Roy Disney To Give Keynote Address For LFCA 2000

28-Apr-00

The keynote address for LFCA 2000, the annual Conference and Film Festival of the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA) held in Los Angeles, California May 17-20, 2000, will be delivered by Roy Edward Disney, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company, head of the studio's Animation Department and Executive Producer of the blockbuster large format film ""Fantasia/2000."" The title of Roy Disney's address is ""What We Have Learned So Far,"" which is a reference to the company's recent experience producing and releasing ""Fantasia/2000"" for giant-screen exhibition. The film is just completing its limited January-April run in 75 IMAX 15/70 theatres around the world and has enjoyed box office success of more than $60 million.""Fantasia/2000"" is the first large format blockbuster film produced by a major studio, and at 75 minutes is nearly twice as long as most large format features. It is also the first large format film to have premiered day-and-date and run as a simultaneous engagement in all its theaters, as well as occupying 100 percent of each theater's show schedule. ""Roy Disney's is the voice we need to hear at this stage in the development of large format cinema,"" says LFCA Conference Chair Paul Giguere. ""íFantasia/2000í is a milestone for our industry. We need to analyze it, understand it, and make the most of the opportunities it has helped to identify and create."" Roy Disney will deliver his keynote address at the LFCA Conference luncheon at the California Science Center from 1-3pm on Thursday, May 18. His keynote speech will help set the tone for a special double conference session that takes place on the following day, devoted entirely to discussing the changes within the large format cinema industry that blockbuster films such as ""Fantasia/2000"" have produced.""There was a lot of excitement, seasoned with skepticism, within the large format industry when Disney and Imax Ltd. first announced their arrangement for distributing and exhibiting ëFantasia/2000í in large format theatres,"" comments LFCA President Christopher Reyna. ""But it has been a remarkable success. It introduced new models of business, marketing and operations. And it supplied the kind of broad, mainstream appeal that the new commercial large format theaters need, and that the established institutional venues need as well.""Roy Disney was born in 1930. (The Disney entertainment business was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt, in 1923.) He joined The Walt Disney Company in 1954. Since then he has served the company in various capacities, including Vice President, Producer, Director and Writer. He became a member of the board of directors in 1967.Roy Disney's theatrical credits include the Academy AwardÆ winning motion pictures ""The Living Desert"" and ""The Vanishing Prairie,"" for which he was assistant film editor in 1954. As a writer and production associate, he received an Academy Award nomination for his work on the short subject, ""Mysteries of the Deep,"" in 1959. From writing, he went on to produce and direct some 35 other TV and theatrical productions, then became an independent producer and investor. As Executive Producer of ""Fantasia/2000,"" he played a central role in a 14-year production odyssey.In 1997, Roy Disney was awarded the first Mort Walker Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cartoon Industry, by the Boca Raton International Museum of Cartoon Art. The following year, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his alma mater, Pomona College, from which he graduated in 1951 with a degree in English. In 1999, the National Catholic Education Association presented him with its Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, given in recognition of significant contributions to children and education. He serves on the board of trustees of the California Institute of the Arts.The Roy Disney keynote luncheon is open to registered delegates of the LFCA 2000 main conference. More information is available at the LFCA Web site, http://www.LFCA.org, or by telephoning 949 831 1142.Some 400 members of the international large-format film industry are expected to attend LFCA 2000, the annual Conference and Film Festival of the Large Format Cinema Association.

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