President of the jury of the last edition of the Berlin Film Festival which ended last Friday, the director of
Sixth Sense
and the recent
Old,
M. Night Shyamalan took advantage of his position to multiply statements of support for cinemas in an ecosystem disrupted by two years of health crises and the rise of platforms.
Like now Netflix, the most nominated studio in the race for the Oscars.
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In an interview with the newspaper
Le Monde
, the filmmaker vilified
"this world without cinema, where everything is watched on a telephone".
“But how many movies in streaming have marked you or changed your life?
How many of them will you remember in ten years?
Asked the one who nevertheless collaborates with Apple TV + and developed the successful series ,
Servant
, for the apple firm
.
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on Apple TV+
And to insist:
"Online providers have spent billions of dollars on content and advertising" and encouraged to "see what you want without commitment or buying a ticket!".
"It was infinitely damaging"
, he regrets, the one who also wants to believe that
"the closing of cinemas has also shown us how much it was an invaluable experience".
“There is no equivalent: the prospect of going out, of bringing your friends, of giving all your attention and your love to the images and the characters you are looking at
,” insists M. Night Shyamalan.
“Everyone must be brave, including the studios”
For him, it is now the responsibility of directors and screenwriters to bring the public back to the theater.
“It's up to us to tell great stories, and the audience will come back, maybe even more.
Everyone has to be brave, including the studios.
We need a return to the original voices, ”
he pleads.
These remarks echo those made during the Berlinale's opening press conference.
“When the spectator comes out of a commercial film, he is not necessarily transformed, but he liked what he saw
, explained M. Night Shyamalan.
In independent cinema, it is the point of view of a specific person, a new perspective on the world that prevails.
You leave the cinema changed, you are no longer the same, even if it is more difficult to access
.
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The director signed last summer with
Old
, one of the few profitable films of the year.
Self-financed to the tune of 18 million dollars, this horrifying fable, with Vicky Krieps and Gael Garcia Bernal, told the disturbing camera of vacationers trapped in a creek where time passes in rapid succession, making them live in a day almost all of their lives.
It made $90 million at the box office.
M. Night Shyamalan has already tackled his next project,
Knock At The Cabin.
The plot of this thriller, whose release has already been set for February 2023, is jealously guarded.
The credits will feature M. Night Shyamalan regulars ex-
Harry Potter
star Rupert Grint
(The Servant)
, Nikki Amuka-Bird
(Old)
and Dave Bautista.
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