ABSTRACT
Since the early days of cinema, theatrical viewing has been the most dominant form of film experience. It is a tradition that has defined not only our interaction with film, but also our understanding and theorizing of cinema. Atom Egoyan's short film Artaud Double Bill from the anthology Chacun son cinema/To Each His Own Cinema (2007) has become one of the most eloquent and provocative articulations of the fast-changing state of film exhibition and viewership. Darkness, stationary seats, larger-than-life images projected on a screen, an invisible projection, a sound system, a complete separation from the external world, have been primary physical features defining the viewing experience. New technologies have dramatically reoriented our relationship to screens as we begin to watch films outside of film theaters, in our living rooms, on computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
