Esther Kinsky, Seeing Further

Attending the book launch for Esther Kinsky in conversation with Daisy Hildyard a few weeks ago at Juno Books, and going to the pub with Esther afterward was very special, especially on Shabbat where greetings were exchanged in recognition of common heritage. Esther spoke much about her time living in Hungary and her efforts to rehabilitate an old cinema in a small, otherwise forgotten village. She also mused about the magic of the cinema in so poetic a manner so as to tempt me to run to the big screen following the event and immerse myself in the collective viewing experience, popcorn in lap, the warm bodies of others palpable. 

In the following passage, Esther laments the changes to viewing and how we see in today's digital world - the viewing of films less an event for community congregation and collective viewing or looking in the shared cinema, replaced by an increasingly privatised viewing experience, not only from our own homes but also, at times from our own individual screens. Moreover, the on-demand experience of private, at-home viewing means the viewer is always the selector, which deprives her of the discovery of someone else's programming, of being moved by another's choice. 

I recalled my years in cegep, the college building located right beside a cinema, and my frequent solo trips to see a film in between classes, alone but together with others who shared my city. Somehow even 2009 feels like quite a different time.