futureofcinema's blog

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Bruno Chatelin

What excites me about the future of Film is the history of its past. There have been so many great films and I have been privileged to see so many of them in my not inconsiderable lifespan. My recent viewing of some of the classics of the 30's, 40's and early 50's with David Lean, Powell and Pressburger, Merchant and Ivory convince me that there have always been great films and great film makers. More frecently watching the remarkable No Country for Old Men assures me that there always will be. Times may change and fashions will always be ephemeral. But creativity is eternal. As long as there are visionaries and creative geniuses, films will be made that will shock, delight, uplift and transform us to the degree that makes life an inspiration worth living.

Aside from Blade Runner (which I voted for here), this is my favourite film of all time. It's elegant, it's atmospheric, it's disturbing, it's occasionally quite funny, it's a masterpiece.

Gregory Peck spoke for many when he told an audience at his AFI Life Achievement tribute that, ".artistry is more important than making a buck..". Of course, he was so right. These days one is lucky to see ten great films a year. There is so much crap. Directors like Lean, Wyler, Stevens, Kazan, Hitchcock, Ray, Welles, Huston, Visconti, Fellini, Peckinpah, Reed and Lindsay Anderson. These were film-makers that made the cinema a great art form. It's time to be great again..PLEASE!!

Well one thing that would help place modern filmmaking properly in context, in an industry ruled by the $$....
How about a film's box office status been dictated by bums-on-seats rather than earnings?
I'm truly tired of biggest opening weekend figures when the simple increased ticket price means at this rate Police Academy 28 could end up higher up the list than Titanic!

Artistically: The story is important, but let's not forget Cinema is a visual medium. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are cases in point. Great plots, but it's Josh Brolin's profile on the bed waiting for Javier to stop outside his hotel room door... Daniel lit burnt orange by the glow from the burning oil... shot's that burn themselves into the retina.

INGMAR BERGMAN MOVIES

Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa 1952

The future of cinema is quite bleak. There is a distinct lack of fresh talent coming through our cinema screens. The models aren't in place to create the new Spielberg's, Scorsese's or even the Alan Smithee's of the future. Cinema has lost the balance of art to finance and it's killed the hopes of future film making.

But fortunately in true Hollywood fashion, just before all hope is lost - our hero (cinema) has one last ace up it's sleeve... digital projection / distribution.

Digital distribution and display is the only hope for emerging filmmakers. The studio model has had it's time in the spotlight, but after one too many remakes and one too many dips into unoriginality, it is time for the new model of filmmaking to take over. Express movie making.

Argue me this... who needs a studio when you can get from the avid to cinema in one easy step?

Fair enough maybe the marketing will be less generic and with less spend but i say bring back the 'trickle-effect' and 'word-of-mouth' after all it did alright for our modern auteur's and weeded out the forgettable's. The cinema will be forced into producing worthwhile product.

Te future isn't quite here yet I know but when it does, it wont take any crap of anyone.