Filmmaker interviews
I always try to hire women, people of colour, trans or bisexual and otherly abled people. I will always do so. I’m not sure others follow suit but I do keep hearing that of more crews these days, so that’s a good thing.
We wanted to make up a relationship between two souls who connect each other from their hearts. And we think that true love is always innocent and always finds its own way no matter if it is between two men or women.
Along with the rising tension, the film seems in its core a feminist exploration where men are merely mentioned plot points, things to be missed, and the women move the story embracing their aloneness in vibrant, diverse ways. As Lombardia says in her interview here “Like planets in the solar system, these seeming divergent characters’ worlds rotate around the same type of male absence.”
NATALIE: Yes, I was obsessed with Asian horror growing up and gothic horror literature, as well. That certainly played a part in influencing my work as a whole. When I came up with the idea for RELIC, I was staying at my grandma’s house, which is has been knocked down since, but at the time it was a 150-year-old Japanese house and it always freaked me the hell out as a kid. So, being back there – the combination of being in a creepy old house and the Alzheimer’s was the seed for RELIC.
“Online artistic platforms such as this one is such a constructive way to not only highlight a geographic region where the festival is being ‘held’ via a virtual tour of its programming but give people hope and agency to keep planning and moving forward in their lives. It’s great that Wendy was not fazed by what couldn’t take place but focused on what the possibilities could be: a broader audience base and a mental relief for those seeking out artistic comfort.”
Skye Borgman’s ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT is a dream of impossibility for the true crime documentary enthusiast. Tracing the two abduction/kidnappings of a pre-teen Jan Broberg by Bob Berchtold with the arguable permission of her parents, the film begins with a reality that is hard for one to wrap their head around, even acknowledging that the events of the film took place in the 70s and to a naïve Mormon family in Idaho – that two parents would stand by and more or less give permission to a man to take their little girl and even “marry” her.
Dr. Gupta has a massive transformation over the course of the film, and we watch him wrestle with his ideals while trying to climb the political ladder. I certainly don’t see him as a villain. Rather, Gupta’s evolution into a hamstrung health official is a damning indictment of the entire system.
When I picked Mecca, I had already written about a guy with AIDS. It was rough for me because [actor Badd Idea] has AIDS. Every scene, I would pass it by him before [filming]. I’d ask, “Are you OK saying that?” Even though he was outspoken about [his disease]. So, it was rough. Jake grew up while we were making the movie. If I could do it again, I know [now] how I would do it [differently]. But I like challenges. I’m very extreme [when it comes to] challenges.
Perhaps the best breakout comedy movie from the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival is a Capra-esque gem called Nobody’s Watching. It’s a smartly-executed work which captures powerful and authentic emotions, whose laughs are not throwaway and cheap, but based in real sadness and approached with great reverence.
It was almost shocking to discover this gentle, cheery person with a disarmingly childlike smile was the same person who made such a dark and challenging movie. The contrast between who I encountered in a hotel lobby and what audiences will encounter with Son of Sofia only augments the sense of humanity both the film and filmmaker so strongly convey.
