Barco projects magic in the Piazza Grande for the 62nd Locarno Film Festival
Kuurne, Belgium, 4 August 2009. Barco, a global leader in digital cinema technology, is proud to announce that it has been selected as the exclusive digital projector supplier for the 62nd Locarno Film Festival. Highlights of the festival are the open-air screenings in Locarno's historic Piazza Grande, where Barco's ultra-bright DP-3000 digital cinema projector will be used to give spectators the ultimate movie experience.
Every year in August, around 180,000 cinema-goers, 1,100 journalists and 3,400 professionals gather in the small Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, for an unforgettable eleven day film festival. This year's festival, scheduled for 5 until 15 August, will present 100 digital screenings at five different venues, including the famous Piazza Grande. At nightfall, the Piazza Grande transforms into a unique open-air cinema with an impressive 26 meter screen and room for 8,000 spectators.To contribute to the magic of these screenings, XDC, Europe's leading digital cinema service provider, and Digital Cinema Official Partner for Locarno Film Festival, selected Barco's DP-3000 — the industry's brightest digital cinema projector. Using Texas Instruments' pioneering 1.2 inch DLP Cinema® chip, the DP-3000 is designed for screens up to 30m wide, providing unsurpassed image brightness, contrast and clarity. “We wanted to provide the Locarno Film Festival with the best possible technologies,” says Fabrice Testa, XDC International's vice president of sales and business development. “The Piazza Grande is our biggest challenge, and we needed a projector bright enough to illuminate a 26 meter screen in open air. After last year's success with the DP-3000, we opted again for this digital cinema projector.”
“We are proud to have been selected once again by XDC for the Piazza Grande and other venues at the Locarno Film Festival,” said Tim Sinnaeve, sales director for Barco's digital cinema business. “This is a confirmation of our renowned image quality, and it underscores the fact that Barco's digital cinema projectors can meet any challenge — from traditional indoor theaters to open-air cinemas.”
In addition to the Piazza Grande venue, Barco also supplies a DP-3000 for the Auditorium Fevi, while the three other venues (Teatro Kursaal, La Sala and Rialto) are equipped with Barco's DP-2000 digital cinema projectors. The DP-2000 incorporates Texas Instruments' 0.98 inch DLP Cinema® chip, and is designed for screens up to 20m wide. All Barco digital cinema projectors exemplify the company's hallmarks of unrivalled image quality, superb ease of use, maximum uptime and minimum cost of ownership.
About XDC International
As far as today, XDC has installed more than 500 digital screens in 10 European countries and is the leading service company, dedicated to building a pan-European digital cinema network. XDC provides end-to-end digital cinema solutions including equipment supply, financing (VPF, leasing, …), training, installation and maintenance, as well as content processing and delivery. The company is the first entity to have VPF digital cinema deployment agreements with all the 6 major US studios Warner, Fox, Universal, Paramount, Sony and Disney for a total of 8,000 digital screens in 22 European countries. Besides its financing program with ING Lease, XDC is setting up a global financing of 100 millions Euros with Fortis Bank to allow the VPF roll out of 2,000 digital screens for its European deployment program. Today, XDC has signed VPF deals with exhibitors for more than 750 screens spread over European countries (Austria, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) and has received commitment for 250 screens from exhibitors in Germany, Switzerland and Spain.
XDC Digital Content Lab has been processing more than 500 different titles, and offers a full service including mastering, duplication, key management, 24/7 helpdesk, extranet tracking, physical/virtual delivery. Last but not least, XDC is also very active in Alternative Content by offering a full service from booking and promotion up to delivery, reporting and box office collection. XDC is a 47.2% subsidiary of EVS Broadcast Equipment (Nyse Euronext EVS.BR) and is supported by several leading financial investors. More info available at www.xdcinema.com.
XDC Marketing & Communication Department - Tel.: +32 4 364 12 00 - Email: marcom@xdcinema.com
About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 725 million euro in 2008.
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