Screening of three films at Nandan as part of the 19th Calcutta International Film Festival had to be put off because of glitches. “The codec system that syncs the audio and video got corrupted,” information and cultural affairs secretary Atri Bhattacharya said after the screening of French film Bastards by Claire Denis was cancelled on Tuesday evening. This despite Nandan having just installed a digital projector. So what’s going wrong? Here’s treading the tech trouble trail.

Which projector system does Nandan use?

A 35mm analogue projector, which has been in use since Nandan hosted the first Calcutta International Film Festival in 1995, and a newly-installed DCP (Digital Cinema Package) projector system.

“The DCP system has been taken on lease. The trial run was satisfactory. At times errors in code-encrypted films lead to screening problems,” said Goutam Ghose, chairman of the festival’s technical committee.

What are the formats of the films being screened at this festival?

2K (most advanced in India), print, DigiBeta, HD Cam and Beta SP. Last year, of the 189 films screened at the festival, 55 were in the print format. This year, the count has dropped to 35 out of 189. Most of the films in this festival are in the 2K format. The analogue and the DCP projectors support the print and 2K formats, respectively. The films in the DigiBeta, HD Cam and Beta SP formats are being screened at non-theatre venues other than Nandan.

What is 2K?

In digital cinema, 2K is the term used to describe images that have approximately a digital film resolution of 2,048 pixels. 2K resolution is specified by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) as the minimum needed for showing Hollywood films. Between mid-2011 and January 2013, more than 16 mutiplexes and standalone halls — INOX, Cinemax, PVR, Roxy, Paradise and Priya — have converted to the 2K projection mode.

How then is Nandan screening 2K films?

Using the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) projector system. A DCP is a set of files representing digital pictures, sound and subtitles, packaged on a hard drive for playback on a digital cinema server system. It is designed to be the digital equivalent of a film print. Nandan is using the Qube server and Barco projectors to screen films in the the 2K format. Last year, Nandan had taken a 2K DCP system on rent for the festival.

Who has supplied the 2K DCP system this time?

V-Digital, part of Shree Venkatesh Films, who are licensed distributors for Real Image in eastern India. The Qube technology is part of Real Image, provider of the latest in digital technology in films to theatres across the country.

Which films have been tripped by tech trouble?

Catherine Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness (9am) and Amos Gitai’s Ana Arabia (3pm) on Monday. Claire Denis’s Bastards (5pm), a Cannes pick, on Tuesday.

Why the glitches?

Most of the 2K film content for the festival is delivered on hard drive. Each film comes with a KDM (Key Delivery Message), a special electronic key that contains a code that unlocks a film granted permission for screening at the festival. The glitches hit home once the film content is uploaded through the hard-drive and the KDM is keyed in. In case of a foreign film, the show gets cancelled and rescheduling can take from a few hours to three days.

Why is that?

Glitches include a hard drive becoming corrupt and a KDM error. Recovering or replacing a corrupt hard-drive can take a few hours to three days, while a new KDM code would take at least half an hour to arrive online. Co-ordinating with producers and agents in different time zones can be a bother.

Why weren’t the films previewed or pre-checked?

While the hard drives arrive a day or two before a film is scheduled to be screened, the KDM is sent just a few hours in advance. Producers do this to safeguard against piracy.

Why didn’t Nandan upgrade before the festival?

After years of limping along with an antiquated system, the Nandan authorities finally woke up to the need for the latest digital projection system and in September invited tenders for the installation of a DCI-compliant 2K projection system, “along with server and other accessories”, on a monthly rental basis for a minimum of one year.

“The 35mm print projector will remain and we plan to install the 2K system. It’s required today,” said Nandan’s CEO Yadab Mondal. Although the current 2K projector is helping Nandan meet its digital needs temporarily, “we will sort out the projection system issue after the film festival,” added Mondal.

Not many service providers had responded to the tender back in September.

What happens next?

Scrabble Entertainment, one of the two 2K DCI-deploying entity in the country, says it was not keen on the Nandan project because of the tender system. “We don’t usually take part in the tendering process. The company has a two-way business model and set parameters that it usually doesn’t deviate from. Rental proposals are limited to commercial theatres, while to private and government organisations we sell,” said an official of Scrabble, which has a tie-up with six Hollywood studios — Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Universal Pictures.