Interviews | Film Festival Today

Interview with “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” Director Mohammad Rasoulof

January 16, 2025

Interview with “Santosh” Director Sandhya Suri

December 23, 2024

Interview with “Super/Man” Co-Director Peter Ettedgui

December 16, 2024

Middleburg Interview: Michael Gracey of “Better Man”

November 5, 2024

Middleburg Interview: Shiori Ito of “Black Box Diaries”

October 31, 2024

TIFF Interview: Anastasiia Bortuali and Dmitrii Novoseltsev of “Temporary Shelter”

September 19, 2024

TIFF Interview: Gabrielle Brady of “The Wolves Always Come at Night”

September 17, 2024

Interview with “Sting” Director Kiah Roache-Turner

April 17, 2024

SXSW Interview: Charlie Hamilton James and Jeff Wilson of “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story”

March 19, 2024

TIFF Interview: Axel Petersén and Joel Spira of “Shame on Dry Land”

September 21, 2023

New/Next “Carpet Cowboys” Interview

August 26, 2023

Interview with “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” Director Mohammad Rasoulof
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
January 16, 2025
Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof (Evil Does Not Exist) premiered his latest feature, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. I reviewed it out of the Toronto International Film Festival, in September. As he discusses in the press notes, the film almost landed him in prison for 8 years, given its politically fraught subject matter. Fortunately, Rasoulof was able to flee Iran and now resides in Germany. Thanks to the German ... >>
Mental Horror Shines in “The Damned”
By Patrick Howard
January 8, 2025
The Damned (Thordur Palsson, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars The Damned is a bleak horror film that explores the theme of choice and its repercussions. Eva (Odessa Young, Shirley) leads a remote fishing community in Iceland. When the residents witness a ship sinking off the coast, they must confront a harrowing decision. As they grapple with the remorse of their actions, the group begins to feel as though they are being punished for their cruelty. ... >>
Interview with “Santosh” Director Sandhya Suri
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
December 23, 2024
Director Sandhya Suri premiered her debut narrative feature, Santosh, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. I reviewed it at the Toronto International Film Festival, in September. As I wrote in that review, “The titular lead character [Shahana Goswami, Zwigato] is a woman forced to navigate the patriarchal demands of the workplace after her husband, a constable, is killed during a riot.” She encounters deep misogyny within the ranks, as well as ... >>
Interview with “Super/Man” Co-Director Peter Ettedgui
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
December 16, 2024
Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui collaborated on what is one of the most powerful documentaries of the year, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (which I reviewed out of DC/DOX). In it, they chronicle the highs and lows of actor Christopher Reeve’s life, including both before and after the tragic 1995 horse-riding that paralyzed him from the neck down. Including poignant interviews with his three children and ample footage from his ... >>
Romance Meets Coming-of-Age in “Young Werther”
By Robin C. Farrell
December 12, 2024
Young Werther (José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve heard of the 1774 novella The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to get swept up in its lavish modernization, Young Werther. Written and directed by José Lourenço in his feature-film debut, the film introduces Werther (Douglas Booth, Shoshana), a lively socialite as well as an aspiring but insecure writer, as ... >>

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