International film jury looks at young directors

Kathimerini, Greece
Nov 25 2004

Thessaloniki cinema festival gears up for last days of events and
parties

The 45th Thessaloniki International Film Festival runs to Sunday.
By Christine Sturmey – Kathimerini English Edition

THESSALONIKI – It is all starting to come together here as the
Thessaloniki International Film Festival enters its second half and
the bitter cold of the weekend gives way to the welcoming November
sun.

After a rather sluggish start, the beautifully renovated port complex
that houses the festival’s headquarters and where most of the films
are screened is starting to buzz with cinema lovers and artists — now
arriving in droves to attend the awards ceremonies — as well as
special events and parties being organized for the last four days of
the festival.

Of the 186 films that have been shown in total at the Thessaloniki
International Film Festival this year, there are 12 that cinema buffs
are keeping a close eye on to see who will walk away with the
festival’s top prizes: The Golden Alexander, with a 37,000-euro
purse, and the Silver Alexander, worth 22,000 euros — a substantial
boost for directors in the International Competition, all of whom are
presenting their first or second feature film.

The decisions rest in the hands of a strong international jury, this
year presided over by a formidable director, the groundbreaking
Hungarian auteur Miklos Jancso, who tackled Monday’s press conference
with humor, reluctant to give out too many tips as to how he sees the
competition.

On the matter at hand, Jancso said, “We have the power to judge young
directors, but we cannot. My young colleagues are very talented. I
see all these films and scenarios and find that the young directors
are really fantastic.”

Other members of the panel include the celebrated Italian painter
Valerio Adami; internationally acclaimed Canadian-Armenian actress
Arsinee Khanjian, who is best known for numerous collaborations with
her husband; director Atom Egoyan; the esteemed Greek film critic
Yiannis Bakoyiannopoulos; American film director Alexander Payne (his
first feature film “Citizen Ruth” won Best Screenplay at the 37th
Thessaloniki International Film Festival); producer Donald K.
Ramvaud, whose credits include “Farewell My Concubine” and “City of
God,” and lastly, film critic, alternate director of the cinema club
of New York’s Lincoln Center and editor-at-large at Film Comment,
Kent Jones.

One of the main issues at the panel’s press conference was that of a
European cinema identity. Jones argues: “It would be very difficult
to talk about European cinema as a whole, because there are many
different trends. But in opposition to American cinema, which has
flooded the world, I am always thankful that there are films being
made in a different way without an emphasis on the technology, the
financial machine you see in the United States.”

Expanding on the subject of the global domination of American films,
Payne, an American himself, provided a different point of view. “You
have to remember one thing: In America, we don’t really have films
about Americans, American films. We also suffer from not having films
truly about people. I think that one thing that is kept alive in
European cinema is that which is about human beings.”

Septuagenarian painter Adami explained the hold cinema exercises over
people, especially the early generations of cinema-goers, and also
addressed the issue of a European cinema identity. “My generation was
bred on the cinema. It was a generation that grew up during the war.
It was a generation that learned everything from cinema. In my time,
the cinema was dubious. If we brought a young lady to the cinema, she
was compromised. Cinema was new, without memory, and at the time, we
were looking for stories without memories. European cinema remains
one that relies on the story of images, on allegory and metaphor.”

Khanjian, the only woman serving on the jury, commented on the
“indisputable femininity of cinema,” going on to discuss how films
made by women are often referred to as “feminine cinema.”

“We make this distinction. It is a very generous effort to put it
that way, but still, the fact that we do talk about it that way, as
if it is altogether another activity, remains very strange to me.”

The issue of American studio domination over international film
production and distribution, effectively a form of cultural hegemony,
however, is where events such as the Thessaloniki International Film
Festival step in. Their role is an educational one, as they bring
films that rarely see domestic distribution to audiences and organize
events and activities to help the public understand art cinema
better. On the other hand, the festival acts as a mediator, boosting
art-house filmmakers so that they may one day insinuate themselves,
and their ideas and style, onto the international arena of cinema.

“If you look at the catalogs of the festival’s history, the films
that went through the competition stage, new films, by young people,
you will notice that many of the directors are today established
internationally and the awards they got here represented their first
steps along that course,” said Greek critic Bakoyiannopoulos.

On an optimistic note for Greek cinema, producer Ramvaud said that
the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Greek Film
center are helping Greek films to develop an international
reputation.

–Boundary_(ID_7/JyVFBV8zUXlU0cjUDovA)–