What's The Point of Cinema?

Film was originally a novelty entertainment, used to shock and thrill audiences in small, dark rooms in the late 1800s. Audience members would giggle and gossip as they left the room, thrilled by seeing the latest Lumière or Méliès, discussing what they had witnessed, before quickly moving onto the next piece of cheap entertainment. As the 21st century begins to grow into itself, has cinema moved on from this? Is Lumière and the audience of the 1800s any different to Michael Bay and the audience of the 2000s? And perhaps more importantly, does it even matter?

Cinema is often referred to as the newest art form, a form that allows, and actively encourages collaboration. However it stands in a fairly unique position in the art world, in that it is more commonly seen as a form of cheap entertainment that is easily dismissed by the average cinema-goer, rather than something to be considered and discussed, ala a painting, or a piece of theatre. Everyone has their own favourite film, or favourite actor, whereas fewer people of the general public would be able to name their favourite painter, or favourite sculptor. This accessibility has become both a blessing and a curse in the development of cinema, where it seems to be eternally stuck in limbo, between mass-entertainment, and respectability that is often associated with the art world.  People are put off by the term, ‘art-film’, whereas a similar term does not even exist for other ‘art’ forms. Why has this become a dirty word for cinema? And how can cinema use this ability to enter public consciousness for a more important cultural reason, rather than just for a bit of fun?

There will be no clear answers here. However what there will be is a place to talk of all cinema, high and low brow, Western and Eastern cinema, and everything in-between on an equal footing.What’s the Point of Cinema? Is looking to create a platform where nothing is higher than something else, and global cinema is represented on equal terms.