“The idea came between me and my co-writer, Sophie Mitchell. We love talky movies, like late 80s Woody Allen stuff and also newer films like Alex Ross Perry. We were seeing our friends make a lot of fashion videos and stuff, and thought it would be cool to use that aesthetic to make a statement about young artists. Sorta like if Ingmar Bergman directed HBO’s Girls.”
Read More“I saw a really interesting pile of trash in June of 2018. There was a framed photo of a woman, a couple of empty picture frames, mixed CDs and a lot of dead plants. I was already putting together a document for this film I was making in Prague but the pile of trash really gave me a story.”
Read More“I got interested in filmmaking because I liked movies growing up, and also liked making stuff with my friends. This project was a thesis film, and I’d spend summer nights writing jokes with a friend. We didn’t have a very refined process, but there were a lot of Buffalo ‘66 viewings.”
Read More“Initially, Konyin (co-writer) and I were talking about PornHub's free month of service at the beginning of quarantine. And we both began to wonder, what kind of weird shit people were going to go looking for, with free access. That lead to discussing the most specific kinks we could think of, and that grew into finding human moments in those kinks.”
Read More“I remember my parents coming home from work, exhausted, slipping cash into a shoebox for years in order to save up for my sister’s quinceañera. I began to imagine what the pressure must feel like for a girl who’s constantly balancing her Paraguayan heritage and her American surroundings.”
Read More“The film is an adaptation of a short story that my friend Mallory was writing. We’re both really interested in scams and how depressing Florida secretly is — Mallory is from there, I’m from the Virgin Islands, and the dichotomy of being unhappy in colorful, tropical places is something we’ve talked about a lot.”
Read More“I'm a huge fan of the Yankees, and figured if I wanted to play for the team, it would have to be in a film of my own making. Of course this guy is suffering both existential and physical pain because that's how I like to imagine my athletes: tortured, fearful and/or unable to express their true feelings. Maybe that's how I like imagining most people.”
Read More“By allowing the characters to lead the way, creating the plot as they moved forward, the story naturally progressed into a web series. I knew I wanted to continue exploring my fascination with women and the complexity of our relationships. And the perspectives of characters who were not defined by their sexuality, but rather having it be a part of their experience.”
Read More“This story felt relatable today even if it was originally written in 1886. I could see in this story the difficulty of communication in love. It speaks today, when we tend to avoid speaking directly to one another, we fear to say how we feel, to be vulnerable.”
Read More“The initial idea of the project was to pose questions about what COVID would do to us as social beings. This was back in late March when things were still very new, especially the idea of "social distancing." I found the term odd as I believe we were already pretty distant figuratively, so I decided to write Pup with our old and burgeoning selves in mind.”
Read More“We originally came together and created a fashion company called “Terra Metaphysics.” The release of our clothes was always accompanied by curated magazines and videos. We started to realize that our true passion lay in philosophy, art direction, and sound design; This crystalized into our love for filmmaking.”
Read More“I am originally from South Africa, and have been involved in performance and acting my whole life. Whether it be theatre, dance, performance art, photography. My interest in film started from my love of storytelling and exploring the complex and intricate process of building these worlds until someone completely can become lost in them.”
Read More“I had mostly studied visual arts, but filmmaking appeals to me because of its capacity for the construction of entire experiences. The idea that I can create not only a visual or sound or collection of words, but a complete atmosphere excites me to no end.”
Read More“Coming from a small, white suburban town in the Bay Area, CA I never felt close to my heritage (Puerto Rican and Salvadorian.) When I moved to NYC for school I felt at home & wanted to learn more about my culture. Simultaneously I was inspired by a music video by rapper Princess Nokia that had visuals of girls playing with magic in a forest.”
Read More“The hardest part, by far, was working with the cast to get those lines to feel right in context. I couldn't exactly tell them why they were saying what they were saying, I just knew the pacing and the emotions they should be putting into it. It took a lot of trust but I think the performances are wonderfully strange, committed and energetic.”
Read More“Babywatch” doesn’t spell everything out word-for-word. I know it can be a little disorienting, like parachuting down right into the middle of something. I did my very best to leave a trail of breadcrumbs throughout. I ask a lot of the viewer, and I really hope that they're willing to lean in, become the detective.”
Read More“It was just so much fun and an absolute honour to witness this rare tradition. When you have a subject as magical as this and you're in the beautiful surroundings of Bulgaria and the visuals are creating themselves you can't wish for anything else”.
Read More“I grew up around the corner from a video store in Rumson, New Jersey. I was in there so regularly, by 9 years old I announced I wanted to own this store one day. In the early 2000’s they converted their entire inventory to DVD and sold off their tapes for pocket change. I think I bought close to 400 VHS.”
Read More“I started to come to terms with the idea that it would never be finished, which resulted in lots and lots of guilt. And even then, I was having a hard time moving on to the next thing. It wasn’t until quarantine that I decided to scrap the entire project file and start from scratch—and within a few weeks I had a brand new film in front of me.”
Read More“This was also the first time I edited a narrative film. There were so many things I wanted to say, but cramming in more ideas diluted the overall story and made it less powerful. The closer we feel to the way Birdie experiences her world, the more we empathize with all the stuff that goes unsaid.”
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