The conditions for creating a work of art and contact with its potential audience are constantly changing depending on social, scientific, technological and industrial developments. Music sounded different 100 years ago, different now. Books were written and published differently 300 years ago, differently now. They wrote with other means 200 years ago, with others now – and photography, of course, did not kill painting, as many assured.

Cinema originated at about the same time in France and the United States, at the end of the 19th century. In the US, cassettes were played on the street, on vending machines like the ones they give out, for example. chewing gum. You inserted a coin, glued your eyes to two lenses, as if you were going to an ophthalmologist, and watched the video. But the French method of collective projection prevailed: one film, one room, many spectators.

When the talking movie came along, it was primarily the musicians who fought against it, because they were playing in theaters and losing their daily wages. Many have spoken of the death of cinema. Of course, this did not happen. When did television come along, etc., etc., etc., when did video… multiplex… DVD… platforms… mobile…

All of the above led to the withering of cinema halls. However, cinemas are one thing, and the art of cinema is another. What has changed and continues to change are the conditions for the production, distribution and viewing of films.

CDs/cassettes/cindy/youtube etc. they did not kill, but strengthened the art of music. The same goes for cinema.

I belong to a generation that grew up in the cinema. Even now I prefer to watch the movie that way. I don’t have a TV, I don’t watch movies in the stands, I don’t… I don’t… And I wrote The Cinemas of Athens, 1896-2013. Stories of the Cityscape in my mind while they were fading away. But that’s one thing, and the other is a light, cheap feeling that translates into pleas for government benefits, subsidies and privileges. Young people create and watch movies in their own way. And they are doing well. This is how the fine arts live: adaptive. It has always been like that.