy Miller that had a sold-out UK premiere on the 15th June on the opening night of the "Resistance on screen" film season and that will be shown on Culturetheque from July 1st and for 10 days only.
You can download the full interview with Guillaume Silvy-Leiligois also on www.finest-film.com/press
The Ciné Lumière is part of the Institut Français in London and is situated beside the seminar rooms and the library in a wonderful Art Deco building in the South Kensington area. It was opened by Catherine Deneuve in 1998 and since then it has been screening French, European and international films in their original version with English subtitles.
Due to its select programme of classics, art house films and events, the cinema is highly regarded, and not just by Francophiles. For the series “Sunday French Classics”, the programme director, Guillaume Silvy-Leligois, weekly screens almost forgotten French classics and cult films such as Jacques Deray’s LA PISCINE. He regularly books films with Europe’s Finest.
“The classics themselves are timeless, but unfortunately they are not 35mm copies. Before digitisation, it was very difficult for cinemas to screen old films - the copies were very valuable and could be damaged. Through the digitisation process we can now show old masterpieces more often, and, indeed in excellent quality”, says Silvy-Leligois.
For more information on the Ciné Lumière: http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/schedule/blog
Interview with Guillaume Silvy-Leligois, programmer of Ciné Lumière, London
When did the Ciné Lumière change over to digital cinema technology and how did this come about?
Ciné Lumière reopened in January 2009 after a 6 months closure. The cinema has been totally refurbished and we can now show 16mm, 35mm, DVD, Blu-rays and 2K digital films.
What changes have you experienced in programming through digitalization?
Flexibility and access to films are the key benefits of going digital. It is now easier to book films "on-date". Film distributors can send us a digital drive, we load the film onto our server, test it and then send it back to them even before the first screening. They can then send the drive to another cinema. This means cost-savings for them as they do not need to immobilize a 35mm print for the whole duration of its run in our cinema.
This flexibility has transformed the way I am programming: I can now extend the time I give to a specific film by adding spread shows after the first 2 weeks of release and rely on word of mouth to help the success of a film. It allows me to to do more niche-programming without putting too much pressure on our projectionist team. We are a one-screen cinema, however, are showing more than 250 different films a year and very often for a few shows only. With 35mm prints it means a lot of time spent on making-up and breaking down the prints; with digital we just load, test and we are ready to play. Over 60% of our screenings are digital today.
How did you come across the Europe's Finest platform and what are your thoughts about the catalogue and service?
Every Thursday I have a World Cinema screening and I was looking for great European films. I was really impressed by the quality of Europe's Finest catalogue. For instance I programmed Danish Thomas Vinterberg's 'When a Man Comes Home' and Icelandic Baltasar Kormakur's moving 'White Night Wedding'. I also found out that Europe's Finest had Jacques Deray's cult film 'La Piscine'. I first programmed it as part of a Romy Schneider season, then a few months later as part of our Sunday French Classics due to popular demand. Europe's Finest service is wonderful. We received the drives without hassle and it was always possible to be in contact on the phone to talk about the catalogue. Last but not least, there is a lot of marketing material available on the website for the films such as synopsis, hires pictures which makes things easier for the printed programme.
What are your visions or ideas for the future of cinema with respect to digital technology?
After refurbishing the screen, web-ticketing and moving to digital I think the next revolution for movie theaters around the world will be to promote their film programme on screen just like TV channels do through their channel branding. We show the best films around the year and receive trailers for the new releases, but we very rarely promote our one-off screenings, our film seasons or our events in the screen. You can use digital projection to build a strong identity through in-house trailers that promote all the special screenings that take place in the cinema : creating trailers for film classics seasons, World Cinema series, Festivals or promoting preview screenings that are followed by Q&As will be a must in the future. This could never be done in 35mm because it was too expensive, digital suddenly makes it affordable...Audiences for specialised films love to come back to cinemas that have a strong identity.
VOD is also going to play a new role in the way cinemas are programmed. I believe that for an Art-house cinema it will be a great addition to propose a catch-up cinema service online: we often show some great films for a limited number of screenings because of the lack of space. We just launched Culturetheque (http://www.culturetheque.org.uk) a digital platform where people from all over the UK can download e-books, documentaries, etc... In the future, we will also propose online films that have been screened in the cinema. Each month 3 new films that had a cinema run at Cine Lumiere will be available in VOD on Culturetheque: a French film, a European one and a World Cinema documentary. Our first film will be 'Libres francais de Londres', a 90 minute documentary directed by Timothy Miller that had a sold-out UK premiere on the 15th June on the opening night of the "Resistance on screen" film season and that will be shown on Culturetheque from July 1st and for 10 days only.
You can download the full interview with Guillaume Silvy-Leiligois also on www.finest-film.com/press
