On the occasion of the 60-year anniversary of the French film review Positif, the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival presented a special screening of Jacques Tati’s classic film Playtime. The screening took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at the Pavlos Zannas Theater.
Mr. Eric Derobert, film critic for Positif, addressed the audience before the screening. He noted that the magazine was born in 1952 and for the six decades of its life it has embraced all kinds of films, from the films of Theo Angelopoulos to spaghetti westerns and from Italian comedies to the American cinema of the ‘70s. “We could have chosen many other worthy films, but we believe that the films of Tati are some of the most important of the second half of the 20th century”, Mr. Derobert stated. He also pointed out that aside from being an important director, Jacques Tati was also a screenwriter and producer. Playtime is the last film of the director’s trilogy on modernism. The Big Day preceded it in 1948, made just after WWII, and it was followed by Mon Oncle in 1948. In all three films, Tati ridicules modernism in one way or another. Playtime especially deals with the world of globalization. “At that time we found the film funny, but we are no longer laughing because we are living what he described”, Mr. Derobert said.
Playtime is part of the Open Horizons Special Screenings section financed along with other 53rd Festival activities, by the European Union – European Regional Development Fund, part of Central Macedonia IMA 2007 – 2013.
