In a world at war like the one humanity is currently living in, it is now even more necessary to tell stories through cinema that move the public, said Polish-American director Darren Aronofsky on Tuesday in Mexico.
“The most important thing is to bring stories to the world, especially in a world where we are at war and that distracts us, it is necessary to tell stories that capture people’s attention,” he said during a keynote speech.
Aronofsky is one of the special guests at the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG), which runs until April 25, with Chile as guest of honor.
In the keynote lecture ‘Finding the language of film’, the filmmaker said that cinema puts ideas on screen that make people think, unlike social networks that have accustomed the audience not to think.
“Everyone remembers when they saw a movie that moved them and they remember what they felt, but no one remembers where they were after watching two hours of short videos, that’s why storytelling matters, to know other lives with which we realize that we are not so different,” he said.
Darren Aronofsky and his need to make more moving films.
The director of ‘The Whale’, a film that won two Oscars in 2023, revealed that one of the values that underpin all his projects is honesty, both in the creation of the characters and in the work on the film set.
“It is extremely important in the writing phase that all the emotions are real, to know what the vibe is, that you don’t live the fear of showing yourself naked for the film and when you write a character you have to add as much truth to it as possible,” said the also screenwriter.
He said he has found it difficult to find financial support for some of his films because there is always someone to bring him down to earth when he tries to do “something out of the ordinary”.
Playful actors
Before an auditorium full of students and fans of his filmmaking, Aranofski revealed that while early in his career he used to include whatever actresses and actors he could get his hands on, he now prefers to work with those who are “more playful” without losing focus on the work on set.
He said that the choice of those who will play their leading roles is largely based on what the actor or actress is going through in his or her life.
He gave as an example the case of Brendan Fraser who had not worked in Hollywood for years before accepting the role that won him the Oscar for Best Actor.
“It took me 10 years to choose the cast, I had the script but I thought that if I had a movie star everyone would be looking for the edge of the makeup, I was worried about how illusory the idea of the film would become. When it came up (to include) Brendan I thought he had been a movie star, but it would cause the opposite,” he said.
He added that he is not interested in traditional Hollywood archetypes, but rather in delving into the psychology of the characters, showing their inner selves and having a strong weight in the script, a perspective that is more common in films made outside the United States.
As part of his activities at the festival, the filmmaker inaugurated this Tuesday the exhibition ‘Human Nature’, a project in collaboration with the graphic artist ‘Liqen’.
The artists showed a dozen pieces that make a cross between illustration and cinematographic language and which were the basis of their graphic novel of the same name recently published in the United States.
Also, reported Agencia EFE, Aronofsky will receive at the closing gala the International Mayahuel Award given by the festival for his career with films such as ‘Requiem for a Dream’, ‘Phi’ and ‘Mother’.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
