Talent press 2010
- Aily Nash - The Shifting Landscape of Criticism
- Aleksandar Radovanović - Why am I a film critic?
- Tuba Parlak - Confronting The Elephant and Writing From Within
- James Gabrillo - Out of the Stairwell
- Loïc Valceschini - A Promise of Exciting Meetings
- Kartik Nair - Critics, Cretins
- Espera S. G. Donouvossi - My love story
- Erzsébet Plájás - Yet Unknown Specimen: Dracula with a Movie Camera.
The Shifting Landscape of Criticism
Aily Nash
How does one define a critic these days? Until recently one could have argued that a film critic is someone who makes a living by publishing his thoughts on films. Yet these days, the publishing of one’s thoughts is as possible for the layman as checking his email. Simply post on Facebook, update your blog, write a review on sites like Netflix or The Auteurs, or comment on an article on the New York Times website and your thoughts have been “published.” The power to crown someone with the title of “critic” is no longer just in the hands of editors, but the hyper-democratized space of the Internet places it directly in the hands of the reader. Many people take cues about what to watch from a variety of these unorthodox sources because of their ubiquity and presence on highly trafficked sites, legitimizing their voice and strengthening their influence. Granted, the depth and quality of the criticism out there varies, especially in the case of blogs where some of the most insightful new voices in film criticism maintain a presence. Films propel people to communicate and what we’ve gained is an invaluable forum for this dialogue that is no longer exclusively reserved for professionals.
In this time of economic uncertainty we are concurrently undergoing these revolutionary changes in media and publishing, and many emerging critics can no longer strive toward the type of employment that previous generations could. We are forced to invent our own, unconventional path—a pastiche of internships, part-time, freelance and volunteer work that we pray will one day lead to something that resembles a career. The shift towards web-based readership that is simultaneously responsible for this crisis in publishing is already forging new structures of compensation, while propelling innovations in how and where we write and read.
Valuable criticism isn’t defined by where it is published, but by its rigorous commitment to cinema. I am drawn to criticism that considers how a film surpasses what we thought was possible, incisively examines formal technique without losing track of the film’s relationship to life, and all the while maintains a distinction between personal taste and one’s own perspective. These are things I strive for in my own writing. But above all, what inspires me (and I imagine most) to write about film isn’t the eloquence or art of criticism but the films themselves.
Why am I a film critic?
Aleksandar Radovanović
Ah, the old question of motivation behind criticism. I guess George Bernard Shaw has already provided us with an aptly provocative answer: “Those who can, do; Those who can’t, teach.” Or criticize. How else would a talentless hack get a rightful place in the cinema world? Ok, I’m just being facetious here.
This hack sees his position as film critic as a privilege to delve into the world of cinema and call it a job instead of idleness. The hack happens to be a cinephile, so he finds it highly rewarding to put his thoughts on paper after seeing a film and watch them become a coherent expression of what he has taken from a cinematic experience, thus voicing his and interacting with other people’s opinions.
I find passion and honesty basic requirements of film criticism, and if I am to adhere to that, I choose to write about films that I gladly take the time to watch. I have to say that this seldom applies to national cinema in my country. Most filmmakers here in Serbia choose to make genre films in pursuit of a box-office success or money off TV rights. With their bar only half-raised and with marketing rules taking primacy over artistic aspirations, the results are glaringly mediocre.
In such a state of affairs, it may be up to the critics to lead a quixotic battle for the purity of cinema and most of them do. As for me, I am glad to praise any worthy effort, but I do not find it time-efficient to drag the waters in search of a rare jewel when there is such a plethora of international cinema jewels to choose from.
This is where festivals like the Berlinale come in. With their handpicked selection of the best and purest that national cinemas all over the world have to offer, festivals are a place to celebrate cinema and enjoy films at their fullest: on the big screen, while they are current, enhanced by the insight of the visiting filmmakers, and surrounded by new and interesting people to chat and bicker with.
The largeness of the Berlinale Talent Campus presents us all with a rare opportunity to meet a variety of up-and-coming filmmakers and young people involved in film. In the years to come, when this generation‘s auteurs produce films that will leave us moved, surprised, provoked or awed, the shared experiences will prove to be a true treasure.
Confronting The Elephant and Writing From Within
Tuba Parlak
Film criticism has come as a by-product of my long-term infatuation with literary criticism. As a student of English Literature, the more I got acquainted with delicate ways of “reading”, the more of an enthusiastic concern it became for me to see what I can do in practice. This is not to say that first there was literature for me and then came cinema. This is to say that I ended up a film critic as I studied to be a literary critic, and literature has remained in my life as an academic concern ever since. Cinema became a field of interest for me in the junior year of my education in literature -and only because of that, perhaps quite as its consequence- when I read Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus and then watched Milos Forman’s film based on the same play. Thinking in retrospect, this was a marking experience for me because it somehow shaped my career, as it made me understand that these two mutually independent art forms are also mutually complementing halves.
I cannot possibly explain how elated and honoured I am to be a part of Berlinale Talent Campus 2010 in the course of my career journey. But I can certainly say how lucky I consider myself to be in Berlin this year, a centre of growing global attention and a most glamorous cultural nexus, the status being righfully earned by its industrious, noble-minded and sophisticated people. And it is my greatest pleasure to have this chance for closer contact with the fabric and ambiance of this beautiful world-capital.
Film criticism, in my opinion, is all about confronting the elephant when no one else in the room has the courage to do so. But this takes more than courage shown individually, and requires a fair degree of independency in the room. In that sense, film criticism in my country, Turkey, has the same existential problems as the field generally suffers around the world. The rise of independent media, in print or online, is sure to help the field to have a more meaningful existence and provide film critics with better means for their works. And the rest, I believe, is all about writing from within.
Out of the Stairwell
James Gabrillo
I’ve only seen Chantal Akerman’s film The Man With the Suitcase once, in February of 2008. It’s about a woman who borrows an apartment to write, unaware that someone else will be using the place: a man who arrives with a suitcase and who, by all appearances, intends to be there for a while.
The situation chokes the woman, for whom space and freedom are oxygen. She stops working and holes up in her room, hiding from the man, listening to his every move, monitoring his comings and goings so she can sneak out for a breath of fresh air or a trip to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the man goes about his life—cooking, shaving, and working, barely aware of the woman who bends, who crumbles, to accommodate his presence.
Akerman is Belgian and her film is French, but it resonates to someone like me who grew up in an entirely different environment. That’s what I love about cinema. The fact that movies can capture what is universal in all of us, and tell it in a story that can completely confound and awe and touch—that’s what attracted me to pursue writing about film.
Like that lady in The Man With a Suitcase, film criticism in the Philippines is huddled in a stairwell—unnoticed, barely breathing, crumbling. You can count on your fingers the number of people who take film criticism seriously, and even less who read what those critics have to say.
I, for one, cannot call myself a film critic, as I have so much more to learn in the field. I’m attending the Berlinale Talent Campus with an open mind—willing to learn as much as I can about cinema. Funny how exactly two years after I saw the film that made me take movies seriously, I find myself attending a campus that will train me to watch films better. I deem that the way I can contribute to my country’s film industry is by becoming a better writer, a better viewer.
A Promise of Exciting Meetings
Loïc Valceschini
My name is Loïc Valceschini, I am 20 years old and I live in Yverdon-les-Bains, in Switzerland. I am studying at the University of Lausanne, where I am attending cinema and English classes. I love all kinds of films, although I do like fantasy and science fiction a lot.
This might be funny, but I never asked myself why I wanted to be a film critic. Now that I am actually thinking about it, I cannot even answer that question. Since a very earlier age, I always loved writing, and cinema quickly turned out to be my number one passion. Maybe the cross-breeding of these two main interests made me want to be a film critic, but otherwise I do not think that I have a specific reason for that matter.
The situation of both cinema and film criticism in Switzerland is rather difficult to describe. Swiss cinema is perhaps more famous for its documentaries, although there has been an increasing number of fictional features during the last few years. Last year for instance, Swiss cinema took a step forward with the making of its first science fiction film, Cargo, directed by Ivan Engler. However, it is a shame that the latter had to fight in order to find funding for his movie. Actually, I think that he needed eight years to achieve it! The problem in Switzerland is that funding depends upon the State – through the OFC (l'Office Fédérale de la Culture), and without its financial help, it is practically impossible to make a film, since it is even harder to find money.
As far as the film critics are concerned, there is sadly no magazine dedicated to cinema – well, at least in the French part of the country. Thus, the only criticisms and articles about films that we find are in regular newspapers, on Wednesdays (the day when new films come out) and sometimes on weekends. This is why I got interested in foreign magazines (French ones, and then English ones), which are specialized in cinema. The best alternative for film critics remains the Internet, where it is possible to write quite easily and where one can practice writing. This is why I work for several websites because it is a good training, and also because it grants me with some journalistic devices, such as accreditation to festivals and an access to press screenings.
Finally, it is a great honour for me to have been selected for the 8th Berlinale Talent Campus! I am very fond of film festivals and I’ve always wanted to be at the Berlinale. Besides, I love the city of Berlin, and I am really looking forward to meeting some people who are as passionate as I am, and also to be coached by professionals.
Critics, Cretins
Kartik Nair
I’m in the second year of a M. Phil. in Cinema Studies. My dissertation will focus on the work of the Ramsay Brothers, Bombay’s forgotten horror maestros.
For the largest film industry in the world, India is yet to produce an equally formidable phalanx of film journalism. National newspapers have film critics who who are essentially stooges of big movie studios, and notoriously pillage reviews off the internet. This terrible scenario seems unlikely to give way to anything new or improved, given the rate at which newspapers are shutting down and cutting corners. I think it's time we ask the hard questions: can film criticism survive in the traditional way? Film-making itself has been revolutionized over and over, so why not film journalism? Newspapers may be dying, but does the art of film criticism have to die with them?
Blogs and Internet Forums are currently some of the most active, vital places where amateur film critics are in dialogue with one another. It is my belief that we need to talk about possible future directions that critics need to be aware of if we are to avoid becoming irrelevant and obsolete.
As someone who is desperate to see a meaningful, serious culture of film criticism in India, I have tried my hand at writing movie reviews - for a now near-defunct website! It was an inconclusive experience: I wrote my reviews with great excitement, but to an unresponsive audience. Cinema does indeed need the right people, and coming to Berlinale will give me the chance to meet other aspiring writers and get a sense of the scenario for young writers in other parts of the world. Berlinale represents the world's largest coming-together of film technicians and film journalists. The festival's commitment to young filmmakers and critics, and its support for those from countries not traditionally associated with filmmaking is a very encouraging sign in an otherwise depressing climate. The Berlinale is the best possible place to discuss the ways in which film-making and film-criticism can interface with one another in meaningful, productive ways.
My love story
Espera S. G. Donouvossi
I fell in love with film criticism when Jean Odoutan, a Beninese film director based in France created Quintessence, the biggest international film festival in my home country, Benin. I was a bachelor student in Linguistics when I got familiar with the basics of film criticism techniques. Two film critics Olivier Barlet from France and Jean Marie Mollo Olinga from Cameroon helped me make up my mind to become a film critic. They taught me that viewing a film is not just a way of relaxing. That training actually strengthened me and gave me the power and the love for film criticism. This festival is a real awakening for the Beninese filmmaking which was totally down in the past years.
It is hard for Beninese filmmaking to take off due to the lack of political support and its market invaded by the Nigerian Nollywood, Indian Bollywood and more especially Tele Novelas. Those to whom we can identify the Beninese filmmaking are all living abroad. Nevertheless, some Beninese filmmakers living in the country try to do their best but filmmaking is still embryonic. In the same way, the National associations of film critics, even though they’re still underground, contribute to the main combat of developing filmmaking in Benin together with the directors.
After graduating in linguistics and communication (French), I attended many short courses in journalistic techniques and I have been the chief editor of Benin students Newspaper named “Le Revelateur” for 2 years. My career as journalist started there and launched me in the daily Newspaper “Evenement du jour” in Cotonou, Benin where I stayed for two years and was in charge of art and cultural issues.
Since 2006, I have been contributing as editor to the website of the African Federation of Cinematographic Criticism (AFCC) www.africine.org . This website helps me practice and improve my everyday film criticism writing technique, since the chief editor Thierno Ibrahima Dia is a permanent trainer for the editors of this website. By means of the AFCC- Africine, I also attended some training programs focused on film criticism in Togo and in Burkina Faso during Fespaco.
In 2007, I created a cine-club based in the biggest university of Benin to boost the film industry and to encourage a love of cinema among the youth of Benin.
In 2008, I departed to South Africa to study applied communication skills.
Today I am in the Talent Press at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. For me it’s an exciting experience which will definitely deepen my knowledge. Meeting film critics from around the world, sharing experiences, working together and getting in networks are all related to my presence in this programme of the Berlinale Talent Campus.
Yet Unknown Specimen: Dracula with a Movie Camera.
Erzsébet Plájás
Have you ever heard about Transylvanian filmmaking? You might have heard about the glorious Transylvanian mute film production between 1913 and 1920. But you must have heard about all the great films that were filmed in and about Transylvania. I will mention just a few titles from the past couple of years: Peter Strickland’s Katalin Varga, Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain, Tony Gatlif’s Transylvania, and Szabolcs Hajdu’s Tamara and Bibliotheque Pascal, which can be seen at this year’s Berlinale screenings. This land is “getting film roles” more and more often nowadays since many foreign directors choose Transylvania as their filming location. Until now however – save for co-productions, the land itself hasn’t really been able to produce its own films. When it comes to feature filmmaking, this multiethnic and multicultural region shifts Romanian filmmakers mostly to the capital and Hungarian filmmakers to Hungary or other countries.
Contemporary Romanian filmmaking is undoubtedly living its golden age. Romanian films are critically acclaimed deservedly by the Romanian and European press but oddly these films echo more from European press then its own. This is probably due to the fact that professional and systematic Romanian film criticism that deals with both inland and foreign films is practically inexistent.
The Transylvanian Hungarians have only recently received the opportunity to study film at home in their own language. The Department of Photography, Film and Media at the Sapientia University in Transylvania (where I study) is only a couple of years old; this however is probably the first step towards building grounds for Transylvanian filmmaking by the Hungarian community. We have a 10-year old monthly film magazine, the Filmtett, which “turned” online two years ago. Since then, it functions on a daily basis including film reviews, essays, interviews, festival reports etc. I’ve been writing film reviews for this magazine for more than two years. Before writing about a film, I always try to have a discussion with friends and in my own thoughts. This interaction is what I seek and I am sure to find at the Berlinale. Being able to be there will be my greatest experience so far in terms of professional progress and in making multicultural contacts and exchange of thoughts.
Some young Hungarian filmmakers in Transylvania have already proven their talent by making great short films. Slightly utopistic and financially very hard to manage, nevertheless, I hope that in a couple of years not only will you be able to hear from, but also see the rebirth of Transylvanian feature filmmaking.