“Martin Scorsese needs no introduction,” said the artistic director of the Berlinale, Carlo Chatrian, with a smile, at a press conference on Tuesday evening, a few hours before awarding him the honorary Golden Bear for his entire career.
The 81-year-old American monument was showered with applause as soon as he entered the room — packed, of course. During the question period, there was consensus. Each journalist who spoke could not help but declare their admiration for him.
We can sometimes forget it, but these journalists are above all movie buffs. And few figures in the world have had as significant an impact on cinema and cinephilia as Martin Scorsese. So many of his films have been called masterpieces (Taxi Driver1976, The Freedmen1990), while others, a little more obscure, like After Hours (1985), are being rediscovered and restored these days.
“The Gospel of Cinema”
If the friendly octogenarian receives the prestigious prize this year, it is also thanks to his ambitious philanthropic enterprises, particularly the Film Foundation and the World Cinema Project. The premiere helped restore, preserve and highlight classics of American cinema like It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) or Shadows (1959, John Cassavetes), and the other did the same for once-neglected gems like Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, Senegal, 1973) or A beautiful summer day (Edward Yang, Taiwan, 1991).
Carlo Chatrian did not fail to emphasize this on Tuesday evening. “You have devoted, perhaps more than any other leading filmmaker, your life to cinema, creating it, but also restoring it, preserving it, spreading the Gospel of cinema, both old and new,” he told her.
Scorsese’s philanthropic projects were born, he said, from a desire to spark the flame of cinephilia among young people everywhere. “I learned a lot by seeing foreign films, particularly French and Italian, and eventually others like those of Satyajit Ray. If they could touch me, who come from a neighborhood [pauvre], whose parents were not intellectuals and did not read books, perhaps other children in the world can have the same experience. Without necessarily leading them to make films, it could change their lives. »
Tireless
Scorsese answered questions from journalists in great form, fiery and talkative, true to form. Although he is still recovering from an “exhausting” promotional tour for Killers of the Flower Moon, his ambitious historical drama about the fate of the Osage Native people in the United States. The film, which received 10 nominations for the next Oscar, was even described by Carlo Chatrian as “one of the greatest accomplishments” of the filmmaker.
The main person concerned, however, remains very modest, at least in front of the cameras. A journalist also reminded him: “You love cinema, but you never talk about yours. Yet here you are, receiving an honorary award for your career. » “Over the years, I have lost neither my ambition nor my ego,” he replied. But the more I [me repose sur mes lauriers], the less I advance as a director. With King of Comedy [qui a été très mal reçu par la critique], for example, I understood that I must constantly rethink my approach, renew myself. »
The man who made his first short films in the early 1960s is tireless. Unsurprisingly, he is already working on his next film. Based on the book by Shūsaku Endō, A Life of Jesus — Endō also wrote Silence, which Scorsese adapted into a historical drama in 2016 with Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver — the film will “draw on the Catholic heritage” of the director. “I don’t know yet how I’m going to do it, but I want to do something unique and different, something that will make you think and hopefully entertain. »
Olivier Du Ruisseau is staying in Berlin thanks to the support of the Berlinale and Telefilm Canada.