Referring to what we see on movie screens as films is becoming something of a misnomer.
Despite its declining popularity, a wealth of filmmakers are embracing the aged format and exploiting its immense potential.
Of course, a great many blockbusters continue to be shot on conventional film.
In the same year, the James Bond series returned to film for the 24th instalment,Spectre.
Film, then, still has its champions at the very top of Hollywood.
Grainier 16mm film is regularly used for period pieces like Todd HaynesCarolor Wes AndersonsMoonrise Kingdom.
Indeed, peculiar aspect ratios are another trend that seem to have resurfaced of late.
But there are subtler examples in recent years.
In many instances, the format in which a film is shot has become a marketing point.
When TarantinosHateful Eightwas released, 70mm roadshow screenings were widely publicized and discussed.
Such a move has echoes of the innovations seen in the American film industry during the 1950s.
Among the results were widescreen, drive-in movie theaters, and 3D.
More or less every multiplex screen in the country has, by now, converted to digital projection.
As a result, the novelty of a properly projected film reel has become an attraction in itself.
At the request of Christopher Nolan,Dunkirkisset to open two days earlyin theaters with 35mm or 70mm projectors.
The state of film, then, is unclear.
Digital film-making has undeniably been a liberation for much of the film industry.
Soon, perhaps, film will be forced to concede its existing advantages.
