New York-based EmergingPictures and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival are developing anationally syndicated festival using Emerging Pictures' digital cinema network.

The syndicated festival willrun at the same time as the flagship festival in Durham, North Carolina, in itsusual April slot and will play in up to 20 cities.

The Full Frame DocumentaryFilm Festival started out seven years ago as the DoubleTake Documentary FilmFestival and quickly rose to prominence as a popular event.

Last year's incarnationattracted more than 600 entries and screened more than 100, making it thelargest documentary festival in the country.

"Emerging Pictures isenabling Full Frame to be at the forefront of the use of new technologies tobring cutting edge documentary work to audiences in places where such filmsrarely play'and to show them the way the are meant to be seen - on the bigscreen," Full Frame Festival founder and director Nancy Buirski said in astatement.

Emerging Pictures has beenbusying itself in recent years establishing a network of theatrical venuesinside existing cultural institutions, using digital technology to exhibitspecialised films to a broader audience.

"Full Frame is the posterchild for the type of organisation we want to working with - the mostprestigious and most successful festival in any given niche - in this case, thedocumentary world," Emerging Pictures President Ira Deutchman said in astatement.

"When we approached Nancyabout working together, it was clear from the start that they were the rightpartners to bring quality documentary work to the rest of the country.

"We are currently innegotiations with several other equally prestigious organisations to bringother thematic festivals to the widest possible theatrical audience."