We Need to Talk About Oscar

‘Anima,’ premiering at SXSW this week, is Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s narrative feature debut. An acclaimed documentarian, Brian now turns to a sci-fi road movie following an impulsive young woman and a reclusive older man on a cross-country trip to preserve his failing consciousness at an experimental facility.We open with what the leap from documentary to narrative actually feels like and what each form demands that the other doesn’t, before getting into the decision to shoot on film and why the logistical weight it carries is more than justified by what it gives back. From there Brian talks about working with Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira, and how their casting shaped not just the performances but the characters and the entire film around them.We also get into something that runs quietly through everything Brian makes: his faith, and how it finds its way into a story that on the surface seems to sit in direct tension with it. We close by looking at what making ‘Anima’ means for how he thinks about both forms of filmmaking going forward.

Writer-director Millicent Hailes takes ‘Perfect,' her feature directorial debut, to SXSW. Millicent opens up about whether feeling ready to take the leap of making your first feature is essential to actually doing so, sharing her own experience of moving forward despite uncertainty and what that taught her about the creative process.Our conversation goes into Millicent's transition from music videos to feature length filmmaking, examining how she navigated the shift from short to long form storytelling. She unpacks figuring out the pacing and other aspects unique to the medium, from sustaining narrative momentum over 90 minutes to developing visual language that serves an extended story rather than a three-minute track.Millicent shares her approach to assembling her cast while maintaining the chemistry and relationships established earlier in the process, ensuring those connections translated authentically on screen. We also delve into the title itself and the concept of someone or something being "perfect," exploring how that theme permeates the film. We close our conversation with what this project means for Millicent's plans going forward as she charts her path as a feature filmmaker.

‘The Plan’ premiered at this year’s Slamdance last Sunday. One location, one day, one unbroken take: a group of disillusioned young adults inside a modest Los Angeles apartment, preparing for a radical act they believe will change the world.This is our conversation with writer-director Jessica Barr and cinematographer Sarah Whelden. We open with the nature of their collaboration and how the project came to life, before getting into what it actually means to conceive a film like this from the ground up.From there we dig into the one-take approach from every angle it touches: what it demands in the writing process, how it shapes the shot design, and what it asks of a cast that has nowhere to hide. We close by looking at where both filmmakers are headed next.

Autumn Best made her feature film debut in Anna Kendrick’s ‘Woman of the Hour,’ and it announced her as someone worth watching. In this conversation, we start there, with what the experience of landing that role, shooting it, premiering at TIFF in 2023, and releasing it on Netflix did to her sense of what she was capable of and what she might expect from her career going forward.From there we get into ‘BRB,’ a Kate Cobb directed tender and chaotic coming of age road trip film premiering at this year’s Slamdance. Autumn plays Sam, a teenage girl in the early days of the internet who falls for a boy she met in a chatroom. She gets into the particular challenge of inhabiting a period she was alive for but far too young to actually remember, and what it took to place herself emotionally in that specific moment of early online connection and first love.The conversation also goes somewhere more personal: her relationship with co-star Zoe Colletti, whose chemistry with Autumn carries much of the film’s emotional weight, and how her own experience living with a limb difference shaped her approach to playing a character for whom being fully seen, disability and all, is at the very heart of the story.

Five features into their collaboration, cinematographer Patrick Jones and director Amanda Kramer have developed a creative shorthand that makes projects like 'By Design' come together with surprising speed. Patrick opens up about his first reaction to the concept and the foundation that makes their collaboration so instinctive and enduring.'By Design' presented a fascinating cinematographic challenge at its core: the similarities and differences in framing, lighting, and handling human beings versus inanimate objects in front of the camera. Patrick shares how the film demanded a fresh perspective on what it means to observe and capture a subject, blurring the line between the animate and the still.We explore choreography as a visual language, from dance to general movement, and how Patrick approaches the camera's relationship to bodies in motion. He also expands on the distinct experience of shooting Amanda Kramer's music videos compared to her feature films, and what each format demands from him as a cinematographer. We close our conversation with Patrick looking ahead, sharing where he sees both their creative partnership and his own craft evolving from here.(Photo credit: Terra Gutmann-Gonzalez)

We sit down with cinematographer James Whitaker discuss 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die,' Gore Verbinski's sci-fi thriller. James opens up about the challenge of shooting science fiction on a relatively low budget, revealing how constraints pushed the team toward inventive visual solutions that serve the story's themes.Our conversation delves into how James and Gore merged their respective references to create the film's distinctive look. He discusses the collaborative process of finding a shared visual language that honors both their influences while creating something unique. James also tackles the technical and creative challenge of shooting the film's crucial expositional monologue in an engaging, visually interesting manner, turning what could be static into something dynamic.We examine how practical and digital effects work together in a film about humanity's fight against AI. James reflects on the irony and intention behind blending these approaches, discussing how the marriage of old-school techniques and modern technology mirrors the film's central conflict. His insights into resourceful filmmaking and thematic visual storytelling offer a compelling look at creating ambitious sci-fi within indie constraints.(Photo credit: Graham Bartholomew, SMPSP)

Director Sook-Yin Lee joins us to discuss ‘Paying for It,’ her adaptation of Chester Brown’s graphic novel about their former relationship. The film represents a unique creative challenge: adapting a graphic novel that was already based on their shared life together.Sook-Yin reflects on how she came to collaborate with Chester on the project and how the three layers (the lived experience, the graphic novel, and the film) compare and diverge from one another. She walks us through translating the source material into cinematic language and what that process revealed.We also talk about the many roles Sook-Yin has held throughout her career and how her varied experiences shape her approach to filmmaking and storytelling.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​(Photo credit: Dylan Gamble)

Director William D. Caballero joins us to discuss ‘TheyDream,’ his deeply personal film premiering in the NEXT section at Sundance. Blending documentary with multiple forms of animation, the film explores his family’s story through an intimate collaboration with his mother.William shares what drew him to build a film from such personal material and the dynamics of working creatively with his mom. The film employs a striking mix of animation techniques including 2D, 3D, miniatures, and rotoscoping, each serving a different purpose in the storytelling.We discuss why he chose this hybrid approach, how the various visual forms interact with the documentary elements, and the process of transforming family memory into a multi-layered cinematic experience.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​