Way back in my film school days, I had an interaction with a favorite cousin whom I had not seen in some time. This opportunity to reconnect saw our first interaction since I had been accepted as a film student, and so he asked me what basically everyone asks me right after I tell them I’m studying film, “So, like what’s your favorite movie, then?” When approached with this question, at least by associates who are not necessarily film buffs, my default response is usually something I know has been on Netflix in the last year. (Though if I had to pick an answer ... maybe Silver Linings Playbook .) I think this time I said James Cameron’s Titanic . He then had a sort of illuminated reaction and followed up with, “I see, so you like … old movies.” My response to this was something in the vein of, “Well, yes , but NOOOO …” Steven Spielberg being a 29-year-old on the set of Jaws In academic circles, t he demarcation between “c...
This last month, Wim Wenders, the director behind movies such as Wings of Desire (1987) and Perfect Days (2023), made a statement at the 76th Berlin Film Festival that’s been scratching at me. In his words, “Yes, movies can change the world. Not in a political way. No movie has really changed any politician’s idea, but … we can change the idea that people have of how they should live.” Wenders was speaking specifically on the subject of film festivals taking active stances on things such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, further describing, “Cinema has an incredible power of being compassionate and empathetic. The news is not empathetic. Politics is not empathetic, but movies are. And that’s our duty.” I think the dressing of this verdict was supposed to be optimistic, but the sentiment reminded me of something that actress Jennifer Lawrence said also very recently on why she’s pulled back from using her official platforms to speak out against the Trump Administrati...