« We directors today must fight
to make our films and have them shown »

PostED ON OCTOBER 16 AT 4PM

Copyright Institut Lumière / Léa Rener

When he appeared, the 2,000 festivalgoers gave him a standing ovation at the Auditorium, packed to the rafters for his return to Lyon.
Four years after receiving the Lumière Award, Martin Scorsese made his comeback Tuesday night at the Lumière festival, accompanied by Emma Tillinger, his producer since The Aviator.

Before welcoming him on stage, Bertrand Tavernier, President of the Institut Lumière, spoke of his admiration for the New York filmmaker, whom he had not seen in 2015: "He’s someone I feel close to. I want to talk about friendship and sharing. The love Martin has for the cinema is unparalleled.”

Copyright Institut Lumière / Jean-Luc Mège

After watching a montage of excerpts from Scorsese’s films, met with another burst of applause, the auteur of Taxi Driver took to the stage: "Every film is an adventure, and after The Irishman, I feel particularly shaken up, a little groggy," he said. "With this film, we tried to push the boundaries. When I make a movie, the idea is always to learn about myself and others.”

Copyright Institut Lumière / Olivier Chassignole

Asked about his new collaboration with Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese said he thought the two had "gone as far as we could; there was nothing left to learn together. Above all, I didn’t see myself making another movie with him on the mafia. But when he came to see me with this book (I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt), he was so moved, he barely told the story and was already playing the character and I realized that I had to make this film, to give it my all, be it good or bad. Screenwriter Steven Zaillian and I, Bob and the whole gang really wanted to talk about the passage of time, what life has become. I had the style of the film in mind and I knew I had to do it at all costs," the director continued, "particularly because of the current state of the cinema. Today, American movies are commercial entertainment products and theaters are amusement parks. That is not cinema. In any case, it cannot be that. We directors today must fight to make our films and have them shown. We should invent our own places for that.”

Copyright Institut Lumière / Olivier Chassignole

Propos recueillis par Benoit Pavan