Shining the light on the transition to digital at Berlinale

The majority of attendees at this year’s Berlin film festival will have had their eyes firmly fixed on  the impressive collection of new films that the event showcased.  The 62nd Berlin film festival included high profile Hollywood glamour from both Meryl Streep as The Iron Lady and Angelina Jolie with her directorial debut Land of Milk and Honey but behind the scenes there was another story unfolding. 

(Photo:Richard Hubner)

Following our customer roundtable on Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Berlinale team to join them for the screening of the Side by Side premier, a film produced by Keanu Reeves and directed by Chris Kenneally that Tribeca Film acquired for North American rights at Berlinale.  The film is a documentary that charts the transition from analogue to digital filmmaking through interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, James Cameron and Christopher Nolan.  We spent much of the week in Berlin discussing the now significant transition to digital content in both the broadcast and film industry.  It is interesting to see the great names of the screen not only acknowledge this technical revolution but turn it into subject matter that will now go on to be shown around the world in cinemas and film schools alike.

This year was the 62nd Berlinale Film Festival. Berlinale is the largest public festival in the world. This year saw approximately 300,000 public tickets sold and showcased approximately 400 films across 50 cinema halls.  The volume of people, material and venues alone presents considerable logistical challenges before adding the pressure of the festival highlights being beamed live around the world by broadcast partner ZDF.  Whilst the festival is a celebration of the industry and a chance to view premiers, it is also an opportunity to secure essential distribution rights.  The festival has a very real commercial purpose for the 20,000 trade and business professionals taking part . 

Clearly much has changed since the show began but the teams that I spoke to from Berlinale, Barco and Dolby were all in agreement, the move towards digital cinema is bringing about a revolutionary change in the film industry and at film festivals like Berlinale.  Ten years ago films were screened from tape, DVD and 35mm film, relying upon manual intervention and a van to move content from one playout location to the next. This year, approximately 50% was digital content stored on Dolby servers, distributed via Colt’s network and projected onto Barco projectors in 20 of the venues across Berlin. 

(Photo:Alexander Janetzko)

Moving from manual delivery by a member of the team to digital distribution along Colt’s fibre network, removes the threat of loss or degradation that can occur with tape or film, however it clearly does not remove all of the challenges associated with delivering such a high profile, live event.  Connectivity between venues and between server and projector must work seamlessly.  Content needs to be transferred quickly using one dedicated, secure digital network.  The temporary loss of a subtitle stream or surround audio during one of the screenings matters when you have spent many years looking for funding and producing a film.  Low latency and no jitter contribute to the all important customer experience.

This is the third year running that Colt has worked with Berlinale to support them in delivering Berlinale.  As you would expect, the Berlinale team has a highly skilled team of technicians on site to ensure a great customer experience. We are proud to work alongside the Berlinale team with our own engineers to support Berlinale in connecting content to the public.  Having the right infrastructure and technical support may not attract the same levels of interest as the red carpet but it was fascinating to see the world of content, usually a backroom discussion, make it onto the big screen this year, reinforcing our belief that the film industry, just like the broadcast industry, is truly witnessing a revolution in how content is consumed.