US distributor Wellspring isto exhibit Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, which was famously shot in a single unedited91-minute take, as part of the BMW Films Digital Cinema Series in MicrosoftWindows Media 9 Series in select cities nationwide.

The film was released intheatres in December 2002 on 35mm through Wellspring and grossed $1.6m.Cinematographer Tilman Buettner shot it on a high definition camera and used aprototype hard disk drive developed by German company Director's Friend,which enabled him to record up to 100 minutes of image in a single take.

'After the Herculeaneffort that was invested by the production in achieving the longest-evercontinuous shot without tricks or cheating of any kind, it has always seemed apity to introduce reel breaks in its exhibition,' Wellspring's vicepresident of theatrical releasing Wendy Lidell said in a statement. 'Thisis truly the right movie for this new medium.'

Russian Ark will play digitally using the Cinema System fromDigital Cinema Solutions (DCS) at Landmark's Dobie Theatre in Austin, TheEsquire in Cincinnati, The Enzian in Orlando and Landmark's Chez Artistein Denver. Wellspring will alsocontinue its platform release of Russian Ark with 35mm prints across the US.