Roman Polanski, director of “The Pianist” which won the top prize at Cannes in 2002 was in attendance at a question and answer panel at this years Cannes Film Festival in a virtual swarm of other notable directors and filmmakers. He felt the questions offered were not up to the standard deserving of his attendance and he made a blunt accusatory statement and then left all on his own.
Several questions at the news conference focused on the future of cinema in the digital age. Polanski’s walkout did not seem to be a response to any single question.
When the moderator announced that journalists had just two minutes left, Polanski, 73, took the microphone.
“It’s a shame to have such poor questions, such empty questions,” Polanski said. “And I think that it’s really the computer which has brought you down to this level. You’re no longer interested in what’s going on in the cinema.
“Frankly, let’s all go and have lunch,” he suggested, before walking out.
None of the other directors followed.
He seems to think that the computer “bringing them down to this level” is clearly a bad thing, but interestingly enough it is the computer that is generating the free publicity that keeps him and guys like him in business.
So it looks like Polanski hates the Movie Blog and the Internet.
(I came to this conclusion after a number of logic steps not illustrated here and is my derriviative of his statement. Polanski can call me if he has a problem with it.)
