By Miranda Murray and Hanna Rantala
BERLIN (Reuters) – How the Trump administration will affect filmmaking remains to be seen, but film’s ability to parse difficult issues has taken on extra urgency amid the current state of the world, Berlin Film Festival jury president Todd Haynes said on Thursday.
The festival in Berlin, already seen as the most political of the major cinema showcases, will likely be even more focused on current events this year as U.S. President Donald Trump makes sweeping changes, including those that affect the wars in Ukraine and between Israel and the Palestinians, and as Germans go to the polls.
“We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the U.S. but also globally,” Haynes, the U.S. director known for “Carol” and “Far from Heaven”, told journalists in the German capital.
“How this return of this Trump presidency will affect filmmaking is a real question hanging over all American filmmakers,” Haynes said, adding that it was a question that extended beyond the film industry.
“How do you maintain your own integrity and point of view and speak out to the issues around us as forcefully and clearly as possible, I think that remains to be seen.”
The Oscar-nominated director is the head of this year’s seven-member jury that will award the Golden Bear top prize to one of the 19 films in competition at a closing ceremony scheduled for February 22.
STRONG VOICES
Argentinian director and jury member Rodrigo Moreno said the situation in his home country under far-right libertarian President Javier Milei was similar to that of the United States.
“This year there was zero films produced by the national film institute, which is a tragedy for us, but we will keep on making films anyway, with cell phones, with whatever,” he said.
Moroccan jury member Nabil Ayouch, director of the 2021 Cannes competition entry “Casablanca Beats”, said people today wanted to hear strong voices “so we have to be radical”.
Coming together for the mutual experience of watching a film, with a willingness to learn, was itself a political process, said German screenwriter and director Maria Schrader.
“The wonderful thing about these spaces is that there are rooms where a question can be asked, conversation can start,” she said, adding: “We don’t need to come up with blunt answers.”
(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Hanna Rantala; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Comments