Todd Haynes, who is serving as Berlin Film Festival jury president, spoke out against Donald Trump’s administration as the fest kicked off on Thursday.
When asked his thoughts on Trump’s second term at the jury press conference, the “May December” director said bluntly: “We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the United States.”
He continued, “Everyone I know in the United States and friends abroad are witnessing this barrage of actions in the first three weeks of the Trump administration with tremendous concern, shock. I think that’s been part of the strategy, to create a sense of destabilization and shock among the people. So how we proceed through coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and are still being figured out among Democrats. I have no doubt there will be many people who did in fact vote for this president who will be quickly disillusioned by promises he made about economic stability in the U.S.”
Haynes also said that the how Trump’s return “will affect filming is a real question hanging over all American filmmakers.”
“I think it’s a question that extends beyond the world of filmmaking, it’s how do you protect your own integrity and point of view and speak out against these issues … Always with filmmaking in particular, the filmmaking question is complicated,” he said. “So it’s about financiers who are willing to take a risk and …. it takes examples and positive outcomes to fortify these risks.”
Haynes is joined on the jury by Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch (“Everybody Loves Touda”), German costume designer Bina Daigeler (“Tár”), Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno (“The Delinquents”), film critic Amy Nicholson and actor-director Maria Schrader (“She Said”).
This milestone edition is also unfolding amid political turmoil in Germany, taking place in the lead-up to Germany’s crucial general elections on Feb. 23. The elections have been marked by the rise of right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was a cause for controversy at last year’s Berlinale when its officials were invited — and then disinvited — from the opening ceremony.
New Artistic director Tricia Tuttle, who was moderated the panel discussion, said the Berlinale is about building a sense of community and share each other’s love for cinema. “The very fact that we’re here in an act of resistance,” said Tuttle. “We shouldn’t be scared of the fact that the world is in trouble.”
Haynes echoed Tuttle, saying that “this festival, this moment that all of us have is the privilege of partaking in a look at what’s happening in cinema around the world at this moment, and coming from different places and having our own different lives and experiences as filmmakers and film artists also brings that.”
Haynes, who is also an activist, talked about the role of filmmakers in raising issues through their work and reminisced about coming of age as a filmmaker during the era of the AIDS epidemic. “There was a tremendous amount of activity, political activity, and resistance,” he said. “It produced that kind of political efficacy and a creative component, where filmmakers responded to what was happening in all kinds of different ways, but what it produced and what was termed, at the time, the new queer cinema.”
He said he was proud to be part of that mantle of filmmakers, because the films were not just challenging the system in content, they were also challenging traditional forms of storytelling in style and form,” Haynes said, adding that he continues thinking that “in every film that is not part of a franchise or a Marvel film or a major studio film, people are figuring out different forms of financing and different ways of speaking out.”
Reacting to Haynes’ words, Schrader said “sometimes feels that it’s hard for an artist, specifically for a filmmaker, to not immediately be able to react on to something.”
“I can react on something. As a person, I can go on the street, I can articulate myself, I can demonstrate. But it affects also my work. I read a lot of things, I have a lot of thoughts, and I sleep over it, and I think, Is this really relevant right now? So it raises the stakes for what are the stories which are needed to be told right now,” said Schrader, who last directed “She Said,” which tackled the real story of the New York Times journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who took down Harvey Weinstein.
The festival will open on Thursday night with the premiere of Tom Tykwer’s new film, “Das Licht” (“The Light”). The film marks Tykwer’s return to the big screen after seven years and four seasons as writer and director of the hit series “Babylon Berlin.”
Berlin Film Festival runs through Feb. 23.
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