“I watched a lot of movies as a kid. There was a video store by my house that had a 2-for-1 Tuesday deal. I had favorites like “The Craft” and “Welcome To The Dollhouse” that I probably checked out a dozen times. I think I was 12 or so when I made my first short. It starred my little sister and was about a girl who is ritually sacrificed on a fictional island called Phantolia.”
Read More“This idea came into fruition over a drink with my close friend Ronlee - we were talking about content moderation as an occupation and how it could potentially become very harmful for employees. Having to constantly view extremely graphic content, not having adequate counseling facilities, sitting behind a screen all day.”
Read More“I’m sure all of us can identify with the experience of memories poking at us as we walk through old date-spots, reading journal entries, or wearing clothes loaded with experiences. After a break up a few years back, I began to wonder: how can we both shed and also celebrate memories of past partners?”
Read More“This idea grew from a story that Tony's sister, Crystal, told to him about her son finding an old video camera with the only known footage of his father who he's never met. Tony asked her to write it down and she wrote a short story that was complicated, beautiful, sad and really dug deep into the varied emotions that moment brought up in her.”
Read More“I was in Brooklyn and the idea started creeping up on me. I think it has to do with this formation in a lot of modern relationships, where people kind of take turns being all in. I sat down on a bench outside and wrote the whole thing on my phone. Then I didn't make it for like two years, until finally the moment presented itself.”
Read More“A few years ago I invited Jo to a Halloween party, and for her costume she went as Dolores, a bizarre character she'd recently created. Jo's a great improvisor - and she was the only one there on acid - so she really committed, and Dolores was a big hit.”
Read More“The song was inspired by the 2015 viral Twitter thread #TheZolaStory, where the author, Zola, goes on a “hoe trip” to Florida. A huge theme is sexual agency — Hoeism, if you will. To me, Hoeism is a radical form of self expression that works to dismantle the marginalizing double standards of the patriarchy.”
Read More“Some friends of mine got kicked out of a building called ‘VOORWAARTS’. It was a place where there was space to organise events, collaborate on creative projects and generally do whatever we wanted. Losing this space prompted all these questions about belonging, urban renewal, and the survival of counterculture.”
Read More“I was a deeply curious kid. I remember running around my suburban neighborhood with a notepad and pocket mirror, making observations about my neighbors. My dad filmed everything on his early 90s camcorders, and when I was old enough, I was always more interested in helping him film than being filmed myself.”
Read More“The project started out as a screenplay with dialogue and a slightly clearer storyline and structure. However, by the time I got into the first rehearsal with the cast, something wasn’t clicking. So on the night before shooting, I told the cast to throw the script out the window.”
Read More“The biggest challenge was having big ambitions and a very tiny budget, raised on Kickstarter, and wanting to be equitable in paying cast and crew. The creative process I love most is definitely casting, workshopping, and collaborating with actors on set to get performances we all feel good about.”
Read More“I would say the biggest challenge was editing the raw footage without having an emotional reaction to it anymore. It was physically unsettling having 100-150 people boo at you, which shook me up for a day after, and I couldn’t return to the footage without cringing for a few weeks. Once I got over that it became fun to edit.”
Read More“I generally like the shooting process best. Collaborating with people, capturing fleeting moments that you can’t predict. It’s an indescribable feeling watching something you’ve only dreamt of come to life in real time.”
Read More“I grew up closeted in South Florida. I was naturally shy and had a severe stutter that made me self-conscious about speaking –– but when I had my parents' home video camera in my hand, I suddenly felt more comfortable saying things. So, I'd wander around with it and narrate whatever I was recording.”
Read More“My attraction to these images stems from the lessons I’ve been granted from a combination of the people, experiences and conflicts I encountered growing up in Beirut. People tend to look away from the obscure and I believe filmmaking has an ongoing power to guide audiences' eyes towards these disregarded realities.”
Read More“I spent most of high school playing Halo 3 and listening to dubstep remixes of Linkin Park, then at some point my friend exposed me to the idea that you could do something outside those two things.”
Read More“So we downscaled in terms of our production and concepts using very limited crews and free locations. It was actually really freeing in a way as we tried to remove everything that was extraneous and focused on performance and story.”
Read More“There were people I had identified as typifying a certain ethos of the art world as a whole. These are people for whom all the social trappings and status markers of the art world are the primary concern. The art itself for them is irrelevant or is relevant only to the extent that it provides an excuse for a social milieu to exist.”
Read More“There was something special about pulling up to choir rehearsal in my basketball uniform underneath a Hollister hoodie. Switching my medium, and selling the music equipment I got for a Canon 5D because I couldn't figure out the Fruity Loops interface. It all informs my filmmaking.”
Read More“The initial idea for this film was to bring the viewer into an underground world run by black kids living on their own terms. And heavily into punk. Like a secret cult or society. It then evolved into a story about an outcast discovering said group of outsiders and falling in step with them.”
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