i recently came home from a fun and intensive three days at the berlin film festival, where i met with filmmakers from more than 20 different countries. i heard a great many stories from many different cultures, which highlighted one of my favourite parts of my job and this industry. i find cultural differences deeply fascinating, and an integral part of what makes the film industry such a terrific area to work in.
just by looking at what is on offer at my local arthouse cinema today proves the diversity of global filmmaking – an american film set in the uk, a danish documentary set in russia, an american film, a german documentary, a danish film, a japanese animation based on a beloved english story, a french romantic comedy, a film by an italian director made in the u.s., an iranian drama and a classic british novel directed by an american.
on a personal level, i have worked on films made in denmark, belgium, romania and canada, and have helped develop projects in the u.s., the u.k., france, spain, germany, poland, sweden and australia – and i wouldn’t have it any other way!
cultural differences present to me, not only an extraordinary variety in the projects i get the chance to work on and the writers, producers and directors i get to work with, but also one of the greatest challenges in my work.
back when i worked on belgian film bullhead (rundskop), a situation arose where the production company had worked extremely hard to reduce the number of shooting days in compliance with their projected budget, and they were still a few days too many. as i had already worked on 6 drafts of the script, they asked me to take a few days to find potential ways of reducing shooting days by cutting, combining locations, etc. i was very knowledgeable of the story, but still enough of an outsider to not be too attached to the script in a way that might affect my judgment on whether certain elements of the script were absolutely necessary or whether the production team were simply too attached to them.
one of the things i chose to do was to cut two characters (the two french mechanics) who were part of a subplot that had a small influence on the main story. i found a way of incorporating the important information from their scenes concisely into other parts of the story.
however, by doing this i had unwittingly eliminated an important part of the tone of the film relating to cultural differences. when i had worked on drafts of the script they had been translated from flemish to english, so the elements regarding the differences between flemish-speaking and french-speaking belgians had been slightly lost in translation. these cultural differences mirrored somewhat the suspicions between the flemish farmers and the french-belgian mafia that runs throughout the story. having now seen the final film, i can see what the mechanics mean to the tone, and i can understand more clearly why they are there.
in the end, we got the shooting days down, the film got made and was recently nominated for an oscar as best foreign film. and i got to learn something about the cultural differences in belgium!
as an englishman, it was an eye-opener that two countries such as england and belgium would have such pronounced cultural differences. they are so close geographically, and are both part of western europe.
many filmmakers from all corners of the globe have tried to make films in hollywood, or at the very least in english or a language different from their native one with varying degrees of success. Right from the early days of silent and talkies, filmmakers from europe (curtiz, lang, wilder, etc) have moved to America and become influential filmmakers. many suggest that the combination of a european sensibility combined with american culture is what has made the films of these filmmakers so interesting – and i’m inclined to agree with that idea.
three prominent danish directors have tried, with varying degrees of success, to make films in english and/or the u.s.
lars von trier has been incredibly successful in critical circles for many years now – albeit with a certain amount of controversy and he often divides critics. he is certainly more highly regarded outside of denmark than he is at home, but he has also never truly cracked the american market, which possibly highlights a european/american divide.
thomas vinterberg, after the huge success of his breakout film festen also tried to make the leap into english like von trier. the two films he made, its all about love and dear wendy, (the latter interestingly enough written by von trier), were both highly ambitious, critically mixed, financial failures. vinterberg is now back on track making films in denmark, including the impressive submarino.
nicolas winding refn is the one director that seems to have the ability to adapt himself better to all markets. his story is an interesting one. he broke out with pusher and bleeder, then went to america to make the underrated and underseen fear x. after financial troubles, he relaunched his career with pusher 2 and pusher 3, two highly successful films, then went to the u.k. to make bronson and valhalla rising. most recently he made drive in the u.s. all of these films have been well-received critically and, with the exception of fear x, have had financial success.
one of the most prominent filmmakers of the last 2 decades is ang lee. after success in taiwan, he was an unusual choice to say the least to direct an adaptation of the very british sense and sensibility. a film not in his own language or time period, you could be forgiven for thinking he might be out of his depth. however, emma thompson, the film’s writer, said that it was precisely because of this cultural difference that stopped the film being the usual british period drama, and gave it an additional dimension and took the film to a higher level. it was a financial and commercial success garnering 7 oscar nominations. he since made a number of successful films in locations, time periods and genres (brokeback mountain, the ice storm, lust, caution, etc) that wouldn’t at face value seem to be a good match for ang lee, but that he has adapted to and brought his own cultural sensibilities to the project that have added something to these films.
whether it is the project, the person or a combination of the two that makes the transition succeed or not is as difficult a question to answer as what makes a film successful.
with so many films receiving financing from multiple countries, it is important, now more than ever, to embrace cultural differences. we are working in a global industry now and i see that as a very positive development.
happy writing
phil
scriptguyphil 