Festroia's videoblog
Festroia: Festival Internacional de Cinema is Portugal's oldest and most prestigious film event. Celebrating its 24th anniversary from June 6 to 15, the Festival will present nearly 150 films from all over the world and will host an international guest list of filmmakers, distributors, programmers and journalists. The Festival is held in the picturesque seaside resort town of Setubal, about 40 killometers south of Lisbon.
Director´s Statement: Paul van den Boom
Monday, June 9------Dutch director Paul van den Boom was born in the Netherlands in 1973 and studied film and visual arts in Brussels. Since 1999, he has been living in Canada, working on many Canadian and American film and television projects. In 2004, he completed his first documentary, ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, and is presenting his newest film AMERICAN PSYCHE at Festroia.
"I wanted to meet everyday Americans, those that we don´t see on television or hear on the radio. I wanted to grasp the American psyche...the way of thinking of the true American.
A lot of Americans are open minded and willing to take a stand against their own govnerment and culture. I expected them to be more reluctant to speak to foreigners, but they were very welcoming.
One of the controversial things we talked about was racism, which is still pretty strong. White and black people still live apart in most of America and I am still not sure if Americans are quite ready to step over the color barrier and elect a black President. Maybe a win by Barack Obama can be a positive influence and change the racism scenario in a major way."
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