Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/957795
30 DGA QUARTERLY "The audience experience gives movies a completely unique position as with no other art form," Nolan adds. "The audience engages in a visceral, subjective experience and shared empathy maximized with the largest possible screens. In movies and in the movie theater—and nowhere else—you have people look at the image and sound from the same point of view, and audiences sharing the same point of view together. This is unique to the movies, and it can't be overstated enough. Which, incidentally, is why I don't shoot in 3D, since that creates the illusion of a sub- jective point of view and ruins the common view you share with an entire audience." The importance of a true theatrical run on a large screen in a communal environment is a serious issue, not just for Nolan. James Cameron, for one, has made his position on the mat- ter quite clear. "The sanctity of the theater-going experience is something I never really want to see go away," he told the Toronto Sun last summer. "People shouldn't be denied the op- tion of seeing a film on the big screen," further distinguishing movie-going from TV viewing as "an experience you can't con- trol." Given these opposing views, what does it mean when major film festivals are previewing television series on the big screen and films made for theatrical release are limited to being shown on streaming services? Where can one fix the movie-going land- scape and experience? Is that even possible now? The Disruptive Influence of SVODs In the background of the current discussion looms subscrip- tion video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms like Netflix, which are making a dizzying flurry of deals with high-profile filmmak- ers. Recently, the Duplass brothers announced a multi-picture Netflix deal that will effectively make them one of the compa- ny's several house directors for years to come, much like studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when directors were em- ployed under long-term contracts, or in recent decades, when filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood formed partnerships with Universal and Warner Bros., respec- tively. The director of Mudbound, Dee Rees, sees Netflix as the savior of her well-reviewed period drama about black and white sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta: "Mudbound would not be seen by the public were it not for Netflix," she says. "I look at Netflix as a renais- sance for independent, edgy material that other studios are afraid to approach. They're disrupting the system in that way." But what happens when a director makes a movie intended for exhibition with audiences, but never gets a bona fide the- atrical release? And can a film made exclusively for a SVOD platform have the same impact? Would Jordan Peele's Get Out have had the societal relevance and financial success it had without the opportunities for audiences to revel in the horror together? "When a bunch of strangers go into a theater to laugh, cry, scream together, something cathartic happens," Peele said at the DGA Awards in February, "something important happens. After a great film, that audience leaves with a sense of community." The complexity of the issue can further be seen with the highly rated Berlin festival competitor Dovlatov, directed by Russia's Alexei German Jr. Netflix bought it for English- speaking territories, virtually ensuring that a filmmaker who makes some of the most visually spectacular pictures coming out of Russia will have his new work viewed on television, while in most of Europe, it'll be seen first in cinemas. Some would say that U.S. audiences will be deprived of the opportunity to see this work on the big screen as the director intended, while oth- ers would say having a potentially much larger audience for his film Stateside is more important. "Of course, it's sad that now we're all watching TV instead Directors Dee Rees (Mudbound), Bong Joon-ho (Okja) and Nicole Holofcener (The Land of Steady Habits) have taken the Netflix route to getting their films seen, which also eliminates downstream revenue; Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk) views the big- screen experience as sacred; Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book) says "movies work best as a communal experience"; Ryan Coogler has boosted theatrical business during the usually low-performing first quarter with Black Panther. PHOTOS: (LEFT TO RIGHT) STEVE DIETL/NETFLIX; JAE HYUK LEE/NETFLIX; EVERETT; MELINDA SUE GORDON/WARNER BROS.; GLEN WILSON/DISNEY ENTERPRISES; PHOTOFEST