Martin Scorsese explains that cinema is not dying, “it is transforming”

Director Martin Scorsese For years he has shared his thoughts on the state of cinema and during a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, where he received the Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement, when asked if he thought that cinema was dying, he responded by saying that he believes that the sector it is “transforming”. He explained that it was never supposed to be one thing:

“I don’t think he’s dying at all, no. I think she’s transforming. She was never supposed to be one thing. We were used to being one. I grew up [with cinema] like one thing: if you wanted to see a film you went to the theater. A good theater or a bad theater, but it was a theater. It has always been a community experience.

“But technology has changed so quickly and so radically that in some ways the only thing you can really hold on to is the individual voice. The individual voice, I have to say, can express itself on TikTok or it can express itself on a four-hour film or a two-hour miniseries.”

When it comes to technology, particularly the threat of artificial intelligence, Scorsese said that we shouldn’t “let technology scare us.” He shared:

“Let’s not become slaves to technology: let’s control technology and put it in the right direction. The right direction comes from the individual voice, rather than from something that is simply consumed and thrown away.”

The director also offered an update on the new Jesus film project he’s developing, an idea he’s still thinking about. He said:

“What kind of film I’m not entirely sure, but I want to make something unique and different that will be thought-provoking and hopefully entertaining. I’m still not entirely sure how to proceed. But once we finish our tour here to promote the movie, maybe I’ll sleep a little and then wake up and have this new idea on how to do it.”

Scorsese has previously spoken about urging 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, 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.”

Scorsese talked about new technology and how it offers more freedom, but he also said 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 also shared what it was like for him as 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.”

The film industry is certainly changing and it’s changing fast, but yeah, I don’t think it’s dying either. What do you think of what Scorsese says here about the state of the film industry?

Source: variety