At the Marrakech International Film Festival, directors are invited to provide a ‘masterclass’ – lengthy discussion in front of a large crowd, to try and better understand the process and craft of filmmaking. At this year’s event Paul Haggis took part, and we had the pleasure of sitting down with the two double winning Oscar winner.
Sitting outside in the glorious sunshine (it don’t feel like winter here, believe me) Haggis spoke about his career, and whether he can go back and watch his own movies. He also discussed his joy at being in Morocco and why he feels like the bridging of cultures is such an important aspect of the festival. Naturally this led on to a discussion about America post-election, as Haggis tells us why he wants to stay and face up to what’s about to happen.
So how did the masterclass go?
It was a lot of fun, we had a great moderator who asked some interesting questions and we talked for two hours when we were supposed to do an hour. We spoke about the process of directing and writing. I really enjoyed it. There are a lot of different people here from different countries.
Is this your first time at the Marrakech film festival? What are your first impressions?
It’s not my first time in Morocco, I was here shooting my second movie. But I’m even more impressed this time. What I look for as a participant is the chance to meet other participants, other filmmakers, actors, and share ideas and get drunk. Which I’ve been avoiding so far, thank God. It’s been a lot of fun.
Part of the goal of this festival is to bridge Western and Middle Eastern cultures through film and art – how do you figure that process is going?
Well that’s why I came. It’s so important right now, especially for American, and Western filmmakers to meet with people from the Arabic world and share ideas. America is particularly insular, in a way where we’re truly only interested in our own ideas and our own movies. We don’t truly learn and become richer by that interaction by seeing other people’s points of view. Like my movie Crash, people tend to stereotype others and make rash decisions and assumptions that obviously aren’t true.
Are you still interested in that topic as a filmmaker?
Sure, I just finished a mini-series for HBO last year which aired called Show Me a Hero, which starred Oscar Isaac. That was about the fear of others, and was set in 1987 through to 1993 in New York, about an area forced to integrate and I was very surprised about that because when you think of segregation you think of the South, and you think of the 60s, not of New York in the 1990s, and these problems are still going on. We have to keep reassessing and keep looking inward to see if we’re doing our best, and always the answer is no.
Have you considered moving out of America at all?
I’m both Canadian and American, I was born in Canada, so I could escape, I suppose, but a big part of me says no, you have to stay here and face this. The one good thing about our election is that the British can feel better about themselves now. We were laughing our asses off at you for at least three or four months.
So how do you face what’s coming? What does that mean?
We’re going to find out. There is no sense worrying about it before it happens, you should prepare. And by some of Trump’s cabinet choices, you can pretty much see what’s coming. See, I was one of those idiots who protested against Obama in his first administration. It was Mark Ruffalo, myself and Martin Sheen, and we were out there protesting against him because he hadn’t closed Guantanamo. Every administration has its problems, but this one has a lot of challenges, but no sense reacting before the fact.
To go back to the festival, and the bridging of cultures, when we talk about Trump and what’s coming, seeing the other point of view is lacking…
It’s just a lack of curiosity. One of our great qualities as human beings is our innate curiosity and when we abandon that we abandon that we abandon our humanity.
Have you had any nice moments here that could be defined as a bridging of cultures?
I’ve met some really interesting Arabic filmmakers. I just like absorbing the process. Often what happens is you’re introduced to someone but you won’t have time to actually see their films, so you watch it later, it’s a longer process than just the seven days of the festival. I’ll be looking at the films, thinking about the films, I’ve taken people’s information and we’ll stay in touch and have coffee sometime, this is just the beginning. I really enjoyed talking to Bela Tarr, the head of the jury – you meet people you wouldn’t normally rub shoulders with. There were a couple of Arabic filmmakers I was talking to last night and I was really enjoying the conversation and I hope to see more of their films.
Out of interest, do you watch Black Mirror, and what do you make our own relationship with technology?
This all started in the 1950s, well long before that, it started with the Industrial Revolution, but certainly you saw it in the 50s where all those ads about time saving devices for home-makers, how Mrs. Darling was going to save so much time thanks to this new oven, and that’s what technology does, it comes to solve a problem, only to create four more. We all think, ‘Oh my God I can communicate with anybody at anytime, that’s so great’ and yes it’s wonderful, except we’re all glued to that communication, so you see people who aren’t there, when they’re there. Not living that moment. At the after party last night a couple of young women were enjoying the show so much they decided to video it, and they were watching it back, and re-watching it, tagging people, and the show was going on around them, so they were kinda missing the point. Absorb where you are, and what’s going on and watch it later. But unless it’s on Instragram, it’s not real. I had an interesting situation recently when I was with a movie star and someone came up to him and asked for a picture, but he said he didn’t wanna do that, but invited this person to have a drink with us. The guy said no and walked away. All he wanted was proof, that selfie, rather than the experience.
Following on from your masterclass event – are you able to look back relatively objectively over your career? Can you watch films and think they’re really good and appreciate the great parts, or look at others and wish you did things differently?
It was interesting because I can’t watch my own films, I’m just so critical of them. Then last night a couple of clips from my films were shown and I’d completely forgotten about them and I thought, that’s pretty good. It’s very hard for me to be objective or positive about my work, I generally like it and I’m proud of it, but I’m way too critical. So sometimes if you look back after a number of years, I’m more forgiving of myself.
Why do you make movies?
I like to try and explain myself, to myself. I like to explore questions that truly bother me, that confound me, and hide those inside popular entertainment. I haven’t explained myself to myself yet, by the way, I’m not even close to it. But there are things that trouble you, why do I do that? Or why do people do this? When I observe others the first thing I do is try to see if I do the same, and the answer is always yes, I do. I think as soon as you start feeling morally superior you are absolutely wrong, you just haven’t looked carefully enough.
The Marrakech International Film Festival is taking place between December 2nd to 11th, and be sure to check back on HeyUGuys for more interviews and reviews throughout the week.
