With its financing system unique in the world but judged “obsolete“, French cinema has become “a self-destructing monster“, subject to the “bureaucracy“instead of rewarding”audacity“, worries the independent producer Paulo Branco in an interview with AFP.
While part of the French cinematographic community called in early October for a “States General” to discuss how the public authorities support the sector, the 72-year-old Portuguese, who has brought out many young filmmakers, shows himself also very disappointed. “What, in a way, revolts me is that France, which should be the country where audacity should be rewarded, is in fact the one where it is least allowed.“, he says, sitting at the office of his production company, Leopardo Filmes, in the heart of old Lisbon.
“The French model has reached its limit“, emphasizes this man with disheveled hair, receding hairline and thick mustache, who wants proof of this”the quantity of films and the lack of quality of 99.9% of them“. Paulo Branco, who is also the father of the Franco-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco, produced nearly 300 films during a career between France and Portugal and which will remain inseparable from directors like Raul Ruiz or Manoel de Oliveira.
From the one Cannes Film Festival boss Thierry Frémaux once described as “the king of independent producers, the number one buccaneer in the business“, French cinema is withering away “under the influence of bureaucracy” and “the dictatorship of the script”.
Beyond questions relating to French cinema, Paulo Branco is not particularly concerned about the decline in cinema attendance, whose death is announced “for forty years“.”You need directors and, to have them, you need festivals and films to be released in theaters so that critics talk about them, for good or bad.“, he said. “I think there is still room for some new great filmmakers to emerge, the new Godards and the new Orson Welles, even if everything is done to prevent it.”
Paulo Branco notes in particular that “the role of the producer has practically disappeared “to become a mere”performing “projects chosen by television channels and streaming platforms. According to him, cinema remains”a prototype industry“who shouldn’t place so much emphasis on business success.”Coppola’s first films were not seen by anyone, and it’s the same for all the great directors“, he argues.
Always motivated by the desire to share his favorites “minority“, Paulo Branco has organized since 2007 a festival bringing together international stars and lesser-known artists or intellectuals. This year’s edition of LEFFEST, which will be held in Lisbon and Sintra from November 10 to 20, will see actors John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, alongside directors David Cronenberg, Abel Ferrara and Olivier Assayas, and American philosopher and activist Angela Davis.