Interviews
Interviews
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The Women of SXSW: Ukraine is Not a Brothel Director/Producer/Editor Kitty Green
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the SXGlobal documentary, Ukraine is Not a Brothel, Kitty Green. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Green: Ukraine Is Not A Brothel is a feature documentary about the topless Ukrainian feminist movement FEMEN. The film follows these “titillating” activists as they wage a war against patriarchy in a corrupt and poverty-stricken Ukraine. I came […]
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The Women of SXSW: I Believe in Unicorns Writer/Director Leah Meyerhoff
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of I Believe in Unicorns, Leah Meyerhoff. Leah Meyerhoff is the definition of “independent filmmaker.” For her debut feature, I Believe in Unicorns, Meyerhoff cast rising talents Natalia Dyer and Peter Vack, moved her production to her childhood home in San Francisco, and sprinkled fairy pixie dust (figuratively and literally) all over her film set. Shot on a combination of Super16mm […]
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The Women of SXSW: Vessel Director Diana Whitten
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the Documentary Competition film, Vessel, Diana Whitten. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Whitten: At first I was compelled by the metaphor of a woman having to leave one realm of sovereignty to reclaim her own. I thought it was a rare and interesting example of the offshore being used not for crime […]
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The Women of SXSW: Wicker Kittens Director Amy C. Elliott
Following her “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this interview, she talks with Amy C. Elliott, the director and also d.p. of Wicker Kittens, screening in the Documentary Spotlight section. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Elliott: When I first heard there was such a thing as competitive jigsaw puzzling, I just wanted to know more. And in particular, I wanted to know more about the specifics — how many […]
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Wes Anderson on Using Throwback Ratios, Romantic Worldviews, and European Reconnaissance to Craft The Grand Budapest Hotel
For all the ways his work speaks to today’s Generation Irony, Wes Anderson is an unmistakable romantic — a man who grew up with a great love of classics, be they in the realms of cinema, literature or art. All of those things converge in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson’s sweeping, nostalgic, and career-topping new film, which sees him confronting history on a global scale — in his own way, of course. The movie takes place in a number of eras, most notably 1932, when, in the fictional yet familiar land of Zubrowka, wars are brewing and lives are changing […]
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The Women of SXSW: Kelly & Cal Director Jen McGowan
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the Narrative Spotlight film, Kelly & Cal, Jen McGowan. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? McGowan: I loved the script. I loved the script and I loved the writer. And I could see it. I could see that I could do something special with it. This project originated at a USC alumni program called USC First Team which connected […]
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The Women of SXSW: Honeymoon Writer/Director Leigh Janiak
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the writer/director of Honeymoon, Leigh Janiak. Honeymoon screens today in the Midnighters section. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Janiak: My writing partner Phil and I had been writing together for years, and finishing a script is satisfying, but it’s never really a finished project… So I think it was sometime in 2010, after seeing Monsters and Tiny […]
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The Women of SXSW: I Was a Teenage Girl Director Augustine Frizzell
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of Augustine Frizzell, whose I Was a Teenage Girl premieres in the Texas Shorts program. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Frizzell: I started with the concept of three shorts about three separate pairs of girls, all around age 15, entering a period in their lives where the issues they’re faced with rapidly change from […]
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Director James Costa on his School Lunch Nutrition Doc, Lunch Hour
For many American children, school lunch is the only full meal they receive each day. Which is one reason filmmaker James Costa was surprised to see the quality–or lack of it–going into children’s lunches in New York City. He quickly decided the subject warranted a feature-length documentary, and the result is Lunch Hour, which launched Tuesday on multiple VOD platforms. Featuring celebrities like Kirsten Gillibrand and Rachael Ray, the film looks at the systemic causes behind school lunch menus and potential solutions to nutritional deficiencies. I talked with Costas about his reasons for making the film, his release strategy, and […]
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Michelangelo Antonioni on the Utility of Mystery
Michelangelo Antonioni’s work is known for, in addition to many other things, a certain open-endedness in its exploration of theme and narrative. But, you may be surprised to learn that the writer/director could be a bit more on-the-nose in his scripts. At Dangerous Minds, Paul Gallagher references a 2005 interview in The Guardian with Peter Bowles, who plays a drunk partygoer in Antonioni’s Blow-Up. In the original script, he had a monologue that nailed the themes of the movie. However, before shooting, Antonioni decided to cut it. The actor, feeling the speech was “essential to the film,” confronted Antonioni, pleading […]
