Tarantino tells Cannes digital screenings have killed cinema

Reuters reports that sScreening films in digital is like forcing audiences to watch television in public, cult director Quentin Tarantino told the Cannes film festival on Friday, adding that the lush 35-millimetre cinema he grew up with was “dead”.

Tarantino is not competing in this year’s event, but he spoke to journalists and film critics before a 35mm screening of his hit “Pulp Fiction” on the beach on Friday night.

“The fact that most films now are not presented in 35mm means that the war is lost,” said the director of the cult hit “Reservoir Dogs”.

Digital formats and distribution have swept the world of cinema, largely because of cost – most of the films in Cannes are now projected that way.

But aficionados still sing the praises of the old-school film reels – in the same way that music buffs hold on to their vinyl LPs over compact discs. Fans obsess about the warmth and fineness of the 35mm grain and its ability to record the darkest of shadows and the brightest of lights.

Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/23/us-filmfestival-cannes-tarantino-idUSKBN0E31SM20140523