Thomson will have a leading role at the 2005 Cannes International Film festival by showcasing its advanced cinema technologies and as an official partner of the Short Film Corner at the Palais des Festivals. In addition, many of the films screened at this year's Festival were created using a variety of film and post-production services from Thomson.
A total of 15 films at Cannes feature post-production, visual effects, restoration work and digital cinema mastering carried out by Thomson's Technicolor film lab and post-production facilities in the U.S. and Europe. These include front-end processing and dailies for BROKEN FLOWERS (Jim Jarmusch) and LAST DAYS (Gus Van Sant), as well as digital cinema mastering for SIN CITY (Robert Rodriguez), three films in the official competition selection. Thomson also provided digital intermediates for CHROMOPHOBIA by British director, Martha Fiennes. This year's festival also features screenings of movie classics restored by Technicolor: BLACK NARCISSUS (high-definition mastering) and A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH by British director, Michael Powell; and CRONACA FAMILIARE by Italian director, Valerio Zurlini.
As part of its Technology Showcase at Cannes, Thomson is presenting on-going research to develop end-to-end security solutions, which will allow content owners, such as studios, to protect their creative assets. Thomson will notably demonstrate a new anti-piracy technology designed to scramble the quality of images illegally recorded with a camcorder during digital cinema screenings.
An advanced computer-aided technique developed by Thomson to restore and preserve precious film archives is also on show. With this new digital technique, archived films are scanned and a sophisticated computer algorithm automatically compensates for damage caused by the shrinkage or warping of aging film. This is expected to be much less expensive and time-consuming than traditional manual photochemical methods.
Also on display is Thomson's innovative digital cinematography camera and compact, dockable storage system designed to help filmmakers realize their creative vision. The Grass Valley Viper FilmStream Digital Cinematography Camera and Venom FlashPak Solid State Recorder create a complete portable system that allows real-time digital image capture and delivery of incredibly detailed, uncompressed output direct to post-production. The Showcase will also include a demonstration of the Group's Film Grain technology a patented process that preserves the grain of a film despite the use of advanced compression required when passing from film to digital media.
"Through its Technicolor and Grass Valley activities, Thomson provides world-class solutions at every critical juncture along the film production time-line, and we are also innovating for the cinema of tomorrow," said Jean-Charles Hourcade, sevp/cto, technology division of Thomson. "Content security solutions, film restoration techniques and digital cinema are all key in our drive to position the Group for growth in electronic content management and distribution."
Thomson provides services, systems and equipment, and technology to help its Media & Entertainment clients content creators, content distributors and users of its technology realize their business goals and optimize their performance in a rapidly changing technology environment. The group is the preferred partner to the Media & Entertainment Industries through its Technicolor, Grass Valley, RCA and Thomson brands. For more information, visit www.thomson.net.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
