Amid pro-Palestinian protests, Juliette Binoche received this Saturday the Award for Artistic Excellence at the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), the most important in Mexico, in one of the “freest” episodes of her life after making her directorial debut with the film ‘In-I In Motion’, which she presented at the Mexican event.
“We are surrounded by many lies around us, lies in social networks, politicians have been manipulating through social networks, we have to be aware of that,” said the Oscar winner (1997) after receiving the distinction, after her carpet was taken over by dozens of protesters against the genocide in Gaza in the Mexican state of Michoacán.
With this second visit to FICM, which she considers a “film community,” the actress unveiled a seat with her name on it and emphasized that as an artist what she wants to say “is the truth and to inspire other people.
“That’s why we are all here together and I wish the best to this festival that is bringing international filmmakers and collaborations in Mexico that we need in the world, we need to see different points of view,” Binoche, 61, mentioned about the festival she first visited in 2014 as a guest of honor.
Upon receiving the Artistic Excellence Award, which has been given to great figures of the film industry such as Francis Ford Coppola or Jodie Foster, he reminded that although actors wear beautiful clothes, parade on red carpets or receive wonderful decorations, what they really do is “serve” the public, a phrase with which he knelt in front of the audience in the hall.
After having offered a master class to the attendees of the 23rd edition of the FCIM, the actress of ‘The English Patient’ (1996) addressed the media to talk about the process of becoming a director with a performance piece that she interpreted more than 15 years ago with the British dancer Akram Khan and was recorded by her sister, Marion Stalens.
For Binoche, these pieces captured by Stalens and which the recently deceased Robert Redford (1936-2025) motivated her to turn into a feature film, was a way of understanding herself without the pretension of wanting to say something to the audience, but rather to be a “mirror” with the public.
“I’m not sure any artist can say what they want to give or how they want to give it, because you find out when you do it. You’re not so rational or conscious, because there are parts of you that happen in the unconscious,” he remarked.
She also stressed that she does not care if she is a “director, actress or painter”, because what she is really looking for at this stage of her life is to “explore life”.
“To share what is in me and what is my potential (…) Art should be that place that renews yourself,” he added as a personal purpose.
This will be the last time that ‘In-I In Motion’ will be screened in its original length, 156 minutes, as the director and her producer decided to cut the film recorded by her sister and that the artist kept for 15 years in a drawer, reported Agencia EFE.
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