Amazon, Netflix new gatekeepers on video content for now: Shekhar Kapur

Panaji, Nov 25 (IANS) After film studios and producers, popular online video content platforms Amazon and Netflix are the new 'gatekeepers' of cinema, says ace director Shekhar Kapur, who envisions that in the future technology will ensure that the masses and not 'gatekeepers' will dictate the video content trends.

Participating at a panel discussion on 'Digital Space - The Future Ahead' on the sidelines of the ongoing 48th International Film Festival of India, he also said the technology-enabled film distribution on mobile phones and other gadgets, will make going to a cinema hall a once-in-a-while social experience.

"So now Amazon and Netflix are the new gatekeepers, because now they are going to decide who they are going to pick. Before that there were the studios, before that they were the big producers... We are now heading towards a world where the crowd will decide what is good or not and gatekeepers will go," Kapur said.

"One of the things what digital is constantly doing now, is undercutting the idea of iconism... What's happening is, inertia is being sucked out of the system. Amazon and Netflix and Facebook are people that actually rebelled against iconism, who then became icons themselves," he said.

Kapur claimed that in the future, constantly evolving technology will result in failure of conventional organisations, who would not be able to keep pace with the developments.

"Organisations won't be able to sustain, because by the time they have created an organisation, the technology will change. The future lies with individuality. The future lies with democracy. That's where it is going.

"It is going to a point where, if anyone of you believes you can tell a story, you can tell a story. If you believe you can give the story to the world, you can give it to the world. You have the means, you have the technology, you can upload the video," he said.

He also said that the concept of an outing at the cinema hall would be minimal in the future, but may not be eliminated all the same.

"It is becoming difficult to go out in Mumbai. You cannot go out to eat (often), but you still go out to eat as a social occasion. Cinema will be a social occasion... There are various reasons why you go to films. It is a darkened theatre. You'll have a social experience," he said.