Montreal: The seventh annual Multimedia International Market promises an in-depth examination of the latest trends in digital convergence, in both its content and market dimensions. mim anticipates some 400 exhibitors and close to 8,000 professional delegates and guests from 30 countries for its 2000 edition, which takes place at Place Bonaventure in Montreal, Oct. 4-6.

‘The multimedia industry has been through some difficult years, but it has reached a new stage and is now booming,’ says Herve Fischer, mim president and founder. ‘The success of the industry is also our success as mim has been there since the beginning. Multimedia is moving towards entertainment and show business, and mim itself is becoming more glamorous.’

‘The second point I would like to underline is that mim is emphasizing digital special effects for cinema and tv,’ says Fischer, who is also Daniel Langlois chair for digital technologies and the fine arts at Concordia University and is developing the university’s media lab. ‘We have a conference day on digital filmmaking. We started [this feature] last year, but this year the event is much more important, with people coming from Industrial Light & Magic in Los Angeles, from the British film Gladiator (Mill & Mill Film) and from Ex Machina in France.’

Fischer says the digital revolution has reached a second stage characterized by rapid restructuring, globalization, corporate mergers and the growing trend towards the entertainment economy.

‘We have worked a lot on technology but now we have to work on content, which is an important aspect of the second stage,’ says Fischer. ‘A good symbol of this is Doug Lowenstein (E3 owner and president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, who is attending), the mogul in the u.s. video game industry. He is so important because he represents Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, siggraph, etc.’

The program also includes ‘Cyberpitch’ market simulations and the mim Golden Awards gala at the Spectrum, Oct. 5.

This year’s edition of mim runs parallel to the first North American edition of the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly, which hosts 800 delegates from 60 member countries in the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union attending.

Impressive speaker lineup

Confirmed panelists and keynote speakers at the mim conference session on ‘The New Electronic Economy,’ Oct. 4-5, are crtc chairperson Francoise Bertrand, Cisco Systems vp Prem Jain, BCE Emergis president and ceo Brian Edwards, MediaMetrix u.s. president Mary Ann Packo and IBM Software Group (u.s.) vp marketing transformation and integration Jocelyn Attal.

Speakers at the ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Converence’ on Oct. 5 include Bertelsmann Broadband Group president and ceo Werner Lauff, France Television managing director interactive Edmond Zucchelli, bbc commissioning editor interactive tv Neil Morris and ExtendMedia president and coo Steve Billinger.

A third session on ‘The New Entertainment Economy,’ Oct. 6, features Lowenstein, Kalisto Entertainment president and ceo Nicolas Gaume and Virtual Prototype (Canada) president and ceo Philippe Collard.

tv and film workshops include a high-profile session, Oct. 6, on visual f/x, with panelists including Mill & Mill Film ceo Robin Schenfield, Hybride Technologies president Pierre Raymond, Buzz Image Group recruitment director Robin Tremblay, and from France, Ex Machina president and ceo Patrick Dumez.

Panel sessions will also examine interactive and electronic games, digital cinema and virtual reality, dvd and convergence, and digital tv issues. *

-www.mim.qc.ca