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| Jennifer Lawrence with her Donostia Award Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Inaki Luis |
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence spoke out on politics and Gaza ahead of receiving her lifetime achievement Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival yesterday.
Lawrence, whose latest film Die My Love screened at the festival told a press conference: "It's no less than a genocide and it's unacceptable." She added: "I'm terrified for my children, for all our children."
The moderator had attempted to steer away from questions outside of the film, going so far as to shut one journalist down, but the star was willing to engage with the question towards the end of the press conference.
Turning her attention to the domestic situation in the US, she added: “On top of everything else what makes me so sad is that the disrespect in the discourse and American politics right now is going to be normal for them – I mean, the kids who are voting right now at 18, – it's going to be totally normal to them that politics has no integrity, politicians lie, there's no empathy. Everybody needs to remember that when you ignore what's happening on one side of the world, it won’t be long before it’s happening on your side as well.
“I wish that there was something I could say, something that I could do to fix this extremely complex and disgraceful situation. It breaks my heart. But the reality is, our fear in speaking too much or answering too many of these questions is that my words will just be used to add more fire and rhetoric to something that is in the hands of our elected officials.”
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| Jennifer Lawrence in the Kursaal Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Ulises Proust |
She added: “I just want people to stay focused on who is responsible and the things that they can do and when they need to show up and vote, and not let the actors and the artists who are trying to express freedom of art, freedom of speech take the heat for the individuals that are actually responsible.”
Earlier in the press conference, as she talked about Die My Love, she had also noted that ¨freedom of speech and freedom of expression is under attack”.
In terms of the film itself, which shows new mother Grace (Lawrence) as her mental health and relationship with her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) start to spiral out of control, she said her work with Ramsay was “very conversational and emotionally led”.
She added that “there was a lot I identified with in terms of the kind of identity crisis you have when you first become a mother because everything changes”.
Later, as she received the award and thanked the festival at the city’s Kursaal, she noted how special it was to be “at a festival where people genuinely love cinema – the storytelling art and the soul of the movies”. She received the award from Society Of The Snow director JA Bayona, who is the president of this year’s main competition jury.
She saidÑ “When I think about the artists who have received this honour before me – like the incomparable Meryl Streep, the legendary Pedro Almodovar, and the iconic Lauren Bacal – I feel so incredibly fortunate and frankly awestruck. To be counted among artists whose contributions and bold choices have shaped cinema and inspired me personally and creatively my entire life, it’s almost impossible to wrap my head around it. It’s incredibly special. Thank you.”
Die My Love will be released by MUBI in the UK on November 14.
