Once again, in early June 2024, Panos Golfis participated in Hollywood’s largest film festival/conference/exhibition/seminar, the Cine Gear Expo, which took place on the grounds of the historic Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California. As always, Golfis was the only Greek cinematographer and technical press journalist to attend this prestigious event.
After visiting the Paramount Studios, Panos Golfis, the only Greek cinematographer, explored the vast facilities of the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank.
The Largest Cine Gear Expo of All Time
For 28 years, the Cine Gear Expo LA, the oldest and largest of the Cine Gear Expo family, has been the annual gathering of all film professionals on the West Coast of America. In the last 7-8 years, Cine Gear Expo has also been held in two other American cities on different dates: in Atlanta in early October and in New York in mid-March. However, the largest and oldest of the three different Cine Gear Expos is the one in Los Angeles, which attracts thousands of American professionals from the film, television, and advertising industries.
This year, after 27 years at the backlots of Paramount Studios, the event moved from old Hollywood to Burbank, on the other side of Mount Lee, the small Hollywood mountain, to the historic backlots of Warner Bros Studios. You see, in the last 4-5 years, Cine Gear Expo LA had grown so much that it could no longer fit in the Paramount Studios backlot, which is why it moved to the much larger backlots of Warner Bros Studios.
Additionally, this year, Cine Gear Expo LA recorded the highest number of visitors in its history, something that was immediately apparent from the large crowds and the difficulty in moving around the New York neighborhood of the Warner Bros Studios backlot! The crowd was so large that it was difficult to walk between the booths under the scorching Californian sun.
This is the Steven J. Ross Theater, the beautiful high-tech cinema hall that dominates the New York neighborhood of the Warner Bros Studios backlot. This venue hosted the best and biggest masterclasses, seminars, discussions, and the Cine Gear Expo LA 2024 festival competitions.
The historic Stage 24, built in 1935, has been the setting for scenes from films such as Blade Runner and A Star is Born and television series like Friends.
For the first time in its 28-year history, Cine Gear Expo LA was hosted in the vast backlots of Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California, at the historic Warner Bros Studios, which are over 100 years old and where classic cinematic masterpieces like Casablanca, My Fair Lady, The Jazz Singer, Rebel Without a Cause, and the recent award-winning Barbie were filmed, as well as popular TV series like Friends and The Big Bang Theory.
Cine Gear Expo LA 2024 was hosted on the streets of New York and French exterior sets of Warner’s main lot, where Bonnie and Clyde were filmed. This area spans 110 hectares, equivalent to half a square kilometer, and includes 29 large sound stages and 11 exterior sets.
Panos Golfis 15 years ago, during his first participation in the Cinegear 2009 film seminars, at the backlots of Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
