Director’s Series: Antonio Campos on The Devil All the Time
Filmmaker Antonio Campos didn’t actually burst onto the indie movie scene with his first couple movies, Buy It Now (2005) and Afterschool (2008), but it paved the way for his work with Borderline Productions and fellow filmmakers Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Josh Mond (James White), Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of My Mother)... »
Filmmaker Profile: Archive Director Gavin Rothery
Over the first twenty years of the 21st century, filmmakers have explored the notion of sentient artificial intelligence, where computer/robotic-based creations can engage in autonomous thought. Notably, Steven Spielberg did so with A.I. Artificial Intelligence, in which a mechanical boy was central to the film. Later, Caradog James made The Machine, where a beautiful... »
Oscar Nominated Best Documentary Feature Last Men In Aleppo
In 2013, during the siege of Aleppo by the Assad regime, director Feras Fayyad started shooting on his own, following the White Helmets, the volunteer first responders who organized to protect their neighborhoods and save the civilian lives impacted by Russian bombs. He wanted to learn why people remained in their homes despite the... »
Director Series: Rian Johnson – Star Wars: The Last Jedi
When Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy enlisted director Rian Johnson to write and direct Episode VIII in the Star Wars nine-film franchise, Johnson merely had three smaller-scale critical successes behind him as both writer and director: Brick, The Brothers Bloom, and Looper. However, for part eight in the nonology, Kennedy knew she needed an adept... »
Director Series: Sean Baker – The Florida Project
Sean Baker’s The Florida Project was inspired by news articles about the affordable housing crisis – the “hidden homeless” who are living in cheap motels week to week. The film is set in Orlando, FL, the home of Disney World, which provided the visual juxtaposition of poverty and fantasy. Baker met his co-writer, Chris... »
Director Series: Craig Gillespie – I, Tonya
Inspired by the life of notorious figure skater Tonya Harding, I, Tonya comes at the viewer with a combination of scripted interviews, dramatized archival footage, and flashbacks, all performed by a respectable team of ideally-cast performers. Nonetheless, director Craig Gillespie noted that the haphazard approach to the narrative came directly from screenwriter Steven Rogers’... »
Director Series: Errol Morris, Breaking Boundaries with “Wormwood”
Uncovering some of the U.S. government’s darkest secrets, “Wormwood,” currently on Netflix, examines the life-long quest of one man–Eric Olson–to find the truth behind his father’s mysterious death. Weaving this mystery into a six-part story, renowned documentarian Errol Morris (Fog of War, Thin Blue Line) combines his own noted interview style with a dramatic narrative... »
Director Series: Jake Goldberger Explores Awkward New Love in Almost Friends
“I was in a coffee shop doing a screenwriting assignment. I had to do the first ten pages, but had writers block. A kid came in, and he had an amazingly awkward conversation with a girl behind the counter. I transcribed it and turned it into the first... »
Director Series: Greta Gerwig Takes Flight with Lady Bird
For her feature film directing debut, actress/writer Greta Gerwig tells a deeply personal coming-of-age story. Set in Sacramento, California during the early 2000’s, an artistic teen (Saoirse Ronan) remains in constant conflict with her opinionated mother (Laurie Metcalf). The process of co-writing two films with writer/director Noah Baumbach was an important step for Gerwig... »
Q&A with Damien Power, Director of Killing Ground
Director Damien Power has made his feature lenght debut with the new horror/thriller Killing Ground, released in theaters and VOD on July 21st. Power built his career up via a series of short films, most of which he also wrote, and now has taken some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions from Below the Line.... »