Mumbai: Palme D’Or winner Entre les murs (The Class), a Laurent Cantet film released in France on 24 September, is the first film in Europe to be exclusively delivered to digital cinemas via an electronic network. This comes from managed file delivery provider SmartJog and digital film release management tool cinego.net. 

In order to efficiently manage the digital release, Haut et Court, the French distributor of the film, selected the tool, cinego.net, which was developed by CN films as part of a pilot project. As an online platform, cinego.net enabled Haut et Court to start and manage deliveries of the film to cinemas, but also to supervise the creation and delivery of the digital cinema packages (DCPs)’ key delivery messages (KDMs).

In the past, delivering films to digitally-equipped cinemas was done by duplicating and sending hard disks. For the first time in Europe, Haut et Court decided to digitally deliver the film exclusively via a network. The SmartJog service, directly integrated with cinego.net has thus allowed the electronic delivery to more than 30 screens, including the theater chains: CGR, Kinepolis, Gaumont/Pathé, and independent theaters. SmartJog operates a fully managed distribution and file transfer platform which includes the ability to send digital cinema packages (DCPs) and associated contents (keys and trailers) to digital cinemas, eliminating the time-consuming logistics typical of a release. Currently over 90% of French digital screens are connected to the SmartJog network.

This digital release is made possible by the D-Platform pilot project supported by the European Union MEDIA program. The European Union seeks to expand the digital availability and circulation of European films.

Haut et Court is distributing the film in France, while Sony Pictures Classics is handling the film distribution in the United States under the title The Class. The North American premiere of the movie is in New York City at the New York Film Festival on 26 September.