52 Films by Women Vol 5. 51. SIBYL (Director: Justine Triet)
What makes a person decide to become an artist? Usually, it is the kick out of showing work to others and receiving adoration in return. One can be funnelled towards writing, painting, composing or the other creative arts as a young person, but essentially the impulse to be an artist is no different from that of being an athlete. There is a high degree of narcissism and false modesty. The worst impulse is to believe that the art you create is meaningful to others and that it performs an important function. Your art can indeed be meaningful, in the sense of illuminating an issue that is little understood. It can undoubtedly give others pleasure. Whether it performs an important function is moot. A set of favourite films will tell you something about the person who chose them – about how they see themselves. ‘Important’ films, those with a strong moral imperative, are rarely on those lists because they tend to look at the darker aspects of humanity, the atrocities we are prepared t...