So, your film is above all a reflection on the destiny of a national culture?

Absolutely. The crime narrative was just a pretext. Besides, The Mummy is a film that I felt, and therefore constructed, on various levels.

Het bewustzijn van de programmamakers en vooral van de televisiekritiek over het medium waarmee ze te maken hebben, is nog erg gering. Televisie maakt blindelings gebruik van wat cinema, theater, politiek en andere media produceren. Wat televisie zou kunnen zijn? Niemand staat meer weigerachtig tegenover deze vraag dan de televisie. Zelf onproductief maakt de televisie zich enkel meester van de filmgeschiedenis om haar te benutten en er worsten van te draaien.

Toutes les scènes partent de réalités. On n’invente pas le racisme, surtout au cinéma. On ne l’invente pas. Ce sont des choses bien précises que vous subissez et que vous enveloppent. C’est une espèce de manteau qu’on vous met dessus et avec lequel vous êtes obligé de vivre. Toutes les scènes un peu anecdotiques, même celles qui sont poussées à l’extrême, partent d’une expérience vécue.

Film is fundamentally the choice of a viewpoint in space, toward that space. Film is recording and therefore fundamentally contemporary (one cannot record that which is gone, the past). The spectator always watches contemporary images (even when they have aged, they remain contemporary through their model). This disposition sees to it that those who love films become ‘contemporary’ with every film.

The underdeveloped country that does not have a strong or madly national art is to be pitied, because, without its art, it’s all the weaker (its brain can be colonized), and it’s here that the most dangerous extension of economic colonization can be found. In the specific case of cinema, I want to let my colleagues know that they should endure the criticism, the slander and the contempt without wavering, because I am absolutely convinced that Brazilian Cinema Novo is currently producing images and sounds that are what we can call modern cinema.

Film is fundamentally the choice of a viewpoint in space, toward that space. Film is recording and therefore fundamentally contemporary (one cannot record that which is gone, the past). The spectator always watches contemporary images (even when they have aged, they remain contemporary through their model). This disposition sees to it that those who love films become ‘contemporary’ with every film.

Film is fundamentally the choice of a viewpoint in space, toward that space. Film is recording and therefore fundamentally contemporary (one cannot record that which is gone, the past). The spectator always watches contemporary images (even when they have aged, they remain contemporary through their model). This disposition sees to it that those who love films become ‘contemporary’ with every film.