Cannes Future of Cinema Panel: Lynne Ramsay, Agnes Jaoui, Abderrahmane Sissako Emphasize Diversity, Economic Injustice

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefGuillermo del Toro and Thierry Fremaux on Wednesday resumed their colloquium on the future of cinema with leading filmmakers.

The discussion shifted from anxiety about technology and streaming to the need for diversity and creativity.After the complete absence of women on Tuesday, the Wednesday session rectified that with the inclusion of France’s Rebecca Zlotowski and the U.K.’s Lynne Ramsay.Zlotowski quickly got into impact of the economics on film making. “You need a lot of money to represent your ideas [through cinema].

In France, we have that. But for how much longer?” she said.And it was in that financial-creative frame that she discussed women’s role in film. “People will disappear from cinemas if you don’t offer them what they want.

Audiences are not fools. We have to offer stories and be inclusive. When you play films by women they win Palmes d’Or and attract audiences,” Zlotowski said. “There is an emergency, but it is an economic urgency, not a question of morals.” “African filmmakers don’t have the same possibilities as others, we don’t have the assurance of an audience,” said Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, explaining that financial inequality is also a diversity problem. “If cinema is to die it will do so because people don’t raise their voices, tell their stories, is not sufficiently diverse.“We must we must react together as a family.