Fernando Sanz
The president of the European Film Academy and film director, Agnieszka Holland, calls for “brave and innovative” cinema to confront audiovisual platforms, directed by “algorithms and global success criteria” that have to be liked by “everyone.” world”
“Cinema can only survive if it is brave and innovative, because the platforms are not,” says the Polish director in an interview with EFE for the presentation of her film Green Border at the Valladolid International Film Week, in which she speaks of cinema, politics and the recent elections in his country.
A 147-minute black and white feature film, a special jury prize in Venice, which narrates the experiences of refugees from Africa and the Middle East trapped in a primitive forest that serves as a border between Poland and Belarus and which, according to it, shows the brutality and the double standards of the guards on both sides of the fence.
Holland explains that the film has “been very poorly received by the authorities, but very well accepted by the majority of the population”, with notable success at the box office and that it has become “a kind of social and political event” and an “artistic victory” for the author, at a time when her country is at a turning point due to a possible coalition that dislodges the conservative right.
For the filmmaker, “it will be a great relief” for a new government to leave behind the “sticky atmosphere, so terrible and so undemocratic” that, in her opinion, repeats “the same schemes that Putin and Lukashenko carry out in Russia and Belarus.” .
However, he recognizes that the new government has a “very difficult” task, since its predecessors “have undermined the institutions and it is very difficult to restore a normal democracy,” although he concludes that “it has to go well, they have no other option.” . New markets
Regarding the seventh art, Holland demands “more courage” in European cinema and asks that “if cinema is doing the same thing as platforms, why go to the cinema”, which is why he affirms that it is necessary to be “stronger in the way of telling the stories or in the content, that the filmmakers be braver and better.
In her role as president of the European Film Academy, the Polish artist recognizes that she sees many films from the continent that are “very well made and talented,” but that they give her a feeling “of having seen the same thing last year, the year before, and the previous one”, perhaps due to the desire to get them into festivals or to please the sponsoring institutions.
Asked about the possibility of entering other markets, such as Chinese or Indian, she points out the difficulties of access, due to the lack of freedom in the first case and because, in India, it is not possible to enter the popular Bollywood film market. .
However, he does see a loophole in the small “but very strong” auteur film market in India, which “calls attention to the fact that they like films from Eastern Europe more than those from France, because they are considered too luxurious.” and bourgeois”. An “unconventional” Kafka
Holland, who lives between France, the United States and Poland, points out that he is working on an “unconventional” biography of Frank Kafka, which he began preparing before Green Border, but skipped due to current events and which he hopes to have by next year .
However, this week she will compete for the Golden Spike in a festival in which she is no stranger, since her films have been candidates for the highest award on four other occasions: ‘Spoor’ (2017), ‘In Darkness’ ( 2011), for which he received the best director award at the Valladolid competition, ‘Olivier, Olivier’ (1992) and his debut ‘Aktorzy prowincjonalni’ (1979). EFE.
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2023-10-21 13:59:03
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