Editor

Press Release: Luxembourg, 15 January 20001.
Europe Online and FilmFestivals.com premiere
full-length movies online

Europe Online announced today its agreement with FilmFestivals.com to exclusively premiere a selection of full-length feature films on the Europe Online subscription Internet service.

Europe Online subscribers will have an opportunity to view films from FilmFestivals.com that have never before been released online to the public. A selection of four films will make their world debut on Europe Online, while also being premiered online during the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in the United States.

The agreement also incorporates the implementation of the Europe Online Virtual Theatre made available exclusively to Europe Online subscribers. Within this new interactive environment, Europe Online subscribers will have the opportunity to register for tickets or virtual seats for the showing of a Filmfestivals.com movie. Registered ticket holders will then be able to access the film on their personal computers.

For Europe Online subscribers, these films are offered at no incremental cost to the original monthly subscription fee of approximately 20 Euro. However, the number of virtual seats available to Europe Online subscribers is limited in order to comply with the viewing rights of the movies.

Patrick Baker, Director of Film Acquisition at Europe Online, remarks, “This is a wonderful coming together of great content with a sophisticated Internet network.” Mr. Baker continues, “Europe Online subscribers have a tremendous opportunity to get a first look at the work of some of the most exciting and up and coming filmmakers today.”

Unlike other film-focused websites, Europe Online delivers a near television quality picture to subscribers through a hybrid satellite and terrestrial Internet connection. “The ability for users to receive the films in such excellent quality was a strong selling point for FilmFestivals.com in considering a content deal with us,” says Mr. Baker.

Europe Online hopes that the combination of a high quality viewing experience with the exclusive online rights to top film content will attract new users as well as a greater number of film producers to distribute their films across the Europe Online network.

About Film Festivals.com

Filmfestivals.com, the world’s largest film festival server with offices in France, the USA, U.K. and Italy, was founded by Malo Girod de l’Ain, president, in 1995 when it created the first website for the Cannes International Film Festival. The site now lists more than 1,000 film festivals worldwide, and has extensive online tools to help festival organizers, filmmakers, producers, distributors in such areas as marketing, film registration, web presence and ticket sales. FilmfestivalsTV was launched at last year’s Berlin Film Festival with video coverage of major festivals. FilmfestivalsTV produces also a monthly TV show: Non Stop Film Festivals.