Director Interviews

Ellen Kuras, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

THAVISOUK PHRASAVATH AND ORADY PHRASAVATH IN DIRECTOR ELLEN KURAS’ THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON). COURTESY CINEMA GUILD. Since she first came to prominence almost twenty years ago, Ellen Kuras has established herself as one of the most talented directors of photography working today. Film was not Kuras’ primary focus when she was younger; the New Jersey native initially attended Brown to study anthropology but became interested in photography after taking a class at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design. Though she won a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the esteemed Lodz Film Academy, Kuras instead began working in film, taking numerous […]

By Nick Dawson on Nov 21, 2008 Director Interviews
Josh Koury, We Are Wizards

HOLDEN AND DARIUS WILKINS IN DIRECTOR JOSH KOURY’S WE ARE WIZARDS. COURTESY BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND FILMS. Despite his youth, 31-year-old Josh Koury has already carved out quite a reputation for himself within the world of independent film. Born and raised in upstate New York, Koury studied fine art at Munson Williams Proctor Institute in Utica and then film at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, where he also ran a weekly multimedia event. Following his graduation, Koury made his debut feature, Standing By Yourself, a documentary about problem teens in upstate New York, which premiered in competition at Slamdance in 2002 and was released […]

By Nick Dawson on Nov 14, 2008 Director Interviews
Damian Harris, Gardens Of The Night

EVAN ROSS AND GILLIAN JACOBS IN DIRECTOR DAMIAN HARRIS’ GARDENS OF THE NIGHT. COURTESY CITY LIGHTS PICTURES. Coming from a family of actors, Damian Harris went against the grain when he chose to become a writer-director. Harris is the son of Richard Harris, the legendary British screen thespian, as well as the stepson of Rex Harrison and the brother of Jamie and Jared Harris, who are also actors. He got his first taste of the movie game when, at the age of 10, he acted alongside Tom Courtenay and Romy Schneider in the comedy Otley (1968). That experience, however, made […]

By Nick Dawson on Nov 7, 2008 Director Interviews
Kurt Kuenne, Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father

DIRECTOR KURT KUENNE WITH ZACHARY BAGBY IN KUENNE’S DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER. COURTESY OSCILLOSCOPE PICTURES & MSNBC FILMS. Since he was a boy, making films has been at the very center of Kurt Kuenne’s life. He fell in love with the movies as a kid growing up in Silicon Valley in Southern California, and already at the age of seven began trying to emulate his heroes by shooting films on Super 8 and then later VHS cameras, using friends and family as actors. Kuenne studied film at USC’s prestigious School of Cinema-Television (where he […]

By Nick Dawson on Oct 31, 2008 Director Interviews
Gavin O’Connor, Pride And Glory

COLIN FARRELL AND EDWARD NORTON IN DIRECTOR GAVIN O’CONNOR’S PRIDE AND GLORY. COURTESY WARNER BROS. As a director who values realistic characters and emotionally resonant stories above all else, Gavin O’Connor is a young filmmaker who is keeping the values of a bygone Hollywood alive. The son of a cop, O’Connor grew up in New York on a diet of classic studio movies from the 30s and 40s then immersed himself in the great films produced by the New Hollywood auteurs of the 1970s. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, O’Connor returned to New York, where he began writing […]

By Nick Dawson on Oct 23, 2008 Director Interviews
Abel Ferrara, Mary

JULIETTE BINOCHE IN DIRECTOR ABEL FERRARA’S MARY. COURTESY ABEL FERRARA & ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES. After more than 30 years as a director, Abel Ferrara shows no sign of losing any of the raw intelligence, energy and vitality that have made him a continuing force in American cinema. The Italian American Bronx-born director, now 57, began directing shorts as a film student at SUNY Purchase in the early 1970s and made his feature debut in 1976 with the porn film 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy under the pseudonym Jimmy Laine. His debut proper was the legendary DIY grindhouse movie The […]

By Nick Dawson on Oct 17, 2008 Director Interviews
Marianna Palka, Good Dick

WRITER-DIRECTOR-ACTRESS MARIANNA PALKA AND JASON RITTER IN PALKA’S GOOD DICK. COURTESY MORNING KNIGHT / PRESENT PICTURES. Still only 27, Marianna Palka has achieved notable success early in her career because she knew what she wanted and showed an adventurous spirit in going out and getting it. A first generation Polish Scot, Palka grew up in the depressed working class Glasgow neighborhood of Maryhill, where at an early age she displayed an interest in theater and cinema. In her teens, she began making what she calls “video art” projects which depicted the world around her, such as By My Very Self, […]

By Nick Dawson on Oct 10, 2008 Director Interviews
Peter Sollett, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist

KAT DENNINGS AND MICHAEL CERA IN DIRECTOR PETER SOLLETT’S NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST. COURTESY SCREEN GEMS. For all the current talk of the sky falling on American independent cinema, you don’t have to look any further than Peter Sollett’s recent experiences to see how tough things have become for even the most gifted indie writer-directors. Thirty-two-year-old Brooklyn native Sollett grew up in an Italian-Jewish neighborhood in Bensonhurst and studied film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1998. In 2000, he directed and co-wrote, with his partner Eva Vives, the short filmFive Feet High and Rising, about […]

By Nick Dawson on Oct 3, 2008 Director Interviews
Matt Wolf, Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell

A REENACTED SHOT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL ON THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY FROM DIRECTOR MATT WOLF’S WILD COMBINATION: A PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL. COURTESY PLEXIFILM. Some people age more quickly than others, and Matt Wolf – both in person and in his work – displays a confidence and maturity that belie his tender years. Twenty-six-year-old Wolf was born and raised in San Jose, California, and spent much of his teenage years watching movies. He won a full-tuition fellowship to study film at NYU, where he made a number of shorts including Smalltown Boys (2003), an experimental biopic about AIDS activist David […]

By Nick Dawson on Sep 26, 2008 Director Interviews
Wayne Wang, A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers

FAYE YU AND HENRY O IN DIRECTOR WAYNE WANG’S A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS. COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES. Wayne Wang’s work has always been about a balance of contrasts, whether it be Chinese and American, classical and experimental, or independent and Hollywood. Wang was born in Hong Kong in 1949 and moved to the U.S. in his late teens to study film and television at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He made his directorial debut in 1975 with A Man, a Woman, and a Killer (on which he is co-credited alongside Rick Schmidt) but it was […]

By Nick Dawson on Sep 19, 2008 Director Interviews

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