The 25th edition of the “British Screens” film festival is being held until March 20 in Nîmes. Terry Gilliam, the director of the cult film “Brazil”, is one of the guests of honor. Meet.
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A dozen films by director Terry Gilliam are screened as part of the 25th edition of British Screens, the Nîmes film festival which runs until March 20. The organizers put the former member of the Monty Python tops the bill for this 2022 edition, where he shares honors with director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen).
The cornerstone of Terry Gilliam’s filmography is Brazil. Released on the screens in 1985, this totalitarian dystopia tells the wanderings of Sam Lowry, a man who searches for the woman who appears in his dreams. The hero has a mind-numbing job and lives in a small apartment in a dystopian, bureaucratic and totalitarian world reminiscent of the one portrayed by george orwell in his novel 1984.
The paradox of Brazilian, which also contributed to its legend, is that it was critically acclaimed on its release, but made a real splash in the United States where the public had shunned it.
In Nîmes, Terry Gilliam came to tell the genesis of his cult film. “I don’t know how to depict our modern societies, without bringing a dose of imagination. Brazil could take place at any time in the 20th century. I mix settings from the 1930s-40s with futuristic iconography. It allows you to have a bigger playground.
In the casting of the film, which was budget issue light years away from the blockbusters, we find Robert De Niro, who plays a dissident plumber. He escapes arrest thanks to a Kafkaesque and immensely funny administrative error. “De Niro was a Monty Python fan”notes Terry Gilliam.
Four decades later, young moviegoers take selfies with the British director at the end of the Nîmes screening. “It’s really interesting to talk to young people who discover my cinema, because my wish is to make films that survive after my death. I will be quietly in my grave when people talk about my films and I will be very happy about it”. It’s all-British phlegm mixed with Monty Python humor.
The British Screens 2022 film festival is held until March 20 in Nîmes. The program is available on the festival website.