Nick James, David Thomson, Stephanie Zacharek, moderated by Dana Linssen

In cooperation with Berlinale Retrospective.

A large number of film critics feel increasingly embattled in their efforts to write serious criticism because of commercial pressure from publishers, publicists and film distributors, all of whom seem to be interested in using critics as marketing aids. As print circulation declines, bloggers appear to have the advantage in virtual space with few professional responsibilities or interventions holding them back. This may on the one hand, constitutes the “crisis“ of film criticism, if one can call it that. On the other hand, this “crisis“ seems also to arise from the waning influence of critics, the once-villains of the film world, hated by filmmakers and distrusted by readers. Film critics seem today to have opted for the safety of pure admiration, focusing more on disappearing film magazines and newspapers, than on the quality of film criticism itself. In his article “On Provocation“, the editor of Sight & Sound, Nick James recently questioned the obedient and hardly provocative role film critics play in reviewing films, resulting in filmmakers challenging and provoking critics, take Tarantino or von Trier. Shouldn’t critics take the lead again and write forcefully and with a clear voice? Questioning the role of film criticism today, leading critics David Thomson, Nick James and Stephanie Zacharek debate the current state of press affairs.