Now, Haynes offers us a warning about filmmaking in general.
Variety is reporting that during a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, Haynes was asked his thoughts on Trump’s second term.
Haynes said, “We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the United States, but also globally.”
He elaborated, “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 toward coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and are still being figured out among Democrats. I have no doubt that 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.”
When it came to a filmmaker's role in this world, Haynes admitted he was worried, saying “I think it’s a question that extends beyond the world of filmmaking, it’s how do you maintain your own integrity and point of view and speak out to the issues around us as forcefully and clearly as possible. And I think that remains to be seen. Always with filmmaking, in particular, the financing question is complicated.”
Haynes explained the complications, saying, “So it’s also about the kind of financiers who are willing to take risks and willing to support strong voices. And I think that exists, but again, it takes examples and positive outcomes to fortify those kinds of risks that people may want to take.”
Movies with social messages or ideas have always been hard to make because they speak truth to power. And a lot of times, those powers do not want to hear those truths.
But in today's Hollywood, movies cost a lot of money, and many financiers want to make bets on things they think will make a lot at the box office, and not movies they fear could be buried or boycotted.
So, how do you find financiers brave enough to tackle stories that mean something to you?
Well, I think the whole essence of the argument here is to encourage people with backbones and souls to work together. Especially people who have power within this industry. Get stars into these movies. If A-list talent and directors have a cause they care about, they'll be able to get these movies greenlit.
I am hoping that this era leads to a lot of voices being lifted up by the old guard.
Movies and the stories we tell can make the world a better place.
But we have to make them first.
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