Industry panels and professional journals discuss the process of digitisation, distributors consider how to deal with resulting changes as well as the upcoming "e-cinema", and cinemas think about necessary modifications. In short, everybody wonders: What kind of technical standards will be effective in future? Does digitisation guarantee a better quality of picture and sound at lower costs? We pondered over the same questions - and then just started: At DOK Leipzig you'll already have the opportunity to experience cinema of the future with our twofold pilot project! Right on time for this year’s festival at the end of October, we will lay on a major innovation:

+++ Digitisation of DOK Market | Viewing and assessing by mouse-click
Up to now, film industry professionals had to view films at DOK Market on VHS or DVD and often had to wait for lent-out films. This year it is different and films can be viewed at the click of a mouse. To be able to do so, all current festival films as well as 150 additional DOK Market productions are digitised and transferred to a centralised film server. From now on, every user can view any film at any time, generate a personal viewing protocol, take notes, assess films, and get in touch directly with distributors and/or producers world-wide via email. To international buyers - travelling a lot with often very tight schedules - digitisation means saving ca. 30 per cent of their time, compared to more traditional viewing methods. After the festival, producers and/or distributors who have submitted their films for a fee to DOK Market, will receive a detailed report including information about people who viewed the film, how they assessed it, and if there is interest to buy the film. Thus, DOK Leipzig is world-wide one of the first documentary film festivals offering this very efficient assessment option for annual international productions. Up to now, this kind of video-library was only available at the large TV-channel trade fairs MIP and MIPCOM in Cannes (since 2005) and Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle (since 2006).

+++ Digital projection | e-cinema at the Leipzig Festival
But digitisation is also up and coming at the cinema: digitisated films are not only available in DOK Market, but are projected from hard-disc onto screen. This new 'e-cinema' is the cinema of the future. As part of the 49th DOK Leipzig we will introduce it as a pilot at one of the screens in CineStar Filmpalast (CineStar 5). Here, even some films of the German Documentary Film Competition as well as Special Screenings are projected straight from hard-disc at high definition-quality (1080p). Hence, DOK Leipzig is highly innovative also in terms of cinema projection, and in a leading position in respect of technological development implementation for e-cinema. In addition to the video-library, DOK Leipzig offers within the context of DOK Market also DOK Market-Screenings, liable for costs and bookable by production companies or broadcasting houses. Thanks to developments in HD-technology – the TV and cinema format of the future – we will now be able to offer these screenings in HD-quality.

+++ Reducing costs through new distribution channels
Significant cost reductions are expected from e-cinema. In future, films will no longer be sent all over the world as heavy film copies or tapes via courier, but transmitted to the cinema via satellite or data line. This way, producers and distributors save production costs of a 35 mm-film copy. As of this year, they will be able to send their film directly from computer to DOK Leipzig via data line or FTP-server. Independent film-makers who can’t afford production of expensive prints or master tapes, have the opportunity to screen their films in cinemas at low cost. Last but not least, online submission of films for DOK Leipzig will be possible in future.

+++ Uniqueness through integrated system solution | Innovative, competitive - and from Leipzig!
The innovative and integrated system solution of digitisation DOK Market as well as cinema screenings is the result of a co-operation project between DOK Leipzig and the young IT service company 'Computer Leipzig', and is supported by the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the Saxonian State Chancellery. It is internationally competitive and other international festivals have already shown interest in this promising technology. For a few years now, Computer Leipzig look after and develop the entire IT infrastructure for the Leipzig Festival.

+++ Ceremonial opening of DOK Market Digital
The ceremonial opening of DOK Market Digital will take place on Wednesday, 01 November at 3.00pm at the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig in the presence of Hermann Winkler (Minister of State), Manfred Schmidt, the managing director of the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Festival Director Claas Danielsen. David Guttmann, managing director of Computer Leipzig, will guide through the digital market. Would you like to register or require more information?
Please contact the DOK Leipzig press office on: +49 341 308 64 16; or send an email to: presse@dok-leipzig.de.
Colleagues already accredited for DOK Leipzig do not need to register separately.