Raging bull Scorsese blasts US movie giants
Australian model Elle Macpherson at Cannes yesterday
Wednesday May 23 2007
LEGENDARY director Martin Scorsese yesterday spoke out against the power of giant US movie studios as he launched a campaign to salvage "lost" films.
The 'Goodfellas' director, whose hits have also included 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'Gangs of New York' and 'The Departed', said he was concerned the large US movie studios inhibited domestic film.
Scorsese (64), founded the World Cinema Foundation with film luminaries from Africa, Asia and Europe, including 'The Queen' director Stephen Frears, 'Pan's Labyrinth' filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and cult Chinese director Wong Kar Wai.
He told a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday that counteracting the power of megalithic studios was part of the inspiration for the newly launched World Cinema Foundation.
"I'm interested in diversity. I feel it feeds cultures back and forth," he said.
The World Cinema Foundation is working with specialist laboratories to restore unknown, older films that are in danger of being lost forever.
But Scorsese added: "In America, 90pc of silent films are gone. Things have changed but it's almost impossible to catch up."
