UniversalCinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie recently interviewed Frederic Boyer the Artistic Director for the Tribeca Film Festival, who also leads and runs other festivals in Europe (including Head Programmer for RIFF). Below is part of that interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you tell us a little about your role at Tribeca?
Frederic Boyer (FB): I’m the artistic director of the festival, this is my 11th year. I’m in charge of the program, but mostly for all the international [films].
I’m probably the one who is traveling the most to Europe to meet not only festival programmers but also local filmmakers and sales agents, which I know well.
Just to try to evaluate the quality of the film. Each year, the festival has its own story, and it’s all local audience. And, of course, the audience is capital.
(UM): And what’s the selection process for Tribeca? Do you have a programmer? Who makes the final decision?
(FB): We have several committees. One for the documentaries, one for the US, one for the international, and we have also, a little team in charge of the midnight. And we are many programmers. So, there are so many decisions in for a film Gala, as you know, Tribeca is not only in films. Tribeca is like cool and gentle spiders with a lot of things, you know. It’s not a spider, but I mean, we are doing gaming immersive, podcasts, talks… We are doing this, Movies Plus, which is a film plus a live performance.
And for the film, the final decision, it’s really a Committee International. Maybe I can be a little bit more influential, but I cannot watch every single of the more than 14,000 films submitted, including the shorts. In most festivals, shorts are another team. They’re their team, they’re programmers, and I’m not watching the shorts. So, we are looking for a world premiere, but we are also looking for, an international premiere. We can have a film from Berlin.
It’s totally different than programming. Programming is a balance. Sometimes you don’t so much like a film, but it’ll be so good to have it in a program for many reasons, for the balance. And if we want to play other movies, we need to have a bigger film because we even need to have this film on the same day. Otherwise, the question of diversity is extremely important. What each festival wants to do, is common in all festivals. I think most of them are the discovery, the new voices. So maybe a film will not be perfect, but maybe it’s going to be a voice and starting in New York, which is great. Or maybe it’s a country not really represented and then there is something coming from this country.
So this is, I would not say it’s political, but it’s extremely encouraging for the filmmakers, but also from the film from this region. I don’t want to name a region, but in some regions, and you can see it, cinema changes a lot in small countries like Georgia or Kosovo. And then it’s always the idea to try to capture filmmakers who can make their debut in New York at Tribeca. And at Tribeca, films are very important, but it’s also very important the story the filmmaker can bring with the film.
Not only for the Q&A, but, in New York, you have the press, like the New York Times. So, you also have this general press, sometimes a film can also be attractive for a non-local audience, which we love, or a very young audience. So, I think it’s very important to bring the story and to evaluate a little bit the impact. Sometimes it’s an emotional impact, sometimes it’s a social-political impact, and sometimes it’s a filmmaking impact. But this is, of course, a discussion we have.
I think Zoom is good because it’s, by the way, it’s very democratic. Everybody can talk for one minute about each film. We’re listening, we’re taking notes, we’re thinking. So, in terms of, efficiency, Zoom is good, and the links are good.
Of course, I prefer to see a film on a big screen but sometimes the dream is very far from reality because, well, let’s talk about art film. Distribution almost doesn’t exist in England, Spain, Italy, Germany, maybe the last place in the world you still have a solid tie with exhibitors and distribution is France. It’s the reason we now have Cannes because Cannes is bringing inference, this type of content, but it’s a reason why sometimes the life of a film, it’s a film festival.
And, of course, all the filmmakers are dreaming about Cannes, totally understandable. But Cannes, they’re picking no more film than us. They’re picking 100 films. But starting in Berlin can be great. It depends on where your film is positioned. But starting in New York is also really good because the films are well-reviewed. Even the international.
So, to start in the US is good because the agents are coming. They are looking for a cinematographer, they’re looking for directors and filmmakers. So, I think it’s another challenge, really interesting.
(UM): How do you define a good movie?
(FB): This is a very good question. Thank you. What is a good movie? It’s really difficult because, I mean, in an absolute case, a good is one you compare with another one you have. I’m always comparing food and the menu when you have a starter, when you have the main course, and you have a dessert, and it’s a whole thing. And when it’s perfect, when all these things, when the service center, they call, everything is together. So, it’s a connection between the film, but just one time, it could be June 10, it could be its date. It’s what is, what the film is about.
So what is a good film? First, it’s a film with a point of view and the point of view of the filmmakers. And the filmmakers need to know the distance between these actors and the camera. To know when to cut, and to have this tempo, and bring something, I will not say unique, but just filmmakers have to think a little about what was done before. Because if you are making a film, a Coming-of-Age movie, which we don’t want to see anymore because there are so many coming-of-age movies. But you have to do it differently. You have to see how many films were done. And then you have so many clichés, some repetitive scenes. So, we really need to see a point of view from who is talking. We need to see someone. We’re not talking about documentaries. Sometimes documentaries can be more mainstream, but they can be extremely interesting. But the documentary is another form. I’m talking about feature films.
(UM): I have had this conversation with different filmmakers and programmers about the relationship between diversity and quality, should quality be sacrificed for the sake of diversity?
(FB): No. For me, quality is the most important. [Seeking diversity] cannot be more important than the quality to defend the film, to have the happiness to introduce the filmmakers, to meet the filmmakers, and to realize the filmmaker looks like his film. So, it doesn’t mean it’s going to become a friend, but it’s part of the family. It’s part of what we think, what is a Tribeca family. And, no, for me, it’s a quality film. I will never defend the film because the film comes from a super small region or because it’s people who are not represented enough.
It’s very important. But if the film is not good or I don’t love it, I will not [program it], and nobody will. I think it’s the quality first. But you have so many choices between two films, and if one is underrepresented, if it was as good, I would prefer to represent, of course, diversity. And New York is also very symbolic as a town, and even in Tribeca, there are a lot of symbols behind the Tribeca with what [Robert De Niro] did, and the general entire building of the festival after 2001. So, it’s always implicated in the politics of the world for what’s happened.
(UM): I’m curious if a film is supported with funds from say, the Iranian government, with what is going on there politically, would you consider it if it was a quality film?
(FB): Personally, you know, this is what’s happened with duration filmmakers, and it’s really bad because you have also good filmmakers supported or granted by the government. But I don’t want to speak for everybody, but personally, I really think it’s, of course, any dissident, any independent film from these countries, we’d consider the film. I don’t mean they are selected, but it’s really important where the film comes from. I think it’s really important.
But I know filmmakers need the government, it’s very complex. And these decisions are very complex, but we’re still watching all the Iranian films, all the Russian films. And then if we are watching a film we really love, we’re going to discuss it. And I don’t know what’s going to happen. But we don’t have any policy rules to say, okay, the Russians are burned. But so far, we didn’t see things that can change our minds. So, we are not political in terms of programming, but we are looking at the origin of a film.
I think it’s very important to evaluate a film through the previous work of the filmmaker, and maybe we saw the film from the previous filmmaker, maybe we could discover it.
That I think it’s important. Of course, male and female is a balance we always have, and by the way, we the festival, we are always thinking, we should go have 50% female filmmakers. But we have also to imagine we can have also 60% or 70% of female filmmakers because there are a lot of them and by the way, it, of course, we are always, naming films with female filmmakers, but there are a lot of female producers too. And we have also, a lot of, female topics, and it’s a whole thing, but in terms of number, we are between 40%, 50%, sometimes a little bit more, and there is a lot of, really good, women filmmakers.
One of the reasons women were not represented, is just that their films were not granted. And you see the production, it’s quite easy, you know, I don’t want to do politics and to name a country, but when you have institutions like, in Belgium, in Kosovo, in Serbia, in Japan. I mean, all the institutions are within the cinema. Of course, it depends also on sometimes with one person or one small team to define what going to be the cinema of tomorrow. If they decide to make an effort to fund first filmmakers and female filmmakers. After two or three years, you can see a difference. And these films are going to festivals most of the time.
And when one is going back to something a little bit more traditional, a little bit more old style. Then, of course, women are less granted, and it’s really easy to see the numbers. And I think it depends also on the personality and who is running these funds.
(UM): Your festival takes place in New York. How does its location play a role in the programming?
(FB): It’s quite interesting because when we met, I was just in Berlin, and when you meet filmmakers, of course, you meet so many filmmakers who submitted their films. You have so many filmmakers they say but this film fits perfectly in New York.
(UM): Yeah.
(FB): It’s like, so New York is going to fit, of course, because you have so many communities in New York. So many people who can fill your room. And even if you are playing a film from the Philippines, you’re going to have the Filipino community [who] are going to watch your film and support the film. And yes, New York is a big town, but it is also a playground. In a way, it’s another experience. It’s a different experience. Every festival is a different experience, in Toronto, it’s, of course, a different experience.
[At Tribeca] when you go to see a movie, you go to the East Village or battery park or you go to the West Village, you’re having a drink and when you go out, you are in New York.
So in a way, we have a red carpet, but after the red carpet, you have the screening room and the city and its night. And then you can imagine in terms of, let’s say, the pure city of cinema. I think New York is one of the best in terms of when you walk in New York, and you are moving all over, you go to where you are thinking about the French Connection, Midnight Cowboy. And then you have always so many things which happen in New York, iconic stars and filmmaking, starting with Martin Scorsese and or Robert De Niro, and all the bunch of, really wonderful, artists. Which are living in New York, shooting in New York, and supporting the New York scene. And New York is also a wonderful décor set for films.
So, of course, even for me, it’s always impressive to be in New York, and there’s interest in introducing films in New York. Of course. It’s really fantastic. It’s really unique.
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