Podcasting Horror and Conspiracies: Filmmaker Matt Vesely on Monolith

By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. When you’ve only got one actor, you’re constantly thinking about how to make it cinematic…. Our film is about people telling stories from their past; it’s a slower burn and about piecing together a mystery.” Matt Vesely’s ‘Monolith’ is a remarkable eerie sci-fi mystery that […]

Documentary, Truth, and Narrative: James Marsh on Dance First

By Ali Moosavi. If you’re a documentary filmmaker, you’re perceived to be good at something, which is the truth. So almost certainly my interest in dramatic films is nearly always based on true stories.” The British director James Marsh came into prominence with his 2008 documentary Man on Wire about […]

Outsiders on the Frontier: Kitty Green on The Royal Hotel

By Ali Moosavi. I knew that I didn’t want to see violence. I feel like I’ve seen enough sexual violence in cinema…. I was like how can we make a movie about the threat of that. And the threat of that should be enough to feel scared.” The young Australian […]

An Australian New Wave Craftsman: Phillip Noyce on Fast Charlie

By Ali Moosavi. Having played Bond gave him that background; this coming from a past life in a way. I just think we needed someone who was virile, aggressive, and yet not young.” Phillip Noyce’s name has been synonymous with successful big budget Hollywood action films such as Patriot Games, […]

Life in Pieces: Suman Ghosh on The Scavenger of Dreams

By Devapriya Sanyal. Wherever [you get] to see your product being received by such disparate audiences is a very interesting process.” -Ghosh on festival programming Suman Ghosh is a National Award-winning Indian filmmaker who has made six feature films and one documentary film. His first feature film was Footsteps, starring Soumitra […]

Collaboration to the Maximum: Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska on EO

By Nathaniel Bell. More important was the fact that I changed my attitude toward creation. I was enthusiastic again. Young, fresh, and ready for experiments and risks.” –Jerzy Skolimowski Au hasard Balthazar is the only film that made Jerzy Skolimowski cry. In 1966, having recently completed his second feature, the […]

A Dead-End World: Olmo Schnabel on Pet Shop Days (2023)

By Jonathan Monovich. The story was so grounded in referencing other stories, other films, or other filmmakers, and I just wanted it to feel like something that’s existed for a long time. I didn’t necessarily want it to feel like something new.” Olmo Schnabel’s writing/directorial debut, Pet Shop Days (originally […]

Collective Movements: Lav Diaz on Essential Truths of the Lake

By Yun-hua Chen. In Philippines, we still have very responsible cultural workers, social workers and foundations. We are still fighting. Even in other parts of the world, there are still responsible people. We need this kind of collective movements so that we can mitigate all these nuances of destruction.” In […]