Filmmaker, scriptwriter, actor and musician born in Akron, Ohio, Jim Jarmusch is the
supreme and ultimate representative of “American independent films”. The unique
quality of his films comes from the elegant and perfect alchemy between what he takes
from the “classical” and “modern”, from a past and a present (from cinema, literature,
music and culture in general), of America (seen by Jarmusch with the eyes of a
foreigner, “a benign, fascinated foreigner” as said by Tom Waits) and of the world.
Following an extremely rich period in terms of training - he studied literature, became
part of the alternative culture movement of the 1970’s “downtown” New York
(especially in its seminal musical scene) and developed a comprehensive cinematic
culture (became passionate about cinema at the Henri Langlois’ Cinémathèque
Française, was a student of the Hollywood director Laslo Benedek at the Tisch School
of the Arts in New York, and was Nicholas Ray’s assistant in Lightning Over Water by
Wim Wenders) – Jim Jarmusch built a unique film universe, absorbing and crossing
references, methods and genres (road movies, westerns or even vampire films used
mainly as hues), imprinting a poetical and musical breeze on his films (and using the
golden rule “less is more”).
From the semi-autobiographical Permanent Vacation (1980) and one of the most
striking and influential works ever, Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Caméra d’Or winner
at Cannes), going from those unforgettable trip-films such as Dead Man (1995) and
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), to the two 2016 films, Paterson and Gimme Danger
(documentary on rock’n’roll proto-punk by Iggy Pop and his Stooges), the time and the
rhythm of Jarmusch’s cinema are those of blues and jazz. His films are made of silences
and small details, of scattered narratives, of melancholic atmospheres and, above all, of
very tender love and humour of characters caught at transitional periods (physical,
emotional or mental) in their lives.
The authenticity and independence of Jim Jarmusch’s artistic attitude mark a path of 36
years and remain unscathed. The director will be one of the guests at the Lisbon &
Estoril Film Festival where he will present his most recent films, Gimme Danger and
Paterson.
