Hollywood
Paramount shows the way for digital distribution
MUMBAI: Being one of the oldest and largest Hollywood distribution studios, which has relied on 35-millimeter film to capture motion pictures, has taken a huge step for the industry. Paramount Pictures has become the first big studio to stop releasing its major movies on film in the US.
The studio’s Oscar-nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street is its first movie in wide release to be distributed entirely in digital format. The studio also notified theater owners that Will Ferrell’s comedy Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which opened in December, was the last movie released on 35-mm film, reports revealed.
The decision is likely to encourage other studios to take a leap of faith and follow suit, pushing for a complete phase-out of film in a year or two. Closer home, we already have movies releasing on the digital format and this historic move will only fuel more distribution studios to think of migrating to the digital format seriously.
The major factor for film studios to still remain hesitant of going completely digital is the factor of missing out on revenues and box-office collections from theatres which are still not equipped to show digital movies and are still on film. Internationally, Paramount is still expected to ship film prints to Latin America and other foreign markets where most theaters still show movies on film.
So how will Paramount benefit from this move? Well here are a few facts to ponder over: Studios prefer digital distribution because it is much cheaper. Eventually, these movies could be beamed into cinemas by satellite, saving even more on production and shipping costs. Digital technology also enables theaters to screen higher-priced 3-D films and makes it easier for them to book and program entertainment.
But then what about the theatre owners, they are at a risk of going out of business if they can no longer obtain film prints of movies.
The future is certainly looking bleak for distribution of movies on film to continue…
Hollywood
Who is Geeta Gandbhir? The director behind two separate Oscar-nominated films in one historic year
The Emmy-winning filmmaker makes history with dual documentary nominations at this year’s Oscars.
LOS ANGELES:Â If Hollywood loves a breakout moment, this year it belongs to Geeta Gandbhir. Long respected within documentary circles, Gandbhir has suddenly become a mainstream name after scoring two Oscar nominations in the same season, one for a feature and one for a short. It is a rare feat. It is historic. And it has prompted one big question: who exactly is the filmmaker behind this double triumph?
Before stepping into the director’s chair, Gandbhir built her reputation as a razor-sharp editor. That technical grounding shaped her storytelling style, which is precise, unsentimental and emotionally direct. Her early career included working alongside Spike Lee, an apprenticeship that sharpened both her political lens and cinematic instincts.
Over the years, she accumulated multiple Emmy Awards and a Peabody, quietly becoming one of the most respected nonfiction voices in American television.
Her feature-length nominee, The Perfect Neighbor, released on Netflix, investigates the fatal shooting of Ajike Owens through stark police body-cam footage. The film strips away dramatic embellishment and instead relies on unfiltered visual evidence to confront viewers with uncomfortable truths.
At the same time, her short film The Devil Is Busy, streaming on HBO Max, offers an intimate, ground-level look inside an abortion clinic in Atlanta. Co-directed with Christalyn Hampton, it trades scale for immediacy and delivers impact in under an hour.
The contrast between the two projects, one investigative and expansive, the other intimate and observational, highlights Gandbhir’s range. Yet both share a common thread, which is a focus on lived reality rather than spectacle.
Documentary filmmaking is often seen as awards adjacent and respected but rarely spotlighted. Gandbhir’s dual nomination changes that narrative. It positions her not just as a contender, but as a defining nonfiction voice of her generation.
Whether she takes home one statuette or two, the achievement itself has already reshaped the Oscar conversation and cemented her place in film history.
