The arrival of digital cinema had been announced for long, but few among us expected it to replace celluloid so rapidly. The film industry has never experienced such a radical change in its century-long history. This is a “forced march” towards digital, as denounced by some people. In the sectors of production and exhibition this change of paradigm comes with a high price to pay as a number of small structures risk not to get through this transition. Using either film or digital technology should be in the realm of an “artistic” and / or “economical” choice of the artist, rather than just dictated by the rules of the market. We believe that film is not entirely dead and that digital has a future just as promising. We should stop confusing or opposing the two mediums: why shouldn’t both co-exist? A one-day round-table is organized, within the context of the Kino Climates week, in order to evaluate the pros and cons of this "digital revolution".
Round Table #1 / 10:00 > 13:00
The impact of digital technologies on the independent film exhibition sector.
Are there alternatives to the digital cinema formats imposed by the industry?
With:
Torkell Saetervadet (Oslo/No - member of the FIAF Technical Film Commission, independent consultant for archive & repertory theatres,
author of «The Advanced Projection Manual»);
Nicolas Bertrand (Toulouse-Lyon/F - Software engineer, working on a three-years research programme on behalf of Cinema Utopia (Fr) and Université de Lyon on alternative and free licence DCP softwares);
Jean-Philippe Jacquemin (Lille/Fr - Software engineer and independent consultant; member of the CST (Fr) technical film commission).
Round Table #2 / 14:00 > 18:00
What future for small-scale distributors and for the circulation of low-budget and independent films?
What will be the access to archive and «cinematheque» prints?
With:
Giovanna Fossati (Amsterdam/Nl - Head curator at the Eye Institute/ Amsterdam. Author of «From grain to pixel//The archival life of Film in transition»);
Sebestyén Kodolányi (Budapest/ Hu - Director of the Béla Balàzs Studio); Fabienne Hanclot (Paris/Fr - Executive director of ACID/ Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion);
Catharine Des Forges (London/Uk - Executive director of ICO/ Independent Cinema Office);
Stefan Droessler (Munich - Director of the Munich Film Museum / to be confirmed).