'Emerging Cinema': the new face of film

Since the birth of the moving picture, each generation of films has inherited the traits of its forefathers.

"Birth of a Nation" is like "Good Night, and Good Luck's" great-great-grandfather. Sure, one appears antiquated and the other sophisticated, but they're essentially made with the same chromosomes as you and grandpa.

Movies have evolved, but only very slightly. Besides the additions of sound and color, film's genetic code has changed only minutely.

Digital technology, however, will forever change the genealogy of film and how it is watched.

Emerging Cinema, based in New York City, has created the first-ever digital film distribution company. They send films via satellite to select locations across the country including Buffalo's Market Arcade Film and Arts Center.

UB Distinguished Professor Bruce Jackson, a director of the Market Arcade Theater, described how digital format would change the filmmaking process.

"The actual film itself, the picture, how it's made originally and how it's displayed is exactly the same now as it was 100 years ago," Jackson said. "The modifications have all been mechanical. What's happened here is it's now possible to shoot the film without using film, to distribute the film without using film, and in the middle, to edit the film without using film. So for the first time since film was invented, we have films in which there is no film."

One of the Market Arcade's eight theaters is outfitted with this new technology. They download high-quality digital movies to a central server and project the films from a specially installed projector.

President and CEO of Emerging Cinema Ira Deutchman said that this mode of distribution saves money that may be used to obtain films that are more expensive and difficult for normal theaters to obtain.

"What the digital projection enables us to do, on a cost effective basis because there are no prints and shipping costs, is to bring in these movies without it costing a fortune," Deutchman said.

The Market Arcade is running seven digitally distributed films in February. Already shown were the German film "Go for Zucker!" and the French Thriller "Cach?(c)." Upcoming is Steven Soderbergh's indie flick "Bubble," the 1975 film "The Passenger" starring Jack Nicholson, and "Cowboy del Amor," a documentary about a man who plays matchmaker for Mexican brides and American men.

"What this does, is it gives us access to a lot of independently produced stuff that doesn't exist anywhere else except in the digital world," Jackson said. "It gives it to us in much higher resolution than we'd get from a DVD. You go into those theatres and it looks great."

Deutchman says that digital distribution could very well impact the types of films shown in the future.

"The cost savings enable us to show things that otherwise wouldn't get shown," Deutchman said. "In theory, it enables distributors to think differently about the types of films they can distribute."

Not only are more films being made digitally, but digital distribution is destined to replace traditional film reels in the near future.

"In 10 years, I think very few film theaters will be rolling film very much," Jackson said. "More and more, the industry is going to shift to digital. I think physical film is dying. It's on the way out."

Deutchman agrees that digital distribution is the future.

"It's almost a certainty that all theatrical production is going to be digital. The only question mark is how long it's going to take for the transition," he said.

Unfortunately there could be a major downside to this new technology in regards to preservation. As new technologies make their predecessors obsolete, it may be difficult to salvage digital films.

"I have literally seen films that were 100 years old," said professor Jackson. "Nobody knows how any digital medium will survive. I've been f***ing around with computers for 20 years now and I have stuff from the '80s that I cannot use on any computer anywhere in UB."

As Emerging Cinema spreads across the country, theaters everywhere will have the opportunity to avoid the high costs of transportation and have unprecedented access to international and independent films.