Director Interviews
Featured
Ron Eyal and Eleanor Burke on Stranger Things
Ron Eyal and Eleanor Burke’s elegant and evocative Stranger Things, which won Slamdance’s Narrative Competition Grand Jury Prize in 2011 is a moody and clear-eyed drama from a pair of our 25 New Faces in Independent Film, as tranquil and refreshing as an… Read more
Remembering Jamaa Fanaka
Jamaa Fanaka, the eclectic and kind-hearted film director, the most commercially minded of the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers and perhaps the most prolific student filmmaker of all time (all three of the features he made as a grad… Read more
Five Questions with Kelly + Victor Director Kieran Evans
The primarily documentary director Keiran Evans was fortunate enough to know writer Niall Griffiths before he wrote Kelly + Victor, which Evans has adapted into a feature film. Evans’ relationship and familiarity with Griffiths and his work facilitated him to adapt the… Read more
Eytan Fox, Yossi
Ten years ago, Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox made an unexpected splash with Yossi & Jagger, a 67-minute wartime romance about two Israeli soldiers, the titular Yossi (Ohad Knoller) and Jagger (Yehuda Levi), who struggled to conceal their love during mandatory… Read more
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Five Questions with Pit Stop Director Yen Tan
It’s been five years since Yen Tan’s mournful, romantic drama debut Ciao, and the Texas-based filmmaker now returns with Pit Stop. If the early buzz surrounding the film is any indication, Pit Stop shares the emotional intimacy of its predecessor, this time tracking the relationship of two gay men in a blue collar small Texas town. The film premieres today in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section. Filmmaker: Where did the inspiration for Pit Stop come from? Can you speak a bit about Gabe and Ernesto’s characters, and how you developed each? Tan: Pit Stop came about during my road trips between the …
by Dan Schoenbrun on Jan 21, 2013 -
Five Questions with The Rambler Director Calvin Lee Reeder
Over the past half-decade, Calvin Reeder has carved out a filmmaking niche all his own. His debut feature, The Oregonian (which premiered at Sundance two years ago), as well as his much-praised early short films, are a strange mix of psychological horror, high-minded surrealism, camp, and a soundtrack and filmic texture that hint at both nostalgia and discomfort. His second feature, The Rambler, is an adaptation of his 2008 short film of the same name, and follows a man (Dermot Mulroney) recently released from jail who embarks on a journey to reconnect with his long-lost brother. It premieres today in …
by Dan Schoenbrun on Jan 21, 2013 -
Five Questions with A Teacher Director Hannah Fidell
A Teacher, filmmaker Hannah Fidell’s feature debut, focuses on the increasingly unstable Diana (Lindsay Burge), a young teacher carrying on an affair with her underage student. But the film is not too concerned with the shocking or tawdry details of this central relationship. Instead, Fidell turns her focus inwards towards Diana’s subtly crumbling mental state, treating her gradual self-destruction as the focal point of tension. It’s a subtle and precise work, and surely one of the most unnerving selections of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: Like your short The Gathering Squall, which was based on a Joyce Carol Oates …
by Dan Schoenbrun on Jan 20, 2013 -
Co-Director Audrey Ewell on 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (+ Exclusive Clip)
Downtown Manhattan, September 17, 2011—the first 1,000 protestors of the Occupy movement descend upon Wall Street and its neighboring Zucotti Park, pounding the cobblestones in the face of corporate neglect. Driven by the ever-expanding gulf within the socio-economic bracket, this modern day iteration of class warfare soon sparked a worldwide phenomenon. As fervent opinions batted about and media biases multiplied, documentary filmmakers Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites sought to craft a holistic, honest portrait of the movement. Their resulting film, 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, utilizes footage from filmmakers—novice and professional alike—from across the nation, in order …
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 20, 2013 -
Five Questions with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints Director David Lowery
Texas-based filmmaker David Lowery has been at the center of the indie scene for some time now, and not just because of his excellent 2009 directorial debut St. Nick and that film’s much lauded follow-up, the 2011 short Pioneer. Check out Lowery’s IMDB page and you’ll discover that he has worked extensively on dozens of other projects over the past few years – as editor on Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine and Dustin Guy Defa’s Bad Fever, as cinematographer on Frank Ross’ Audrey the Trainwreck, even as sound recordist for Kentucker Audley’s Open Five. With Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Lowery’s …
by Dan Schoenbrun on Jan 20, 2013 -
Five Questions with I Used to be Darker Director Matt Porterfield
Though it only arrived three years ago, Matt Porterfield’s Putty Hill, with its unique blend of fiction and documentary and its crisp, patient filmmaking, has already become quite an influential and well-loved piece of the micro-budget cannon. Now Porterfield has returned with I Used to Be Darker, a more formally scripted work that follows a troubled young woman (Deragh Campbell) who moves in with her aunt (Kim Taylor), uncle (Ned Oldham), and cousin (Hannah Gross) in Maryland. The film premieres today in US Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: Tell me a bit about the development process for …
by Dan Schoenbrun on Jan 19, 2013