Interview with Johnnie To

Hong Kong director and producer Johnnie To is a member of this year’s Feature Film Jury. A master of genre cinema and a prolific film-maker with an impressive filmography, he has been in the Official selection five times since 2004 with Breaking News, Election, Election2, Triangle, and Vengeance.

 

 

What is your first memory of the cinema?
I forget the first movie I saw, but when I was young, it didn’t matter what the film was. We went to the movies to relax and have a good time.

 

 

What made you want to become a movie director?

In the beginning it was just to get work. I started out working in TV. I really liked the idea of making a feature film but after my first attempt I said to myself that I wasn’t cut out to be a director. I went back to television, then, seven years later I made my second film. It was another ten years before I felt like a real film-maker.

 

What happened?

Let’s say that I found a way through. Over ten years I made a lot of commercial pictures. But I felt I really wanted to make my own movies. I wanted my films to belong to me first, rather than to the public. I set up my own production company in 1996. I remember I took a break the year before, in 1995, because I wanted to think about this new step in my career. Until then, I had been making at least one or two films every year.

 

Which film would you like to live in?

In a Kurosawa film. The Seven Samurai for example.

 

Is there a movie hero that you would like to be?

The hero played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart..

 

Do you know the other members of the Jury?

I’ve known Robert De Niro for many years, but only from the cinema. Except for Nansun Shi, who is from Honk Kong, this is the first time I have met the other the members of the Jury..

How did you feel when you were asked to be a part of the Jury?

I was really pleased. It was a chance to learn more about the cinema. And also to come back to Cannes. This is my sixth visit, but this time there is no competition. It’s a bit easier. All I have to do is watch movies and enjoy myself.

Is there any other member of the Jury you would like to be for a few hours?

First of all there would be Robert De Niro. Then Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. I saw A Screaming Man in Dubaï and I really loved it. I’m very happy to be on the same Jury as him. We’ve been able to talk about a lot of things together.

 

At the Jury Press Conference you said that China was probably producing too many films.

China is producing more than 500 films a year today, but only twenty are worthwhile.

 

How would you describe the difference between the Chinese cinema and Hong Kong cinema?

In China, there’s no freedom. China is a great country, with lots of resources, but the censorship makes me very angry. In Hong-Kong, we don’t have a lot of money, but the cinema is very free.

 

Interview by B. de M.