Festivals Interviews
Fantasia 2026 Interview: ATTACK ON PARADISE Creator and Star Saïd Boumazoughe, Director Bob Colaers Talk Heroes, Heart, and How to Change the World with Action Movies
Saïd Boumazoughe co-wrote and stars in Attack on Paradise as a second generation Moroccan immigrant named Suleyman, who, after being released from prison, returns to his Antwerp suburban neighbourhood to find his mother's apartment block has been taken over by drug...
Shanghai 2026 Interview: 9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse on His Debut Feature and Thai Independent Cinema
Independent Thai cinema has been rising on the international festival circuit in recent years. Following the success of A Useful Ghost in 2025, Thai independent filmmaker and longtime collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, premiered his feature debut, 9...
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: Sharon Horgan on BAD SISTERS, Global TV and the Lure of Cinema
The writer, actress and producer discusses the contracting television market, the economics of internationally financed comedy and why commercial calculations must stay out of the writing room.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: THE STORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM - 1980s Director Mark Cousins on Cinema Canons, Generative AI, Docs in the Post-truth Age
Mark Cousins reflects on the political urgency of documentary, the limits of the established canon, the creative possibilities of the hybrid form and the existential challenge posed by artificial intelligence.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: INCINERATOR Filmmaker Shuntaro Uchida on Childhood, Memory and the Luxury of Slow Time
Japanese filmmaker Shuntaro Uchida discusses the creative and production choices behind 'Incinerator,' from adapting Kaori Ekuni's short fiction and directing first-time performers to constructing a distinctly cinematic vision of childhood through rhythm, sound, light and shadow.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: THE FRIEND'S HOUSE IS HERE Directors Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz
Directors Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz discuss the clandestine production, collaborative method and international trajectory of their film, a Tehran-set drama about artistic freedom, friendship and resistance under political pressure.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: A HAPPY FAMILY Director Jan-Eric Mack and Star Anna Schinz on Poverty, Motherhood, Breaking the Rules of Social Drama
Swiss director Jan-Eric Mack and actress Anna Schinz discuss how they shaped the film as a socially engaged thriller, approached its moral ambiguities, and worked with two first-time child actors.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: THE GUEST Director Mads Mengel on Family Trauma and Finding Humor in Pain
Danish director Mads Mengel discusses his feature debut, Denmark's tradition of family dramas, the film's restrained microaggressions, and creating the conditions for productive chaos on set.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: THE GUEST Star Trine Dyrholm on Playing Beyond Diagnosis and Embracing Creative Risk
The acclaimed Danish actor discusses embracing first-time filmmakers, finding the human being behind mental illness, improvising within a rigorously conceived script and refusing to pass judgment on the volatile mother at the center of Mads Mengel's family drama.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: RAIN CATCHER Filmmaker Michele Fiascaris on Voyeurism and Building a Neo-Noir on a Limited Budget
The Italian-born, London-based filmmaker discusses casting Dudley O'Shaughnessy, drawing on David Fincher and Brian De Palma, and transforming the Barbican into a psychological maze.
Karlovy Vary 2026 Interview: MY FRIEND THE PORN STAR Filmmaker Rosa Friedrich on Deepfake and Intimacy
Austrian filmmaker Rosa Friedrich discusses the making of the unconventional documentary.
Cannes 2026 Interview: TITANIC OCEAN Director Konstantina Kotzamani on How Personal Experience Inspired Her Dreamlike Debut
Bringing a flash of neon colour to the 79th Cannes Film Festival this year, Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani’s feature debut Titanic Ocean premiered in Un Certain Regard at the festival. Inspired by the Japanese aquarium industry and the Greek myth...
Beyond Fest Chicago Video Interview: Meiko Kaji, The Legendary Lady Snowblood Herself
Beyond Fest’s first year here in Chicago went off without a hitch. Sold out screenings brought huge crowds and created instant community amongst Music Box Theater regulars, industry professionals and excited out-of-towners. I experienced this first-hand as I...
GHOST ELEPHANTS Interview: Werner Herzog and Dr. Steve Boyes Speak of Dreams, Ritual, and the Vast Mondo Wilderness
Werner Herzog needs no introduction. He has been one of cinema's most fascinating and deliberate risk-takers for over five decades of extraordinary cinema. The enlightenments he discovers through his pursuit of the "ecstatic truth" are often intense and absurd in...
Berlinale 2026 Interview: IN A WHISPER Director-Writer Leyla Bouzid on Queerness and Her Narrative Approach as a Tunisian Filmmaker
As a Tunisian queer filmmaker, one must exercise particular care when addressing an issue that remains deeply taboo in society to this day. Yet this does not prevent Leyla Bouzid from boldly portraying the increasingly precarious reality faced by homosexual...
Berlinale 2026 Interview: QUEEN AT SEA Director Lance Hammer on the Ethical Dilemma of Alzheimer's
After an 18-year hiatus, Lance Hammer makes a remarkable return to the director’s chair following his Sundance Award–winning debut Ballast. For this long-awaited project, he assembled what he describes as his dream cast, led by Juliette Binoche and the outstanding...
WHISTLE Interview: Director Corin Hardy and Screenwriter Owen Egerton
The crowd at Fantastic Fest last year found Whistle a more than worthy festival closer. True, the film follows the tried-and-true formula of kids in a group fucking around and finding out. But man, does Whistle have fun finding out....
Rotterdam 2026 Interview: Guillaume Nicloux Talks About MI AMOR
The French writer, playwright, professor, actor and director Guillame Nicloux is no stranger to the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In the past 30 years, he visited several times, and his films have often featured in the festival's program. This year...
Sundance 2026 Interview: BURN Writer-Director Makoto Nagahisa Wants His Sophomore Feature To Affect You
The 'We Are Little Zombies' director discusses his flammable new feature.
Rotterdam 2025 Interview: Toshiaki Toyoda
At the beginning of the year, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, I interviewed Toshiaki Toyoda about his film Transcending Dimensions, which premiered at the festival. But life got in the way, because as they say, life is what happens...
