CONTEMPORARY INDIAN CINEMA (2000 – PRESENT)

VI. CONTEMPORARY INDIAN CINEMA (2000 – PRESENT)

The 21st century was when Indian cinema finally found some sort of a balance between the ever genres of popular commercial and parallel cinema. Several new films were produced which brought to light the fact that Indian cinema could be meaningful and yet be commercially successful. Some of the best movies of the past decade have been – Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), Chak De India (2007), , Wake Up Sid, No Smoking, Dev D, Mr and Mrs Iyer, Raincoat, My Brother Nikhil, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Aks, Pinjar, Monsoon Wedding, Omkara, Maqbool, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Khosla Ka Ghonsla, Blue Umbrella, Seher, Naach, Aamir, Astitva, Zubeida, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Manorama Six Feet Under, Black Friday, Matribhoomi, Haasil and more recently Peepli Live. Among the mainstream films, Lagaan won the Audience Award at the Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards, while Devdas and Rang De Basanti were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Though India has always been partial to its film stars, with actors like Amitabh Bacchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar having careers which span decades, it has also of late become open to new and young talent like Ranbir Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Neil Nitin

Mukesh and John Abraham.

The 2000’s saw a growth in the popularity of Indian cinema all over the world. After a very long time mainstream Indian films seemed to have caught the fancy of the international markets. The lines of distribution which had been silently working towards commercial distribution of Indian films abroad found themselves in demand in over 90 countries outside of its own. Dev Benegal's ROAD MOVIE (2010) was sold for international distribution before it was sold in India. This was just the right amount of boost that the filmmakers required and there was a marked improvement in the quality of the content produced with superior technological innovations in cinematography, special effects and story lines. The earlier trends in cinema had sought only to please the Indian audiences, but this has changed with time and now films are made with a global perspective in mind. The entire film experience is no longer limited to the cinema halls. There are now progressive pre release marketing, promotions of television channels and radio.

Old film production studios that had monopolised the market in the 90’s reinvented themselves to suit the new Indian cinema goer’s preferences (Like Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions). Those which could not change were left behind in the race. Economic growth of the country in general and rising disposable income levels in particular clubbed with the gradually liberalising attitude of the Government by bringing forth favourable regulatory initiatives liberalized the foreign direct investment in the Indian film industry. Since 100% FDI was allowed in Film Industry including film financing, production, distribution, exhibition, and marketing and associated activities related to film industry. This resulted in a lot of foreign companies like Time Warner, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight and Disney to either setup offices in India or enters into lucrative partnerships with the existing production houses.

If the early pioneers like Dadasaheb Phalke, Bhatavdekar and Hiralal Sen were to see the progress that the industry has made they would be nothing short of astonished. For the past 103 years India has been home to a very lucrative global enterprise – the Film Industry. India is the largest producer of films (annually) in the world.

In the year 2009, despite the economic slowdown, India produced more than 3000 films (over 1315 feature films). The Indian film industry today easily eclipses Hollywood both in terms of the number of films produced and theatrical admissions. Indian films find a market not only domestically but also in over 100 different countries across the globe. According to a recent report by the research firm KPMG, the industry is currently worth about US$ 1.8 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent for the next 5 years to reach US$ 3.8 billion in 2011. The industry has shown consistent growth both commercially and creatively. With time it has produced countless award winning films and directors who have received the highest honours at prestigious film festival and award functions on an international level. But the current challenge that lies before the industry today is to learn how to market its content effectively.

Fortunately the trade pundits have given indications of some very strong growth drivers like expansion of multiplex screens resulting in better realizations of revenue, increase in number of digital screens facilitating in wider film prints releases, enhanced penetration of home video segment, increase in number of TV channels fuelling demand for film content and improving collections from the overseas markets. Nevertheless, the challenges like managing cost of production to arrest the fall in profitability levels, increasing competition from other media, constant supply pressure, piracy and regulatory hurdles are keeping the industry from performing to the best of its capabilities. Regardless, several market reports (by KPMG and PWC) project limitless growth for the industry in the years to come.

BIG BUDGET FILMS AND STUDIO MONOPOLY (1981 TO 2000)

V. BIG BUDGET FILMS AND STUDIO MONOPOLY (1981 TO 2000)

The cinema of the 80’s started on a good note [name good films] with a lot of parallel filmmakers leaving their mark on the landscape of the Indian film industry. Mrinal Sen's Kharij won Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1983 followed by Mira Nair’s film Salaam Bombay winning the Camera d'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film). For the first time there was an obvious and welcome rise in the number of women filmmakers like Vijaya Mehta (Rao Sahab), Kalpana Lajmi (Ek Pal and later Rudali), Prema Karnath (Phaniamma) and of course Mira Nair.

Despite certain positive signs the 80’s was certainly a very confusing time for the Indian film community. There was no longer a set formula to a film’s success that seemed to work. Stories of social interest, romance, family life, and fantasies - all tumbled out of the film-making machine. Furthermore the audience had a fickle mind, easily distracted by the new age of Television and the rise of home video. More and more content was available for viewing and going to the cinemas was no longer the only option for entertainment. Still, the industry continued to churn out a large number of films every year, perhaps not the best in quality but the wheel was still in motion. The 80’s were unremarkable for the film industry in more ways than one. A lot of B grade low budget films were being produced and released at a fraction of the cost in smaller cities in town. B grade films have been around in one form or the other since the conception of the industry a century ago but it never thrived as it did in the 1980’s.

In fact it would be fair to say that the 80’s cinema gave the industry two valuable things to look back at – the international glory and fame the parallel cinema received and some timeless B grade classics. These films were almost always full of crude toilet humour, unnecessary nudity, and forced action sequences. A separate genre of B grade horror films also sprung up under the guidance of the producer/ director/ editor duo of the Ramsay Brothers – Tulsi Ramsay and Shyam Ramsay. The Ramsay films Veerana (The Wilderness - 1988), Purana Mandir (The ancient Temple – 1984), Bandh Darwaza (Behind Closed Doors – 1990) and Pyasa Haiwan (the Blood Thristy Monster – 1987). The brothers would later go on to produce India’s first hit horror show on Television called the ‘Zee Horror Show’ in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately a lot of these films have been lost with time.

The filmmakers and producers were looking to make a quick buck and perhaps that is why the timeless value of their product didn’t occur to them. Still, these films hold a certain kitsch appeal, to be more specific they have a ’so bad that it’s good’ factor going for them. The contribution of B grade, C grade and Z grade cinema cannot be overlooked when we take a walk down the history of Indian cinema.

While the Hindi film industry in Bombay was going through its usual populist phase of commercial success and fanfare, a lot of interesting developments were taking place in the parallel and regional cinema of the nation. The early 90’s saw films the release of cult classics like Dhristi (1990) and Drohkal (1994) by Govind Nihlani, Lekin (1990) by Gulzar, Parinda (1989) by Vinod Chopra, Suraj Ka Satwa Ghoda (1993) by Shyam Benegal, Maya Memsaheb (1993) by Ketan Mehta, Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990) by Tapan Sinha, Woh Chokri (1994) by Subhankar Ghosh and Rudali (1993) by Kalpana Lajmi. Some of the notable films from Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Manipur were - Tahader Katha (1992), Bagh Bahadur (1989), Charachar (Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Uttoran (Sandip Ray), Wheel Chair (Tapan Sinha), Unishe April (Rituparno Ghosh), Adi Mimansa, Lalvanya Preethi (A.K. Bir), Nirbachana (Biplab Roy Chowdhari), Halodhia Choraya Baodhan Khai, Firingoti (Jahau Barua), Haladhar (Sanjeev Hazarika), and Ishanou (Aribam Shayam Sharma). In the South Malayalam Cinema presented some notable films like Vasthuhara (Aravindan).

But soon the industry sat up and took notice that things were changing fast and that it was faced by two of its biggest enemies in a long time – cable television and piracy. India was the first country in the subcontinent to pass a bill which allowed the entry of cable television and with it the private television channel networks. The 80’s had just seen the tip of the iceberg that television was for the film industry. Secondly like many countries in Asia, India was slow to rise against the threats of piracy. The film industry lost millions of dollars worth of revenue all through the 90’s because the pirated copies of newly released (sometimes even unreleased) films were either available for purchase or were being shown on television by seedy cable operators.

But has history has always shown, the Indian film industry is not the one to be bogged down. The 90’s saw the family and romance genres making a comeback. Several film studios like Rajshree productions and Yashraj films had grown strong over the 70’s and 80’s were bent on monopolising the market with their content.

It was under these studios that a lot of the current industry stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kajol, Salman Khan etc found success and national recognition. Romantic and family life oriented films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) & Dil Toh Pagal Hai.

Towards the end of the 90’s another new genre of commercial yet realistic films came up. Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998) was the first film of this sort and paved the way for non conventional performers like Manoj Bajpai, Nana Patekar, Manisha Koirala and Tabu. With Satya the 90’s ended on a good note. It was proved without a doubt that the Indian audience was ready to view films on serious subjects given that they were made well.

Masala Movies and rise of Parallel Cinema (1961 – 1980)

IV. Masala Movies and rise of Parallel Cinema (1961 – 1980)

Even though India had been introduced to colour cinema by Ardeshir Irani in his 1937 film Kisan Kanya it was only towards the end of 1950’s that the trend really began. It all started with K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1961), a magnum opus with two of India’s most beloved film stars and a financial backing like no other film before it. The film was a major hit and boasted of one song which was shot in colour, while the rest of the film remained black and white. The film was a block buster and became somewhat of a formula for success.

The eventual shift to colour and the Indian preference for escapist entertainment and greater reliance on stars brought about a complete change in the film industry. The revolutionary spirit of the 50’s had been replaced by an escapist need for entertainment. A whole new generation of Indians was filling the theatres. These people did not have the same complexities as those before them; they had been born in a free country and knew nothing of the struggle their forefathers had been through. The new Indian wanted simple pleasures; they did not want to be preached to and looked down upon social films as boring government propaganda. It will not be unfair to state that the 60’s turned out a large number of mediocre films produced mostly to please distributors who were not willing to take the risk of releasing seemingly artsy films. But then again, most of these films turned out to be mega hits and were very successful at the box-office.

The success of Mughal-e-Azam was followed by similar romantic fairs with a lot of musical numbers. Rajkapoor's Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960), Sangam (1964), Dilip Kumar's Gunga Jamna (1961), Gurudutt's Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam (1961), Dev Anand's Guide (1965), Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963), S.Mukherji's Junglee (1961), Sunil Dutt's Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and the experimental Yaadein (1964), Basu Bhatacharya's Teesri Kasam (1966), Pramod Chakravorthy's Love in Tokyo (1966), Ramanand Sagar's Arzoo (1965), Sakhti Samantha's Aradhana (1969), Hrishikesh Mukherji's Aashirwad (1968)and Anand (1971), B.R. Chopra's Waqt (1965), Manoj Kumar's Upkar (1967) and Prasad Production’s Milan (1967) were the significant Hindi films of the decade.

Towards the end of the 1960’s a New Cinema emerged as an answer to the populist cinema’s Worldliness. It was an honest attempt at making socially significant films and maintaining the artistic integrity of the filmmaker. The New Cinema presented a modern and human view which was more durable and long lasting then the ever shaky popular cinema. The advent of New Cinema movement can be accurately credited to a handful of Bengali filmmakers like Ritwik Ghatka (Meghe Dhaka Tara - 1960, Ajantrik – 1958), Mrinal Sen (Bhuvan Shome - 1969, Chrous - 1975, Mrigaya - 1976, Ek Din Pratidin – 1979, Akaler Sandhane – 1980) Tapan Majumdar and Tapan Sinha. Their films were showcase at several international film festivals and regularly won prestigious awards. Despite the movement having started in Bengal, it quickly found takers in Bombay among filmmakers like Basu Chatterji (Sara Akash - 1969), Rajinder Singh Bedi (Dastak - 1970), Mani Kaul (Uski Roti - 1969, Duvidha - 1973), Kumar Shahani (Maya Darpan - 1972), Basu Bhattacharya (Anubhav - 1971), M.S. Sathyu (Garam Hawa - 1973), Shyam Benegal (Ankur - 1974), and Kanthilal Rathod (Kanku - 1967). Down south new filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasravalli and G Arvindan were part of this new genre of realist cinema.

Regardless of the hype the New Indian Cinema was receiving all over the world it found few takers in India. The films were rarely commercially successful. If anything the 70’s only widened the already existing divide between popular and parallel cinema. The term parallel cinema itself defines the place New Cinema found in the film industry. It ran parallel to multi-star big budget films but in no way was its equal in monetary gains and public acceptance.

Meanwhile the romantic film fever of the early 60’s had somewhat subsided in commercial cinema and a new love for action films (with a romantic plot of course) was starting to take speed. The popular Hindi hits of the decade include Kamal Amrohis Pakeeza (1972), Rajkapoor's Bobby (1973), Devar's Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975), Zanjeer (1973), Deewar (1975), Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), Kabhi Kabhi (1976), Dharamveer (1977), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Hum Kisise Kum Nahin (1977), and Muqaddar ka Sikandar (1977).

The New Cinema or the Indian Avante Garde reached its peak by the end of 70’s. Though the movement would spread to and deeply influence filmmakers from all parts of India it reached it had more or less reached it end by the year 1980. This is not to say that the movement disappeared from the map of Indian film industry but there was a significant decline in the number of realist films produced and after the 70’s such films were fewer and far apart. Some of the important films made around of the end of this exceptional era were - Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh (1980), Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai (1980) & Aravind Desai ki Ajeeb Daastan (1978), Rabindra Dharmaraj’s Chakra (1980), Sai Paranjpe’s Sparsh (1980), Muzafar Ali’s Gaman (1978) and Biplab Roy Chowdhari’s Shodh (1981).

THE GOLDEN ERA (1951 TO 1960)

III. THE GOLDEN ERA (1951 TO 1960)

The golden era of the Indian film industry started sometime around the last few years of the 1940’s but came up in a big way only in the beginning of the 1950’s. The cinema of this time is marked with a distinct voice of country just free from clutches of a 200 year foreign rule. Spirits were running high and there was a taste of revolution in the air. In the past 5 years India had seen the height of the freedom struggle, gained actual freedom in the year 1947, followed by a landmark geographical partition where millions of people were displaced from their homes on the basis of their religion. The riots and the bloodshed that followed was enough to change things forever.

The 50’s saw the rise of great directors like Mehboob, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and Satyajit Ray (Bengali Film Industry) who changed the fate of Indian cinema and made it a force to be reckoned with. All of these directors were associated with the film industry since the 1930’s and 40’s and seen the realty of a nation change in front of their eyes. They had seen the gruesome partition and the traumatic famine. They were citizens of a world which was fighting a war against fascism and a country which was fighting against its colonial rulers. All this contributed majorly to the ethos in which the directors grew. The first international Film festival of India (IFFI) was held in Mumbai in the year 1952 and gave a much needed platform to the Indian film industry.

The 50’s were all about socio political melodramas. These were the glory years when some of the landmark films in the history were made and gained national and international fame. Examples include Raj Kapoor’s Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen (1953) and Devdas (1955).

The most important film so to speak was still Satayjit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955) which had the distinct honour of being the first Indian film to open the Cannes international film festival and once again put Indian cinema on the map of the world as a force to be reckoned with.

While mainstream films were thriving commercially, the time was also ripe for parallel cinema to rise. Films by directors like Shyam Benegal, Mani Kaul, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihlani, Kumar Shahani and Vijaya Mehta were also being noticed as a separate intellectual genre. Chetan Anand’s Film Neecha Nagar (1946) had won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and paved the way for art (parallel) filmmakers. Many of the films made during this time find themselves listed among the best films in the world in lists created by the AFI (American Film Institute), BFI (British Film Institute) and even the prestigious lists by The Time Magazine plus Sight and Sound (Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) tied at #160).

The time between 1951 and 1965 was indeed the golden era in the history of Indian cinema for both commercial and parallel ventures. But nothing remains the same for a long time in a diverse and ever changing country like India and soon it was time for another era to begin. The era of expensive films, adventurous plots, romantic themes and super hit songs with glamorous stars was about to begin.

TALKIES AND COLOUR MOTION PICTURES (1931 – 1950)

II. ADVENT OF THE TALKIES AND COLOUR MOTION PICTURES (1931 – 1950)

By the 1930’s the Indian Film industry was churning out more than 200 films a year and actors like Chetan Anand, S S Vasan and Devki Bose were among the very first movie stars that India had known.

The year 1931 was another landmark in the history of Indian cinema. The first talkie in the form of Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara was released and became an instant hit. The talkies had the same effect as they did in the western countries and in no time had replaced the silent film with great speed. India is a vast country with over 28 official languages; dialects change 100 miles and finally here was a way by which dialog in different Indian languages was possible. This inevitably gave a boost to the regional (vernacular) film industries that could now produce content meant specifically for their local audiences. First talkie films in Bengali (Jumai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidass) established in the true sense the regional film industry in India as we know it today.

The advent of talkies also meant inclusion of musical numbers in the films. Alam Ara was a great hit mainly because it had seven song and dance sequences which proved to be hugely popular among the masses. Traditional arts of Indian music and dance always held a strong influence in Indian entertainment and it was but obvious that the cinema should adopt the same crowd pleasing attributes. This is probably the reason why musical numbers are still a staple in almost every film made in India till today. Regardless, talkies gave it a big push forward so much so that J.J. Madan’s Indrasabha (1932) featured a grand total of 71 songs.

The first colour film was made in the year 1937 by Ardeshir Irani called Kisan Kanya (Peasant Girl). Though the colour format didn’t not become popular till the 1950’s the film was a great commercial success and but no one could even remotely imagine the form that the Indian film industry was going to take in the coming decades. The commercial success of the film industry also established Mumbai as the hub of the Indian film industry having a number of self-contained production units. The thirties saw hits like Madhuri (1932), Indira, M A (1934), Anarkali (1935), Miss Frontier Mail (1936), and Punjab Mail (1939).

Yet another anthropologically significant turn in the history of cinema was its gradual shift towards becoming a powerful mode of communication. Till the late 30’s films on religious subjects were predominant but this was about to change. The country was in the throes of a raging freedom struggle and the frustrations of the independence movement increasingly seeped into the content of movies. The films quickly became a medium of expression and social awareness. Cinema was no longer a periphery of entertainment but a potent instrument to reach the masses. These films were not only full of songs and the usual glamour that the audiences had become used to but also gave out a vibrant message of social awareness that had a great impact. This was also the time when playback singing first emerged and gave India its first super star in the form of none other than celebrated singer and national treasure K. L Saigal.

Important filmmakers like V Shantaram established themselves as not only gifted directors but also expressed genuine social concern in their films like Admi (1939), Amrit Manthan and Dharmatma (1935). Another important personality who influenced the course of Indian cinema was a man called Raj Kapoor. The son of a popular silent era actor, Raj Kapoor began his career in films at the age of 11. Soon Raj Kapoor would start one his own film Production Company and change the face of Indian cinema forever with films like Andaz (1949), Aag (1948) and Amar Prem (1948) and most importantly Awara in (1950). A new golden era of the Indian film industry was about to start and Raj Kapoor and RK Studios were at its masthead.

SILENT ERA (1899 TO 1930)

THE BIRTH OF CINEMA IN INDIA – SILENT ERA (1899 TO 1930)

On 28th December 1895, two mad French men by the names Louis and Auguste Lumiere presented the first display of a projected motion picture to a small private audience in France. Several thousand miles away in the land of colonial India, no one had even dreamt of such a technology let alone hear of it. The country was in the throes of a political and freedom movement and the only means of entertainment available to the masses were the traditional travelling theatre troupes (Nautanki), puppet theatre (Kathputli Natak) and the occasional dance and music shows for those who could afford it. The very next year in 1986 the Lumiere brothers brought their showcase of 6 short films to the Watson Hotel in Bombay (now Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra). This was a significant event in the history of Indian cinema, as it was the first time that the subcontinent was witnessing the screening of Cinematography.

Even though Dadasaheb Phalke is often (inaccurately) credited to be the pioneer of cinema in India, it was in fact the efforts of a couple of gentlemen by the name of Save Dada (Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar) and Hiralal Sen who were the first to make 2 short films as early as 1897 and 1899. These short films were mere attempts at capturing live theatrical performances on film. F. B. Thanawala from Mumbai also made a few short films like the Splendid view of Bombay and The Taboot Procession (1900). These films were often matter of fact documentation of events and had they survived the tribulations of time would have been valid cinematographic representative of those times with great historic value.

More than indigenous productions a lot of cinematic entertainment was imported from abroad like Life of Christ (1901), Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp (1902), Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1903) and Napoleon Bonaparte (1904). This was primarily because India was a colony of the British Empire and a large English population lived in the country. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the availability of foreign cinema not only brought the wondrous technological advancements of the western world to India but also inspired the Indian film makers to venture into making full length feature films.

Regardless, cinema came to India in a commercial manner (commercial being the operative word here) at pretty much the same time that it did in the western countries. Although the west had been producing silent short films for over a decade now, the first full length feature film made in India was Dadasaheb Phalke’s silent opus Raja Harishchandra in the year 1913. Main films that followed included - Mohini Bhasmasur (1914), significant for introducing the first woman to act before the cameras - Kamalabai Gokhale, Satyawan Savitri (1914), Satyavadi Raja Harischandra (1917), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kalia Mardan (1919). By 1920 India was producing more than 27 films a year which was a big number. The first Indian film makers turned to ancient epics and puranas for source material. The phenomenal success of Raja Harishchandra was kept up by a series of mythological films. The content of the films would not change for a long time till the advent of talkies and colour in the 1930’s.

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The history of Indian cinema is as rich and vibrant as the history of India as a country. It is full of small stories of little men doing extraordinary things, of seemingly insignificant incidents which later went on to change the face of cinema in a global sense. It is a story which is more than a century long and full of more than 50,000 tales told in celluloid. It starts with a couple of men in 1896 making the first ever short films in the history of India and altering the course of events forever. The stories it holds are in no way less amazing then those seen in cinemas across the world. For convinces sake, the history of Indian cinema can be divided into 6 eras from the time of its conception in the year 1896 till today.

I. The birth of cinema in India - Silent Era (1899 to 1930)

II. Advent of Talkie and Colour (1931 to 1950)

III. The golden Era of the 50’s (1951 to 1960)

IV. Masala Movies and rise of Parallel Cinema (1961 to 1980)

V. Big Budget Films and Studio Monopoly (1981 to 2000)

VI. Contemporary Cinema (2000 – present)

Why?

I wrote this paper for a college application to the University of Amsterdam (UVA) for there graduate program in the Presentation and Preservation Of the Moving Image (basically a film achieving and restoration program). I was accepted. But I didn't take it up for several reasons none of which are relevant to this post so I will skip them. The paper took me 5 days of solid writing work and days of serious reading. All my reference material came from the internet. There is no new information because I didn't do any first hand research. In my honest opinion this paper is at best a great collection of all the relevant information in one place, i.e, if you bother to read it. Even on the internet I am a good researcher and I think I covered, verified and corrected as many facts as appear here. Still, chances are that I have messed up dates, used incorrect grammar, tagged the wrong pictures etc, so please feel free to leave a comment and I will see what I can do.

I will put in videos as well. I hope this helps who ever is looking for information on the topic.

Thats all!