Dolby ScreenTalk installed in cinemas across Iceland

Laboratories and Sound Associates have announced the sale of 35 Dolby ScreenTalk units to Icelandic cinemas, meaning that every mainstream cinema in the country can easily and cost-effectively screen Icelandic subtitles on a wide range of international films.
Icelandic cinema chains SamFilm, Skifan and MyndForm will be using the system to project local-language subtitles with international films, giving them the freedom to show a wide range of movies without a specialist local language film print. Elsewhere in the world, the subtitling and audio description capabilities of the system are already being employed to improve access to the cinema for disability groups such as the hearing and visually impaired.
“Icelandic exhibitors, like many other smaller European territories, are presented with the language issue of screening international films to their local audience,” explained Graham Lodge, Managing Director of Sound Associates. “Only the larger European territories have local-language dubbing, and not for all international films. Traditional etching of subtitles into film is costly, renders the print useless for all but that territory, and often takes time. A system like Dolby ScreenTalk removes these obstacles, simplifying distribution and giving cinema audiences wider access to movies.”
Dolby ScreenTalk is an innovative and practical solution for projecting subtitles with conventional 35mm film cinema presentations. The system superimposes crystal-clear, colour subtitles over the main film picture using a conventional video projector. The film distributor provides the subtitles electronically via CD-ROM or the Internet, which can then be projected in perfect synchronisation with a conventional 35mm film print.
Sound Associates, a UK-based authorised Dolby cinema equipment distributor, has been helping Dolby to deliver enhancements to the cinema experience since 1977, when it installed equipment for the original 'Star Wars' release. The company has been working with the Icelandic cinema exhibitors to secure the deal.
Graham Edmondson, Market Development Manager for the Production Services Group at Dolby visited Iceland with Graham Lodge of Sound Associates to demonstrate the equipment in Reykjavik.
“The Icelandic cinemas were extremely impressed with the system, which solves a problem they had dealt with for many years. Now every mainstream screen in Iceland can deliver international films in the local language at high quality and with minimum delay,” said Edmondson. “We worked with the exhibitors to ensure that they were fully trained on the use of the Dolby ScreenTalk Media Master software which comes with each ScreenTalk unit. Using this, the exhibitors can create, master and distribute their subtitles themselves without any intervention from Dolby. In addition, there are no royalties or service fees to pay Dolby for this system”.
(GB)