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Masterclass

Cinema is never Innocent: Pablo Larraín

 

The third day of the 30th IFFK was marked by critical reflection and intellectual intensity as acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín delivered a compelling lecture at the Masterclass session at the Nila Theatre. The session offered a rigorous examination of cinema’s ethical responsibility, artistic intent, and its enduring power to shape collective memory.

Larraín, a leading figure in contemporary world cinema, is known for films such as Jackie, Spencer, El Conde, and No—the first Chilean film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Speaking with striking honesty, he reflected on failure as an essential teacher in his creative journey. Early setbacks, he noted, taught him the importance of protecting and understanding characters, insisting that they must be approached with clarity, care, and empathy.

According to Larraín, characters function as mirrors through which audiences recognise themselves. When that mirror is distorted, empathy dissolves. He strongly criticised formulaic storytelling, particularly narratives that degrade characters only to later redeem them, describing such approaches as intellectually dishonest and creatively complacent.

Addressing the process of learning cinema, Larraín observed that while film schools can provide guidance, they cannot impart the core sensibility required for filmmaking. True understanding, he argued, emerges from a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and literature, combined with sustained viewing and the lived experience of making films. Technique may be taught, but sensibility, he emphasised, must be cultivated.

Politics, for Larraín, is inescapable. Every film, regardless of its scale or genre, conveys a vision of society and is therefore inherently political. He described cinema as a powerful illusion—one that demands honesty, precision of perspective, and moral courage.

The masterclass concluded as a call to resist complacency. Larraín urged filmmakers to embrace complexity, confront political realities, and trust their audiences, reaffirming his belief that cinema’s true strength lies not in comfort or appeasement, but in intellectual and emotional integrity.