Richard Linklater isn't too worried about Trump's movie tariffs

Linklater also lauded his French hosts for “taking care” of their own film industry. “They make sure it’s healthy and they nurture it and they help it. The government, everyone is all in,” he opined. “From production to distribution, they care. And our country, the U.S., could use a little bit of that.” Nouvelle Vague, Linklater’s first project shot entirely in French, also pays tribute to France’s industry. The film, which also stars Guillaume Marbeck and Aubry Dullin, recounts the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, which originally premiered in 1960.

This is far from the first mention of Trump to color this year’s festival. Robert De Niro also used his opening ceremony speech as a powerful call to action against “America’s philistine president,” in which he told “everyone who cares about liberty to organize… to protest, and when there are elections, vote.” 

Despite all the threats, however, Linklater is feeling good about the future. “Cinema is optimistic—it has to be,” he said. “It always feels under attack, you know? I’ve had movies out for over 30 years now and it’s always, ‘Things are terrible, it’s tough.’ And it is tough, it’s a struggle—but it always has been.”

“There’s new threats, but there’s something perpetual,” he continued. “We like stories told to us, we like the format of feature films. There’s more films than ever being made, indie films, it’s just harder to get them seen. But we adapt.”