Klaus Eder

KLAUS EDER

Fipresci

Cinema Is Better Than Life "Cinema Is Better Than Life". It is elucidating, and it is a pleasure to read Emilio García Riera's writing on cinema. The wonderful critic and historian helped us, with his big knowledge and his overwhelming passion, to learn more about cinema and to better understand it. Isn't this the role of critics?: Not to put thumbs up or down, but to sift out the aesthetic specifities and qualities of films – on the background of film history and by considering other films made by the same director? In spite of a general degeneration of film journalism to a sort of popular writing on mainstream & stars & glamour, the Riera-type of film critic did not vanish. Only, the publishing space for criticism vanished, in particular in the printed press. The Thinking Eye offers this space. It follows the idea that it is not enough to see, to consume a movie, but that cinema needs to be discussed and that to read about it enriches and completes the filmic experience. This is particularly true and essential in the case of Latin-American cinema which during the last few years has passed through astonishing changes and has given birth to a new and young generation of filmmakers. To make their films better known, to discuss their conceptions of cinema, to analyze their views on reality is the purpose and aim of The Thinking Eye, as well as to sep the memory of Latin American cinema's great past alive. Not to forget: the role of cinema in our times (of war) needs to be redefined. Welcome to The Thinking Eye which we wish to become an essential part of Latin American cinema culture.