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Tribeca Talks 1

Audio by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

What is the future of film in the digital era? As the Tribeca film festival enters its fifth year, this provocative topic became the subject of an intriguing discussion. The panel was comprised of Steven Soderbergh, Todd Wagner, MPAA's Dean Garfield, and Bittorrent's Ashwin Navin. With his usual innovative mind, Sorderbergh had kicked off the year with the simultaneous release of "Bubble" in a few media, thus opening a floodgate of new possibilities for high-speed internet distribution.

He was joined by 2929 Entertainment's co-founder Todd Wagner, who offered an insightful analysis of how changes in distribution are alternating the landscapes of the film industry. Garfield (who was sitting in for MPAA chief Dan Glickman, absent for family reasons.) and BitTorrent Navin weighed in with various insider opinions. After an hour and half of dialogue,

The panel fielded questions from the sharp-minded audience. The discussion was moderated by Georg Szalai from Hollywood Reporter. One unfamiliar acronym cropped up: NATO, the National Association of Theater Owners, the exhibitors' trade organization.