For the love of cinema

by Isaac Tylim

For the Herald

The most intimate of Inter-national Film Festivals has opened on this cold but clear day in Berlin. The jury is headed by the talented Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai, whom devotees will probably remember for his 2008 masterpiece In the Mood for Love.

Wong Kar-wai loves the Berlinale (as the festival is known). He loves it because, unlike other festivals, this one “is not about business but about sharing ideas and having a good time with cinema,” he said at a press conference. He believes a jury’s role is to serve films, not to judge them. Above all, the Berlinale allows for a close encounter with filmmakers from across the world who are interested in sharing and learning together.

At the press conference, as was the case in previous years, the curiosity of critics was tickled by the presence of an Iranian filmmaker: Shirin Neshat, a prolific and well-known director who lives in what she referred to as “the Iranian artist diaspora.” A woman without a homeland, she describes herself as a nomadic filmmaker. She has worked in Turkey, Mexico, Morocco, and now in Egypt. Her goal is to portray Muslim women and culture in a different light. In so doing, she is aiming to undo Western stereotypes. “My film shows we are not a barbaric culture. I tried to present Muslim women as strong persons, loved by men and women. Regretfully,” she said, “I have no access to Iran.”

Neshat spends a lot of time in Cairo. She said the revolution in Egypt reminds her of the 1979 Iranian one. “In both countries, one becomes a witness to a growing artistic community eager to tell new stories,” she added.

Women seem to dominate at the 63rd Berlinale. For the fist time in the history of the festival, women outnumber men in the jury (4 and 3 respectively). Athina Rachel Tsangari, from Greece, talked about the trials and tribulations she must undergo in order to obtain state financial support for her films Yet, in Greece’s devastated economic climate, “art may be the only thing we can export,” she observed poignantly.

This Herald correspondent asked the token US member of the jury (Tim Robbins) his position on the portrayal of violence on film following the Newton massacre. Robbins, while admitting the necessity to depict violence or sex on the screen, said he remains concerned about films that cross the line and become “pornographic,” whether in crude images of either sex or violence. “I would encourage that we all carefully discriminate and avoid crossing that line,” he added.