With the death knell ringing for 35mm film as a format — with estimates suggesting that by 2015 it will be nothing more than a niche — there is perhaps no better time for the Keanu Reeves-produced documentary "Side By Side." Set to premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival next month, a trailer has arrived and it should spur some very interesting conversations.
Working his rolodex very, very hard, Reeves has landed a staggering array of filmmakers to talk about the subject of digital filmmaking, and it features pretty much everyone you would want to hear speak about the subject, including from David Lynch, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Robert Rodriguez and more. Lena Dunham appears, talking about how the ease of the digital workflow has allowed her to build her career, while James Cameron bluntly states that "film has been dead in my heart for ten years" since he can't shoot 3D on celluloid (Wally Pfister offers up a bold counterpoint).
Directed by Chris Kenneally, with interviews conducted by Reeves (check out the laundry list here of folks featured in the doc), "Side By Side" promises to ignite a serious debate about the place of both celluloid and digital in the landscape of filmmaking. Check out the trailer below. [via James On Screens]