Just as his latest feature “Nouvelle Vague” aims to remind audiences of the communal joy that can come from making cinema, so too does Richard Linklater want fear-mongers to remember that filmmaking is here to stay. For the last 40 years, the Austin-based filmmaker has steadied himself in the ever-changing entertainment industry by holding close to his desire to tell stories and believes those coming up will do the same.
His advice to them? Stay frugal and friendly.
“You gotta be a cheap hustler,” Linklater told IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit at Cannes during his keynote chat with moderator Eric Kohn. “You gotta have some charm.”
That’s especially true when it comes to dealing with anyone holding the pursestrings. As much as it’s their job to focus on the financial viability of your work, Linklater believes it’s the filmmaker’s job to focus on the art and hope that will lead to people showing up. However, saying that outright wouldn’t really bring ease to most financiers. Linklater shared that the young filmmakers he meets and knows will succeed are the ones that can make others breathe a sigh of relief.
“If no one wants to support you, that just means you are not ready yet. Maybe you don’t have the confidence or something’s not exuding from you that needs to be for people to believe in you, and that’s usually you believing in yourself,” he said. “You can’t fake that. You have to earn that through your own experience, your own confidence, your own hard work and dedication.”
Feeling confident in this industry nowadays is easier said than done however. When Kohn asked how Linklater avoids the impulse to follow the market and believe in the fears surrounding the continued financial viability of cinema in its current form, the “Dazed and Confused” creator shunned the idea that things are so different from when he started out.
“People want to see films. People think in terms of stories. TikToks and these short things — there’s always been short, little fun distractions — short films and interstitials on TV, but we think in narrative arcs and everybody wants to tell stories,” said Linklater. “The human consciousness: I don’t think it’s changing that much. The world outside is changing, we’re living in science fiction, but I think there’s a constant within our art form that is a story that becomes a feature film.”
Watch IndieWire’s complete conversation with Linklater from Future of Filmmaking Summit at Cannes below. And check out the rest of American Pavilion’s Cannes programming here.
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