ECA View: Event Cinema a key part of the show

E C A V I E W: Event Cinema: a key part of the show

The Event Cinema Association, much like event cinema content itself, is growing, more visible and stronger than ever before, writes its managing director Grainne Peat

HE EVENT CINEMA ASSOCIATION (ECA) is delighted to be promoting Event Cinema at this year’s CineEurope, including hosting the first-ever product presentation in the main auditorium — on Wednesday 19 June, at 10am. Our presence at CineEurope is our proudest achievement to date. It’s the first time event cinema as a whole has had a product presentation at any trade show and I hope this cements the new direction of the Association and the importance of the sector in terms of global box office. It’s been a pleasure working with Andrew Sunshine and the Film Expo team to make it happen. We’ve got lots happening throughout CineEurope, with a firm focus on driving membership with partners and colleagues.

Our hour-long presentation (with a breakfast!) will be a fantastic opportunity to promote the wealth and growing range of event cinema content. Our focus has been to bring as much wow-factor to the stage as possible, whilst ensuring we include the many facets of the sector. Much of the content is embargoed… so even the ECA Board don’t know what’s in store for delegates. Continuing celebrations on the Wednesday, the ECA’s drinks reception takes place on the CCIB terrace from 3-5pm. Please do email us if you want to soak up the sun and enjoy a tipple or two. The ECA Lounge (Room 121 on P1) has a full schedule of events too — and offers valuable meeting space for ECA members. If you are interested, do drop by to enquire about membership.

Event Cinema continues to draw audiences from around the world; the diversity of content that is now on offer is richer and stronger than ever. We’ve seen a huge growth in the popularity of ‘concert’ and ‘documentary’ based content, that has attracted in new audiences, of all ages. Consumerfacing challenges remain around promotion and marketing of what’s considered event cinema. The ECA is looking at how we can improve consumer awareness and find a comprehensive and cost-effective solution to promote all content better. In terms of industry challenges for event cinema, there is work to be done around content delivery, programming (particularly for single site cinemas) event data in terms of global box office data and admissions. All topics we’ll address at the ECA’s Annual Conference.…

Amsterdam in October: book it now!

The ECA’s Annual Conference will be held at the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam on Thursday 10 October — the firstever outside of the UK. We hope these initial steps send a clear message that the ECA wants to draw in best practice and share experiences, trends and constraints from all the professionals who support Event Cinema everywhere.

All this could not be achieved without the support of the ECA’s Board and supporters. The ECA has welcomed some highly credible new additions recently including Marc Allenby, CEO Trafalgar Releasing, Jan Runge, Jan Runge Consultancy and former CEO of UNIC, Sarah Lewthwaite, Managing Director EMEA of Movio and Daren Miller, VP of Business Affairs & International of Fathom Events.

For info on any of details mentioned or to become a member, email grainne@eventcinemaassociation.org