Directors
Interviews - Directors
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“At the Same Time that We’re Fighting for our Lives, We Are Also Agents of Exploitation, of Domination, of Violence”: Pedro Pinho on his Cannes-Premiering I Only Rest In The Storm
Pedro Pinho’s Cannes-premiering I Only Rest In The Storm follows Sergio, a naive do-gooder who, as the film’s title implies, finds inner peace in places of chaos. In this case it’s the hurly-burly of Guinea-Bissau, where the Portuguese environmental engineer has been hired to produce an impact report that will pave the way for a road-building project to commence. There he meets two charismatic characters, party-loving besties Diara and Guillermhe, the former a native, the latter a Black Brazilian expat. And thus begins a bizarre triangle of love-hate attraction – fueled by a colonialist past, a capitalist present, and an […]
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“A Human-Ghost Relationship Perfectly Fits Within a Queer Framework”: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke on his Cannes-Premiering A Useful Ghost
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s Cannes-premiering A Useful Ghost is a multilayered cinematic extravaganza (and feat) that manages to seamlessly combine several deep themes: toxic pollution, soulless capitalism, the perils of prioritizing self-interest over the good of the community, and the beauty of unconventional romantic relationships. And that’s all while doing so in the guise of a love story equal parts poignant and bonkers involving a man named March and his recently deceased wife Nat, who has now taken the form of a very sleek vacuum cleaner. Just prior to the film’s Cannes’ Critics Week premiere, Filmmaker caught up with the Bangkok-based writer-director […]
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“I’m Not Interested in Horror Films”: Karan Kandhari on Sister Midnight
It’s a full eight-and-half minutes into Sister Midnight before newlyweds Uma (Radhika Apte) and Gopal (Ashok Pathak) even say a word to each other; conflict immediately ensues. Confined to a cramped, one-room apartment after moving to Mumbai, the spitfire Uma finds herself ill-suited to the rigid traditional roles expected of Indian brides. Her bashful husband, on the other hand, rebuffs her attempts to seduce him with a polite handshake. In this lonely arranged marriage of stifled desires and out-of-sync conversations, even bangles soon begin to feel like shackles. Despite this, Karan Kandhari’s Hindi-language directorial debut unfolds as a domestic drama […]
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“Drama Appeals to Us is Because It Touches Something Different than the Contemporary”: David Mamet on TV, Theater, Gene Hackman and His New Film, Henry Johnson
I assumed David Mamet would probably have more opinions about Aristotle than A24 and, indeed, in discussing the 76-year-old playwright-turned-filmmaker’s new movie, Henry Johnson, the former came up while the latter didn’t. Henry Johnson marks Mamet’s return to the director’s chair after a decade-long absence from cinema, and it’s easily his most austere work since 1994’s Oleanna, which like this film was adapted from his own play. Premiering on stage in 2023 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California, and later staged at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater in 2025, the play follows the unraveling of its titular character, a well-meaning […]
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“Children and Animals Have a Natural Intuition and Liveliness”: Xinying Lao on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Xiaohui and His Cows
Unlike the rest of her cohort, Xinying Lao has the distinction of being a Short Film Student Showcase winner as an underclassman. Made during her sophomore year at NYU, Xiaohui and His Cows sheds light on the widespread separation of families in rural China as parents migrate to cities for work, leaving their children behind with relatives. The film also bowed at the 2023 Berlinale in the festival’s Generation Kplus section, which is reserved for stories that explore children’s perspective. Certainly a shoo-in for the category, Lao’s short centers on the titular Xiaohui (Jinhao Wei), a nine-year-old boy living with […]
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Read Interviews With the Fifth Annual Student Short Film Showcase Winners, Awarded By The Gotham, JetBlue and Focus Features
A creepy humanoid inches closer with every blink. A young woman returns to Peru to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish. A nine-year-old boy attempts to hide the beloved cows his grandfather must separate. A despondent man attempts to end his life to no avail. An older woman navigates ageism and desire in China. These are the varied premises of the five winners of the fifth annual Student Short Film Showcase, co-presented by JetBlue, Focus Features and The Gotham, Filmmaker‘s publisher. The five winning filmmakers are, respectively, James Ross (Don’t Blink, Florida State University), Sisa Quispe (Urpi: Her Last Wish, City […]
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“The Story Kept Growing Alongside My Real-life Experience”: Sisa Quispe on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Urpi: Her Last Wish
A Peruvian pilgrimage to visit the village of a recently-deceased relative propels the plot of Urpi: Her Last Wish. Helmed by Sisa Quispe as her MFA thesis film at the City College of New York, she also stars as the titular Urpi, a young American woman who travels to the Andes to reconnect with the culture she has long felt severed from. Guiding her through her personal journey is Sayri (Juan Abel Ojeda Llanos), a local Indigenous man who treks with her to remote villages in order to find the former abode of her grandmother so that Urpi may pay […]
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“Totally Smooth Productions Are a Myth”: James Ross on His Student Short Film Showcase Winner Don’t Blink
The creepy premise of Don’t Blink may be parsed by its title alone, but this still doesn’t make one prepared for the unyielding scares conjured by writer-director James Ross. Completed with the aid of his MFA cohort at Florida State University, Ross’ film takes place during the witching hour in an otherwise quaint suburban enclave. Travis (Samuel Isaiah Hunter) is eager to spend the night with his date Reese (Tamara French) at her spacious pad. The only demand the beautiful woman makes is that Travis must take a pill to ensure that he sleeps through the night. Though he agrees, […]
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“One of the Most Delicate Challenges I’ve Faced as a Filmmaker”: Kevin Haefelin on His Student Short Film Showcase Winner The Fuse
In The Fuse, an elderly sanitation worker named Cassius (non-professional actor Jorge Gabino) decides to quietly shuffle himself off of this mortal coil. Written and directed by Kevin Haefelin as part of his MFA studies at Columbia University, the narrative may not provide direct context for Cassius’ fatal decision, but it certainly does make it difficult for him to complete his morbid task. When a fuse blows out and makes electrocution an unviable option, Cassius traverses his Bronx neighborhood looking for a quick-fix to get his plan back on track. Black comedy abounds, pointing to the universe’s general indifference to […]
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Following the Currents: Jia Zhangke and Zhao Tao on Caught by the Tides
With Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides sneak previewing in New York via Sideshow/Janus Films, we are unlocking our Spring, 2025 cover story, an interview with the director as well as lead Zhao Tao covering their collaboration on this film as well as across their filmographies. On May 4, 5 and 6, Jia will be doing Q&As at New York’s IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center. Caught by the Tides opens May 9. — Editor Few major auteurs have successfully used footage from their previous films to create an entirely new one on equal footing with their greatest works, […]
