Anti-piracy campaign targets children

An anti-piracy campaign aimed at children was launched yesterday in a drive to tackle the problem that is damaging the cinema industry.

"As long as the public continues to support people who sell fake copies, piracy will continue to flourish. We are targeting young people to encourage them to steer clear of buying pirated DVDs. That way, we can at least minimise piracy," Alex Pace, KRS Film Distributors manager, said.

The campaign, which is an initiative of KRS, includes posters, adverts and a cinema trailer that shows the contrast between an original and a pirated copy.

KRS general manager Charles Pace said that every five weeks there will be a new slogan in the campaign. The first slogan is: Film Piracy Is Theft, Avoid Being Part Of It.

KRS is on a mission to tackle piracy, especially as they believe it is one of the main causes behind this year's drop of 22 per cent in cinema attendances.

"We are going to great lengths to root out this problem," Mr Pace said.

Asked if cinema prices and the emergence of DVDs on the rental market had contributed to this drop, Alex Pace admitted that these factors had left an impact. However, piracy was the problem.

KRS is hoping to recuperate this year's cinema attendances with four blockbusters that will be released later on this year - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, King Kong, The Legend Of Zorro and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

KRS is offering children the opportunity to catch up on all the fun films before they return to school by organising Children Cinema Day on September 3.

Alex Pace said that people looked forward to cinema days and the last one, held in March, had been extremely successful with just under 20,000 people attending.

On the day, young moviegoers will be offered a choice of 20 films on 39 screens at a specially reduced price of Lm1. Accompanying adults pay Lm1.50.

The list of films includes a variety of animated features, thrillers, comedies and fantasy adventures.

One of the anticipated hits is The Adventures Of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D, which sees a boy's imaginary superhero friends come to life and join him on a series of adventures.

Herbie: Fully Loaded, an action-packed comedy on the adventures of the beloved Volkswagen, should also go down well with all members of the family.

Fans of Nicole Kidman will see her alongside Will Farrell in the film Bewitched, a comedy based on television's memorable and beguiling show.

The choice of films includes the comedy Kicking And Screaming; the magical fantasy adventure Charlie And The Chocolate Factory; the action thriller Stealth; Marvel's first family of comic heroes Fantastic Four; the sci-fi adventure thriller War Of The Worlds; Batman Begins; the animated blockbusters Madagascar and Valiant; and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, the last instalment of the saga.

All the movies showing on the day carry a PG or U classification. A mini poster of one of the following films will be given with every child ticket purchased - Herbie: Fully Loaded, Madagascar, War Of The Worlds and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

Film shows at all cinemas will start at 9 a.m. with the last performance at 7 p.m. The two-screen cinema in Gozo will be holding afternoon and early evening shows.

Children Cinema Day will be celebrated at Eden Century Cinemas in St George's Bay and Galleria in Fgura; Empire Cinemas, Bugibba; Embassy Cinema World, Valletta; The New Sun City Cine Palais, Marsascala, and the Citadel in Gozo.

Booking opens on Monday.