Euro Film Legends Tell National Stories Amid Concerns about Internet Influence

Kusturica thinks that there is an urgent need to "protect the beauty of human life."　　

　　The Golden Goblet Forum of Judges, a key forum of the ongoing Shanghai International Film and TV Festival, attracted many art house film fans yesterday to hear eminent guest speakers Emir Kusturica and Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

　　Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica, known for his signature absurdist style and sense of black humor, is head of jury for the festival. His films have literally swept the three big European film festivals, Berlin, Cannes and Venice in addition to Oscar nomination and many other prominent international film awards and nominations.

　　And Krzysztof Piesiewicz, a member of the Polish Parliament, is best known in China as a long-time scriptwriter and collaborator of the late film director Krzysztof Kieslowski, also a name familiar to Chinese fans of art house films.

　　Kusturica and Piesiewicz both had lots to contribute to the forum’s theme,"On Grief and Reason, Tell National Stories to the World." They spoke from the perspective of a place (Serbia) that went through so much turbulence, and another (Poland) that transformed from socialism to capitalism.

　　Kusturica repeated his concern a few times to the forum that the Internet will take the place of cinema in the future, and there is an urgent need to "protect the beauty of human life."

　　He criticized over-commercialized Hollywood movies as well as the technologies that are changing the entire process of filmmaking.