The Hindu : New Delhi News : A digital `divide' bridged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 02, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

A digital `divide' bridged

The Digital Film Festival opens at PVR Gurgaon on September 6.

The much talked about digital "divide" at least in the world of cinema seems to have been bridged. Moving outside the walls of the black-and-white Charles Correa building in Connaught Place to the glass-towered mall in Gurgaon, the 0110 Digital Film Festival this year has finally got Delhi "connected".

"The first year it started out as an exchange of ideas between filmmakers from India and Britain in British Council. The next year we decided to open it up to filmmakers from South Asia apart from India and Britain and this time we have thrown it open to the entire world. We have also tied up with PVR Cinemas for the first time and they will show these festival films in their multiplex," says festival director Madhureeta Anand.

A group of filmmakers who have chosen not to stick to the conventional format of making movies, the movement is about cinema that speaks a new language. Choosing to break a few rules and create a set of new ones, they might still be waiting to find their feet in India, but digital films can't be ignored.

Looking to the future of filmmaking, PVR Cinema has realised its potential and has managed to get Christie, a projection company, to get the right equipment to screen. "The last time we took the festival to Mumbai, we realised that unless you have the right equipment the films are ruined. PVR Gurgaon has managed to get the right projection. They will screen these movies from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for free. I think when a film festival is shown in a multiplex, it is a big step," she says.

Taking off on September 6, the Digital Film Festival brings to Delhi audiences the "best" of the digital world. From the opening film, "The White Diamond" by Werner Herzog -- considered a masterpiece -- to "Residencia" a Dogma film from Argentina, the festival has finally come of age.

And to complete to circle for filmmakers so that these movies go beyond the festival, the audiences will be able to download the short films on their mobiles from next year onward. — Mandira Nayar

— Mandira Nayar

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