'Hemingway's short stories are creative gold for filmmakers'

New Delhi, July 10 : Filmmakers should look more closely at Ernest Hemingway'’s short stories as these are creative gold, says the late American author’s estate manager Michael Katakis.

"Filmmakers are always trying to do new versions of Hemingway's novels but I have always felt that they have missed the mark. One of the finest films ever made from Hemingway's works was not from a novel but a short story,'The Killers' which starred Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. I have always asked filmmakers to look more closely at Hemingway’'s short stories. It is there, in my view, where the creative gold is," Katakis, who has been managing the Hemingway Literary Estate for nearly 14 years, told PTI in an interview.

Katakis, also an author and photographer who has been writing about and photographing a wide range of cultures and geographic locations for the past 35 years, says Hemingway's writing appeals because it is about life, the good and the bad.

"The appeal and growth of Hemingway's work around the world is cross cultural and cross generational. His appeal at times seems universal and I think I have learned why. In his writings, Hemingway talks about the realities and essentials in life. He writes of the horrors and craziness and incompetence of war and of the delight of a fine meal with someone engaged in fine conversation. He writes about the smell of wet leather and of the sea and the struggles that all of us face at one time or another in our lifetimes," he says.

Katakis, who has travelled extensively, is excited about his maiden India visit.

"For many years I have been an ethnographic and documentary photographer. I have spent many years in countries like Sierra Leone, West Africa with my late wife Kris Hardin who was a noted anthropologist."

In India, he would like to photograph what always interests him and that is people and culture.

"I like to wander streets and talk with people and watch them as they move through their lives. Everyone has a story and I love stories, I always have and if one just listens those stories informs us about the extraordinary world around us, the good and bad and everything in between. I have always thought that maybe, just maybe when someone acquires that ability to observe and participate with an open mind then one may, just may acquire some wisdom along the way. I am hungry for India and I am hungry for its people's stories." Katakis' new book "A Thousand Shards of Glass" deals with essays about the United States.

PTI