Think Fast: Interactive Filmmaking Puts Consumers in the Spotlight (Or Is It Just an Illusion?)
In 1967, the cinephiles attending that year’s edition of Expo Montreal were left with the experience of a lifetime, having been submerged into a new dimension of film-making. Radúz Činčera’s vision brought the audiences a new perspective, as his new movie, Kinoautomat, enabled the viewers to take a stand on the chance to direct the scenario by themselves. Thus, the trajectory of the film could be chosen and so, the viewers used voting buttons to decide the course of events in One Man and His House, a black and white satire on democracy written and directed by members of the Czech New Wave cinema (BOZAR 2020). A few generations later, as the technological revolution is unfolding, so does the shift towards a more digitized shape of the interactive movie. The now-renowned director’s daughter, Alena Činčerová, has carried on the work of her father, having restored and adapted the voting system by making it wireless, thus allowing any intrigued viewer to choose his own plot from the comfort of his home. More