By Stephanie Ornelas
Digital Gym is ready to deliver a slice of Sundance Film Festival to San Diego.
Almost two years ago, when the California-based independent micro-cinema lost the lease to its location and was forced to close during the pandemic, Mois s Esparza (Exhibitions Manager) was concerned that the cinema wasn't given a proper send-off. Today, instead of a goodbye, they're ready to introduce their brand-new home to their community as a 2022 Sundance Film Festival Satellite Screen partner.
It all aligned itself really nicely, says Esparza via Zoom. We're making up for the closure of the previous location with this amazing grand opening and [we're] pairing it with the Satellite Screen experience.
As a single-screen cinema, Esparza noted how it took some time for Digital Gym to cultivate supporters. Caught between two other independent cinemas, he explains, It took a while for us to carve out our space in the film community here in San Diego. But it felt like we hit our stride in the last couple of years. With the pandemic, so much was paused, but we're ready to pick up where we left off with this new sense of momentum.
Uniquely part of two entities - Esparza also manages the San Diego Latino Film Festival - he provides an important perspective when it comes to the cinematic depth of the community.
The film festival community here is so strong. It really is the cinephile's dream, he says excitedly. From the San Diego Asian Film Festival, to the Jewish Film Festival, the G.I. Film Festival and San Diego Film Week, there are so many opportunities here to not just appreciate, but also discover film. We really advocate for independent films made from all over the world, so we're honored to be the in-person ambassadors for the Sundance Film Festival.
Being one of the only in-person aspects of the Festival is what really kept the Digital Gym team not just encouraged, but exhilarated.
The pandemic brings on so much stress, and it's kind of hard to see a path through all the noise, but producing this event has given our team so much to hang on to, Esparza says. It's giving us a bit of renewed purpose.
In terms of what's changed [since Sundance Institute's announcement of a primarily online festival], the cinema is limiting capacity and will be rethinking some of its reception-type events to promote social distancing and an overall safe environment. But they will still be hosting Q&As, something Esparza stresses is so important to the overall experience.
The real magic happens during that audience-filmmaker interaction after the film plays, he says. You can see it on peoples' faces. They just want to interact with special guests and talk about the film.
He continues, we project so much onto the screen while we're watching, but we almost, in a way, want the film to talk to us after it's over, and how we do that is by having these filmmakers, actors, producers, editors, and other special guests provide that context.
But more importantly, Esparza is excited to bring a small taste of the Sundance Film Festival to the energetic and fast-evolving community that is San Diego.
I want to create a Sundance experience that's really accessible. Bringing films to the community, setting up the red carpet, having Q&As with filmmakers - those are the things I'm really looking forward to.
The pandemic challenges have prompted Esparza to have conversations within his own community. And despite the 2022 Festival's pivot to online, many agree that the most crucial facet - the core reason we're all gathered here in the first place - will always be present.
This just allows us to [examine] the reason why we're coming together in the first place, which is to watch and support movies, he says. All of the supplemental events are amazing and create a vibe, and they're so valuable, but what are we really here for? To watch films communally. That important aspect of the film is still there.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
By Stephanie Ornelas 
