Isaiah's Phone
With Isaiah’s Phone, French-American filmmaker Frederic Da caps off an informal trilogy cataloging the contemporary teenage experience by corralling his film students at a private high school in Santa Monica as crew and on-camera as actors. Short “Ava Dates a Senior” was expanded into the ensemble feature Teenage Emotions—both of which are lensed on multiple iPhones and had their premieres at Slamdance.
Da’s latest, Isaiah’s Phone, employs a diegetic, found footage framing device, following a young student Isaiah (Isaiah Brody) as he navigates the difficulties of high school. On-screen text up top teases “a horrific act of violence,” explaining that what you’re viewing is a camera roll of a student “seized by police as evidence.” Da loves movies like Teorema, in… Read more
By Caleb Hammond
Maya Hawke narrating Videoheaven
Part eulogy for a bygone commercial space, part rigorous investigation of its origins and subsequent representation in popular culture, Alex Ross Perry’s Videoheaven leaves virtually no stone unturned during its nearly three hour runtime. Composed entirely of clips that take place in or otherwise center video stores—from Body Double to Seinfeld to Stranger Things—the essayistic documentary features droll narration from Maya Hawke (who stars in the latter) waxing poetic about their rise and fall, both physically and on screen, in six chapters. The role of pornography, corporate chains and the front-facing employees within these spaces is exhaustively charted; notably, Perry worked at a location of exalted Manhattan retailer Kim’s Video as a young adult, making it no surprise that the… Read more
By Natalia Keogan
Mia Threapleton and Benicio Del Toro in The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson has retroactively described the over-schedule and over-budget making of his fourth feature, 2004’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as the kind of production that would never be allowed to happen now. That’s partly because of shifting Hollywood windows of financing possibility, but that’s likely also in part because the writer-director wouldn’t let it happen again. On 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson made sure to work in a more sustainable and flexible way. As Jason Schwartzman told Richard Brody in 2009, “Wes not only pitched a rough idea for a movie, he also pitched a rough idea of how he’d like to make the movie, which was ‘I want to do a movie with no trailers; all the… Read more
By Vadim Rizov
Bonnie Rose started her professional career as a stand-in for Bette Midler on First Wives Club. Next up, the iconic and legendary film director Sidney Lumet hand picked her for the feature film Night Falls On Manhattan, playing a New York City cop opposite Andy Garcia, which led to many other Lumet projects over the next decade including a recurring role as a legal aid attorney on the TV legal drama 100 Centre St. Bonnie’s massive credits in television and film include Inside Llewyn Davis, Marvel's Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, Blue Bloods, Broad City, The Sopranos, and the trifecta of all Law & Orders. She recently won Best Actress at three different film festivals for her role in Finise Avery’s short film Living with Grandma. She also appears opposite Rose Byrne in Stephanie… Read more
By Peter Rinaldi
Chheangkea at the Sundance Institute Directors Lab
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Chheangkea, who traveled to the Lab with Little Phnom Penh. Here’s the description: “Spanning two ever-changing decades, from post–Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California, a Cambodian woman grapples with her deep personal desires, untimely love, and shifting family roles amid profound cultural and historical upheavals.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
All I wanted when I arrived at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park for the Directors Lab was an “Estes Park” sweatshirt to keep me warm. The desire consumed me. I had packed light, too excited for the summer… Read more
By Chheangkea
Diffan Sina Norman (right) and advisors on set
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Diffan Sina Norman, who traveled to the Lab with Sitora. Here’s the description: “A young doctor arrives in a Malay village to establish its first health clinic, jeopardizing the community’s allegiance to a racketeering shaman and his unlikely accomplice: an elusive half-man, half-tiger.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
It’s two days after my return from the lab. My memory of the last two weeks are a little hazy and scrunched like an elastic band. I can’t wait to crack open my script, but I start The Godfather at 11 pm and… Read more
By Diffan Sina Norman
Alexandra Qin on set at the Sundance Institute Directors Lab
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Alexandra Qin, who traveled to the Lab with Thirstygirl. Here’s the description: “When Charlie is forced to drive her estranged younger sister cross-country to rehab, her own secret addiction comes to the surface in the most devastating and hilarious ways.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
What they don’t tell you about the Sundance Directors Lab.
You’ll feel like a big shot when you land at the Denver airport. You’ll float a few inches above the ground because this feels like you’ve made it. Don’t worry, this won’t last long.
You’ll be scared. Not… Read more
By Alexandra Qin
Ed Harris and Chloe Sarbib on-set (photo by Saffron Burrows)
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Next up is Chloe Sarbib, who traveled to the Lab with Trou Normand. Here’s the description: “As her family prepares to leave their Normandy home, an aging actress becomes convinced that a lost Vichy-era heirloom is the magical solution to all her problems — but the search may dig up more than she bargained for.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
In the afternoon, I hit a low. I chose this scene, my second scene, because Michelle Satter and Ilyse McKimmie told us to explore what makes us nervous, and this scene does. It’s a major turning point.… Read more
By Chloe Sarbib
