Martin Scorsese says it’s up to young filmmakers to reinvent cinema as content has become ‘something you eat and throw away’

Martin Scorsese he’s had a truly incredible career as a director, but over the years he’s changed a lot in how films are made and how we consume them. Hollywood is in an interesting phase right now as it is in a “period of reinvention.” During a recent panel at the BFI London Film Festival’s Screen Talk, Scorsese urges young filmmakers to reinvent cinema in the streaming age and says, “I didn’t want to be the last line of defense.” He shared:

“I honestly think it’s been dismissed for all of you by now. And I really say it: I don’t know where cinema will go. Why does it have to be the same as the last 90-100 years? It is not so. Do we prefer films from the last 90-100 years? I do it, but I’m old. Younger people will see the world around them in a different way, you will see it fragmented… What does a snapshot mean now? I do not know anymore. I don’t think it means anything… You’re all in the process of reinventing it. It’s a truly extraordinary time and a lot of it has to do with technology.”

The director went on to talk about the new technology and how it offers more freedom, but also said that it should make young filmmakers “rethink what you want to say and how you want to say it. Ideally, I hope – I hesitate to use the word – that ‘serious’ films can still be made with this new technology and this new world that we are part of.”

The director goes on to talk about when he was a child and his love for cinema, and how he also hopes that more “serious” films will return to cinemas and that franchise films will take over:

“I fear that franchise films will take over cinemas. I always ask theater owners to create a space where younger people can say they want to see this new film, which is not a franchise film, in a theater and share it with everyone around them. So much so that they want to go to the theater, which is something inviting that doesn’t make them say they could see it at home. Because I believe that the experience of seeing a film with many people is still the key. But I’m not sure that can be achieved easily at this point.”

Edgar Wright he was moderating the panel and when he asked Scorsese about the growth of directors being seen as “content providers,” Scorsese said that “content is something you eat and throw away. But if you want to have an experience that can enrich your life, that’s different.”

I actually agree with everything Scorsese says here. The entire industry is changing and it’s crazy to think about how things will change and evolve over the next ten years.

Source: variety