The ‘Film Festival Directors’ Round Table’ was held Thursday, moderated by Shekhar Kapur, the festival director of 55th IFFI, Goa.

EVEN though the world of cinema is fast evolving, boosted by technological advances, there is one thing that remains constant: the collective experience of watching a movie on a large screen.

The ‘Film Festival Directors’ Round Table’ was held Thursday, moderated by Shekhar Kapur, the festival director of 55th IFFI, Goa. The panel featured CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival Giona Nazzaro, and Festival producer of Edinburgh International Film Festival Emma Boa. They believe that even though “technology will keep changing, the powerful thing about cinema is that it’s watched together”.  Expressing his concerns over people getting hooked to short videos and reels while “around 10% of the world is watching cinema as we know it”, Kapur wondered if they had the responsibility to protect cinema.

Bailey believed that “stories are more powerful than any single technology”. He said: “Technology will keep changing but the powerful thing about cinema is that it’s watched together. That amplifies the emotion, the experience and what viewers take back with them. But we can’t hide what technology has done to screen storytelling. That is more powerful today since people are watching on their phone or laptop. But the collective experience should be protected.”

For Nazzaro, “cinema is a technology-oriented art form”. The problem with the technology, he believed, was that it can hijack what the audience needs. “Nowadays, we don’t say films anymore, we say content. Films are not content. They are art. They are still people who are yet to make their first short film or feature. They need to defend the idea that what they are going to say (through their movies) could be art.”

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)