At Art Film Fest, Pamela Pianezza feels better than in Venice. \u201cI don\u2019t like mammoth festivals; there they leave you to your own fate, and you don\u2019t even have time to chat with the other jurors. But here I\u2019ve even got time to enjoy pictures outside of the International Competition of Feature Films,\u201d says the Main Jury member.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re a programmer for Critics\u2019 Week at Cannes, and you write about film for prestigious publications, including your own magazine. Are critics important to filmmakers?
There are, of course, review-proof films. No one\u2019s worried about reviews of Pirates of the Caribbean; everybody goes and sees it regardless. But for films that aren\u2019t clearly oriented toward a general audience, critics are indeed important.<\/p>\n
What influence do they have?
I like to see myself as a bridge-builder between a film and its audience. When an unknown film comes out, what are people supposed to think? That\u2019s where critics come in, to give people a sense of the film\u2019s significance. And so I think as long as a critic does their job well, they are important to filmmakers.<\/p>\n
What then makes for a good film?
To me the most important thing is urgency, the filmmaker\u2019s need to make a statement about something. If that\u2019s apparent in a film, then I know I\u2019m watching a good one.<\/p>\n
But what about the story? The tech package?
I see a lot of films that are technically flawless, but when you leave the cinema, you immediately forget what they were talking about. And that\u2019s precisely what should be most important in a picture, unless we\u2019re talking an experimental film, for example. I always let myself laugh or cry first. I need to know what the auteur wants to say and why. If I don\u2019t know, then the technical aspect is the least of my worries.<\/p>\n
At the same time, you often say you can\u2019t assess a film right after you leave the cinema.
Yes, first I have to digest it in order to talk about it. <\/p>\n
How long does that take?
That depends on how the film affects me. I process it until the head prevails over the heart in my appraisal. That\u2019s one reason why I don\u2019t like having to write a review directly after leaving the cinema. I think every critic tries to avoid that. Once I was writing under a daily deadline, and I was horrified that some of my colleagues wrote reviews as it was football coverage. They created the basic structure in advance, later simply filling in the right names and places. I never imagined you could write about film in such a way.<\/p>\n
And how do you choose to write?
I used to write about international politics, and it\u2019s still close to my heart. But I wrote about the French presidential elections, later the US presidential elections, and then I realized that nothing was changing. I think by writing about films or books I can change more. <\/p>\n
Do you believe that art can change society?
Yes, I firmly believe that it\u2019s culture that has the power to change people for the better. I also had that in mind when I founded Tess Magazine. I\u2019m convinced that a person\u2019s behaviour is based on what stories they were told as a child.<\/p>\n
So culture changes society more than politics?
It\u2019s easier to get through to people with culture. For example when you\u2019re talking to someone who has opposing political views, you probably won\u2019t get on well, since both of you will be on the defensive. But if you talk about films or books, you\u2019ll gradually find common ground. Take homosexuality, for example: lots of older people bluntly reject homosexual partnerships, like the ones that the French parliament just legalised, since they see them as a stupid idea. But if you show them a beautiful film about same-sex love, it will affect them. And even if only a shade, thanks to film they\u2019ll start thinking differently, more openly.<\/p>\n
Juraj Fellegi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At Art Film Fest, Pamela Pianezza feels better than in Venice. \u201cI don\u2019t like mammoth festivals; there they leave you