125 years after birth of cinema, does it have a future?

Chennai

When the Lumiere brothers sent out invitations to the first public film screening on December 28, 1895, they caused quite a sensation. The show, which took place in the cellar of the Grand Cafe in Paris, lasted 20 minutes and at the end, everyone, the organisers said, was “speechless, surprised and indescribably amazed.” For the first time, the 32 members of the audience had seen moving pictures. The success was overwhelming.

Although Auguste and Louis Lumiere had already patented their film gear — cinematographs, camera and projector — on February 13, 1895, they were not alone in their invention of movies. Inventors in Great Britain, the United States and Germany were also working on creating devices that would make moving pictures possible.

On November 1, 1895, a couple of weeks before the Lumieres, the German brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky presented their projector. However, their device was technically inferior to the one presented by the Lumiere brothers, and it was thanks to technical superiority and commercial marketing that December 28, 1895 went down in history as the day when cinema was born.

A century and a quarter later, that would actually be a reason to celebrate. But because of the coronavirus pandemic this year, no workshops or events have been organised — in stark comparison to events that took place five years ago when cinema turned 120. At the time, the Grand Palais in Paris recognised the achievements of the Lumiere brothers with a comprehensive exhibition.

But the industry probably doesn’t want to celebrate, especially when this year has proven to be catastrophic for films. All over the world, cinemas have been forced to shut down as governments try to keep the virus in check. And even when some theatres opened in Germany and other countries this summer, the blockbusters were missing. Instead, the streaming business is witnessing a boom, with the sales figures of companies like Netflix and Amazon overtaking those of standard cinemas. Many film production companies are looking to see whether they could do away with theatres entirely. Soul, the latest Pixar film, for example, will bypass theatres and directly premiere on the streaming platform Disney+.

The death of cinema has been predicted again and again — with the widespread introduction of television in the 1950s, or the advent of video cassettes in the 1980s. But never have things looked as bleak as in this year: With losses of up to 70%, many in the industry think that cinema, in its conventional form, is doomed.

German film and television producer Uli Aselmann, who produced the 2017 movie Jugend ohne Gott, said the experience of going to the movies needs to be made special again. Others like Lars Henrik Gass, head of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, believes that as cultural venues, cinemas should be accorded a museum-like status and subsidised as a cultural enterprise.

This article was provided by Deutsche Welle