Thirty-four legendary directors share their intimate, cinematic love letters in one anthology film.
In short: To celebrate six decades of the Cannes Film Festival, thirty-six world-renowned filmmakers were tasked with capturing their personal relationship with the movie theatre. The resulting anthology, composed of thirty-four distinct three-minute shorts, offers a global, kaleidoscopic perspective on the magic, nostalgia, and occasional absurdity of the big screen experience.
Released in 2007, the project brought together a diverse group of creators from twenty-five countries across five continents. Each director was invited to interpret the prompt through the lens of their own state of mind, resulting in a collection that ranges from poignant memories of childhood wonder to cynical reflections on the decline of traditional filmgoing. The shorts explore a variety of human behaviors within the dark confines of a theatre, including romance, theft, and the simple, transporting power of a projected image.
The anthology features a wide array of narrative styles and thematic concerns. Some directors, such as Andrei Konchalovsky and Nanni Moretti, focus on the act of watching itself, while others like David Cronenberg and Lars von Trier offer more provocative, surreal, or violent takes on the medium. The shorts touch upon historical contexts, such as Hou Hsiao-hsien’s depiction of a 1940s Taiwanese theatre and Amos Gitai’s look at movie houses in 1930s Poland, alongside contemporary observations of festival culture and global cinema consumption.
The film’s production was marked by unique logistical challenges. David Lynch’s contribution, titled Absurda, was not completed in time for the premiere and was instead screened separately during the festival's opening night. Furthermore, the home media releases have been inconsistent; both the StudioCanal and Pyramide Distribution DVD versions are missing specific segments, such as the Coen brothers' World Cinema, which is excluded from both editions. This anthology remains a singular experiment in collective storytelling, serving as a permanent record of how some of the world's most acclaimed artists view the institution of cinema.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: To Each His Own Cinema
- Also: Wikidata — To Each His Own Cinema · CC0
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