Paul Laverty on Ken Lush, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Gaza

Screenwriter Paul Laverty himself made socially realistic films with a long -term friend and creative partner Ken Lush, such as the Bali Festival, or the winners. Me, Daniel Blake and The wind that shakes barley.

He was born in Calcutta, India for an Irish mother and a Scottish father, who obtained a degree of philosophy in Rome and worked, in the mid -1980s, to the Human Rights Organization in Nicaragua. Nowadays, he lives in Edinburgh. Currently, creativity is attended by the fifteenth edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival, where he is a member of the jury, led by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulouf, and was attended by stars such as Tim Roth.

There, Laviri spoke Thr About the role of the film amid the current situation of the world, he hopes to work with his partner, Spanish director Ikar Polian (I am Nevinka) And whether it is Old oak Luch’s final movie was really.

As a social writer who relies on issues, how do you see the outside world affect what you are doing today? What does all change in the world, including Trump’s second term, mean for filmmaking?

I would like to have a problem with being a writer or film maker based on issues. The character and the story must always come first. But it is clear that the options of those who are these characters, and the hypothesis of each story will reflect your needs. “If there is no fun, there is no offer,” says Brecht. So you need the story. The idea of ​​just breaking up things and trying to put them in the throat of people will be a curse for myself and Kane.

But I think these days are really great – very great. I think one of the most important documents of our time now is something that has been completely ignored. A study was conducted by (Research Agency) Criminal Engineering, and academics working from Goldsmith, University of London. There is a wonderful academic (Israeli -British) there (founder and director Eyal Weizmann). They bring all the skills of being architectural engineers, scientifically and citing, and they studied what is going on in Gaza and published a report of 823 pages, which is a wonderful document called “maps of genocide”. It analyzes tens of thousands of information to create a pattern in an image.

It is the most incredible document, because it is very strict, and it puts everything. But it was ignored or rejected. Thus, the huge question of collusion in our Western governments, the United States, our government in Britain, really raises the genocide. I challenge anyone to read this and find weakness in it. But times have changed, and we see what is happening and its size. He only reminds me of the Prophet Ezekiel: “We have eyes to see, but we do not see. We have ears to hear it, but do not see.”

Therefore, I think international law has been torn. We have just seen the United States chasing the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Court (in Den Hag, the Netherlands), and the follow -up of the employees who work for and harassment. It’s like a mafia. People who have been prepared to sponsor the Geneva Convention, Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, and Human Respect – they go to them, and this is great. Will we get a movie about that? Some of a ridiculous opportunity! Who are the gate guards? What lens do you see the world?

There is all this talk about us in the post -truth eraand It seems that more and more people do not seem to agree anymore in the world or what is real or fake. Any ideas?

You are very interesting question. I was in Central America in the 1980s, and I was an eyewitness. There was fake news, there were false accounts. In the nineties of the last century, Ronald Reagan said that the right -wing militias that launched guerrilla warfare against Marxist governments) equivalent to American founding fathers. I was out with people. They were torturing people. They were cutting the breasts of young girls. They pulled the eyes. I spoke to people who did so. But they denied this.

Now, I think the big difference is that they do not give disgust. They only give disgust. I think the difference now is that there is a escape from absolute punishment.

I mentioned the dismantling of international law. In the United States, Elon Musk’s function reduced the size of government institutions and spending. Looking at your films, I expect to see an important role for the government …

It is a wonderful type, really, because who has this kind of wealth and this strength? It is completely not elected. It is Mavrick. It can spend $ 44 billion on Twitter, not eyelid. So there is a focus of strength, that unrestricted force they have. I think what they do is just pouring the world in the narration that suits them. Look at the way you attacked any place that does not agree with them. They are trying to destroy them.

They talk about freedom of expression. It is just a joke. They are dismantled by anything appropriate in front of us. It is the escape of absolute punishment, regardless of conflict, vulgarity.

But the thing is: I think Trump is one of the symptoms of what is happening. I think it is a symptom of the times. They are great in the smell of fear, and there is this kind of ability to put your finger on the point and fear. These are dangerous times, really dangerous times. How many people will suffer from consequences in the United States? How many lives will be lost? God knows what will happen.

I do not know if I have seen that the video of artificial intelligence (that creators have been released from it since then a satire) Trump shared by the social truth. In the fiercest of your imagination, you couldn’t have a (fake) person. It is like a golden calf. It was very raw, very dilapidated, very evil. This barbarism mixed with this abundance made me think of Hana Arndt (and its concept of the banality of evil). I try to encourage people to read forensic engineering and Hana Arndt.

As a movie director, how do you see your role in fighting against such trends that worry you?

You want to use all fibers to be to face the blade and barbarism, but we also have to realize that what directors do is actually minimal and is not generally important. People who do popular work have a real influence. So I do not have any delusions of greatness about what we will achieve by making a small movie. But you are trying to tell the stories that deserve the trouble and feed some of the feeling of hope. Because I think what they want to do is killing hope as well. They want to kill hope. I think that if you kill hope, you do not resist. Hope means that you are resisting. You work with other people, start expressing an alternative.

These are dark days, and we have to find stories that chant and make us laugh and hope to make us think. When you see such barbarism everywhere, I think it leaks to our psyche. So I think we really have to take care of our friends and societies and find ways to be happy. I think this is a political position.

I mentioned hope for people who cross alternatives. How much do you see in the world?

I think this is the most frustrating thing, how the opposition is very fragmented. So, they get a free hand, and they really call the shots and see everyone wandering, withdraw their front and be holding them. I mean, was there anything more nonsense than watching (the Prime Minister in the United Kingdom and the leader of the Labor Party Care) Starmer crawls (in the White House) and withdrawing a message from the king. What a dreaded dreaded! This is the level of the Brown nose we get. The Labor Party has just sold its spirit.

It will be very interesting to know what is happening in the rest of Europe now (where many countries have witnessed the results of strong elections for the extremist right -wing parties).

I mentioned the spirit of work. Let’s talk about your cinematic spirit. Do you know what the movie you will do next? Your partner ICíar told me late last year that you might work to work on something together if things go well?

There are two people who really love to work with him soon. One is icíar. Then there is a beautiful man in New York: Ramin Bahrani. an act White tiger and 99 homes. I have a great respect for Shinein and his work, and I would like to do a project with him. We are talking, however. The fingers crossed. He is a really beautiful and sharp man. He is a good man with great sensitivity, bright and very talented. Therefore, the fingers crossed.

He was Old oak Really, Ken Lush’s last movie?

Yes, it will be. We have gone through a great operation. Ken is still noticeably sharp. I just spoke to him. But it will be 89 on his next birthday (in June). As you know, doing a feature film takes a lot of energy, especially because it does not negotiate much. This is how he did Old oak When he was 86 years old. It was great, its huge design. He is a great man. I can’t believe how luck I had to cross the paths with – a wonderful man.