Led by Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, independents garnered 60 nominations in feature categories for the 84th Academy Awards, according to the Independent Film & Television Alliance. For more than 30 years, IFTA members have produced, distributed and financed many of the world's most prominent films, 19 of which have won the Academy Award for Best Picture since 1980, most recently The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), The Hurt Locker (Voltage Pictures and Summit Entertainment) and Slumdog Millionaire (Pathé International).

Expanding its Annual Awards recognition to a growing number of 3D content platforms and formats, the International 3D Society has announced fifteen Awards Categories for honors at it February 1st Awards Ceremony.

According to a new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory and Media Salles some 18,500 digital screens had been installed in Europe by the end of 2011. This means that more than 52 percent of European screens are now capable of digital projection, up from just four percent three years ago. While the initial phase of large-scale digital conversion during 2009 and 2010 had been more or less entirely driven by 3D installations, for the first time 2D screens drove the 2011 roll out, the report says.

Cinedigm Entertainment Group and distributor New Video have entered into a partnership to bring more independent films into theatres nationwide.

With the momentum behind 4K technology continuing to build, Sony is now shipping its F65 CineAlta digital motion picture camera.
 
At an exclusive ceremony held during the Sony Open golf tournament, Sony senior executives including Sir Howard Stringer, chairman, CEO and president of Sony Corporation, presented the first official production unit, Serial number 10001, to Otto Nemenz, president of Hollywood-based motion picture rental company Otto Nemenz International.


Arts Alliance Media and UK post house Molinare have agreed to offer AAM’s digital cinema services to Molinare’s post-production clients and post capablities to AAM’s customers.

Reinventing Cinema: The First Decade of Digital Cinema by Nick Dager is now available at Diesel Books. In May 1999 Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace opened with digital screenings in a handful of movie theatres in and around New York and Los Angeles: digital cinema’s first decade was underway.

You On Demand Holdings, China's leading national Pay-Per-View and Video On Demand platform, and Hua Cheng Film and Television’s China Home Cinema have entered into an exclusive deal that will have You On Demand oversee all transactional video on demand and subscription video on demand services. CHC is the largest premium movie channel, currently covering more than 50 million cable homes.

The Society of Camera Operators will present the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Awards February 19 at the Leonard Goldenson Theater at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood, California. The Governors Award for Lifetime Achievement will be presented to Clint Eastwood in recognition of his lifetime of creative contributions and advancement to the art and craft of cinema.

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group has launched its DL3 Asset & Workflow Management system. The company says the system has been designed from the ground up to provide unprecedented levels of asset organization and archiving, workflow management, and product creation and fulfillment capabilities.