SLIFF 2017 Review – THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS

THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS screens Friday, November 3rd at 7:30pm at Webster University’s Browning Auditorium (8274 Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63119) as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. This is a FREE event.

This Cannes prize-winner takes viewers on a journey with the traveling cinemas of India, which bring the wonder of the movies to faraway villages annually. Seven decades on, as their lorries and cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, these mobile movie purveyors find that their audiences are being increasingly lured away by slick digital technology. “The Cinema Travellers” accompanies a shrewd exhibitor, a benevolent showman, and a maverick projector mechanic who bear a beautiful burden — to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running. Variety raves: “If the cinema is magic, then the nomadic projectionists and technicians of ‘The Cinema Travelers’ are its Oz-like wizards, roaming the rural Indian countryside delivering films via their ‘Traveling Talkie’ road-shows. It’s a vocation steeped in tradition and rooted in faith in the medium’s rapturous powers. And as illustrated by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya’s intimate, poignant documentary, it’s also one that’s undergoing a seismic transformation thanks to the emergence of the digital age. Recalling Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 Oscar winner ‘Cinema Paradiso’ in its effusive love of 20th-century celluloid splendor, this five-years-in-the-making film should entice theatrical-loving cinephiles.”

Review of THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS by Jake Billingsley
THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS is marvelous. Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya’s film is a Cannes award winner, but it deserves much more. The film follows the traveling cinemas of India. These theaters are set up in rural areas, and are outside like drive-ins were. The film features numerous sequences of the projectionists setting up the tent in which the movie is screened; people of all ages come to see the film like they are getting on a ride at a carnival. The beauty of this film is the love for film itself. THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS features beautiful shots of the expressions we have while watching movies. Once the projection is up, the film will cut to still images of people marveling over moving pictures. The films they see aren’t big budget blockbusters, and the kids get to rush in for free. The moviegoers don’t have concessions and recliners; they sit on the ground in a landscape of dirt or rock. The love for film is what this film is about. Movies bring us together. Movies are important. One of the things I loved about this film is its pace. The movie follows three different groups of people. The first two are different traveling cinemas; the last is a man that builds his own projection system. The film never lingers upon one storyline. There are problems and challenges surrounding all three. The traveling cinemas need ticket revenue and better equipment, while the man shows us the projection system he has put his entire life into. Nobody seems to be buying into the movies. Ticket revenue is down for the travelers, and the man hasn’t sold his system. It is a struggle for the projectionists in this film to see any beauty other than what is shown on screen. The editing and photography were highly successful. I could feel the characters. I saw the films like the people watching them did. I felt the struggle of the projectionists trying to fix the equipment behind the scenes. I could feel how much these people loved movies. Another element to this film that is important is evolution. The film introduces us to some of the older mediums of projection, but near the end of the film digital projection comes into play. We also get alluding references to film being a new art form; this is absolutely true. THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS holds a spotlight over the changes in film while exploiting the roots that give movies
life. The evolving storyline brings us to new opportunities for viewing movies, and the film sets viewers up for this drastic change from the first shot. When the traveling cinema first gets a digital system, they are stunned by the convenience they possess. They realize the game has just gotten easier. THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS is a film that has to be seen by people who appreciate film. When people see this film they will relate to how much we all love movies, but they will also gain perspective. The perspective of others and what they go through, to get to where they are, is story; it is film. THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS succeeds in projecting this, and it is one of the finest perspectives on the movie going experience.