The Danish Cinema Exhibitors' Association (Danske Biografer) is to host its third European Cinema Exhibition at the European Film College in Ebeltoft (Demark) from June 4-8 - and for the first time follow it up with another in Rome from Sep 24-28.

The conference, European Cinema Exhibition - A New Approach, is organised in collaboration with Media Salles, but it was the backing from Media Plus which made it possible to expand the activities to other European countries - this year Rome, next year Budapest.

'The idea came some years ago during Cinema Expo, where members of our Association joined a series of meetings offering European exhibitors the possibility to exchange ideas and to explore how the vast number of challenges and possibilities for cinema exhibition were tackled in other countries,' says project manager Jonna Jensen. 'This inspired us to make the first four-day course in 2001, which was so successful that it has now grown into a European event.'

European Cinema Exhibition was launched with a focus on management, marketing, audience demographics and preferences as well as technical aspects. 'This year we offer new courses covering a number of the most vital themes in today's cinema exhibition.'

These include marketing the cinema, marketing techniques and in-house promotional initiatives, analysis of target groups and audience expectations.

The programme features presentations by international speakers inclufing Bruno Frydman (AMC cinemas), Chris Hilton (Odeon Cinemas) and Maud van der Velde (Director of International Programming, Kinepolis).

Only 30 members can participate in the courses which are supported by the MEDIA Plus Programme of the European Union and the Italian Government. The course in Rome is arranged in collaboration with ANEC - National Film Exhibitors' Association of Italy