Interviews
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Cristina Costantini – “Mucho Mucho Amor”
Cristina Costantini’s first feature documentary, “Science Fair,” won audience awards at both the Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals in 2018, as well as an Emmy and Critics’ Choice...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Verónica Chen – “High Tide”
Verónica Chen was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Texas. Her films have screened at festivals such as Venice, Sundance, and San Sebastián, among others. Her films include “Smokers...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kim A. Snyder – “Us Kids”
Kim A. Snyder directed the Peabody Award–winning documentary “Newtown,” which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival before screening at festivals worldwide, being released...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Liz Garbus – “Lost Girls”
Liz Garbus is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker whose film “What Happened, Miss Simone?” opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, received a Peabody Award, and was nominated for an...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Zeina Durra – “Luxor”
Zeina Durra’s directorial debut, “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!,” premiered in US Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2010. A British born of...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Shana Feste – “Run Sweetheart Run”
Shana Feste’s first feature, “The Greatest,” premiered at Sundance 2009 and went on to be nominated for a Humanitas Prize. Her second writing and directing effort, “Country...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Kirsten Johnson – “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
Kirsten Johnson’s most recent film “Cameraperson” premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Her short “The Above” premiered at...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Amanda Kernell – “Charter”
Amanda Kernell has made several award-winning short films as a writer and director. “Sami Blood,” her feature film debut, premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and won the Europa...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Romola Garai – “Amulet”
Romola Garai is a writer, director, and actor, whose directorial debut, “Scrubber,” was nominated for Sundance Best Short Film in 2013. As a performer, her extensive film, TV, and stage...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Tara Miele – “Wander Darkly”
Tara Miele is a writer and director in both film and television. Her directorial work includes the backdoor pilot “Green Arrow and The Canaries,” episodes of “Arrow,”...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Ekwa Msangi – “Farewell Amor”
Ekwa Msangi is a Tanzanian-American filmmaker who has written and directed several drama series for mainstream broadcasters in Kenya and South Africa, including “The Agency,” MNET’s...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Eleanor Wilson – “Save Yourselves!”
Eleanor Wilson is a writer, director, and producer from Adelaide, Australia. Her award-winning short films have played at festivals throughout the world, with her first, “Possum,” winning...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Fernanda Valadez – “Identifying Features”
Director and producer Fernanda Valadez’s short “400 Maletas” was nominated for a Silver Ariel and a finalist for a Student Academy Award. She produced Astrid Rondero’s...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Radha Blank – “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Radha Blank is performer, writer, and director. A Helen Merrill Award recipient, Blank’s acclaimed play “Seed” was deemed “fresh, lively…and poetic” by the Huffington...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker – “Shirley”
Josephine Decker’s feature “Madeline’s Madeline” made its world premiere at Sundance 2018 and went on to receive a nomination for Best Picture at IFP’s Gotham Awards as well as two...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Phyllida Lloyd – “Herself”
Phyllida Lloyd is known for her award-winning work in theater, opera, and film. In 2008, she directed the film version of “Mamma Mia,” which went on to make over $600 million worldwide....
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kitty Green – “The Assistant”
Kitty Green is an award-winning Australian filmmaker. Her debut documentary feature, “Ukraine Is Not a Brothel,” explored a provocative feminist movement in Ukraine. After making its...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Brenda Chapman – “Come Away”
Brenda Chapman began her career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, working on films that include the Academy Award–nominated “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King,” for...
Playwright Bess Wohl on Her Broadway Debut “Grand Horizons”
Playwright Bess Wohl is making her Broadway debut this season with “Grand Horizons,” the story of a couple (Jane Alexander and James Cromwell) who move to a quiet retirement community...
Francesca Faridany on Playing a Woman Ahead of Her Time in “The Half-Life of Marie Curie”
Francesca Faridany is currently playing the titular character in Lauren Gunderson’s “The Half-Life of Marie Curie,” the story of the pioneering scientist’s friendship with...
“Hala” Writer-Director Minhal Baig on Making a Culturally Specific Story with Universal Themes
Minhal Baig is a writer and director. In 2017, she was chosen as a directing mentee for Ryan Murphy’s Half Foundation Directing Mentorship. Currently, she is a story editor on Netflix’s “Bojack...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Beth Anderson – “Unschooled”
Rachel Beth Anderson is a Sundance award-winning cinematographer. She began her career filming in Libya, Syria, South Sudan, and Afghanistan for PBS’ “Frontline,” CNN, the Human...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mariam Ghani – “What We Left Unfinished”
Mariam Ghani is a visual artist whose first feature, “What We Left Unfinished,” premiered at 2019 Berlinale and won the Critics Choice Award at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival....
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lily Zepeda – “Mr. Toilet: The World’s #2 Man”
Lily Zepeda’s passion for exploring unconventional stories began with a career in Journalism, interviewing subjects ranging from Grammy award-winning musicians to Olympians. Zepeda went from TV...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Monica Long Ross – “We Believe In Dinosaurs”
Monica Long Ross is a filmmaker and playwright, and a co-founder of 137 Films, a Chicago-based documentary production company. Ross co-directed and co-produced the award-winning documentaries “The...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Karin Kainer – “Kosher Beach”
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Karin Kainer is a Documentary Film Lecturer at H.I.T., The Holon Institute of Technology, in Israel, and the director of “Skate of Mind,” and “South Wind on...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ema Ryan Yamazaki – “Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams”
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s first feature documentary, “Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators,” premiered in 2017 and won the Audience Award at the Nantucket...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sara Dosa – “The Seer and the Unseen”
Sara Dosa’s first directorial feature, “The Last Season,” won the Golden Gate Award when it premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2014. In addition to film,...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mo Scarpelli – “Anbessa”
Mo Scarpelli co-directed “Frame by Frame,” which screened at SXSW, Hot Docs, and BFI London Film Festival, among other fests. It has won over a dozen jury and audience awards....
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Olga Lvoff – “Busy Inside”
Olga Lvoff is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a member of The European Film Academy. Her feature doc “When People Die They Sing Songs” was nominated for a Student Oscar in 2014...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Francesca Trianni – “Paradise Without People”
Francesca Trianni is an Emmy-nominated senior producer at Time, where her work has been recognized with a World Press Photo award, Pictures of the Year International, and the National Murrow Awards....
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Martha Shane – “Narrowsburg”
Martha Shane is an Emmy-award-winning documentary filmmaker whose credits include “After Tiller” and “Picture Character.” The former won the Emmy for Best...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shani Rozanes – “Golda”
Shani Rozanes is an Israeli journalist, writer, and filmmaker living in Berlin. A former news editor in leading Israeli media outlets, she currently works at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Deia Schlosberg – “The Story of Plastic”
Deia Schlosberg made national news in October 2016 when she was arrested and charged with 45 years’ worth of felonies for filming the #ShutItDown pipeline protest in North Dakota. She produced...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Geeta Gandbhir – “Hungry to Learn”
Geeta Gandbhir is an award-winning director, producer, and editor. As director, she won Best Documentary at the News and Doc Emmys for HBO’s “I Am Evidence,” and Best Government and...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Cara Jones – “Blessed Child”
Cara Jones is an Emmy Award winning journalist who founded the production company Storytellers for Good. Her short films include “Surfing Possibility,” “Mama Hope,” and...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Beth B – “Lydia Lunch – The War is Never Over”
Beth B is a writer, director, and producer of feature-length documentary and narrative films, as well as experimental shorts. Her films have been shown at, and acquired by, the Whitney Museum of...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Katie Green and Carlye Rubin – “1275 Days”
Katie Green and Carlye Rubin have directed three feature documentaries together: “The (Dead Mothers) Club,” “The Family I Had,” and “1275 Days.” Together, the pair...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jo Ardinger – “Personhood”
Jo Ardinger is an award-winning editor working on documentary and narrative film projects. Her editing credits include the documentary short “Beyond The Visible: The Story of the Very Large...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Abby Ginzberg – “Waging Change”
Abby Ginzberg has been making documentaries about race and social justice for over 30 years. Her directing credits include “And Then They Came for Us,” which won a Silver Gravel Award,...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Karen Bernstein – “i’m gonna make you love me”
Karen Bernstein has numerous producing credits to her name in the field of documentary film, has directed a number of TV documentary episodes, and is the co-director of “Richard Linklater: Dream Is...
DOC NYC 2019 Women Directors: Meet Nicole Costa – “The Journey of Monalisa”
Chilean actress, filmmaker, and producer Nicole Costa is the director of the short film “Chilean for Beginners” (2010), and the video art piece “Wireless Transmission” (2016) in...
Joaquina Kalukango Discusses “Slave Play,” Its Refusal to Offer Easy Answers
Joaquina Kalukango’s Kaneisha is perhaps the most complicated character in Broadway’s “Slave Play.” Jeremy O. Harris’ play is drawing rave reviews for its honest and shocking...
Director Erin Derham Explains How Making “Stuffed” Changed Her Views on Taxidermy
Erin Derham is an award-winning film director who began her career editing and directing for PBS. Her films include “Buskin’ Blues,” a music documentary exploring the secretive lives of street...
BFI London FF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Haifaa Al Mansour – “The Perfect Candidate”
Haifaa Al Mansour is considered the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and her feature film “Wadjda” was the first feature ever to be shot entirely inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia....
BFI London FF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Malgorzata Szumowska – “The Other Lamb”
Born in Kraków, Malgorzata Szumowska is one of the most prominent Polish directors of today, and has been honored with several international awards, including the Teddy Award for “In the Name...
BFI London FF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Aoife O’Kelly – “Walking with Shadows”
Aoife O’Kelly has worked in several aspects of television and film production for nearly a decade. She has made two short films, including “Fish” in 2015, and “Lula”...
Mill Valley Film Fest 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sahraa Karimi – “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha”
Sahraa Karimi comes from the second generation of Afghan refugees in Iran. At the age of 15, she acted in two Iranian films, which led to her studying cinema in Slovakia. She graduated with a PhD in...
BFI London FF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Christine Molloy – “Rose Plays Julie”
Christine Molloy hails from Dublin, Ireland, and works with her partner, Joe Lawlor. Between 2003 and 2010, they co-wrote and directed 10 acclaimed short films, including the award-winning “Who...
NYFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Justine Triet – “Sibyl”
“Sibyl” is director Justine Triet’s third feature. She directed “Age of Panic” in 2013 and “In Bed with Victoria” in 2016. All three films screened at the...
NYFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ivy Meeropol – “Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn”
Ivy Meeropol’s documentary feature debut was “Heir to an Execution,” which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. It was followed by two short...