The Radical Power of Gentle Cinema

Abstract

Film Quarterly contributing editor Manuel Betancourt’s experience serving on the jury for the Ibero-American program at the Palm Springs International Film Festival prompts him to consider how films labeled “small” or “quiet” don’t tend to win prizes and how this bias is gendered, reflecting the lack of value accorded to domestic, everyday life. Citing the recent ascendance of Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles to the top of Sight and Sound’s annual poll as a sign this bias may be weakening, he discusses a number of festival favorites—including the Venezuelan director Patricia Ortega’s MAMACRUZ and the Brazilian film Mars One—that elevate gentleness. In an era where big-screen spectacle depends on overstimulation, Betancourt argues for the wonder and joy to be found in a gentler, kinder cinema.