Cannes: Guillermo del Toro Talks Real-Life Monsters in Political-Leaning Speech
On Tuesday, Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 70th anniversary with a star-studded event attended by some of the most important personalities in the film industry, including Guillermo del Toro.
During the ceremony, the Mexican filmmaker, who is best known for his beloved fantasy-skewing films such as “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Hellboy,” spoke about the importance of such films and how sometimes “the monster may be us, not only within us, but existing inside of us.”
Del Toro explained that “monsters were born hand in hand with cinema,” adding that from the very beginning of the history of films, movies “incorporated reality and fantasy.”
The director added, “Monsters also show us that it’s possible to breathe and exist in a realm of imperfection, because yes, perfection is impossible and truly unnatural… imperfection, I think, is a perfectly attainable goal, especially for me. There is beauty and humility in imperfection.”
During his speech, the filmmaker seemed to be drawing clear parallels with the current political climate in the United States.
“So now, today, we need to draw our monsters again, to engage the ones that we live with, to find empathy again, to forgive us our imperfections, and rebel against those that tell us that it’s the other that we have to fear, that there is an us and that there is a them, that we need to reject and demonize everything that is different from our own,” he said. “It is not true.”
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