"Soft/Quiet" Director Beth de Araujo What are the problems caused by the decline of education? [Director's Interview Vol.314]

America lacks proper education

Q: What was the reaction from American audiences?

Araujo: The reactions seem to be polarized: people who feel uncomfortable and ask themselves, "Why?" and people who feel uncomfortable and run away.

Q: How do people who share the same beliefs as the main character Emily react to this film?

Araujo: I don't use social media, so I don't know how people react, but I did get a comment from a white woman saying, "You're a racist." Those kinds of people interpret the story in their own way, so I'm not interested in that.

“Soft/Quiet” © 2022 BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Q: There have been many attempts to use entertainment to highlight social issues in the world, but the problems have not improved. In fact, the situation has gotten worse. Why do you think humanity keeps repeating the same mistakes?

Araujo: I think about this issue every day. In the case of the United States, more than 400,000 men died in the Civil War*, and the lack of soldiers led to the war ending without any resistance. In other words, the war did not end when the Confederate Army agreed to abolish slavery. White women who remained in the South continued to pass on the idea of ​​discrimination against blacks to boys who were too young to go to war. This has continued into the America of today.

It is very unhealthy to not provide a proper education, and in today's America, the amount of public money used for education is decreasing year by year, and the number of people without basic education is increasing. They cannot develop the ability to think for themselves, and they do not know The Truth of history. If there was an opportunity to learn about past mistakes, this discrimination would not continue. But unfortunately, that is not the case. Also, even if you distort the facts and publicly declare that the Holocaust did not exist, it is not illegal in America. There is a lot that needs to be done in terms of the law as well.

*) There are various estimates of the number of deaths in the Civil War, ranging from 500,000 to 600,000.

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Directed and written by: Beth de Araújo

Born in San Francisco. He received his BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley and his MFA from the American Film Institute. After making several short films, he made his feature debut with this film, which premiered at SXSW2023 and was nominated for a special jury award, receiving high praise. It has been particularly well-received by critics. He was selected as one of the "25 New Faces in Independent Film" by Filmmaker magazine in 2017. His mother is Chinese-American and his father is from Brazil. He holds dual Brazilian and American citizenship. He is currently preparing his new film Josephine, starring Gemma Chan, who appeared in Don't Worry Darling(22) and Eternals(21).

Interview and text: Fumio Koda

Editorial staff and writer for CINEMORE. My favorite movies are ``The Goonies'' and ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'' My recent favorites are 4K digitally remastered classics by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

"Soft/Quiet"

Friday, May 19th: Human Trust Cinema Shibuya, Shinjuku Musashinokan and other theaters nationwide

Distribution: Albatross Film

© 2022 BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS, LLC. All Rights Reserved.