Oliver Stone in Zurich
The Zurich Film Festival is looking forward to welcoming one of the most established directors of film history to Zurich, a director who has not only reflected upon and portrayed the political domain, but has also significantlyinfluenced it through his work and the resulting discussions it generated. His films provoke and unsettle. He is considered a luminary of controversial themes and political provocation: The three-times Oscar winner and cult director Oliver Stone became known as the “Great discomforter of US cinema”(der Spiegel) with films such as Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers and World Trade Center. We present the most famous of Stone’s films in which he critically examines and questions American society. The director will be in Zurich to accept the “Golden Eye” at the Awards Ceremony on October 6, 2007.
„Every one of mine is a war film“ Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone understands his films about the Vietnam War as a treatment of his own experiences, his work as a
whole can be perceived as a personal dialogue with political and social themes, contemporary history and war. All
too often reduced to his films on the Vietnam War in the public sphere, Stone sees his complete work as a
preoccupation with the personal war of man and his war with society, with political lies and himself. It is so that
his personal war experiences have condensed in such differing productions as Platoon (1986) or Born on the
Fourth of July (1989), which still belong undisputedly to the most striking works about the Vietnam War, JFK
(1991), which led to a public discussion at the American Congress about the changing of a law, or Natural Born
Killers (1994), which confronted the glorification of violence and dangerous criminals. All of these works
combined reflect Stone’s wish to portray the great personal and political battles of mankind and serve to convey
his search for immediacy and truth: “I feel very strongly that we as filmmakers and artists have a really important
position in the frontlines of war – to keep the expression honest, to say things that cannot be said or won’t be said.”
With Nixon (1995), Stone accomplished another impressive and timeless political drama, which demonstrated his
search for political and artistic truth: “Nixon’s words were lies, we knew it. Now with Bush’s lies – and with all the
lobbying that is going on, all the PR effort that goes on to promote the lie – it becomes far more difficult to have
words that mean anything.”
In 2004, following a creative break of several years, Oliver Stone applied himself to his biggest and most laborious
project to date, one that once again placed the spotlight on his inquiry into human heroism. With Alexander, he
brought the life of the conqueror Alexander the Great to the big screen. In addition to Colin Farrell in the leading
role, other top-class actors and actresses like Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer and Anthony Hopkins also appeared in
this historical epic.
In 2006 Oliver Stone endeavoured to create a film adaptation of the September 11 terror attacks. With World
Trade Center, he resurrected the not yet forgotten images of horror to create a piece of heroic patriotism.
The Zurich Film Festival is delighted to welcome one of the most important and interesting filmmakers of political
film to Zurich.
Quote from: Interview with Oliver Stone, conducted by Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri on August 1, 2007 in Los Angeles.
