A Panel Discussion was held on ‘Future of Cinema Distribution in India And Worldwide’ on Day 3 of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival in Mumbai.
The session saw lively discussion on various aspects of film distribution, including the impact of OTT platforms and the change in viewing habits brought by the pandemic.Ning Ying, SCO Film Festival Jury Member from China, Naveen Chandra Founder & CEO of 91 Film Studios, Sunir kheterpal, Film Producer and Shibashish Sarkar, President of Producers Guild of India were panelists.
Shibashish Sarkar discussed about how consumer expenditure has been impacted by inflation and recession globally. He describes how this has led to fewer people going to movie theatres after the pandemic.
Naveen Chandra adds that a new wave of digitization has created “individual critic” within every household. Reviews are posted within seconds and this creates its own set of challenges for the movie. He also narrated how regionalisation of global cinema has impacted audience tastes and cites the example of how a Korean movie became best movie in the 2022 oscars.
Sunir Kheterpal chimed in by stating that there are no big or small movies, but only good and bad cinema. He adds that the essence of cinema is to make a good film.
Ning Ying spoke of a new challenge posed by big stars to global cinema. “Big stars create a predictable gambling for the producers. However they suffer when a film suffers badly at the box office”, She says. Similarly, she states that post pandemic China has been looking inwards when it comes to audiences since the huge population of China creates a strong market for domestic cinema.
The session ended with Shibashish Sarkar mentioning how Hindi cinema must ensure its reach in dubbed market by appealing to larger audiences with relevant stories. He was also optimistic of OTT platforms and recognized its contribution to encrichment of quality content.
