Sundance’s Film Delivery Goes Fully Digital with CineSend

The Sundance Film Festival used CineSend's platform for the first time this year, enabling a fully digital format for the event. This pivot was powered by CineSend’s secure file transfer platform designed for Studios and Exhibitors to speed broadband file delivery in the media and entertainment space.

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Challenge

Each year, The  Festival receives hundreds of filmed exhibition assets including Digital Cinema Packages (DCP), ProRes and other high-quality video files to screen online and at partner cinema and drive-in venues across the United States.

For independent filmmakers, it’s challenging to provide screening copies to the festivals. The logistics of delivering films in formats compliant with cinema standards is both expensive and time-consuming.

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On the other hand, it gets exponentially more cumbersome for festivals to deliver content physically too. Delivering copies to festivals is just expensive while producing a lot of carbon foot print. Sundance needed a way to alleviate this problem and needed a better way for studios and independent filmmakers to deliver media assets.

2021 is only the beginning. We believe virtual events are here to stay. Both exhibitors and audiences are enjoying the streaming experience at home. So we see ‘hybrid events’ — online and in-person — sticking around forever

Eric Rosset, VP Business Development @ CineSend

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Solution

Sundance partnered with CineSend to not only make it easier for filmmakers to upload their content but also to make it easier to screen the content online.

With CineSend’s technology in place, Sundance insisted on studios and independent filmmakers to deliver media assets digitally. Personalized, private, and secure links were sent to creators and producers, allowing them to upload their full-resolution videos directly, bypassing the need for a middle-man and automating the process. All files synced with The Festival’s internal system to automate the print traffic process.

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Sundance's decision to go fully digital with CineSend's technology made the file delivery process more inclusive and easier for creators, while also reducing the festival's carbon footprint.

In March, some of the most prestigious events at the London Screenings will also take place online through CineSend's platform. Shipping 35mm prints or hard drives to film festivals is now a thing of the past, as Sundance saw 100% of its filmed content uploaded and delivered digitally in 2021.

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I am delighted by the success of this experiment. Sundance will continue to insist studios and independent filmmakers deliver media assets digitally. Not only was the process a budget saver, but I also have to say I’m thrilled by the reduction of our carbon footprint by not shipping physical media to and from Utah in the middle of winter.

Holden Payne, Technical Director of Exhibition @ Sundance Institute

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Takeaways

• Sundance Film Festival used CineSend's technology to become fully digital
• CineSend is designed for studios and exhibitors to efficiently transfer media files
• Sundance receives hundreds of filmed exhibition assets to be screened at partner cinemas and drive-ins and online
• Sundance’s movie delivery process became more inclusive
• Going digital reduced the festival's carbon footprint
• Sundance saw 100% of its filmed content uploaded and delivered digitally in 2021, eliminating the need for physical copies.