Evolving technology will result in failure of conventional organisations said veteran filmmaker Shekhar Kapur at a panel discussion on Digital Space — The Future Ahead at the International Film Festival of India on Saturday.
He said, “Organisations won’t be able to sustain [themselves] because by the time they are established, the technology will change. The future lies with individuality and democracy. If anyone of you believes you can tell a story and you can give it to the world, you have the means, you have the technology, you can upload the video.”
Mr. Kapur said that after film studios and producers, Amazon and Netflix were the new ‘gatekeepers’ of cinema. He said technology would ensure that in future it is the masses and not gatekeepers who will dictate video content. Mr. Kapur said, “We are now heading towards a world where the crowd will decide what is good or not and the gatekeepers will go.”
He said digital media is constantly undercutting the idea of iconism. “What’s happening is inertia is being sucked out of the system. Amazon and Netflix and Facebook are people that actually rebelled against iconism, who then became icons themselves.”
Mr. Kapur said with technology-enabled film distribution on mobile phones, going to a cinema hall would become a once-in-a-while social experience. He said, “It is becoming difficult to go out in Mumbai. As you go out to eat as a social occasion, cinema too will be a social occasion.”
