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Rotterdam 2004
Arguing with Mr. Hou
By Quintín

In the first issue of Rouge, a new Australian on-line film magazine, Hou Hsiao-hsien reflects about strategies to make Taiwanese cinema (and Asian cinema in general) more successful. Hou, one of the most respected filmmakers alive, has devoted the last year to promote Taiwanese cinema in different ways and the piece exposes ideas that are not only interesting for the region but also for other countries with the same problem, i. e. how to make national cinema survive and grow. In Argentina, like in Taiwan and many other places, there is a modest film industry, a market not big enough to make real big money on films (at least not on a regular basis), and a clash between the local mainstream and the alternative production. Around the last contradiction, Hou advocates for both sides: he praises films like Amélie or Run, Lola, Run that in his own words are examples of light works that embrace modernity and, although not realistic in a strict sense, are found acceptable and moving by the audience. Also, Hou longs for a film that may represent a turning point at the box office, not only national, but regional as well. He takes the Korean example to illustrate what State support and clever films can do to make a film industry evolve from crisis to boom.

Now, let's take a long trip to Argentina and try to solve Hou's dilemma there. But first, a word about the two other big producing countries in the region, Mexico and Brazil that are going in two completely opposite directions. Mexico has cut State support for the film industry almost to zero. IMCINE, the traditional institution that used to back around 100 productions a year two decades ago is about to be eliminated. The result is that Mexican films are almost non existent at the moment. Directors of films that were considered important in recent years, like González Iñarritu (Amores perros) are shooting in English or directly in Hollywood. On the other hand, Brazil announces a big plan for the future, starting from a projected 100 films to be shot during 2006, and the increase of the screening quota for local movies. The Minister of Culture said recently: "The government wants Brazilian cinema to have during the XXI century the same hegemony than the American cinema did during the XX."

It looks like every solution is available, from oblivion to megalomania. Argentina produces around 50 films a year, but the box office is not enough to recover the investment in the average case. There is a State fund of 20 million USD per year to support the production. That fund allows producers to survive, but many films are almost not seen, and only one could be considered a hit in 2003, a TV by-product about a pop group created by the station with 1 million tickets sold. The foreign market doesn't help much either. The best Argentina can show as a result abroad in recent years are a couple of hits in Spain for the mainstream and a few festival hits for the alternative side, to use Hou's terminology. No film has been a real success in the rest of Latin America.

From a bigger perspective, the situation seems not so bad. In spite of the economic collapse of 2001-2002, the film industry didn't suffer as the rest of the country. The devaluation of the currency made films cheaper, lots of foreign commercial are being shot in Argentina and the union workers are fully employed at the moment. It looks as if with some adjustments (maybe a screen quota) the health of the film sector can be guaranteed, with a diversified production in terms of costs and artistic ambition. But under the surface of a relatively smooth future, given the slow but apparent recovery of the economy and an encouraging optimism where every known or unknown filmmaker is trying to shoot in the next months, there is an increasing gap between two currents and a silent battle is taking place. In recent years, only a few films made good money, a few others got good reviews, but almost no film made the two categories (and the majority made none of them). Traditional filmmakers accuse the critics of being a kind of mafia that plays against the average audience taste. Young filmmakers accuse the film authorities of favoring the establishment and the big companies. Conventional filmmakers claim for movies with solid scripts, three acts and characters to identify with. Audacious filmmakers despise the films based on these premises.

Maybe, following Hou's thoughts, what we need to be united is our own Amélie, a local blockbuster with international recognition, so modern and so close to the audience's heart. But I'm not so sure. A film like that would mean glory for its director and happiness for the government, like a football cup. We would be persuaded that we're the best of the world and that filmmaking has no secrets for us. The director and the actors will be received by the President. All will be photographed under the national flag. After our own Amélie every filmmaker not so successful with the audience will be accused of being a looser. Journalists and ministers will claim for more films like that and everybody will realize that there is no purpose in trying to make other kind of movies. Critics that dare to criticize the jewel of our silver screen would be fired from their journals. Maybe, things wouldn't be like that after all and this is only my personal nightmare. But I have a dream also. That in the near future, new filmmakers will emerge from Argentina. Filmmakers like Tsai Ming-liang, Edward Yang and, of course, Hou Hsiao-hsien. I'm not sure if this will help the local industry in general. But I'm sure it would make cinephiles happier. And that in these endless discussions about scripts and budgets, about old and new, about art and money, we will have better points of reference to argue about.

© Quintín, January 2004

Quintín is the editor in chief of the Argentine film magazine El Amante/Cine (www.elamante.com.ar) and contributor to the book Nuevo Cine Argentino: temas, autores y estilos de una renovación/New Argentine Cinema: themes, auteurs and trends of innovation (2002).

This text is re-printed with kind permission of Quintin and of "De Filmkrant in Rotterdam", the daily festival edition of the Dutch film magazine "De Filmkrant".

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