Martin Scorsese Urges Young Filmmakers to Reinvent Cinema in Streaming Age: ‘Content Is Something You Eat and Throw Away’

variety.com:

Ellise Shafer Martin Scorsese said the entertainment industry is in a “period of reinventing” cinema during his Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday, urging young filmmakers to use new technology for good as opposed to making “content.” When asked by director Edgar Wright about becoming somewhat of a spokesperson for the current state of cinema, Scorsese laughed and said, “I didn’t want to be the last line of defense.” “I honestly think it’s thrown back now with all of you.

And I really mean this: I don’t know where cinema is going to go,” Scorsese continued. “Why does it have to be the same as it was for the past 90-100 years?

It doesn’t. Do we prefer films from the last 90-100 years? I do, but I’m old. Younger people are going to see the world around them in a different way, you’re going to see it fragmented … What does one shot mean now?

I don’t know anymore. I don’t think it means anything … You all are in the process of a period of reinventing it. It’s quite an extraordinary time, and a lot of it has to do with the technology.” Scorsese said that though with that new technology comes more freedom, it should also cause young filmmakers to “rethink what you want to say and how you want to say it.” He added, “Ideally, I hope — I hesitate to use the word — ‘serious’ film could still be made with this new technology and this new world we’re apart of.” Recalling his love of going to movie theaters as a child, Scorsese also wants these more “serious” films to make a comeback at theaters. “I’m afraid the franchise films will be taking over the theaters,” he said.