Star producer zooms in on Hollywood

Film producer Arthur Cohn with a DVD collection of his movies. Keystone

The Swiss-born film producer, Arthur Cohn, has enjoyed an award-studded cinematic career spanning more than four decades.

He has a record six Oscars under his belt and is the only foreign producer to have a star on the celebrated “Walk of Fame”.

His prize-winning back catalogue includes “Black and White in Colour”, a story criticising war in the Ivory Coast, and “Central Station”, which looks at the poverty-stricken lives of those living in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cohn is an established Hollywood personality and international film industry legend.

As the Oscars celebrated their 75th birthday, he told swissinfo where the future lay for the foreign film industry and revealed his recipe for an award-winning film.

swissinfo: Looking back at your career in the film business, do you think that the criteria for picking the winning films has changed in that time?

Arthur Cohn: I believe every year has wonderful films and less significant films… I don’t think that has changed. I would say that the overall quality many years ago in the true glory days of Hollywood’s was better.

But there is something else which has crept up, which is very disquieting. About 20 years ago, 15 years ago, ten years ago, you had a real, ardent feeling that the best film would win and there was a competition for quality. But now the expenditure on advertising for the Oscars has reached gigantic proportions and this gigantic amount of publicity could – hopefully not – cause voters to vote for the film which gives the most publicity.

I always felt and continue to feel that the only criteria in the vote should be the quality of the film, and whether it is meaningful and memorable. I am proud to say that for my films that won Oscars, I didn’t do any publicity whatsoever and yet I won. I can only hope that the integrity will remain as it was years ago.

What about non-Hollywood films? Do they now stand more of chance of winning than they did before?

I don’t think so. For the best foreign film, the competition at the Oscars is enormous: you are fighting between 50 and 55 films for a slot in the last five nominated films.

I believe that [the panel] choose the film based on the quality and nothing else. So the nomination process is very democratic and one always has a feeling that there is a serious endeavour by the academy to further films that are not known, in order to make them known worldwide.

I think the best that can happen to a foreign film if it is nominated or especially if it wins is distribution all over the world which otherwise would not be available. Out of my six Oscar wins, I had four films which had no distributor anywhere. Yet they won and after they won I got distributors all over the world.

If you were a judge on the jury panel for the Oscars, what criteria, or what qualities in a film would you be looking for?

I would say that for the best film of the year [I would look] not only at the quality but also how it will be viewed in years to come; whether it was really a milestone like the earlier famous Hollywood productions, which had so much effect and which are still not forgotten today because they were truly exquisite pieces of art.

How often do you get approached by Swiss scriptwriters, and how much of an interest do you take in the Swiss film industry?

Well, last year I got about 370-380 scripts, but to be honest with you only maybe ten were worth consideration. I have learned that it is easier for me to develop ideas of my own or buy books and adapt them. It is very, very rare that one comes across a written script which is satisfactory.

On the other hand, as far as the Swiss industry is concerned, unfortunately [it] is concentrated in my opinion too much on the local market. Because it is difficult to finance films, the Swiss producers often restrict themselves to make a combination with German television and with French television, and take it from there. This way they restrict themselves to having a product that is of interest locally but not internationally.

swissinfo-interview: Vanessa Mock

In brief

Born in Basel, Switzerland, Cohn studied international law and was a journalist and author before turning to producing.

Cohn is the only foreign producer ever honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Oscars for best feature documentary:

“One Day in September”
“The Sky Above, The Mud Below”
“American Dream”

Oscars for best foreign film:

“Black and White in Color”
“The Garden of the Finzi-Continis”
“Dangerous Moves”