HOLLYWOOD’S brightest stars filing into the Kodak Theatre in downtown Los Angeles last night may have been blissfully unaware that the curtain is about to come down on the golden age of celluloid.

The UK Film Council has allocated £11.5 million of Lottery money to the creation of 250 digital cinemas across the nation, spelling the beginning of the end for celluloid.

No longer will film companies have to produce huge and costly cannisters of film. In their place will be digital projectors and films stored on computer hard drives, able to be reproduced and distributed for a fraction of the cost of standard 35mm prints. The result, it is hoped, will be the perfect film experience for audiences in all corners of Britain.

The Film Council is aiming to lower the cost of reproducing films significantly so that specialist releases, including low-budget independent films such as Mike Leigh’s Oscar-nominated Vera Drake, can reach far wider audiences.

The digital circuit will reduce the price of duplicating and distributing a film from about £1,500 to as little as £80. Instead of only a few dozen prints being produced, meaning that small exhibitors must wait months for a brief turn to show them, cinemas equipped with the new technology will be able to show niche titles from the day they are released for as long as they like.

“The ultimate beneficiary will be the audiences, particularly those with specialist tastes,” said Pete Buckingham, head of Distribution and Exhibition at the UK Film Council.

“Access to niche films, which also includes educational releases, short films and documentaries, is restricted because of the prohibitive reproduction cost. This will remove the 35mm barrier, so there’s no reason . . . why people all over Britain can’t see any particular film.”

Derek Cooper, whose family owns the three-screen Wells Film Centre in Somerset, said that the new technology would mollify his legion of elderly customers who are demanding to see the comedy Sideways during weekday matinée sessions.

“The demand for these small releases is huge, I have been running the Ladies in Lavender for 14 weeks and still had 40 people in to see it on Wednesday,” said Mr Cooper, who is also a member of the Cinema Exhibitors Association. “But we don’t know when we’ll get Sideways. We asked for March 7, but it’s not available that week.”

The specialised film market accounts for only 6 per cent, or 10 million, of all cinema admissions, compared with the total last year of 170 million.

Mr Buckingham said that the digital technology would also be a huge boost for hearingimpaired audiences, allowing cinemas to programme more sessions of films with subtitles. The technology will also help to preserve ageing films.

The Film Council’s project is part of a broader digital revolution that is sweeping Hollywood. Much of the work on feature films is now done digitally in post-production. Appropriately, the Oscars are handed out in a theatre sponsored by Kodak, a company that has been forced to switch its focus away from film because digital cameras now outnumber film cameras by four to one.

The first digital projectors, costing almost £50,000 each, will be installed in autumn with 50 planned within six months.