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Writing about Andrzej Wajda’s Walesa, Man of Hope in this week’s issue, J.R. Jones posits that “in this era of worldwide video communication, the idea of national cinema has begun to lose its meaning.” I wouldn’t disagree, though I’d add that one can still detect a clear national sensibility in the recent cinematic output of Mexico, Uruguay, and South Korea. I’d also contend that some of the more invigorating movies being made anywhere today are the ones that engage with the notion of contemporary statelessness that Jones identifies. The Dialogue of Cultures International Film Festival—viewable for free at Mubi.com through November 14—collects about two dozen recent movies that address “the worldwide phenomenon of people in search of their identity in the era of mass migration and globalization.” You can detect the optimism of this project in its title, which implies community rather than alienation.
On the other hand, the heroine of Old Is the New (2012) is a regular go-getter. A representative of China’s national tourism office, Jessye visits a sleepy town in southern Italy to evaluate its potential as a Chinese travel destination. The locals, sensing a chance for economic growth, welcome her with open arms. Yet in their push to modernize the town, they threaten to pave over its historic charm. Slighter than She, A Chinese in terms of character, the film is more interested in economics and the avenues of cultural exchange. Tellingly, writer-directors Mirko and Dario Bischofberger are Swiss brothers of Italian descent, and in Salento, the town in which the movie takes place, people still speak a near-extinct Italian dialect that derived from Greek.
