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Power of Cinema : Iñárritu after watching Wong Kar-wai

 Alejandro González Iñárritu:


"I went for the first time to the Cannes Film Festival to present "Amores Perros (2000). Actually, it was the first time ever I attended a film festival in my life. Our budget was so scarce that we decided to stay at a town 25 minutes outside Cannes since the rooms were much less expensive.


One day, I was invited to a photo call with all the other directors just before a 7 p.m. screening of the new Wong Kar-wai film "In the Mood for Love." Maria, my wife, and I thought that taking a taxi at 6:15 would be safe enough to get us to there just in time. We had no idea that taxis were overbooked, and even though we were dressed in a tuxedo and a long dress with high heels, we had no other choice than to run. It was [95 degrees] outside, and cars [were] stopped in traffic. As we ran, my wife took off her shoes. I took off my jacket, then my bow tie, then one, two, three buttons.

We arrived at 7:01 p.m. I put my jacket on. I felt the sweat running through my whole body. Smile! Flash! Click! Flash! Cheeeese! For a filmmaker, the experience of entering that legendary [Palais Des Festivals] with 2,000 seats is similar to that of a Catholic boy going into the Vatican. [From] all the way in the back, we watched "In the Mood for Love" on a screen 40 times bigger than us. Maria and I walked in complete silence for almost 10 minutes [afterward). We suddenly stopped by the sea. Maria hugged me and started crying inconsolably on my shoulder. And I did the same on hers. "In the Mood for Love" had left us speechless and deeply moved. It was that moment that reminded me why, even when it's so stupidly difficult sometimes, I wanted to become a filmmaker."




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