The future of film
What does the future hold for film and the moving image? Explore the responses of our 75 contributors and add your own contribution.
David Arnold
Composer
There may be someone out there playing around with a cheap digital video camera... who may emerge as the greatest film maker of all time... read more
Pierre Bismuth
Artist/Writer
We have entered into a transitional period in the history of the moving image... read more
Lord Melvyn Bragg
Writer/Broadcaster
What excites me about the future of film is that again & again it is harnessing two factors which are essentially important to me & I think to most great artists. Not always, not often but enough times, it is both popular & deeply distinguished with an iron grip on posterity.
Paul Burston
Gay Editor - Time Out
New technologies, coupled with a return to good old-fashioned story telling.
James Christopher
Film Critic, The Times
What exites me about the future of the moving image is the simple fact that it is the only truly global language that works... read more
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Actor
The new digital formats and cameras have the potential to simplify the film making process, making films less expensive whilst never sacrificing and at times such as low light situations improving a film's visual capacity.
Martha Fiennes
Director
What excites me about the future of the moving image is the work of rare individuals who fight the good fight and push to work in a way that questions the the increasingly conservative climate that the commercial industry apparently demands.
Mike Figgis
Director
What excites me about the future of film? Well, it's changing so fast (for the worse as well as the better) that inevitably it is recreating itself and the language it uses. This means we are in for an interesting transitional period.
Lizzie Francke
Producer
What excites me about the future of the moving image? The perpetual power of emotion in motion...
Leslie Hardcastle
BFI Governor
What excites me about the future of the moving image is its history, for ever since the days of the Chinese shadow plays to the digitally produced images of the 21st century mankind has attempted to use moving images to communicate... read more
Margaret Hodge MP
Minister of State
Just as Powell and Pressburger produced classic films during a time of great transition, today's directors are at a similar juncture. We are currently in a time of flux - moving from analogue to digital - and the implications of this are still to be fully understood and realised. But this is likely to create new and exciting opportunities for artists. The lower costs of shooting on digital could mean that filmmaking becomes the aspiration of many more people. I do not mean that filmmakers are likely to abandon celluloid altogether. But digital technology will give more people perhaps from different backgrounds a chance to make it in the film industry. This could lead to a more diverse industry in the UK and a richer seam of storytelling. But we should not lose sight of the emerging talent that is the future of the moving image. Duane Hopkins, whose film Better Films was critically acclaimed in Cannes and Edinburgh, Steve McQueen whose Hunger was similarly well received, and many more including Olly Blackburn, Joanna Hogg and Saul Dibb. The future of the moving image in Great Britain is emerging right now. In 2008 we are seeing some extraordinarily accomplished debut films coming through which show great promise - and this is particularly exciting.
Asif Kapadia
Director
I am excited to see what talented young filmmakers... will do with the medium in the future... read more
Sir Ben Kingsley
Actor
I see the future of the moving image as a continuation of this great narrative-driven film-making... read more
Kathy Lette
Writer
What a pleasure it will be to watch a film where the female stars don’t wait around to be rescued by something tall dark and handsome and have an academy-award winning orgasm - with no foreplay - within 90 minutes. .. read more
David Mackenzie
Director
Let's see what happens and evolve with it. My taste in films is generally not mainstream, so I hope that the personal films are allowed to flourish as much as the industrial ones. I also hope for obvious reasons that the future involves me being allowed to continue making films.
Caroline Michel
CEO of PFD
It is one of the greatest forms of entertainment and communication. It is the most straight forward way to make people stop and taps into their mind and soul. Film will always be there and will continue to develop in leaps and bounds, through a variety of different screening mechanisms. Film will last forever.
Max Minghella
Actor
The exciting new voices in British cinema - Shane Meadows, John Crowley, Kevin McDonald, to name just a few. Filmmakers who consistently create work that doesn't feel compromised or dishonest.
Sir Roger Moore
Actor
The digital revolution means everyone can be part of this very exciting medium... read more
David Morrissey
Actor
The cost of equipment coming down. Seeing new talent coming through and older talent being given the respect they deserve.
Lynda Myles
Writer/Producer
The future of the moving image excites me precisely because it is heading into areas which are unpredictable and hopefully into new dimensions.
Lisa Ray
Actor
In the future I only hope for cinema which makes us remember our humanness - cinema which penetrates all the layers and crusts.
Tony Robinson
Actor
Moving images are no longer the preserve of a few artists and a well-heeled elite. As each year goes by technology is offering us all new ways of taking control of the creation of moving images for ourselves.
Jess Search
CEO, Channel Four British Documentary Film Foundation
In ten years we will be watching wonderful documentaries made by people in countries who have never produced documentaries before. The future of the moving image will be exciting because technology is spreading the desire to make film (which is more important than the tools) to the people we used to make films about.
Trudie Styler
Actor/Producer
Making films is a much more accessible art form now. The technological developments of recent years have brought filmmaking seriously within the realm of anyone and everyone, and this can only be a good thing in terms of allowing new talent to develop and emerge. The internet then provides the means to show your work to the whole world. It’s an unprecedented situation, and the possibilities are very exciting.
Barnaby Thompson
Head of Studio
Anyone can make a film now. Anyone can make a visual statement of tell a story. This precious, expensive art form is finally in the public domain. Anything is possible.
Harry Treadaway
Actor
What doesn't excite me about the future of moving images is the acceleration towards a digital era, films coming out stuffed full of green screen sequences... read more
Jane Wright
General Manager - BBC Films
In a world where practically any content can be seen on our small screens, there will be incredible value in big, collective, out-of-home viewing experiences... read more
Edgar Wright
Director
The communal experience still excites me. No matter how good the advances in home theatre become, I'd like to believe that people will return to watching films with a full house. Your memory of a movie is so entwined with the reaction of the audience you saw it with. See something with a good and responsive crowd and you will never forget it. Having just curated a repertory cinema in Los Angeles and shown 14 of my favourite films, I was treated to 14 experiences I will never forget. So continuing to fuel that passion in audiences is important; not only in the way you present cinema of the past, but in how you create the cinema of the future; whether it be 3D or IMAX or just simply making great films that connect with people.