Cinema for me is…

Esther in 11 frames

1. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Actually, I had several moments of rediscovery. As a child, I loved the fantastic worlds of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (FR, 1997) and Paul Grimaud’s Le Roi et l’Oiseau (FR, 1980). As a teenager, it was Wim Wender’s Pina (DE, 2011) or Michel Gondry’s L’écume des jours (FR, 2013). At university, I fell in love with Emir Kusturica’s Black Cat, White Cat (EU, 1997), A Woman Under Influence (US, 1975) by John Cassavetes, and La lettre inachevée (SU, 1960) by Mikhail Kalatozov. And of course, Teorema (IT, 1968) by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

3. What does Europe mean to you?
High standards and large offers for the consumer, efficiency of the judicial system, its protection rules, and quality of life.

4. In 2024, I think it is important to vote in the European elections because:
Representing a greater number of people might help to outweigh the risks of an international society composed of many nationalities becoming more nationalist and close-minded. The MEPs do a great job at preserving the manifold opportunities and stimulating environment of the EU. The legislation developed in common with the Council and the Commission will guarantee a limitation of Chat GPT and other upcoming IA technologies. Stop thinking individually, facing the big countries that surround us, Europe has to be one.

5. What do you like the most about your country that makes it unique? 
The steel industry made our wealth, but the steel crisis in the 1970s left the country in an uncertain situation. It was the European Community that brought the opportunity of our later success story as center of finance and satellites. That’s what the nationals always keep in mind: know where you come from, and know that wealth is only a state of being. I appreciate the international openness, which is for me the central idea of growth. 

6. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it? 
Le Cinéma La Clef in Paris. We would watch films after uni and sometimes even at 6 o’clock in the morning, they had free coffee and organized discussion sessions. When it was about to be sold in 2020, the cinema was occupied, and I followed the judicial procedure in court. It was a place out of time where I met wonderful people and saw incredible films. 

7.  What is your dream job in the film industry?
Actress.

8. Which film director would you like to be? 
Many directors matter to me; I couldn’t choose one in particular. A combination of Margarethe von Trotta (Hannah Arendt, Rosa Luxemburg, …), Otar Iosselani (Chant d’hiver, Lundi matin, ..) and Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables,…).

9. Which film character do you most identify with? 
After having seen a film, I couldn’t say where I stopped and where the character began. I would love to be Cate Blanchett in Tàr (Todd Field, US, 2022), or Willem Dafoe in Bob Wilson’s The Life and Death of Marina Abramovitch (Giada Colagrande, GB, 2012), in the documentary version of the play. Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, US, 1975) and Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (Lowell Sherman, US, 1933) on the side of Cary Grant.

10. Your favorite soundtrack or song? 
Don’t Tear me up by Mick Jagger.

11. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be? 
The 5th Element. Leeloo traveling through time and space. And then the monk (Ian Holm) opens the big wooden door of the church, and the cars stop flying. 

Esther Gaspart is the Ambassador of Ciné Utopia. Find out more about the cinema here.