By M. Sellers Johnson. How do you go through the scenes in life, with what face, with what attitude? It’s really something you can’t choose. You think you can choose but you can’t.” -Luis Ortega From perceptive newcomers like Tomás Gómez Bustillo to internationally regarded directors such as Lucretia Martel […]
Ben Model, Keeping Silent Movies Alive and Well
By Jeremy Carr. I realized that anything I had ever done related to silent film had just sort of handed itself to me, and I leaned into that….” —Ben Model Ben Model loves silent movies. In case it isn’t obvious by his live performances, online videos and podcasts, and the […]
Images and Conditions: Mohammad Rasoulof on The Seed of the Sacred Fig
By Yun-hua Chen. All the value of images—particularly those from social networks—is deeply tied to the circumstances in which the films are created. A film like this would have been entirely different had it emerged under different conditions.” —Mohammad Rasoulof A gripping and intensely charged drama, The Seed of the […]
Seventeen Now Isn’t What It Was: Durga Chew-Bose on Bonjour Tristesse (2024)
By Jonathan Monovich. I think going into anything with a deep respect for what came before is the best you can do.” –Durga Chew-Bose “Whatever happened to the teenage dream?” It’s a question attributed to a Marc Bolan song, though its sentiment remains eternal. Time fleets, as does youth, and […]
“I Try to Make Each Film Feel Like a Debut”: Can Evrenol on Saýara
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The idea of making a truly dark revenge film at heart, in this day and age of global political-correctness-vs.-fascism, felt like the right thing to do (especially) if you are a true genre fan/filmmaker.” – Can Evrenol Going back at least to Metin Erksan’s classic The Well […]
It Lives! Andrew Repasky McElhinney on A Chronicle of Corpses at 25 Years
By William Blick. Aren’t all genre films structuralist in nature? Isn’t everyone either obeying or disobeying genre conventions?” –Andrew Repasky McElhinney At the turn of the millennium, the filmmaking industry was in flux. A wave of visionary film directors emerged to embrace new forms of cinematic expression. The horror film […]
Pacing and Place: Désirée Nosbusch on Poison (2024)
By Yun-hua Chen. The key was having the courage not to rush the pacing. People tried to convince me otherwise—they said it was too slow, that it took too long for the characters to meet. But I stood my ground.” –Désirée Nosbusch With over 30 years of experience as an […]
What the 80s Mean in Czechoslovakia: Alexandra Makarova on Perla
By Ali Moosavi. It was clear for us that we wanted to have an observer’s perspective so that it feels like I am invisible and standing with the camera and looking at these people.” –Alexandra Makarova One of the films showing at this year’s Rotterdam Film Festival is Perla by […]
Limitations and Innovations: An Interview with Filmmaker and Animator Richard Bazley
By William Blick. Speed is a huge advantage in live action. Animation is time consuming, and if you ask an animator to rework a scene, it can take days, maybe even weeks for a few seconds.” –Richard Bazley Richard Bazley has had an illustrious career in animation beginning with his journey on […]
Listening to Freedom: Tommaso Santambrogio on Oceans are the Real Continents
By M. Sellers Johnson. Rather than provoking a kind of response from nothing, we hoped to shape the characters out of the reality of their lives and reality experiences. As a director, I feel that it is more important to listen than to talk.” Oceans Are The Real Continents is […]