In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story?

One of the secrets I discovered while making The Fits was that it was a lot more challenging to make an audience laugh with joy than to make them feel almost any other emotion. We have a few moments of levity in the script and those became the most meaningful scenes for me to direct. It was very satisfying to portray life as joyful and dynamic amid the horror and confusion surrounding Toni.

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 22 at 2:00pm — Tower Theatre]

Sundance Responses 2016