The International Film Festival in Dunedin next month will mark a first for New Zealand cinema.
All the films in the Dunedin programme, which was released yesterday, will be screened in digital format, rather than the traditional 35mm film.
''This year, we are not presenting a single film print in Dunedin. The change has been overwhelmingly fast,'' festival director Bill Gosden said yesterday.
The Regent installed a $137,000 digital cinema presentation (DCP) projector earlier this month after an 18-month community fundraising campaign, which included donations from the Otago Community Trust ($20,000), Callis Charitable Trust ($15,000), Perpetual Trust ($10,000) and the Regent 24-Hour Book Sale ($86,000).
''We could not be more delighted or relieved that the Otago Theatre Trust and their generous supporters rose to meet the new era, securing the funds to equip NZIFF's glorious No1 South Island venue with a brand-new DCP system, just in the nick of time,'' Mr Gosden said.
''We're recklessly determined to bring Dunedin as many movies as we can from our annual harvest.''
This year, the film festival will also feature for the first time in Gore, at the SBS St James Theatre.
A comprehensive guide to the film festival will appear in the ODT's Magazine on July 27.
