Journalists, filmmakers and the film itself face increasingly difficulties with growing political threats, according to film industry representatives at the Zurich Summit on Saturday.
Participated in the discussion of political turmoil involving the entertainment industry at an event in the Zurich Films industry is Kathleen Fourniers of Charlotte Street Films, the producer of the Julian Assange documentary The 6 Billion Man. David Unger, CEO of Artist International Group. Natanael Kermitz is chairman of Paris-based MK2. And Stephen is a film data researcher and consultant for Guinness World Records.
To provide a notable example of a darker climate for filmmakers was Fournier’s experience producing Eugene Jalecki’s “The Six Billion Dollar Man” to be screened at the Zurich Film Festival.
“As a filmmaker and a producer, there is a considerable risk that can be personal to me and my team,” Fournier explained how she works on documentaries with her family and how she tells the “definitive WikiLeaks story.”
“Editing in the UK or the US wasn’t comfortable. There was a way to grab the footage and the journalists weren’t protected in the way they were in Germany, so we moved our production and editorial team to Berlin. It was really exciting and very interesting. And to respond to it.”
She added: “I think we need a mechanism to protect journalists. That’s what our film is about.”
Fournier also noted how changing political situations and the growth of streaming platforms have influenced the outlook for a particular type of documentary.
“Previously, you won the Emmy, you won the Sundance Jue Award, you won the Greerson Award, you’ll have no problem making a film. And we’ve won all people in many of the films. I’m not complaining that the door is closed, but as documentaries are moving to streaming platforms, political and challenging or subjective documentaries aren’t difficult.
“The kind of documentaries we find on streaming platforms now tend to be historical. There’s a past, so those people are gone or the time is over, so in a way it flattens the stakes.
But life has always been difficult, Hounier added. “There are challenges in every era, and I think we, as a generation, my generation, have inherited many of the achievements of the labor of others in the civil rights movement, from the perspective of civil liberties. Now it’s up to us to stand up for them and really investigate some of those rights and freedoms being challenged or taken away.”
Despite winning this year’s Golden Eye Award at Cannes and a “stolen” screening in Zurich, “The Six Billion Dollar Man” has yet to land US distributors.
“We’re dancing and talking with a lot of partners. People love films, but it’s a difficult film. …It’s talking about Trump. It talks about deep state. It uses all the facts that come from different trials. It’s an incredibly deeply studied film.”
It provided sharp criticism of the industry and argued that it was responsible for the company to demonstrate greater courage, as in the 1970s.
“The film industry is basically risking evasive, scary and ward disease, as a business and as an ecosystem. …It’s absolutely coronavirus that they haven’t released these films. “Columbine Bowling” comes from getting the media and stuff like that.” It wasn’t the police and didn’t sort it out. ”
Emphasizing that politics and film are always highly linked, Kalmitz said: “What’s new is asking this question. Culture is under attack and films are under attack, so this type of question.”
Kalmitz said that while the media is increasingly talking about the film, the far-right accounts on social media platform X are systematically attacking “everything about movies and French films.”
The far right has become the main voice discussing X’s cinemas, he added. “Is this the problem? Yes, the question is, how do we sort it out to fight back?”
Karmitz noted that much of MK2’s film events and debate attracted controversial responses from far-right critics.
Looking at the wider situation in France, he also highlighted the recent legal challenges facing the CNC National Film Centre in Parliament, as well as the ongoing right-wing attacks on national television.
Unger has expressed optimism on his part that the climate will ultimately improve. He recalls that previous films by Charlie Chaplin and Stanley Kramer were “incredibly controversial” in their era. For example, Kramer’s classic 1967 “Who’s Come to Dinner” no longer causes the big uproar it once did.
He also emphasized the importance of such a discussion at the Zurich Summit. “I think this register is here, and I think it’s important to have this dialogue here, as it forces us all in this room to look into where the business is and how we can help shape it.”
