A digital step forward

Efforts are underway to bring digitally made films to a wider audience

It's the format of the future, says Madhureeta Anand, filmmaker and festival director, The 0110 Digital Film Festival. "I'd hesitate to predict the complete demise of traditional filmmaking, but in the future at least 70 per cent of all films will be shot in the digital format." It's the future of exhibition, adds Tushar Dhingra of PVR Cinemas. "There are 165 digital screens across Asia and the figure is growing."

In a sense, the term "film" is an anomaly. The word will, of course, continue to be associated with the moviemaking process; the connections run too deep to be severed. But film as in "celluloid" may soon become a thing of the past. Increasingly, around the world, filmmakers are coming around to the merits of the digital format.

And signs are that the buzz is spreading in India too. This year has marked a step forward for the 0110 Digital Film Festival "" in its third edition the festival, hitherto confined to elitist screenings at the British Council, has stepped onto the multiplex stage courtesy a tie-up with PVR Cinemas.

These are strange bedfellows. The films shown at the Digital festival aren't exactly what you'd call mainstream, and PVR is famously uncomfortable with "alternate" cinema. (The Europa Lounge at PVR Gurgaon, where the opening film of the festival "" Werner Herzog's The White Diamond "" was screened, had originally been launched a couple of years ago as a venue for more niche movies, but predictably that idea never came to fruition.)

However, both parties have one eye on the future. "Right now digital filmmaking tends to be in the alternate-content arena," admits Dhingra, "but soon it will make its presence felt in the mainstream too. We have to be ready for that." Anand has her own agenda too. "What's required is to take this festival to a public space," she says, "and multiplex screenings are a step forward in that sense. We have to get young people interested in these movies."

There are other steps being taken to bring digital movies to a wider audience. "These directors need, above all, to be encouraged "" to know that their films are selling," says Anand. "We have plans for our own DVD label, and for a tie-up with a mobile company that will facilitate the downloading of short digital films. The proceeds will go to the filmmakers." Naturally, the Internet is another option as well.

Internationally, debates about digital-vs-traditional moviemaking have been raging for years; purists have been known to complain that digitally made movies lack the detail that can be captured on celluloid, and also reduce the extent of artistic control.

Anand disagrees. "Digital films have an enormous range," she argues. "In high-definition form, they can be "" and have been "" used by major filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, while low-resolution digital film helps in the making of realistic, intimate films. The format is also getting cheaper by the day, and requires less technical specialisation than the conventional moviemaking process. These are important advantages."