Efecto Cine: Movies, sports and environmental awareness

As we have mentioned in our social media, we want to give more visibility to those companies who take outdoor cinema to another level and trespass the frontiers of entertainment to promote cultural activities. The concept that we want to introduce you today is that of “Efecto Cine”, an Uruguayan platform that has developed innovative projects, which are until today one of a kind in the world´s south hemisphere.

There are already some cinema projects, who only use solar energy to power their equipment and this is the case of Efecto Cine, too. However, they aim as well at engaging the audience at a highly participative and ludic level. They began touring ten years ago around Uruguay and other Latin-American countries, benefiting from the outdoor cinema charm to bring people together in public spaces, both in big city and remote towns.

Efecto Cine diversified its portfolio 4 years ago with a new project named “Efecto Pedal”. Its goal is to promote environmental awareness through cultural and participative experiences. In this case, the viewers are responsible for creating enough energy by pedalling to make to whole cinema system work. This project highlights two important elements: Social coexistence and the use of the bicycle as an agent of change to achieve a more sustainable way of life.

What makes them so innovative? Firstly, they count with high quality equipment: The inflatable screen AIRSCREEN assures having a wrinkle-free projection surface to guarantee the highest quality image, working together with a suitable and powerful sound and projection system. Secondly, the concept of using the bicycle goes further than what meets the eye. It is not only about going to cinema. Indeed the movies already invite self-questioning, but the pedalling is a metaphor that shows with a practical example the effect of teamwork. Also, the bicycle promotes a healthy lifestyle and invites to consider it as a viable mode of transport.

“Verano al Pedal”, which takes place every year, is the first outdoor cinema tour that neutralizes 100% carbon emissions. How? Efecto Cine plants native plants in specific areas together with the local government to minimize the CO2 emissions of the van that transports the cinema equipment.

If you are asking yourself how Efecto Pedal works, let’s jump into the technical stuff: There are ten static bicycles and ten stations where you put your own. Also they have hand pedals for children, seniors and handicapped. A LED voltmeter indicates live the amount of energy accumulated and the minimum of energy required to power the cinema equipment is of 1300 watts. To put this in more conventional terms, this is the same amount of energy that a standard microwave needs to work for an hour. But in this case is the energy surely used for more fun purposes, bringing family and friends together to spend some quality time together.

“Efecto Cine” lives up to its name (“efecto” in English means “Effect”): They have been expanding throughout Latin-American and today they have presence in Brasil, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay and Colombia. Besides their eco-friendly cinema activities, they also provide technical support and infrastructure to different events in Uruguay, like the Jose Ignacio International Film Festival, the Film Festival of Montevideo and Punta del Este, the projection of football matches and concerts starring stars like Paul McCartney and Elton John. They are also behind the largest cinema projection of Latin America with the documental “Maracana” at the Centario Stadium of Montevideo, for which they used a 20 meter AIRSCREEN for around 12.000 viewers. These activities have also been recognized with awards given by international institutions like the Hubert Bals Fund from Rotterdam, the Prince Claus Foundation, among others.

If you want to experience an activity that brings together outdoor cinema, sports, and eco-friendly awareness, then “Efecto Pedal” is for you! For more information click here.

AIRSCREEN helps to turn your projects into reality giving you great mobility, ease of use and always the best quality! Need any more information? Contact us clicking here.

ECOCINEMA: Battle against inequality in Latin America

The charm of outdoor cinema is gaining more and more relevance today: Not only does it break our routine but it is also the perfect excuse to share time with our friends and family in a way that traditional cinemas do not allow. A reason to this, are the entertainment possibilities that revolve around outdoor cinema, in which the members of the audience are able to interact with each other before sitting down to watch the movie. Plus, this type of event offers the option to watch movies with the perfect backdrop, what we have been able to witness throughout different sceneries like the magnificent Austrians alps, the imposing St. Mark´s Square in Venice, the idyllic beaches of Cancun and the Maldives Islands, among other beautiful places.

Those who know AIRSCREEN –the original inflatable screen made in Germany- are already familiarized with these aspects. However, today we want to talk about a branch of cinema, which aims at outpointing the concept of movies as entertainment to become a tool of awareness and self-questioning. Behind this type of cinema, there are some companies, who not only intend to democratize the access to cinema by taking it to remote and least favored places, but also strive to spread the message about renewable energies as a sustainable way of living.

Today we want to tell the story behind Ecocinema, an Uruguayan audiovisual platform and movie producer, who actively projects its movies through mobile cinema in Latin-America since 2006. Before we continue, for those who are not familiarized with this type of cinema, it basically works through the implementation of solar panels located on the rooftop of a car. These provide sufficient energy for the whole equipment to work. In the case of Ecocinema, they also match their solar-based movie projections with workshops, which are aligned with the movie´s thematic. This means that they make the most of their time, by inviting their spectators to participate in their workshops throughout daytime until it gets dark, when movie time begins.

Initially, the main goal of this company was to find a way to distribute their own movies during summer in Uruguay, a country that only had a couple of cinemas during those days. Because of this, Ecocinema´s outdoor projections were highly innovative and very well received by their audience. However, as time went by, they wanted to increment their activities by trespassing the Uruguayan frontiers and also aimed at giving a more meaningful and educative twist to their movies. In addition to this new vision that was developed in 2011, the following year happened to be the United Nation´s year of sustainability. This was the perfect drive for them to decide changing their traditional equipment to 100% solar one. They took advice from Solar Cinema, a Dutch company who also performs in this field, to renovate both their concept and gear.

Moreover, further investigations backed up and motived the continuation of their activities. An example is the study published by the organization “Transparency International”, which condemned corruption as the main root of inequality in Latin America. What is more, some statics indicated that only 3 out of every 10 Latin Americans had access to cinema, which gave Ecocinema a strong sense of purpose to be an agent that attacks these problematics. The movie screenings are completely free what is made possible through the sponsorship of brands, as well as local and international monetary funds. Their movies deal with different topics, such as climate change, sport, aborigines, corruption, among others.

The first movie projections outside of Uruguay took place in Mexico, where Ecocinema found partners who were also strongly identified with the importance of culture, and were passionate about mobile cinema. Since then, their eco-vans have expanded their activities in Chile, Argentina, Brasil, Ecuador, Panama and very soon in Colombia as well. Another objective to highlight of this Uruguayan firm is that not only they want to create new audiences, but also want to restore the use of public spaces to foster a peaceful coexistence among the people. This is especially important for some communities that Ecocinema reaches, which have had a criminal background and other related issues to violence. In these cases, the movies that are shown are not produced by Ecocinema and their main purpose is to create an enjoyable atmosphere so that families and friends gather up to have fun.

We want to stress the importance of these activities, which pass on to people both the message of the movie as well as the possibility of implementing renewable energies as a sustainable way of living. So we hope that the story of Ecocinema and their work inspire more entrepreneurs in the world to take action in this field, which is increasingly gaining more relevance in our lives. Your AIRSCREEN team will always be happy to support projects that aim at improving our lives in several aspects. Do you need an inflatable screen for your next project? Click here to contact us here!

Thank you Ecocinema for the interview! We feel very proud to work with you!

For more information on Ecocinema, click this link https://www.ecocinema.net

AIRSCREEN and Sound Harmonics at the Mediatech in South Africa

For the first time AIRSCREEN exhibited together with South African partner Sound Harmonics at the Mediatech fair in Johannesburg. From 17.7.-19.7. Africa’s largest trade fair for media and entertainment technology opened its doors at the Ticket Pro Dome.

Every day there were various sound demonstrations such as the Next pro Audio systems and the visitors got to know the advantages of the original inflatable screen with the 6.10m x 3.43m (20ft x 11.25ft) large AIRSCREEN.