Interviews
Berlinale 2022 Women Directors: Meet Alejandra Márquez Abella – “El Norte Sobre El Vacío”
Alejandra Márquez Abella studied filmmaking at Centre D’Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya in Barcelona. Her first feature film, 2015’s “Semana Santa,” and her sophomore...
Berlinale 2022 Women Directors: Meet Ursula Meier – “The Line”
Of Swiss and French nationalities, Ursula Meier studied filmmaking in Belgium. In 2008, her first feature film, “Home,” was selected for the Cannes Critics Week and received numerous...
Madeleine Carter on Following Rep. Jamie Raskin for Her New Doc “Love & The Constitution”
Madeleine Carter is a filmmaker, producer, and executive. Her credits include “Live from Space,” “To Catch a Smuggler,” and “Brothers in War.” She received an Emmy...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro – “Am I Ok?”
Tig Notaro is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actor. Her credits include “Army of the Dead” and “Star Trek: Discovery.” She...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt – “Aftershock”
Tonya Lewis Lee is a director, producer, and writer whose work through storytelling often explores the personal impact of social justice issues such as civil rights and criminal justice. Paula Eiselt...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes – “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales”
Abigail Disney is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and co-founder of Fork Films, a nonfiction media production company which produces the podcast “All Ears.” She is the...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Shalini Kantayya – “TikTok, Boom.”
Shalini Kantayya is a filmmaker whose film “Coded Bias” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix. The film won a Social Impact Media Award for Best...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sophie Hyde – “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
Sophie Hyde is a director, producer, writer, and founding member of the film collective Closer Productions. She lives and works on the lands of the Kaurna people in South Australia. Her debut...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Abi Damaris Corbin – “892”
Abi Damaris Corbin is a Boston-bred writer and director based in Los Angeles. Corbin’s BAFTA shortlisted live-action short “The Suitcase” had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Eva Longoria Bastón – “La Guerra Civil”
As an award-winning actress, director, producer, entrepreneur, and activist, Eva Longoria Bastón has become one the most significant trailblazers behind the camera. For over a decade, she has been...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes – “The Janes”
Tia Lessin was nominated for an Academy Award for her work as a director and producer of the Hurricane Katrina survival story “Trouble the Water,” winner of the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Lears – “To the End”
Rachel Lears is a documentary director, producer, and cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Rachel’s most recent feature documentary, Netflix’s “Knock Down the House,” won...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Isabel Castro – “Mija”
Isabel Castro is a four-time Emmy-nominated, Mexican-American filmmaker who combines a practice in journalism and art to tell stories about immigration, civil rights, and identity. She splits her...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Jamie Dack – “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Jamie Dack is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her short film “Palm Trees and Power Lines” premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival as a Cinéfondation selection. Her debut feature...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Julie Ha – “Free Chol Soo Lee”
Julie Ha’s storytelling career spans more than two decades, with a specialized focus on Asian American stories. She worked as an editor for 10 years at KoreAm Journal, a national Korean American...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sara Dosa -“Fire of Love”
Sara Dosa is an Indie Spirit Award-nominated documentary director and Peabody award-winning producer. Her first feature as a director, “The Last Season,” won a Golden Gate Award at its...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Amy Poehler – “Lucy and Desi”
Perhaps best known for her Emmy-nominated series “Parks and Recreation,” Amy Poehler currently serves as co-creator, executive producer, and the lead voice of Fox’s animated series...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Ondi Timoner – “Last Flight Home”
Ondi Timoner is an internationally-acclaimed filmmaker who has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice – for “Dig!” (2004), about the collision of art and...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Rita Baghdadi – “Sirens”
Rita Baghdadi is an award-winning Moroccan-American documentary filmmaker whose work has been supported by Sundance, Tribeca, Netflix, HBO, Film Independent, and the International Documentary...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Tania Anderson– “The Mission”
Tania Anderson is a British, American, and Swiss filmmaker based in Helsinki, Finland. She has worked as a writer and journalist, most recently as a writer for National Geographic, where she...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing – “Midwives”
Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing has worked as a freelance filmmaker in Myanmar since 2006, acting as director, producer, editor, and sound recordist. Her short “Burmese Butterfly” played festivals in...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Maria Loohufvud – “Calendar Girls”
Maria Loohufvud is an art director with a background in music and dance. Her feminist engagement has led to projects on many platforms, such as the equality game Komma Lika. Together with Love...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Monia Chokri – “Babysitter”
Monia Chokri is a Canadian stage and television actor, as well as an award-winning director. Her first feature film, ”A Brother’s Love,” won the Un Certain Regard jury’s Coup de Coeur at the...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Anna Nemes – “Gentle”
Anna Nemes is a visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Europe since 2010. “Beauty of the Beast,” her essay-documentary about female...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Nina Menkes – “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power”
Nina Menkes is a filmmaker whose works synthesize inner dream worlds with brutal, outer realities. Her work has been shown widely in major international film festivals, including Sundance, the...
Sujata Day Talks “Definition Please,” Normalizing South Asian American Stories, & Being Inspired by Issa Rae
Pittsburgh native Sujata Day is a performer, creator, writer, and director. She regularly performs in Upright Citizens Brigade’s hit “Asian AF” show. Day is known for her starring...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Martika Ramirez Escobar – “Leonor Will Never Die”
Martika Ramirez Escobar is a filmmaker-cinematographer based in Manila. Her thesis film from the University of the Philippines competed at the 19th Busan International Film Festival. Her latest work,...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Mariama Diallo – “Master”
Mariama Diallo is a Brooklyn based writer-director. Her short film “Hair Wolf” premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction....
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Krystin Ver Linden – “Alice”
Krystin Ver Linden is a director and screenwriter. Her script “Ride” sold to Lionsgate with Jill Solloway attached to direct. Her pitch “Love in Vain,” an unconventional...
Agam Darshi on Centering “Donkeyhead” Around a South Asian Family & Processing Trauma Through Art
Agam Darshi is an award-winning actress, writer, and director. Born in England and raised all over Canada, she currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She recently wrapped on Ava DuVernay’s...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Francisca Alegría – “The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future”
Francisca Alegría is Chilean filmmaker whose short film “And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye” received the award for Best International Fiction Short Film at the 2017...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Chloe Okuno – “Watcher”
Chloe Okuno is a writer-director based in Los Angeles. Her recent work includes writing a remake of “Audrey Rose” for Orion Pictures and writing and directing a segment of the anthology series...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Hanna Bergholm – “Hatching”
Hanna Bergholm is a Finnish film director who has helmed several internationally-awarded short films and TV drama series. Her latest short horror film, “Puppet Master,” was selected to...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Audrey Diwan – “Happening”
Audrey Diwan is a filmmaker, author, and screenwriter who has collaborated with Valérie Donzelli, Cédric Jimenez, and Gilles Lellouche among others. She made her feature film directing debut with...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Adamma Ebo – “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.”
Adamma Ebo is a Nigerian-American writer, director, and producer who works alongside her identical twin, Adanne Ebo. Both wrote on “Mrs. & Mrs. Smith,” an upcoming Amazon series. They...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Violet Columbus – “The Exiles”
Violet Columbus is a writer-director currently living in New York City. She graduated from NYU’s Tisch School Of The Arts in 2016. “The Exiles” is her debut feature film. “The Exiles...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Alli Haapasalo – “Girl Picture”
Alli Haapasalo is a Finnish director and writer with passion for telling strong female-driven stories. Haapasalo’s feature debut, 2016’s “Love and Fury,” followed a writer finding...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Carlota Pereda – “Piggy”
Carlota Pereda is a film and series director from Madrid. Pereda started her career in television and was nominated for the Television Academy’s Iris Award for “Águila Roja”...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Phyllis Nagy – “Call Jane”
Phyllis Nagy earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations and won the NY Film Critics Circle award for “Carol,” her adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s classic novel “The Price of...
Katie Couric on “Going There,” Confronting Her Past, and Seizing Control of Her Career
Interview by Wendy Sachs “I don’t know when I’m going to slow down. When are you going to slow down?” Katie Couric asks me over the phone when we talk in early December. The iconic,...
Maya Cozier Talks “She Paradise” and Honoring the Beauty and Complexity of Sisterhood
Filmmaker Maya Cozier was raised in the Caribbean twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. She gained years of experience working as a dancer/choreographer for music videos and television shows both on...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Trish Adlesic – “A Tree of Life”
Trish Adlesic is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning producer/director. Her producing credits include “Gasland” and “Gasland Part II.” She co-directed and co-produced “I...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Cathryne Czubek – “Once Upon a Time in Uganda”
Cathryne Czubek is a director and producer based in New York City. “Screw You Cancer,” her award-winning doc series for Condé Nast Entertainment, was the first digital series to receive...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Diane Tsai – “Be Our Guest”
Diane Tsai is a Taiwanese-American documentary filmmaker and journalist at TIME. Her award-winning documentary series “Firsts,” which she directed and produced with Spencer Bakalar,...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles – “Black and Missing”
Geeta Gandbhir is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning director, producer, and editor. Her most recent film, “Apart,” co-directed with Rudy Valdez, is currently playing on HBO Max and her...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Nahid Persson – “Be My Voice”
Nahid Persson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Sweden. She was born in Iran and took political asylum in Sweden as a result of her political activism during and after the 1979...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sonja Sohn – “The Slow Hustle”
Sonja Sohn is an actress and filmmaker. Her on-screen credits include “The Wire,” “Body of Proof,” and “The Chi.” She made her directorial debut with the 2017...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sara Terry – “A Decent Home”
Sara Terry is a documentary filmmaker. Her first documentary “Fambul Tok,” about an unprecedented grassroots forgiveness program in Sierra Leone, was supported by Sundance and Chicken and...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Constance Marks – “Grandpa Was an Emperor”
Constance Marks is a director, producer, and award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. She is the founder and president of Constance Marks Productions, Inc., a documentary production company...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Julia Bacha – “Boycott”
Julia Bacha is a Peabody award-winning filmmaker and the Creative Director at Just Vision. She started her filmmaking career in Cairo, where she wrote and edited “Control Room,” for which...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Maria Speth – “Mr. Bachmann and His Class”
Maria Speth is a writer, director, and producer of feature films and documentaries. Her debut feature “The Days Between” premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2001,...