Journalism, Cinema, and the Fight for Audience Attention
Runtime: Approximately 90 minutes
Moderator: Sanjay Singh
Panelists: Valerie Complex, Xero Gravity
What happens to film culture when fewer people are reading reviews, following traditional entertainment journalism, or even encountering movies through the same shared media channels?
WHO STILL PAYS ATTENTION? brings together journalists, filmmakers, and cultural voices for a candid conversation about the changing relationship between cinema, criticism, media, and audiences.
The discussion will look beyond the usual explanations for the decline of traditional entertainment journalism and ask larger questions about how people discover culture today. How have social media, video-first platforms, algorithms, shortened attention spans, changing consumer habits, and the fragmentation of audiences changed the role of the critic? What happens when filmmakers increasingly have to become their own publishers, marketers, and media outlets? And if traditional systems of cultural discovery are weakening, what needs to take their place?
The panel will also explore the future of film journalism, the value of criticism in an increasingly personality-driven media environment, the relationship between journalists and independent filmmakers, and how stronger creative communities might rebuild some of the cultural infrastructure that has been lost.
Moderated by Sanjay Singh, filmmaker, founder of Nukhu, and President of the Nukhu Foundation.
Rather than treating the future of film journalism as simply an industry problem, the conversation asks a broader question: who still pays attention, why do they pay attention, and how do we build a culture worth paying attention to?
Explore the films competing at Nukhufest 2026 and participate in audience voting at:
https://nukhu.com/view/0?stack=1
This ticket provides admission for one guest to this Nukhufest 2026 program block.
View the full Nukhufest schedule, participating films, program descriptions, runtimes, and event details at https://www.nukhufoundation.org/calendar.
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