The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

Vater und Onkel waren bekannte britische Filmregisseure, das Metier war ihm also in die Wiege gelegt: Jeremy Thomas zählt zu den bedeutendsten Produzenten des internationalen Kunstkinos; unter anderem erhielt er 1987 für Bernardo Bertoluccis THE LAST EMPEROR einen Oscar. Cousins hat 2019 Thomas auf dessen alljährlicher Autofahrt nach Cannes und während des dortigen Festivals mit der Kamera begleitet, ihn dabei mit seinen Filminterpretationen gelöchert und zu Themen wie Autos, Sex und Tod befragt. Durchaus schlüssig – schließlich hat Thomas auch David Cronenbergs CRASH produziert. Fazit: Man kann im Kino niemals weit genug gehen. (Lars Penning)

In Anwesenheit von Jeremy Thomas.

Movie prince, enabler, pirate, freak: these are just a few of the attributes given to Jeremy Thomas (Viennale Tribute, 2011) by his collaborators. In this documentary, Mark Cousins embarks on an inquisitive road trip with the man himself, producer of daring films by Bertolucci, Cissé, Miike and Roeg, moving from Thomas’ home in England to his spiritual Ithaca – Cannes – and weaving a web made up of cinephile references and Thomas’ biography. At the beginning of the film, Cousins muses about their first meeting in Cannes. Thomas and Cousins are sitting in the open air when a storm takes over the festive occasion. While other guests frantically move inside to seek shelter, Thomas and Cousins remain, the former expressing his fascination for the resultant downpour: “Isn’t this wonderful”? Such tempestuousness is Thomas’ lifeblood, as the wayward Englishman cherishes transgression and regards counterculture as an electrifying state of mind. Thomas is always on the move, just like the workings of his mind, while the film references his life with work and work with life. This motto reveals itself no better than in a Q&A scene where Cousins ping-pongs with Thomas’ rapid-fire suggestions: to live is to do. (Marius Hrdy)

In the presence of Jeremy Thomas.

Jeremy Thomas: CINEMA IRAN (2005), THE NEW TEN COMMANDMENTS (2008), THE FIRST MOVIE (2009), THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY (2011, TV-Serie), WHAT IS THIS FILM CALLED LOVE? (2012), 6 DESIRES: DH LAWRENCE AND SARDINIA (2014), I AM BELFAST (2015), ATOMIC: LIVING IN DREAD AND PROMISE (2015), STOCKHOLM, MY LOVE (2016), THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES (2018), WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA (2018), STORM IN MY HEART (2019), THE STORY OF LOOKING (2021), THE STORY OF FILM: A NEW GENERATION 2021)