New Digital Age Hailed At Cineposium

At Cineposium, the annual convention for film commissions and commissioners, British filmmaker David Puttnam hailed the new digital age as a revolution in communications.""Now we are entering a new digital era in which the impact of the moving image on every aspect of lives is set to increase dramaticallyÖ. As the distinctions between film, television, video, telecommunications and computer software evaporate in the face of the digital revolution, whole new industries are being created. Forty years ago, the symbols of national wealth were shipbuilding or great companies producing exportable consumer goods. Now the rising and dominant corporate symbols of success are, without exception, related to information: media companies telcos, entertainment companies, software houses."" Puttnan further stated: ""All of this new technology, particularly digital technology, means that film and television are simply two components, albeit extremely important components, of a much larger industry. Movies are part of a whole new industrial sector, which has the potential to generate literally millions of highly skilled and highly productive jobs and along with it to generate inward investment.""Puttnan said of the changes occurring in revenue generators for the industry as a whole: ""Itís long been my belief that by around 2010, some 95 percent of total revenues will come from what used to be termed ëancillaryí markets such as TV, DVD, satellite and cable. As the variety of delivery systems grows, so this so-called ëancillary marketí is rapidly becoming the dominant component.""But Puttnan still sees movies as the driving force in setting the agenda for much of the overall communications business, saying: ""In a very real sense, movies are a locomotive pulling a significant chunk of the entertainment and multimedia industry along in its wake. Itís this that makes movies crucially important.""