The
Turin Film Festival has faith in Digital
by Giovanna Arrighi
For years in festivals and conferences
around the world there has been talk of the possibilities of digital technology
for the future of the cinema: the new formats, the new supports, the new
media, and how they may influence the survival or demise of the seventh
art.
Whilst there have been dark forecasts as to the imminent disappearance
of this illustrious and over 100-year-old expression of human imagination
from many quarters, from the vantage point of the 25th Turin Film Festival
this prospect is, to say the least, reversed.
Not only does the cinema enjoy splendid health today, but technological
innovations only seem to help it along. Of course, most of the works on
the programme are still presented on an analogical support but already
a certain number of films in digital or semi-digital format are present.
A glance through the programme shows that there are around twenty-five
full-length or medium-length films, as well as a dozen or so shorts in
DigiBeta format and ten works entirely in HD.
This may seem to be a small number, compared to the classic 35 and 16mm
formats, and they cannot yet be projected in all the Festival theatres
but they certainly represent a beginning.
Moreover, this is already the third year that it has been possible to
project films in high definition – as confirmed by Luca Andreotti, responsible
for programming and film-finding – even though the only screens equipped
for digital projection are those of the Multisala Cinema Massimo, which
is an integral part of the Film Museum. “Of course,” continues Andreotti,
“we also have a satellite connection but films still arrive on a material
support. It would also be possible for us to organize a whole series of
decentralized screenings starting from here, if the other theatres had
digital booths, like ours. For now, the problem is linked to the high
costs of this equipment, which limits widespread diffusion.”
“On the other hand,” the Director of the Film Museum, Alberto Barbera,
confirms, “this was the very reason why we made this decision. It seemed
only fair to us that, as a public institution, our structure should assume
the cost of purchasing the necessary facilities. In the two previous years
we rented the equipment but, since the Museum hosts and supports as many
as four festivals a year, it only took a few calculations for us to realize
that both the organizational and the economic aspects had to be rendered
more efficient. This is why we decided it was important for the theatres
of the Massimo to be equipped with a digital system, also in view of the
increasing number of digital works in foreign catalogues. Moreover, in
this sector, we are witnessing an acceleration in the conversion from
traditional to digital supports, under pressure from Hollywood and others
and if there was talk of medium-term or long-term developments up to a
short while ago, now the timing would seem to be much faster. Certainly
costs are still high, although not for long, I think. In any case, as
far as the Museum archives are concerned, up to now we have limited ourselves
to converting photos and posters into digital format, whilst for the films
we are still rather more at the beginning, since the copies for digitalization
have to be in perfect condition and we do not have the funds to restore
our entire catalogue. Instead, for the festivals it is now necessary to
proceed in this direction, since almost thirty percent of the films that
are selected on each occasion arrive on this type of support. Because
of its vocation the Museum also has the task of collaborating on experimentation,
research and professional training and this is why I believe it should
not limit its work to archiving but act as a stimulus and a driving force
in this field.
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