During a news conference at the 67^th international Cannes film festival, famed film director Quentin Tarantino proclaimed that digital projection is “the death of cinema as I know it.”

Tarantino was on hand at the festival to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his Palme d’Or award for Pulp Fiction and to host a special viewing of Sergio Leone’s 1964 film, A Fistful of Dollars. While speaking at the festival, he took a passionate viewpoint on the current state of digital film and lack of presentation in 35 mm.

“The fact that most films now are not presented in 35 mm means that the war is lost. Digital projections, that’s just television in public. And apparently the whole world is OK with television in public, but what I knew as cinema is dead,” said Tarantino.

He openly condemned the current generation and their obsession with digital film, commenting on how the true quality of film making has gone down in recent years. He believes fans should demand the “real thing” as digital projection is a lackluster substitute.

When asked if anything could be done to save true cinema, Tarantino said he hopes that future generations will take a step back and become smarter about films.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going through a woozy romantic period with the ease of digital,” added Tarantino. “I’m very hopeful that future generations will be much smarter than this generation and realize what they lost.”