In the late 1960s, the cinema was pronounced dead. Television, like a
Biblical Cain had slain his brother Abel. Some thirty years later, a
remarkable reversal: rarely has the cinema been more popular. And yet,
rarely has the cinema's future seemed more uncertain. Cinema Futures:
Cain, Abel or Cable? presents a careful and forceful argument about
predictions that tend to be made when new technologies appear. Examining
the complex dynamics of convergence and divergence among the
audio-visual media, the authors are realistic in their estimate of the
future of the cinema's distinctive aesthetic identity, and robustly
optimistic that the different social needs audiences bring to the public
and domestic media will ensure their distinctiveness, as well as the
necessary openness of cultural meaning and creative imput. The chief
contributors include producers, historians, critics and journalists from
several countries, creating a lively volume, rich in information and
case studies, useful to media students and film scholars, as well as to
anyone interested in better understanding the momentous changes
transforming our worlds of sound and image.