December 19, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John Pavlik - (310) 247-3000
                       

Beverly Hills, CA - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named its newest theater, a 286-seat state-of-the-art screening room at the Pickford Center in Hollywood, in honor of visual effects pioneer Linwood Dunn.

"Linwood Dunn was a giant in the motion picture field, a gifted artist and scientist who made enormous contributions to our art form throughout most of the 20th century," said Academy President Frank Pierson. "Naming the theater in Lin's honor made eminent sense to the Board of Governors."

The theater was first used on Sunday, December 7, to screen two feature animation films in contention for Academy Awards, followed by an Academy Film Archive screening on Monday and a public program honoring the films of 1903 on Wednesday.

A formal dedication of the facility will take place shortly after the February Academy Award ceremonies.

"Lin Dunn was one of the pathfinders of visual effects who created some of the most indelible and astounding images in the history of film, decades before computers were even a possibility," said Bill Taylor, an Academy governor representing the Visual Effects Branch, who proposed the naming of the theater in Dunn's honor. "In the hands of Lin Dunn, simple optical and photographic equipment, applied with great artistry, boldness, ingenuity, imagination and craftsmanship, literally did the impossible."

Though he was involved with the optical effects on such films as "King Kong," "Flying Down to Rio," "Citizen Kane," "Bringing Up Baby," Mighty Joe Young," "West Side Story" and "The Exorcist," Dunn received his only Oscar nomination in 1966 for the special visual effects on "Hawaii."

Dunn received an Oscar in 1980, along with Cecil D. Love and the Acme Tool and Manufacturing Company, "for the concept, engineering and development of the Acme-Dunn Optical Printer for motion picture special effects."

Four years later he was given the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, also an Oscar, which is given to an individual "whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry."

Dunn served as a governor of the Academy representing the Cinematographers Branch for nine years between 1976 and 1992 and then was elected in 1996 to the first group of governors to represent the newly-formed Visual Effects Branch. He died at the age of 94 before completing his three-year term.

The theater fills a long-standing Academy need for a mid-sized venue. At the Academy's headquarters building on Wilshire Boulevard, the Samuel Goldwyn Theater seats 1,012 and the Academy Little Theater seats 67. While those two theaters are available for industry rental, the Linwood Dunn Theater will be a workhorse for the Academy and will not be available for rental, according to Academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson.

The new screening room was designed to provide reference standard presentation of 16, 35, and 70mm motion picture formats for both image and sound quality, according to past Academy sound branch governor Douglas Greenfield, who headed the Pickford Screening Room Subcommittee. He said the design also anticipates digital presentation.

In addition, the theater will provide a venue for lectures, panel discussions, Academy Forums on a variety of subjects, and Scientific and Technical Achievement demonstrations and the Academy Film Archive and the Academy's new Science and Technology Council will make frequent use of the facility.

The 20'x43' screen is a Stewart Ultramatte series CinePerf screen, with four-way adjustable masking by Tru-Roll.

There are five projection ports for two Norelco AA2 projectors to handle 35mm and 70mm film projection flanked by a pair of Eastman 16mm projectors. The center port position will hold a DLP Cinema digital projector

Five TAD TSC-3415 three-way speaker systems are mounted behind the screen in an infinite-baffle screen wall and four TAD TSC-1218SW subwoofer enclosures complete the behind-screen installation. The surround system comprises three independent arrays-two identical side wall arrays, and a back wall array.

Ray van den Broek of Acoustics of Architecture and Environment, Andrew Rutkin of JBL Professional and Jerry Steckling of TAD Professional division of Pioneer of America were heavily involved in designing technical systems for the theater.

The Pickford Screening Room Subcommittee consisted of Greenfield, Erland, Kevin Collier of Warner Bros., David Gray of Dolby Laboratories, Mark Koffman of Sony Pictures, design consultant Paul Pavelka and Academy projectionist Carl Belfor.

Technical Writers: Additional technical information is available. Please call John Pavlik at 310-247-3000.