Jury duty in Zurich fuels Lee Daniels’ passion for indie cinema

“I don’t know the last time I saw so many movies! And they are all amazing, all so daring, so brave!”

You can hear the excitement in Lee Daniels’ voice. He walks between screenings in a film marathon at the Zurich Film Festival, where the Oscar-nominated director is Wonderfuland co-maker of TVs Empireis chairman of this year’s competition jury.

“I forgot what this is like,” Daniels says, referring to the international arthouse cinema scene. “For me it is a real return to my roots.”

Daniels started his film career in the indie world, as a producer at Marc Forster’s Monster ball. The powerful, disturbing look at the American prison system and the toxic legacy of institutional racism is told through the unlikely romance between a white prison guard (Billy Bob Thorton) and the black widow of a man he executed (Halle Berry in the role that would execute). win an Oscar, the first ever for a black actress in a leading role).

Daniels moved behind the camera as a director and toured indie festivals with his feature films Shadow Boxer (2005), a Toronto debut; Wonderful (2009), which premiered at Sundance and won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actress for co-star Mo’Nique, and Best Adapted Screenplay honors for Geoffrey Fletcher, the first black writer to receive the award; and 2012 The paper boywhich premiered in Cannes.

“That’s how I started, in independent film, going to film festivals,” Daniels says. “My first was Berlin with Monster ballthen Sundance, Cannes…’

Then of course Daniels got ‘into television’, through co-creation Empirehis primetime soap opera – he called it “Black.” Dynasty‘which takes place in the hip-hop industry. The show, starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, was a hit. The first season finale was watched by 17 million viewers. The film ran for six seasons, earned eight Emmy nominations and was one of Fox’s highest-rated ever. But Daniels now calls that period in his career “the absolute worst experience” because of the creative compromises he had to make in adapting his vision for primetime TV.

“TV was fun, but I started to get comfortable and think about what people wanted from me,” Daniels says. “I lost my marbles a little bit. You achieve success, but you can lose connection with what got you there: your authentic voice.”

On the big screen, Daniels has also come a long way from his gritty indie roots. After the great success of The Butlera worthy historical drama that depicts the course of recent American history and the civil rights movement from the perspective of a long-serving White House butler (played by Forest Whitaker), Daniels has the admired but somewhat conventional The United States vs. Billie Holidayand the Netflix horror film The liberation.

Leading the jury in Zurich and watching experimental indie after experimental indie has been “a revelation” and an “inspiration,” says Daniels. “You can see how movies can change culture, how many times movies have done that, some of mine have had that impact, changed the conversation on certain issues.”

ZFF’s competition program of 14 feature films is a mix of countries, languages ​​and genres, from Julien Colonna’s The kingdoman action thriller set between feuding gangsters and nationalists in Corsica; Unpleasant Mother Maraa drama by and starring Serbian actress and director Mirjana Karanovic, about an older woman who must cope with the sudden death of her son by starting a relationship with a younger man; Unpleasant About how to become a guinea fowla surreal comedy from Zambia I’m not a witch director Rungano Nyoni.

“If it were about choosing the best comedy, it would be easy” to choose a winner in Zurich, says Daniels, who, together with the rest of the ZFF jury, will announce this year’s winners on Saturday, October 12. will make. about choosing the best drama or thriller, it would be easy. But choosing the best film? We are going to have a difficult, very difficult time.”

But whoever walks away with Zurich Golden Eye for best film this year, Daniels will return home inspired.

“This has definitely changed what I want to do, the stories I want to tell,” he says. “It’s like things have come full circle. It has been like a rebirth for me.”