\n<\/p>\n
\n\tNorwegian auteur Joachim Trier got honest about fatherhood during an in-depth conversation event at the San Sebasti\u00e1n Film Festival. In the Basque city to present his Cannes-winning drama \u201cSentimental Value\u201d \u2014 Norway\u2019s official entry for the best international feature film Oscar race \u2014 the director was asked how he \u201crelates\u201d to the film\u2019s main character, Gustav Borg. The fictional film director played by Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd is professionally renowned but emotionally distant, having traded a healthy relationship with his two daughters for a lauded career in film.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re asking a big question,\u201d pointed out the director. \u201cThis is the first film I made while having two children. I said going in, \u2018I\u2019m really scared of failing as a father,\u2019 and it\u2019s very symbolic to make this film for me because I don\u2019t want to be Borg. We shot in Oslo, I could go home every night, and that was a big deal for me. That was one of the big achievements of this film for me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was longing to have children,\u201d continued Trier before pivoting into commenting about how feminist advancements in Norway changed the way parents work on set \u2014 both male and female. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of progression [with] female directors over the last 15, 20 years. That has been great for us male directors too because we have gotten a focus on good set culture where the macho energy is lessened. It\u2019s not just tough guys but also private conversations about balancing being an artist with the demands on you as a director, and also having children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe feminist discourse around cinema has helped men allow ourselves this bigger freedom of figuring out open conversations around how we make movies,\u201d he highlighted, before adding that he feels he is an \u201cokay father even though I\u2019m a film director.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe filmmaker said he was being \u201cvery personal\u201d with his answer to the question because he felt it was an \u201cimportant one,\u201d especially given he had children later in life and wanted to be a \u201cresponsible parent.\u201d Trier recalled a moment during the pre-production phase of \u201cSentimental Value\u201d when assistant director Lars Thomas told him to leave the office to catch his daughter\u2019s kindergarten play. \u201cJust run now. You don\u2019t want to be Gustav Borg,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cI saw the play and wept because she was great. I\u2019m being a bit cheesy here, forgive me, but those things matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tTrier\u2019s preoccupations with a healthy set are also a testament to his directing philosophy. When speaking about his role on set, the filmmaker said his job is to sit next to the camera and show actors \u201clove.\u201d \u201cIt sounds cheesy, but it really is. And if I\u2019m not open to the possibility of the unexpected, we won\u2019t create something that has life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe directorial position is so often this man of power,\u201d he reiterated. \u201cIt\u2019s macho bullshit. I feel the opposite. Yes, I will have to lead the team and make up my mind and be quick, but ultimately, it\u2019s a humble position of just gratitude. Like, \u2018O.K., we are going to try this thing and we could fuck it up but I believe in you.\u2019 That\u2019s what matters. Outside the set, we\u2019ve got to do a lot of fighting to get the money and make sure no one steps on our creativity, but on set we have to be humble towards the actors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Norwegian auteur also retains full control creatively outside of the set, emphasizing that he won\u2019t negotiate his final cut rights. \u201cI\u2019ve had [final cut] since film one,\u201d he said when recalling how he spent some time in the U.S. following the success of his 2006 debut \u201cReprise,\u201d which got picked up by Miramax and did well outside of Europe. When Trier tried to make his sophomore feature in the U.S. afterwards, he realized the industry post the 2008 crisis was not as open to creative autonomy and auteurship as they were in the late \u201990s, when major studios launched independent labels and placed their chips on more daring filmmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cTo me, it\u2019s a moral implication of taking responsibility for what the actors give a director,\u201d he added of final cut. \u201cIf they show their emotions, their bodies, I carry the responsibility of what they bring to the final product.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOnce Trier realized he wouldn\u2019t manage to make his sophomore feature within the U.S. studio system, the director looked back to his home country. The result was \u201cOslo, August 31st,\u201d which he called a \u201cpanic reaction\u201d to taking too long to follow up on his debut. \u201cWhen I did \u2018Reprise,\u2019 80% of directors only made one film,\u201d he pointed out, adding that his second feature spawned out of a desire to prove he could make a film \u201creally fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tTrier made a point to emphasize that his English-language debut, \u201cLouder Than Bombs,\u201d might have featured major American talent such as Jesse Eisenberg, but was still made within the European financing model. \u201cI only work in the European financing system, and I\u2019m super happy about it. It\u2019s given me a platform to express myself freely,\u201d he said, noting that this freedom is \u201cconstantly under political threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cRight-wing political movements are always trying to diminish the idea of soft money support for the arts across most countries in Europe,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we have a system that protects free expression through the arts. We need support. Most art has always been supported by someone with an intention of not just making money, but supporting artistic expression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe director emphasized the importance of the European financing model not only when it comes to production but, vitally, distribution. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to be aware that there are incentives to distribute films between our cultures. So when I grew up watching Pedro Almod\u00f3var\u2019s films, and what [I] like about him is the feeling he has a universe which is his. When I was growing up, I didn\u2019t want to see him go to L.A. and do a heist movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tNeon\u00a0will open Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value\u201d in limited release on Nov. 7. The San Sebasti\u00e1n Film Festival runs Sept. 19-27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier got honest about fatherhood during an in-depth conversation event at the San Sebasti\u00e1n Film Festival. In the Basque city to present his Cannes-winning drama \u201cSentimental Value\u201d \u2014 Norway\u2019s official entry for the best international feature film Oscar race \u2014 the director was asked how he \u201crelates\u201d to the film\u2019s main character,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[8166,611,14195,7623,6903,5545],"class_list":{"0":"post-23264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-directors","9":"tag-energy","10":"tag-feminism","11":"tag-helped","12":"tag-macho","13":"tag-rid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}