In progress:
Globalism and film
By
Mustafa El-Menshawy
Klaus Maria Brandauer was born in 1943 in Altaussee, Upper Austria. One of the most celebrated stage actors in the German-speaking world, he has won a variety of awards, including the 1982 Cannes Best Actor Award for Mephisto, which led him to major roles in British and American productions. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
I was educated at the Stuttgart Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Upon graduation I began working in theatre with companies such as Tubingen, in Dusseldorf and Salzburg. I am proud of having worked at the Burgtheatre in Vienna, one of Austria's best known theatres. Indeed, I ended up appearing in some 70 performances in just 10 years.
Being honoured at the Asala International Week at Al-Arish was a fascinating experience for me. The director of the festival, Dessouki Said, approached me about this annual event, now in its third year, and I agreed to come to support him. It proved to be a magnificent experience -- to cut a long story short.
It is, however, true, that I am far from familiar with Arabic films. In my country we don't see them at all, and this is the crux of the whole issue. There are good films everywhere in the world, and Egypt and Austria are no exception. So we -- artists -- should not be at pains to pigeon-hole the whole world into regions that make good movies and those that make bad ones. Good films can grow anywhere, anywhere where there is a convincing script, director and producer. With these elements in place there is absolutely no reason why a film cannot be made that is critically and popularly acclaimed whenever and wherever it is screened. I would be more than ready to act in any such film. I should also like to see far more cooperation between Austria and Egypt -- something many of the festival's guests and organisers asked me about. And my reply was the same to everyone: I should be delighted to lend my support to any such endeavour.
But we must go beyond words and turn promises into actions. Egypt is the most wonderful location for film. All the elements required by filmmakers are available, not least weather that is predictable, which is certainly not the case in Europe, where weather can wreak havoc with filmimg schedules.
One could easily make a good film with a limited budget. Money tends to be used mainly for advertising, though advertising by no means guarantees the success, even just the commercial success, of a film. What really matters are good filmmaking techniques, along with a keen spirit and a kind of intellectual generousity, without which it is impossible for a film to seriously speak to a wide audience. Just think of the religious experience. Many religions started with a single person and then were able to attract thousands, even millions, of followers. It is a crass comparison, I know, but the logic continues to appeal to me. In the end it is the idea, the kernel at the heart, that attracts and appeals to people.
There is another point I'd like to make in this regard; American movies are global box office attractions largely because English has become the global lingua franca. It is the language millions around the world are familiar with. No surprise, then, that an excellent Finnish film is unlikely to be able to compete in box-office terms outside Finland when faced with a not very good American film. It is a simple matter of noone being able to understand it. But as filmmakers we should not limit our perspective to the box office. We should be more self-confident and insist on pushing on with our own productions, and then ensure that those productions are properly distributed within the international market. All of which implies we need to be more creative in finding and establishing new markets.
This should not be impossible to realise though it will require a vast amount of hard work. We should each be proud of our culture and heritage without turning them into obstacles that block the pathway to further cooperation and interaction. With confidence we should be able to overcome such obstacles and transcend them.
Different language groups around the world speak with each other, really. It is ridiculous -- and in fact stupid -- to speak about the globalisation of human beings, as if human beings are part of the free movement of commodities all over the world. I feel I should make myself more clear on this issue; people are not goods to be globalised. They, after all, already have a lot in common. As for the opposite view, which see religious affiliation as the criteria that distinguishes one society from another, for example, such views are propagated by fanatics and those intellectually louche people who use religiosity for political ends.
The films in which I worked with Sean Connery -- Never Say Never Again (1983), directed by Irvin Keshner, and The Russia House (1990) -- undoubtedly added a lot to my career, though there are many other works which I will never forget. As for The Russia House, it was a screen adaptation of John Le Carre's post-cold war novel. Directed by Fred Schepisi and written by Tom Stoppard, the spy thriller also starred Michelle Pfeiffer and depicted a hard-drinking, easy going London publisher who suddenly found himself recruited by British intelligence to find the Russian author of a manuscript that reveals the extent of Soviet military might.
In Austria people are more interested in plays and the theatre than movies. I wonder if it's the same in Egypt. Most Austrian theaters are packed 365 days a year. It is a bit like football mania, actually.
