I See the Light!

Today, my class had the honor of listening to Mr. Paul Cox speak. He is good friends with Dr. Kohn and Roger Ebert. He lives in Australia, and he his wonderful. He spoke of religion, politics, beauty, war, news, truth, and film making. Everything he said I loved. He managed to voice what I have always wanted to say so eloquently. Some people might think he was spitting out liberal BS, but I thought his overall message was brilliant. I wrote down some of the things he said. Jenn Smith (the other teacher) is getting a copy of his little speech, so I might be able to post it later. It was long, but excellent.

On movies today:
"There's a lot of shit out there."
"Being a film maker means you have a lot of responsibility."
"Invent, don't imitate."

On the news:
"Nothing is the truth in the news."
"Investigate everything."

On art/society:
"As aspiring artists, you have to be anarchists."
"We never learn from history."
"We have hideous people as our role models."
"Our identity has become the identity of the hopeless."
"We are a spoiled race."
"Lose all fear. Don't compromise."
"Follow your instincts and your heart."
"The history of Man is the history of madness."
"Art is a mixture of vision and kindness."
"Modern society has betrayed humanity."
He hates canned laughter on sitcoms b/c we are told when to laugh.
He is not a "professional" film maker. It is his hobby. Anyone who says they are a professional is full of crap.

On religion:
"Professional believers created the concept of 'God.'"
He spoke of a religious woman on TV who said: "God wanted me to have a facelift." It became his inspiration for his film Salvation.

He thinks Cannes is the whore of film festivals. I have slowly come to realize this.

These few quotations cannot do justice to what he said. I really hope to get his speech. It made me cry several times. It helped restore my faith that I lost last night. It was just what I needed. He spoke of how terrible the Grand Prix is. People race around in circles and waste so many resources--and for what? He spoke of anarchy. That we must shake the foundation to change the way the business works. I wanted to hug him. I just learned he is dying of liver cancer from Sophie, Dr. Kohn's daughter. She said he is like an uncle to her. The world needs more people like him, and it's a shame that he has to leave it too soon.

Now. I must write my reviews.