Where is cinema heading to?

Short videos on this question answered by Jia Zhang-ke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Lisandro Alonso and Albert Serra.

Jia Zhang-ke (Chinese + French subs) 58" [centrepompidou]

Jia Zhang-ke : "I'm very confident in the future of cinema and I'm confident about new media, like internet or cell phones, that allow the audience to watch movies. But I'm also certain that the movie houses will last long. It's extremely important that the audience could gather in a common place to watch a filmic work. The size of the screen begs for respect, both for the work and the audience. This mutual respect will continue. And this is how I envision the future of cinema. Merci"

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Hou Hsiao-hsien (chinese + French subs) 1'25" [centrepompidou]

HHH: "Well it's not like writting... where we only need a pen and a paper. To work with cinema it's different. Question is : what is the difference between images and words? It's totally different. How are we going to work with images? We know that, from Lumière brothers up to now, cinema only exists for some 100 years. Now there are digital cameras, it will change everything, create new different forms. The point we are at now, we can't say where is cinema heading to. And especially, there is Internet now. It's very difficult to define the future of cinema.

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Lisandro Alonso (Spanish, English + French subs) 48" [centrepompidou]

Lisandro Alonso : "I don't know. It's difficult to say something serious... because it seems cinema is a little dead. But... I don't know, we have to go back to Lumière brothers. And then we'll see."

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Albert Serra, Cannes 2008 (French) 5' [centrepompidou]

Albert Serra : "It's difficult to say because cinema is losing its popular aspect. Because people became more stupid, right? since the 80ies, 90ies... and filmmakers are more erudit, we're talking about real filmmakers, right, trying to find a new original path. All this means more and more sophistication, more abstract, more impenetrable, regarding images. But the audience, with TV that has become this god of today, always into classical narration. I believe that cinema of the future will precisely be in the museum. It's the museum that will give money to make films, in the festivals. Maybe in 2018 at the Director's Fortnight they will give money to 5 filmmakers to make their film. Already today there are festivals like Rotterdam that give money to makes films. Because the usual ways to find money are difficult. TV today is impossible. I never had a TV set at home since I have 18 years old. It's a cancer. Someone who watches TV deserves to die right away. And it's me who will do it, naturally, if it's necessary. To find funds for cinema... I don't know if it's the same in France, but TV used to acquire art films before, today they don't buy anything... There is only the state subsidies... but there is less and less aids for art films. The era when The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, great artists, made music for a large popular success, when Godard could make a totally crazy movie with a big popular success... this era is over for ever.
What will cinema become? I don't know, it will simply lose its popular dimension. Because the people has become more stupid, cinema has evolved a little. Now with Modern Cinema there is no classical narration, we can see the images. Today for Modern Cinema it's like writing a poem. When you read a novel, you look for ideas, stories, all that. But when you read a poem, you don't have an absolute for each verse to have its own obvious signification. They could relate to an image or a suggestion... but there is always in your head this idea, and each verse don't need to have a full perfect meaning, where everything is evident. It's more like suggestions and images. In this approach of cinema, people move away from the popular side, more to the poetic side, like a poem. It will become more and more difficult to keep this tradition of cinema as we know it since its birth. Images pure and beautiful, but for everyone. It's a shame. It makes me sad. I try to keep this popular side with my non-actors, certain details, but it's a pity, I think it will disappear..."