Mondo Cine: The World of Film Exhibition and Archiving in Revolution

In the changing world of film exhibition, from movie theatres to increasingly ubiquitous portable hand-held devices and HD home screens, the status of moving images in culture is increasingly unknowable. The communal experience of a film opening in hundreds of screens across the country is being supplanted by individual, personalized and casual one-to-one engagements. The cultural impact of film is difused and less measurable, and how images will be curated and archived has also been bifurcated. The digital revolution is rendering the film experience convenient and ephemeral and at the expense of a long-term historical perspective. This series of essays from Roger Leatherwood's blog Mondo Cine from 2009-2011 investigates and articulates the issues, assumptions and challenges in a rapidly changing field of practical concern, from the point of view of archival and critical media studies. It is a casual, insightful, provocative and personal ongoing discussion tinctured with actual experience on the world of film exhibition, preservation, film studies and spectatorship.