Montreal: Close to 700 film and technology professionals, including a sizable delegation from the Canadian umbrella group Giant Screen Consortium, attended this year’s Giant Screen Theater Association conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 14-19.

GSTA 2000 attracted exhibitors, distributors, producers, service providers and technology companies who screened the new crop of large-format films and talked over the latest industry trends, says Normand McKay, a consulting member in GSC/Secretariat pour le developpement de l’industrie du film format geant.

In an address to participants, James Marchbank, gsta president and ceo of Science North in Sudbury, Ont. said, ‘Our annual conference is the most efficient and fair way for the hundreds of large-format theaters to have an equal chance to see new products. Each 40-minute film can weigh 200 pounds the expense of making and shipping copies in a timely manner is prohibitive. The conference provides valuable information about the variables and parallel operations in each of our theaters.’

The program also included an important session on sponsorship.

Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, gsta is a not-for-profit organization representing 325 members in 31 countries. A list of members is available on the gsta website.

-www.giantscreentheater.com