Todd Haynes Talks U.S. Crisis Under First Weeks Of Trump & Accuses President Of “Destabilization” Tactics As Berlinale Lifts Off
Todd Haynes described the U.S. as being in a state of crisis at the Berlinale jury press conference on Thursday when asked on his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office.
“We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the United States, but also globally… everyone I know in the United States… are witnessing this barrage of actions in the first three weeks of the Trump administration with tremendous concern and shock,” he said.
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“I think that’s been part of the strategy to create a sense of destabilization and shock to people so that how we proceed toward coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and are still being figured out among Democrats,” he continued.
“I have no doubt that there will be many people who got in that vote for this president, who will be quickly disillusioned by his promises that he made about economic stability in the United States.”
Haynes was speaking at the jury press conference for the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival which gets underway this evening with Tom Tykwer’s timely drama The Light.
The festival is unfolding three weeks after President Trump’s inauguration, which have seen his administration unveil a series of policy shifts around immigration, trade tariffs, DEI programs and foreign aid.
In Germany, the country is gearing up for general elections on February 23, in which the far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party is currently polling in second position, which has prompted large-scale street demonstrations across the country.
Asked about what the current political climate in the U.S. means for filmmakers, Haynes said it was a question that extended beyond the world of filmmaking.
“It’s how do you maintain your own integrity and point of view and speak out to the issues around us as forcefully and clearly as possible,” he said.
Haynes is joined on the jury by director Nabil Ayouch (Morocco/France), costume designer Bina Daigeler (Germany), actor Fan Bingbing (China), director Rodrigo Moreno (Argentina), film critic and author Amy Nicholson (U.S.) and director, actor and screenwriter Maria Schrader (Germany).
Moreno, who has seen cinema defunded in Argentina, under the far-right government of Javier Milei gave an alarming update about the situation there for filmmakers, but concurred with Haynes that it was a wider issue.
“It’s one year we’ve been having this government, this crazy guy, fascist pronouncing every day, against gays, against scientists, against educators, against filmmakers, artists. So, it’s a nightmare for us,” he said.
“This year, there were zero films produced…. which is a tragedy for us, but we will keep on making films anyway, with cellphones, with whatever, but the main problem is, the workers, the old people, the poor people, which is increasing every day.”
The Berlin Film Festival’s new director Tricia Tuttle described the festival as “a rejection” and “act of resistance” of the ideas being extolled by right-wing leaders and politicians “around the whole world, Europe and Berlin”.
“This is a space where we want to come together and listen to each other and communicate with cinema, and we all celebrate and value very deeply the history of pluralistic ideas that are behind big, major international film festivals,” she said.
“The very fact we’re all here is a resistance, and it’s a really important.”
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