June 11, 2008--About 40 Euromax delegates met June 1-3 at the Cinecittà Multiplex Center in Nuremberg, Germany. In addition to screenings of eight new giant screen films, the schedule included various sessions on digital projection and marketing and sponsoring.

The two-day event in Nuremberg started on Sunday evening with the screening of Mysteries of the Great Lakes, a European premiere. Other screenings included Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk and Wild Ocean, both in 15/70 on the dome, while Dolphins and Whales: Tribes of the Ocean, Fly Me To The Moon, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, and U2 3D were shown in their digital 3D versions with two Christie projectors on the flat screen. 15/70 clips from films in production were also presented.

The technical session included presentations from Tycho Brahe Planetarium about their development of 3D digital projection on the dome, Erlas-Erlanger Lasertechnik about their innovative dome constructions, Fotokem Film & Video Inc. on digital postproduction, and Christie Digital Systems on their array of digital projection systems. FTT Film Ton Technik gave an overview on the various existing 3D digital projection solutions. A side-by-side test with digital projection and 15/70 projection on the flat screen inspired a prolific and engaging discussion. This was further developed during a session called Threats and Opportunities with regard to digital distribution and exhibition. This session included presentations by Christian Scheidegger (Swiss Transport Museum, Lucerne), Steen Iversen (Tycho Brahe Planetarium, Copenhagen), Jessica Christensen (Cosmonova, Stockholm), Dennis Laws (BFI IMAX, London), and Eric Dillens (nWave Pictures, Brussels).

In the Marketing and Sponsorship Session, Alexandra van der Zee and Anine van den Hurk (Omniversum, The Hague) presented a best-practice case on acquiring sponsorship money and engagement for their launch of Grand Canyon Adventure. Christian Scheidegger talked about the partner and sponsorship strategy and architecture that have been developed over the past four years at the Swiss Transport Museum. The Members’ as well as the Theatre Member Meeting was focused around discussion on how digital cinema will (and already does) influence both the development of Euromax and all giant screen industry stakeholders--in production, postproduction, distribution and exhibition.

Euromax, founded in 1989, is the professional association of the European giant screen film industry. Its next members’ meeting will be held at the GSCA 2008 International Conference and Trade Show in Jersey City and New York City this September 9-12.