Guillermo del Toro rereleases “Pan’s Labyrinth” in Cannes with powerful speech
The Mexican filmmaker celebrated the 20th anniversary of his work with a 4K screening, preceded by a message about art and fear
Surrounded by applause and ovations, this is how filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returned to the Cannes Festival during the special screening of his film “Pan’s Labyrinth”, within the framework of the 20th anniversary of its release.
In a special event that gathered great stars of the seventh art, called “Cannes Classics”, the Mexican director presented the 4K restoration of the production that featured in the 2006 official competition. P
Prior to the screening, Guillermo del Toro took the microphone to share a raw look at the process of making said project cto. According to the Oscar winner, this was full of obstacles from its early stages, since nobody wanted to finance it.
"Twenty years ago, making this movie was like going against the current at every time" Guillermo del Toro – Director
However, this bad taste in the mouth was not limited to the pre-production process; and he ended up qualifying their filming as “the second-worst cinematic experience”, just behind “Mimic”, in collaboration with the Weinstein brothers.
Regarding the 20 minute ovation that “Pan’s Labyrinth” received during its premiere in Cannes around 2006, Del Toro recalled: “Although you cannot change history, it is always possible to transform it a little through art and hope,” he stressed.
The director's reflection also addressed the current context existing within the audiovisual world, as well as the pressures that its creators face.
“They tell us that you can make art with a damn app, and we are faced with such formidable things... But I feel and think, like the girl Ofelia in 'The Labyrinth of l faun', that if only we could leave a mark, if we could face our faith against our faith and our strength against our strength, there is hope,” he assured.
The famous ended forcefully: “The last thing we can do is surrender to one of the two forces: we can surrender to love or we can surrender to fear. Never, never, let's never surrender to fear.”
The homage to Guillermo del Toro and his work “Pan’s Labyrinth” coincided with the opening of the contest, which also recognised director Peter Jackson with an honorary Palme d.or this May 12th.