{"id":570626,"date":"2026-07-05T22:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570626\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T22:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:30:18","slug":"harvey-keitel-on-film-as-tool-of-change-cure-of-bias-movie-with-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570626\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Keitel on Film as Tool of Change, Cure of Bias, Movie With Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harvey Keitel<\/a> is passionate about film and other arts as key forces to bring people together and enable change. And if you don\u2019t believe him, believe Aristotle, he says!<\/p>\n

The legendary actor sat down for a chat with The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday during the\u00a0Karlovy Vary International Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0(KVIFF<\/a>), whose double anniversary 60th edition<\/a>\u00a0in its 80th year runs through July 11, to discuss the state of film and the world, among other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel in today\u2019s tumultuous world, when people are so against each other for banal reasons \u2014 they\u2019ve never heard the expression \u2018no bias\u2019 to let people be who they want to be without objecting to it, without killing each other over religion or color or politics \u2014 that\u2019s where the arts come in,\u201d Keitel offered. He then quoted the Greek philosopher Aristotle, saying: \u201cWords alone are not enough to change a culture. Aesthetic force is needed, and that is the artist. So, film festivals like Karlovy Vary, Cannes, the Tribeca Film Festival, etc., where artists can come and show their wares and share how they feel about life with people, can provide the aesthetic force that\u2019s needed to instigate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Change is \u201ca tool for growing as a people to cure our biases and start becoming human beings instead,\u201d Keitel continued. \u201cThat is particularly needed now, because of all the wars, fighting, politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acting is also a way to learn about oneself and develop as a person, the star shared. \u201cThe real gift is learning to know yourself through art,\u201d Keitel told THR. And that opens up one\u2019s mind \u201cinstead of standing rigidly \u2014 I\u2019m white or I\u2019m black or I\u2019m Christian or I\u2019m Jewish or Arab, or so.\u201d He continued: \u201cWhen I got involved with the theater in New York, I met all these people from different beliefs, and that really changed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did Keitel never direct a movie? \u201cWhen you reach a certain place that I was fortunate enough to reach, acting becomes working with the director and being your own director many times,\u201d he explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t have time to become a director, and I didn\u2019t have the education. But I was lucky enough to meet the people that did, so my education became the theater and cinema, and these wonderful people I was fortunate enough to work with \u2014 Scorsese, Tarantino, Jane Campion, Lina Wertm\u00fcller, Theo Angelopoulos and many others. Forgive me if I\u2019m forgetting you here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Keitel\u2019s advice to actors is to put in the hard work, including in your development as a person. \u201cStudy, read, work at your craft,\u201d he summarized his tips. \u201cIt takes work, and growing as a human being takes work.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Keitel working on right now? \u201cI\u2019m making a film with my wife, Daphna Kastner Keitel, who\u2019s a filmmaker, writer [and] actress. We\u2019re working on it in Los Angeles, where we live now.\u201d Is there a title yet? Yes, but the Hollywood legend can\u2019t share it yet, he says with a laugh. What is the film about? \u201cI can\u2019t tell you what it\u2019s about, because it\u2019s about discovery,\u201d Keitel told THR. \u201cUsing the art of filmmaking to be the aesthetic force for the people around us \u2026 to grow and try to stamp out prejudice and short-mindedness.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the couple still has a place in New York, Keitel shares this about life in L.A. before he must make his next meeting: \u201cI\u2019m enjoying it. I miss New York, of course, the New York of old, though. It was different than New York today.\u201d Could it ever change again? \u201cAs a matter of fact, the word is out that New York will change back to the old days once theater comes back,\u201d Keitel said. \u201cNew York\u2019s changed a great deal since the pandemic and what\u2019s going on with the world of culture at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Sunday, Keitel had presented<\/a> legendary cinematographer Robert Richardson<\/a> with KVIFF\u2019s Crystal Globe award.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenowned American actor Harvey Keitel will make his third appearance at the Karlovy Vary\u00a0International<\/a>\u00a0Film Festival,\u201d organizers said<\/a> when they unveiled his attendance. \u201cAt the festival\u2019s 39th edition in 2004, Keitel was awarded a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema. Eleven years later, he returned to Karlovy Vary\u00a0in order to\u00a0introduce Paolo Sorrentino\u2019s\u00a0Youth, in which he played one of the main roles. The film won the\u00a0Pr\u00e1vo\u00a0Audience Award, which Keitel accepted in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HarveyHarvey Keitel at Karlovy Vary 2026.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of Keitel\u2019s latest trip to the fest in the Czech spa town, KVIFF is screening\u00a0Mean Streets, per the wish of the actor.<\/p>\n

He is part of a star-studded lineup of special guests, like Keitel, and honorees at KVIFF\u2019s double anniversary edition. Big names who have been honored this weekend are Dustin Hoffman<\/a>, Maggie Gyllenhaal<\/a> and Jesse Eisenberg<\/a>, as well as cinematographer Robert Richardson<\/a>, who received his award<\/a> from Keitel.<\/p>\n

As if the\u00a0Karlovy Vary International Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0(KVIFF<\/a>) needed more star power for the double anniversary of its\u00a060th edition<\/a>\u00a0in its 80th year, it has lined up\u00a0Kevin Bacon<\/a>,\u00a0Kyra Sedgwick<\/a> and\u00a0Harvey Keitel<\/a>\u00a0to join the list of celebrities in attendance at the Czech film fest this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harvey Keitel is passionate about film and other arts as key forces to bring people together and enable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,243213,19,1452,17,231688,231689,231690],"class_list":["post-570626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-harvey-keitel","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-karlovy-vary-international-film-festival","tag-kviff","tag-kviff-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116869741732409446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}