Having spent 10 years making it, director Rob Murphy discusses ‘Splice Here’, his love letter to old-school film and the impact the onset of digital has had on the defiant community of projectionists

“I begrudgingly became the storyteller” – Director Rob Murphy.

For a review of the film go here.

Rob Murphy interview index
00:00 Describe the film;
00:35 “I begrudgingly became the storyteller”;
01:10 Projectionist history;
01:40 “I got to see the tail end of film”;
01:55 Choc Toppers;
02:50 Observing the huge change in projection culture;
03:00 Three generations of projectionists;
04:15 Dissecting digital;
04:30 E-cinema;
05:30 Early digital projection problems and breakdowns;
06:20 “We’re in our third generation of projectors now”;
07:00 Ten years to make the film; “That was not by design”;
07:45 “I thought, ‘I need to capture this before it all disappears’ “;
08:00 “A lot of things just went to landfill”;
08:55 The 70mm Hateful Eight screening;
09:55 Tension between old and new school;
10:20 He couldn’t have made this film on film;
10:30 “Digital is not the bad guy”;
12:05 Nostalgia vs myth of sanctity of the cinema experience;
12:35 Home theatre experience;
15:37 Will film survive?;
18:00 Are younger audiences conditioned to prefer digital?;
19:34 The realities of releasing a small film in today’s market;
22:35 Shrinking release windows from cinema to stream;
24:15 The response to the film;
25:15 Visiting old derelict movie houses;
26:59 Lab overrun by young artists shooting on film;
27:40 The enduring love of analog.