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T A B L E__T A L K

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R E C E N T L Y

Metal madness
By Andrew Leonard
The battle for heavy metal on the Web
(02/13/98)

Friction or fact?
By Andrew Leonard
Trendy theories of a "friction-free economy" hit some bumps
(02/12/98)

Just pay for it
By Andrew Leonard
Technology may bring the Olympics to your desktop someday -- but not for free
(02/11/98)

21st Challenge
By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau
Ticklers for every situation
Plus: Haiku error message winners
(02/10/98)

Windows on their world
By Karlin Lillington
On site at Microsoft's museum and shop: Where the Windows never cease
(02/09/98)

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BROWSE THE 21ST FEATURES ARCHIVES

festival ^{IN SEARCH OF A MEDIUM}

Milia, once Europe's hot multimedia showcase, now struggles to figure out where the future is.

BY KARLIN LILLINGTON | CANNES, FRANCE -- The choice of Cannes as the location for Milia -- the international new media festival that's been a showcase for the digital world's most culturally ambitious projects for five years -- always seemed to make sense. Multimedia and the film industry have been on a long-heralded path toward "convergence," and this, by rights, ought to be ground zero for that union.

Certainly, the celluloid glamour has always been there: What could beat the mix of midwinter sun, Cannes cachet, bonhomie, expensive sunglasses and renegade young multimedia developers? Milia delegates last week conducted their Cote d'Azur schmoozing in the same oceanfront Palais des Festivals complex used by the more famous film festival here. As with Hollywood, their interactive medium now typically requires teams of specialist artists and technicians as budgets climb skywards for more complex titles. And, spurred by movie director David Puttnam, the widely-respected British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which presents the U.K. equivalent of the Oscars and Emmies, has decided to launch a new set of awards this year for interactive entertainment.

However, there's one key difference between the two industries. While the movie business produces an endless variety of films that appeal to paying customers, the new media crowd is still hunting for its audience. It keeps cranking out the equivalent of small art-house films that few want to see.

As a result, Milia continues to slide away from its original raison d'être -- a meeting place for buyers, sellers and creators of "content" -- into an unfocused hodgepodge that reflects the fretfulness and stagnation of the entire interactive media business (excepting games and porn, those booming industries for boys and bigger boys). Two years ago, the exhibition halls seethed with publishers trawling for hot new developer talent. Now, even the biggest publishers mostly hang out in the hotel bars and slink around talking to contacts without bothering to rent a booth at the show.

The content-buyer casualty list for this year included Time Warner, America Online and Microsoft (which last year made developers' mouths water with the promise of a $10 million honeypot for content development for the now retrenching Microsoft Network). And so more and more developers are bypassing the show, realizing there's hardly anyone to sell to -- especially if you have an intelligent, visually lush art project to pitch.

Nonetheless, there are worse places to watch your business hopes crumble. The Palais nestles against Cannes' serene yacht harbor on one side and marks the start of the Croisette, the long, arching promenade lined with couture boutiques, smugly elegant elderly hotels like the Majestic and newer graceless monstrosities like the Nago Hilton. Moments of exasperation can be relieved instantly by a stroll along the waterfront -- where you can gape at the civil servant whose luckless job it is to ride an exquisitely polished motorcycle specially equipped to vacuum up the deposits left by Cannes' resident army of poodles.

DVD-ROM was supposed to be this year's Big Thing at Milia, but the new high-capacity format created little buzz either during sessions or in late-night barside conversations in the prime beachfront hotels. Developers said they are exasperated by the bickering over standards, and there's no strong evidence that the users who rejected CD-ROMs will embrace the far more expensive DVD (except, again, for games). As veteran British games designer and keynote speaker Peter Molyneux said, "It's just another storage medium."

N E X T_P A G E | Salvation on the Net?

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