Interviews
Interviews
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Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling on The East
Brit Marling recently gave the convocation speech for the 2013 graduating class of Georgetown University, the alma mater of the writer/producer/actress and her friends and collaborators Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij. Cahill directed Marling in Another Earth, a film she co-wrote, and Batmanglij has stood at the helm of Sound of My Voice and the new eco-thriller The East, both of which also credit Marling as co-writer and star. In her speech, a riveting address that was wonderfully articulate and rang deeply true, Marling offered fun anecdotes about her misadventures with Cahill and Batmanglij (Cahill, for example, once served as […]
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Five Questions with La Camioneta Director Mark Kendall
This interview originally ran at the time of the film’s world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival 2012, and is now being republished to coincide with with La Camioneta‘s theatrical release, which starts today at Brooklyn’s reRun Theater. Visit the official website of La Camioneta for dates of further theatrical screenings. Director Mark Kendall carries a spirit of adventurous, a keen eye for character, and a wellspring of ambition into his first documentary feature, La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus. Starting out at an auction in rural Pennsylvania for decommissioned school-buses, Kendall boards one of the buses sold and accompanies the […]
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Cannes 2013: Five Questions with Miele Director Valeria Golino
Never one to shy away from difficult topics, Italian actress Valeria Golino chose the subject of euthanasia for her feature directorial debut, Miele. Showing the human stories behind an issue few want to discuss, with Miele Golino succeeds in creating a film that is both touching and sincere. Playing in this year’s Un Certain Regard in Cannes, it tells the story of a young Italian women, Irene (Jasmine Trinca), who travels once a month to Mexico to buy over-the-counter barbiturates designed to put dogs to sleep. Back home, Irene goes by the name Miele, or “Honey,” delivering the drugs to terminally ill […]
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Cannes 2013: Five Questions with The Congress Actor Danny Huston
Few movies were so widely talked about at Cannes as Ari Folman’s The Congress, a part live-action, part-animated adaption of Stanislaw Lem’s sprawling sci-fi novel. It’s a film that explores society’s obsession with celebrity culture, its constant need for escapism, and what effects technology may have on the future of storytelling. In addition to the gorgeous, other-worldly animation, the acting is stunning, with unforgettable performances by Robin Wright as the aging actress, Harvey Keitel as the hustling agent, and Danny Huston as the scary studio executive, Jeff. Huston nails the character of Jeff, creating both a serpentine man who’s all […]
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Margarethe von Trotta on Hannah Arendt
The most evocative and engrossing picture this writer has ever encountered about the life and times of a thinker is Hannah Arendt, German filmmaker and actress Margarethe von Trotta’s magnificent meditation on the incendiary political theorist. Reuniting with her Vision (2009) and Rosa Luxemburg (1986) star Barbara Sukowa, the ex-Fassbinder muse has delivered a titanic and highly unusual work, a film of rare intelligence that animates the life of a protean mind in a manner that is at once spartan, highly dramatic, and incredibly timely. Hannah Arendt focuses on the period immediately before, during and after Arendt’s famous coverage of the Adolf Eichmann […]
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Jen and Sylvia Soska on American Mary
Dead Hooker in a Trunk isn’t just a title. It’s also a warning shot, serving notice of the film’s intention to come out swinging and pull no punches. Sure enough, the 2009 debut feature from Canadian writer-directors Jen and Sylvia Soska made good on its promise, boasting beguiling swagger, badass one-liners (“Like dying could kill me”) and more gore than you might reasonably expect from a $2,500 budget. And while Dead Hooker capably illustrated The Twisted Twins’ appetite for exploitation and aptitude for tempering gruesomeness with biting comedy, it offered little hint that their next feature would be as accomplished […]
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Councilwoman Castillo: Margo Guernsey on Making Her Feature-Length Political Documentary
Margo Guernsey has produced promotional mini-docs and videos for a number of non-profits, but for her first feature-length project, “Councilwoman Castillo,” she is focusing on the story of a hotel housekeeper, Carmen Castillo, elected to the City Council in Providence, Rhode Island. The project will cover Castillo’s first three years in office starting with her election in November 2011. Guernsey spoke to us recently about how she became interested in the project and her strategy for shooting and funding this low budget, multi-year project. Filmmaker: What is the story? Guernsey: It’s a story about a hotel housekeeper elected to […]
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Cannes 2013: Five Questions with The Congress Director Ari Folman
It’s been five years since Ari Folman came out with the Academy Award-nominated Waltz with Bashir, an animated personal combat story. He’s back with an incredibly ambitious project, The Congress, that blends real life with fantasy in an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s celebrated book. The movie opens with actress Robin Wright being scolded by her agent, played by Harvey Keitel, for all the poor choices she’s made throughout her career. Faced with a sick child and no job prospects, she meets with Jeff, the studio head of Miramount, a daunting figure played impeccably by Danny Huston. Jeff is sick of […]
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Five Questions with Triumph of the Wall Director Bill Stone
Like many documentaries, Bill Stone’s Triumph of the Wall began its life as one thing and transformed into something else. Initially Stone sought to document the construction of a 1,000 foot dry-stone wall by Chris Overing, a young man with an impressively diverse resume that lacked one necessary skill for the project: masonry. Overing estimated the project would take two months and Stone decided to chronicle Overing’s effort. The filmmaker had at the time “a vague idea of the film exploring commitment.” But Overing underestimated a bit: eight years later he was still constructing the wall and Stone was still […]
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Nebraska Star Bruce Dern on Alexander Payne and “the Dernsies”
This interview with Bruce Dern was originally published following the Cannes Film Festival, where Nebraska premiered. If you ever have the good fortune of getting a press pass that grants you access to a roundtable with a Hollywood star, there are few actors out there who could provide a better interview than Bruce Dern, who recently won a Best Actor award at Cannes for his performance in Alexander Payne’s comedic drama, Nebraska. A planned 20-minute roundtable with a few grizzled journalists turned into a half-hour sprawling monologue of memories and observations on movie production, gently flavored with imitations of Hollywood […]
