Digital Cinema
Posted on August 25, 2006
Filed Under Channels and Content, European Web 2.0 |
On September 14th China Blue opens in European digital cinemas. The film is in fact American in origin and it tells “a nuanced, tender and ultimately moving portrait of the daily lives of the young workers who make our clothes.”
Its subject matter is important but so to is the fact that the Internet now links a number of European art house cinemas, simplifies distribution for them and brings a more transparent and immediate sense to their common purpose.
Researchers in Europe are also busy proselytising the value of the Internet and High Definition TV as a way of creating a new audience for European as opposed to Hollywood films.
These movies are thought to be at the chunkier end of the Long Tail and advocates assume that IPTV when it can deal with HDT will allow audiences to discover movies from Europe. The big gripe is that Hollywood has a strangle hold on film distribution. The web breaks that down. HDTV makes the TV more cinema like in quality.
You can understand the need for optimism. Earlier today I spoke with Ajit Joakar from futuretext (see below) who is convinced that the mobile phone market will not be driven by Hollywood movies and surely IPTV channels will not survive if that is their main offer.
Meanwhile in art houses around Europe people will sit down together and watch China Blue. “It also brings an updated and alarming report on the economic pressures applied by Western companies and their human consequences.”
Among other things the Long Tail will also revive that kind of political outlook. Interesting times lie ahead not just for entrepreneurs but for all of us who are in wait-and-see mode on IPTV’s cultural impact.
technorati tags:Europe, Web2.0, European web 2.0, web digital cinema
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