Todd Haynes Worries Film Financiers Won’t ‘Take Risks’ and ‘Support Strong Voices’ Under Trump

Berlin Film Festival Jury President Todd Haynes recently opened the annual celebration Thursday, February 13 with an ominous warning about the current Trump administration.

“We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the United States, but also globally,” he said (as per Variety).

Considering the barrage of executive actions being handed down by Trump, Haynes believes the concern over how this “will affect filming is a real question hanging over all American filmmakers.”

“Always with filmmaking in particular, the financing question is complicated,” Haynes said. “So it’s also about the kind of financiers who are willing to take risks and willing to support strong voices. And I think that exists, but again, it takes examples and positive outcomes to fortify those kinds of risks that people may want to take.”

He added later, “Every film that is not part of a franchise, piece of content, or a Marvel film, or a major studio film, people are figuring out different forms of financing and different ways of speaking out.”

However, Haynes isn’t just worried over the “world of filmmaking,” but the mere ability to “maintain your own integrity and point of view and speak out” under a regime that retaliates against you for doing so.

“How we proceed toward coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and are still being figured out among Democrats,” said Haynes. “I have no doubt that there will be many people who did in fact vote for this president who will be quickly disillusioned by promises he made about economic stability in the U.S.”

The jury president also pointed out that it’s during these times when cinema can be used as a tool of resistance. He’s had personal experience with this having started his career amidst the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s.

“As somebody in their 20s who was surrounded by this kind of public health catastrophe, watching every other person you know die of this incredibly aggressive illness, it produced that kind of political efficacy and a creative component where filmmakers responded to what was happening in all kinds of different ways,” Haynes said. “But it produced what was termed, at the time, the new queer cinema, and I was very proud of being part of that mantle of filmmaker because the films were not just challenging the system in content, they were also challenging traditional forms of storytelling in style and form.”

The 75th Berlinale runs from February 13 to February 23, with the European Film Market also being held there during this time, from February 13 to February 19. Haynes leads a jury comprised of Nabil Ayouch, Fan Bingbing, Maria Schrader, Bina Daigeler, Rodrigo Moreno, and Amy Nicholson.