With so many movies being shot on digital these days, is it the end for film cameras? And if so, wherefore the future of the medium? Hosted and co-produced by Keanu Reeves, this smartly-assembled doc consults the absolute best in the business to ponder these urgent creative questions, dropping in a plethora of juicy clips (both HD and celluloid) to illustrate the arguments. James Cameron, for instance, helped develop a new generation of digital cameras, so he’s all for it, while David Fincher just wants the tools which can meet his exacting demands.

Martin Scorsese feels it’s like learning his craft all over again working on digital, while Christopher Nolan remains an adamant proponent of traditional methods. Meanwhile, director Chris Kenneally stitches everything together with admirable equanimity, explaining the technical issues in accessible terms but also delivering geek-friendly hardware tidbits. Above all, he keeps it pacy and entertaining: hard to imagine any film or even DV buff who won’t be utterly chuffed by this. (Notes by Trevor Johnston.)

To coincide with this film release, we will be screening The Last Projectionist on February 16th and 17th.

Read IFI Projectionist Paul Markey’s blog about the importance of grainy 35mm film and his unusual job.