CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This February, a first-of-its-kind cinema event will debut in movie theaters across the country featuring Leonardo Live, the first-ever high-definition tour of a fine art exhibition created for movie theater audiences. Presented by NCM Fathom, BY Experience and PhilGrabskyFilms.com, Leonardo Live will hit the big screen on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7:00 p.m. local time. During this unprecedented event, audiences will experience the UK’s National Gallery’s sold out exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan. Captured live in HD in November 2011 just before its opening, Leonardo Live provides a virtual walk-through of the show, with exclusive commentary from scholars and curators. Hosted by highly respected art historian Tim Marlow and presenter Mariella Frostrup, the exhibition brings together the largest number of da Vinci’s rare surviving painting and some international loans. While numerous exhibitions have looked at da Vinci as an inventor, scientist or draftsman, this is the first to be dedicated to his aims and techniques as a painter.
Tickets for Leonardo Live are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the NCM Fathom website (theaters and participants are subject to change). The event will be broadcast to nearly 450 select movie theaters across the country through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network.
“Due to the fragility of these priceless works of art, this exhibition unfortunately cannot physically tour,” said Dan Diamond, senior vice president of NCM Fathom. “But through this extraordinary in-theater event, moviegoers and art lovers alike will have the opportunity to experience this highly-anticipated gallery presentation as if they were there.”
Featuring the finest paintings and drawings by the famed Italian Renaissance polymath and his followers, Leonardo Live showcases paintings, including the “Belle Ferronière” (Musée du Louvre, Paris), the “Madonna Litta” (The State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg), as well as the newly discovered, never-exhibited painting, the “Salvator Mundi.” The exhibition will also feature a near-contemporary, full-scale copy of the “Last Supper,” on loan from The Royal Academy of Arts, London. Additionally, two versions of the “Virgin of the Rocks” – belonging to the National Gallery and the Louvre – will be shown together for the first time during this one-night HD presentation.
**Editor Note: A media screening featuring a post exhibition Q&A with art historian Robert Simon will take place at the Dolby Screening Room in New York on Tuesday, January 31 at 7:00 p.m. To RSVP, please contact info@byexperience.net. Seating is limited.
About National CineMedia (NCM)
NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation’s largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM’s theater advertising network covers 176 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes over 18,300 screens (17,300 digital). During 2010, approximately 700 million patrons attended movies shown in theaters in which NCM currently has exclusive, cinema advertising agreements in place. The NCM Fathom Events broadcast network is comprised of nearly 700 locations in 165 Designated Market Areas® (all of the top 50). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing 42 entertainment-related websites, online widgets and mobile applications. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.7% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com.
About BY Experience
BY Experience kicked off the digital revolution of live events to movie theaters and other locations globally with David Bowie’s 2003 Reality album launch and since then, over 12 million tickets have been sold worldwide for cinema events BY Experience has distributed and/or produced including the Met: Live in HD series, the U.K.’s National Theatre Live series, the New York Times speaker’s series TimesTalks LIVE, the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest (June 2011), Red Hot Chili Peppers Live: I’m With You (August 2011); The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax (June 2010), BBC Electric Proms: Robbie Williams (October 2009), the classic music celebrations BBC Last Night of the Proms (September 2009 - 2011), St. Olaf Christmas Festival (December 2007 and 2011), David Gilmour: Remember That Night — Live from the Royal Albert Hall (September 2007), and the public radio shows A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor (February and October 2010) and This American Life – Live! with Ira Glass (April 2008 and May 2009). BY Experience distributes to over 50 countries, to 1,700 movie screens. For more information, visit: www.byexperience.net
About PhilGrabskyFilms.com
PhilGrabskyFilms.com is the cinema division of Seventh Art Productions, one of the UK's longest-running independent production companies. Among their extensive slate of films are over 100 art films with Tim Marlow which have been key in keeping arts on British TV in the past decade. More recently, PhilGrabskyFilms.com’s owner Phil Grabsky has directed award-winning films for the cinema and TV including ‘In Search of Mozart’, ‘In Search of Beethoven’ and ‘The Boy Mir – Ten years in Afghanistan’ which have all played in cinemas and on TV around the world. His ‘In search of Haydn’ will be released in 2012.