The Event Cinema Association is delighted to announce the winners of the 4^th ECA Awards, which took place today at the QEII Centre in London on Friday 3^rd February 2017. Sponsored by Encompass Digital Media featuring Sales Director Nigel Crow on stage with One Show presenter Nick Wallis, the event was a great success and the quality of the nominees reminds the wider media industry and ourselves just how far the sector has progressed in a decade. 

Under the banner of Excellence in Programming, the are awards that recognise both the production and distribution of Event Cinema titles in two separate awards, and Excellence in Exhibition, which recognises the crucial and multi-faceted role that cinemas play in the successful screening of Event Cinema content.

Nominated by ECA members the criteria states that regardless of membership, non members as well as members can be nominated and ultimately win. The intention of the ECA is to grow the Event Cinema market and recognise the quality, vision and hard work across the industry. The ECA also offers an Outstanding Contribution to Event Cinema award, designed to recognise the individual effort and talent seen frequently in this most unique of industries.

The categories are split across 3 regions: Europe, Americas and International.

The winners are:

Excellence In Programming – Best Distributor

Europe:

Best Distributor                                  Picturehouse Entertainment, UK

Americas:

Best Distributor                                  Fathom Events, USA

International:                                                     Sharmill Films, Australia

Excellence In Programming – Best Content Provider

Europe:

Best Content Provider                                       Royal Opera House, UK

Americas:

Best Content Provider                                       The Metropolitan Opera, USA

International:                                                     MusicScreen

Excellence in Exhibition

Europe:

Best Exhibitor – Chain                       Odeon Group, Europe

Best Exhibitor – Independent          Olympic Studios, London

Americas:

Best Exhibitor – Chain                       Cineplex, Canada

Best Exhibitor – Independent          Silverspot Theatres, USA

International:

Best Exhibitor – Chain                       Event Cinemas, Australia/New Zealand

Best Exhibitor – Independent          Bioscope Cinema, South Africa

Outstanding Contribution To Event Cinema - Joint Winners:

Marc Allenby, Director of Distribution, Picturehouse Entertainment, UK

Rickard Gramfors, Event Cinema Manager, Folkets Hus och Parker, Sweden

Our Box Office Award Winners, open to ECA Members only, have already been announced, but as a reminder they are:

Gold Award – 500,000 admissions and over

Dragon Ball Z- Resurrection F (Funimation, USA)

Silver – 250,000 to 500,000 admissions

Batman – The Killing Joke (Fathom Events, USA)

Branagh Theatre Live (Picturehouse Entertainment, UK)

Dragon Ball Z – Resurrection F (Fathom Events, USA)

Roger Waters, The Wall (Picturehouse Entertainment, UK)

Bronze – 100,000 to 250,000 admissions

The Importance of Being Earnest (More2Screen, UK)

The Rolling Stones – Havana Moon (MusicScreen, UK)

Attack on Titan Live Action Movies (Funimation, USA)

Embrace (Gathr, USA)

André Rieu 2015 Maastricht Concert (CinemaLive, UK/Australia)

André Ruei 2016 Maastricht Concert (CinemaLive, UK/Australia)

Shin Godzilla (Funimation, USA)

The Impressionists & The Man Who Made Them (Exhibition on Screen, UK)

Melissa Cogavin, Managing Director of the ECA said, “Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s awards. They are well deserved and we are so happy to acknowledge the hard work behind each project, we know what it takes to make a success of an Event Cinema release. We are delighted by the competition it encourages – we had so many nominees for each category. Thanks to Encompass Digital Media for making today possible and the dulcet tones of Nick Wallis – I think we all had a great day!”

Nigel Crow, Sales Director of Encompass Digital Media said, “We have really enjoyed supporting this important day for the Event Cinema industry. At Encompass we are well aware of the huge effort these creators make and the impact they are having on cinemas around the world. We were only to happy to show our support at this key event in the industry calendar. Well done to all the winners!”

The Event Cinema Association

The Event Cinema Association is a non-profit organization, limited by guarantee, overseen by a president and 8 Board Directors comprised of international exhibitors, distributors and technical providers. It was created to both support and promote the developing market for cinemas looking to offer different types of filmed live events to audiences such as operas, ballets, theatre, concerts, sport and special events.   The role of the ECA is to provide a united voice for the alternative content industry in Europe and is striving to rebrand live and recorded cinema programming as ‘event cinema’ in order to engage new audiences. The ECA also distributes a quarterly trailer reel in European cinemas to promote forthcoming events in cinemas, provide a website with useful information for cinemas and alternative content providers, as well as holding events.