Interview: Radu Jude

Eduardo Simantob and I interviewed Radu Jude at @FilmFestLocarno. Having the DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD director show us his TikTok feed ranks high on my list of favourite interviewing moments. Read the full convo on @swissinfo_en: https://t.co/eaOX4tk1l2

— Alan Mattli (@AlanMattli) August 16, 2023

In your latest film, you also describe how the 20th century echoes the 21st century, drawing an arc from the capitalistic dimension of the Lumière brothers’ films all the way to TikTok.

Radu Jude: That’s true on the one hand. But this so-called primitive cinema of TikTok – despite all the problems with social networks, despite the toxic discourse, despite all the fascist propaganda, despite all the kinds of propaganda you can find – also means that anyone can make a film now. I just have to open TikTok… [takes out his phone and opens TikTok] …and I see that it’s a lot of different things all at once. These are things that people did in early cinema too. Just look at this girl. [A video clip of a young woman dancing] Why don’t I see her in a movie?

Full interview available on swissinfo