Interviews
NYFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tânia Cypriano – “Born to Be”
Tânia Cypriano has been working between the United States and her native Brazil for over 25 years. Her films and videos have won international awards including Best Documentary at the Pan African...
NYFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lynn Novick – “College Behind Bars”
Lynn Novick is an Emmy, Peabody, and Alfred I. duPont Columbia Award-winning filmmaker. For 30 years she has been directing and producing landmark documentary films about American culture, history,...
Margaret Trudeau Tackles Feminism, Mental Health, and Her Time as Canada’s First Lady in “Certain Woman of an Age”
Margaret Trudeau is bringing her one-woman show “Certain Woman of an Age” to NYC at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Co-written by Trudeau and Alix Sobler and directed by Kimberly Senior, the...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shonali Bose – “The Sky Is Pink”
Shonali Bose’s 2005 feature film debut, “Amu,” won several awards, including the FIPRESCI by the International Federation of Film Critics, as well as two Indian National Awards for...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Alma Har’el – “Honey Boy”
Alma Har’el is a film and music video director, best known for her documentaries “Love True” and “Bombay Beach,” the latter of which was awarded the top prize at the 2011 Tribeca Film...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jorunn Myklebust Syversen – “Disco”
Jorunn Myklebust Syversen works across film, video-art, and photography. Her first feature was 2017’s “The Tree Feller.” Since 2005, her work has been shown at several international...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Klaudia Reynicke – “Love Me Tender”
Klaudia Reynicke is a screenwriter and director from Lima, Peru, now based in Switzerland. She directed her first short film, “Great Expectations NY,” in 2005. It was followed by additional...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lina Alabed – “Ibrahim: A Fate to Define”
Lina Alabed’s senior project, a documentary about author Mohamed Al-Maghout, was broadcast on Al Jazeera in 2007. Her first documentary short, “Noor Alhuda,” won the DOX BOX jury...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Hind Meddeb – “Paris Stalingrad”
Hind Meddeb currently works between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Her first film, “Casablanca: One Way Ticket to Paradise,” tells the story of 14 Moroccan suicide bombers who killed...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Kasi Lemmons – “Harriet”
Kasi Lemmons is an award-winning director, writer, actress, and professor. Her acclaimed 1997 feature directorial debut, “Eve’s Bayou,” received the Independent Spirit Award for Best First...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Eva Orner – “Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator”
Eva Orner’s directing credits include “The Network,” “Chasing Asylum,” and “Out of Iraq.” She’s also produced many films, including “Taxi to the...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lisa Barros D’Sa – “Ordinary Love”
Lisa Barros D’Sa’s debut feature film, “Cherrybomb,” co-directed with Glenn Leyburn, premiered at the Berlinale in 2009. Barros D’Sa and Leyburn’s second feature, “Good Vibrations,”...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lauren Greenfield – “The Kingmaker”
For the last 25 years, Lauren Greenfield has made documentaries about consumerism, youth culture, and gender. Her feature film credits include “Thin,” “The Queen of...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Myriam Verrault – “Kuessipan”
Myriam Verreault made a name for herself by co-directing, scripting, producing, and editing “West of Pluto,” her critically-acclaimed 2019 feature debut. The film went on to be screened...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Barbara Kopple – “Desert One”
Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County, USA” and “American Dream” both went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In addition to documentaries, she has also...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Eva Mulvad – “Love Child”
Eva Mulvad had her international breakthrough in 2006, with the release of documentary “Enemies of Happiness,” which followed a female politician in Afghanistan. The film won the World...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marielle Heller – “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” was nominated for three Academy Awards in 2019. Heller’s 2015 directorial debut, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” won...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Maria Sødahl – “Hope”
Maria Sødahl has written and directed several television dramas, documentaries and short films. Her first feature film, “Limbo,” was nominated for ten of Norway’s Amanda Awards,...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Coky Giedroyc – “How to Build a Girl”
With a background in documentaries, pop videos, and arts programs, British director Coky Giedroyc made her feature debut with “Stella Does Tricks,” starring Kelly Macdonald. Her BAFTA-...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sanja Živković – “Easy Land”
Sanja Živković is a writer, director, and film professor. Her work is influenced by having grown up in both Serbia and Canada. She’s directed multiple short films, including...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Julie Delpy – “My Zoe”
Julie Delpy began her international career as an actress, then turned to writing and directing. Her first feature was 2007’s “2 Days in Paris,” for which she later directed a...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tamar Shavgulidze – “Comets”
Tamar Shavgulidze was born in Tbilisi. She’s made several shorts and one feature; her projects have won competitions at the National Film Center four times, and she also has been a jury member...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Antoneta Kastrati – “Zana”
Originally from Kosovo, Antoneta Kastrati’started directing in the late-1990s after surviving the war. She began tackling issues of post-war society in documentaries that she collaborated on...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Gabriela Cowperthwaite – “The Friend”
Gabriela Cowperthwaite is a Brazilian American filmmaker who rose to prominence with the release of her 2013 film “Blackfish,” which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Paula Hernández – “The Sleepwalkers”
Paula Hernández’s debut film, “Inheritance,” won Best First Feature from Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts. Her next two features,...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Heather Young – “Murmur”
“Murmur” is director Heather Young’s first feature. Her 2016 short “Fish” has played at festivals around the world. It won Best Short Film in the NSI Online Short Film...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shelly Love – “A Bump Along the Way”
Award-winning artist and director Shelly Love has devised, written, and directed numerous music videos, commercials, and short films including “Little White Bird,” “Pod,” “Scratch,”...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Rojda Sekersöz – “My Life as a Comedian”
Rojda Sekersöz’s first feature, “Beyond Dreams,” debuted in 2017 and won the Göteborgs Film Festival’s Angelos and Audience Choice for Best Film. It also won Best Picture at...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Aisling Chin-Yee – “The Rest of Us”
Aisling Chin-Yee is an award-winning producer, writer, and director. She produced “Rhymes for Young Ghouls,” which was a TIFF Top 10 film and won Best Director at the Vancouver...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Alla Kovgan – “Cunningham”
Alla Kovgan is writer, director, and editor who was born in Moscow. Her film “Nora” received 30 awards and was broadcast worldwide. She co-directed, wrote, and edited the Emmy-nominated...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Chiara Malta – “Simple Women”
Chiara Malta’s documentary “Armando E La Politica” premiered as the opening night film at Turin Film Festival and aired on ZDF and Arte. She has written and directed many shorts,...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Unjoo Moon – “I Am Woman”
Born in South Korea and raised in Australia, Unjoo Moon has directed and produced many award winning short films, music videos, commercials, and documentaries which have screened internationally at...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Neasa Hardiman – “Sea Fever”
Neasa Hardiman is a BAFTA-winning director and writer whose work spans film and television, including BBC/Netflix’s “Happy Valley” and Netflix’s “Jessica Jones.”...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet María Paz González – “Lina from Lima”
María Paz González was born in Temuco, Chile. She studied journalism at the Universidad de Chile, and specialized in screenwriting and filmmaking. She’s worked in different roles of film...
TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Gavron – “Rocks”
Sarah Gavron’s previous credits include “Brick Lane,” which earned her a BAFTA nomination and The Alfred Dunhill Talent Award at the London Film Festival, and the Dennis Potter...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Isabel Sandoval – “Lingua Franca”
Isabel Sandoval is a New York-based Filipina filmmaker. Her feature directorial debut, “Señorita,” premiered in competition at the 2011 Locarno Film Festival, and won the Emerging...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Manele Labidi – “Arab Blues”
Manele Labidi is a French-Tunisian writer-director. She has written and directed different projects for theater, radio, and television. Her first short film, “A Room of My Own,” is a...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marie Grahtø – “Psychosia”
Marie Grahtø graduated from the independent film school Super16 in 2014. She has travelled to festivals around the world with her short films “Daimi” (2012) and “Yolo”...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mattie Do – “The Long Walk”
Mattie Do is Laos’ first, and only, female filmmaker. Her feature debut, “Chanthaly,” was the ninth feature film produced in the country since the 1975 revolution, the first Lao...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shahad Ameen – “Scales”
Writer-director Shahad Ameen was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Her short films include 2009’s “Our Own Musical” and 2011’s “Leila’s Window.” The...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Gitanjali Rao – “Bombay Rose”
A self-taught animator and filmmaker, Gitanjali Rao emerged into the international stage with her animated short “Printed Rainbow,” which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2006....
Tavi Gevinson Talks Her Latest Play “Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow”
Since folding “Rookie,” the online magazine she founded, Tavi Gevinson has firmly established herself as an NYC stage actress. She’s currently starring in “Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow...
Winter Miller Discusses the Political Relevance of Her New Play “No One Is Forgotten”
Playwright Winter Miller, best known for her play “In Darfur,” is back this season with “No One Is Forgotten” at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. It’s the story of two...
Lulu Wang Talks “The Farewell,” Representation, and Working with Awkwafina
Writer-director Lulu Wang’s new film, “The Farewell,” began as a 2016 episode of “This American Life.” Wang wrote and narrated the segment “What You Don’t Know,” the story of...
Lynn Shelton on “Sword of Trust,” TV Directing, and Creating Compelling Characters
Lynn Shelton has spent much of her prolific career directing movies — eight in total, including the upcoming “Sword of Trust.” The pic premiered earlier this year at SXSW and sees its...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mary McGuckian – “A Girl from Mogadishu”
Mary McGuckian is an Irish writer, director, and producer known for her collaborative approach to working with actors. She has worked on 12 films, including “The Price of Desire,” “The Bridge...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lydia Dean Pilcher – “Liberté: A Call to Spy”
Lydia Dean Pilcher is an Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy-winning producer, with over 35 feature films with directors including Gina Prince-Bythewood and Mira Nair. Her credits include...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Emily Harris – “Carmilla”
Emily Harris is a visual storyteller spanning film, theater, exhibition, and installation. Her work has been shown at major film festivals and museums worldwide including the V&A Museum London,...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir – “The Deposit”
Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir is a director, writer, and producer. Her films have screened at film festivals around the world. Two of her documentaries were nominated for Best Documentary by the...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Susanne Heinrich – “Aren’t You Happy?”
Susanne Heinrich is a German filmmaker and author. She published four books between the ages of 19 and 25 and was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Following her first short film,...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sasha Collington – “Love Type D”
Sasha Collington is an alumnus of the Binger Writers Lab and the Berlinale Talent Campus. She was one of four writers to win the inaugural Betty Box and Peter Rogers Comedy Writing Award for her...