Indie Interviews
SXSW 2021 Interview: SWAN SONG Star Udo Kier and Director Todd Stephens on Their Melancholic, Joyful Gem
In Swan Song, the first feature film in 13 years by Todd Stephens, German actor Udo Kier builds an essential character within a prolific and legendary filmography: more than 250 credits and collaborations with such greats as Paul Morrissey, Rainer...
SXSW 2021 Interview: CLERK Director Malcolm Ingram On Pop Icon Kevin Smith
In 1992 a young man from New Jersey, US, traveled to Vancouver, Canada to study film and pursue his dream. Since he was little, his father instilled in him a love for movies. Then a particular film, Richard Linklater's Slacker,...
SXSW 2021 Interview: WE ARE AS GODS Directors Jason Sussberg And David Alvarado On The Man Who Wants To Revive The Mammoth
The documentary We Are As Gods focuses on Stewart Brand, a fascinating man whose main current obsession is de-extinction. Brand supports the idea of bringing back various extinct species and restoring ecosystems. His most ambitious project involves the woolly mammoth,...
RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE Interview: Jay Baruchel On His Potent Horror Debut
Canada’s Jay Baruchel became known as part of the group of young comedians linked to Judd Apatow. In the romantic comedy Knocked Up, for example, he portrayed one of the friends of the protagonist played by Seth Rogen. He later...
MINARI Interview: Korean Cinema Legend Youn Yuh-jung on the Art of Being Fearless
One of the Grande Dames of Korean cinema, Youn Yuh-jung has never been afraid of taking a chance. Her 1971 feature debut in Director Kim Ki-young’s psychosexual thriller, Woman of Fire, sealed Youn’s reputation as a bold maverick amongst actresses. ...
MINARI Interview: Star Han Ye-ri on Life, Love, Family and Crossing Over
Since our first interview in 2017, Han Ye-ri’s reputation as one of the most compelling presences in Korean cinema has risen exponentially. Ms. Han, whose commanding, emotional performances made her one of Korea’s most in-demand actors, took a big leap...
Interview: Zoë Bell On Directing, Tarantino's Plan To Retire And HAYMAKER
It's been 20 years since New Zealand’s Zoë Bell arrived in Los Angeles, California, trying to take her stunt double career to another level. Originally from Waiheke Island in New Zealand, Bell enjoyed physical activity from a very young age,...
Sundance 2021 Preview: Words from Sono Sion to Get You Psyched for PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND
After cramming what must be hundreds of hours of Japanese cinema into his brief 59 years on this planet, poet Sono Sion is on the brink of releasing his first entry into the American cinematic landscape. Callooh! Callay! Prisoners of...
Interview with Mickey Reece: CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER Director and a Recipe for Cheery Cherry Cheese Pie
Mickey Reece has been making films in his corner of Oklahoma for more than a decade (his incomplete IMDB page lists at least 37 director credits), but it wasn't until a few years ago that his work started getting noticed...
Interview: Alex Winter Talks ZAPPA
For all the rockumentaries and musical biopics that have been flooding our screens since the new millenium deemed the past ripe for exploitation, one stone left curiously unturned has been that of rock & roll avant savant, Frank Zappa. Among...
JIU JITSU Interview: Star Alain Moussi And Director Dimitri Logothetis Talk Martial Arts And Science Fiction
The classic martial arts film Kickboxer was given new life in 2016 by producer and screenwriter Dimitri Logothetis, the man behind the remake Kickboxer: Vengeance. The legendary Jean-Claude Van Damme took on the role of the mentor, while martial artist...
LEAP OF FAITH Interview: Alexandre O. Philippe Talks THE EXORCIST And William Friedkin
The legacy of The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, is truly immense. For example, the most popular horror saga of our times, which started with The Conjuring, owes it everything. However, the impact of the 1973 film goes beyond the...
Nightstream 2020 Interview: FRANK & ZED Director Jesse Blanchard On His Joyous Puppet Horror Comedy
Frank & Zed enjoyed its world premiere as part of the virtual film festival Nightstream. It's an irresistible movie, a cocktail of horror, gore, humor, mythology and values, such as friendship, starring puppets. A couple of centuries ago, a castle and...
THE CALL Interview: Tobin Bell on His Latest Film and the Legacy of Alan Parker
American character actor Tobin Bell is, of course, a true horror star after appearing throughout the entire Saw franchise as the antagonist John Kramer, aka Jigsaw. More recently, Bell has worked on other movies of this genre, including the Mexican...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Lloyd Kaufman On #SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM and Challenges of Independent Filmmaking
Even though Lloyd Kaufman, co-founder of Troma Entertainment and director/star of #ShakespearesShitstorm, has a new movie to promote, his mind is always on the problems that American independent cinema has faced for years. “The independents in America don’t have any...
BLOOD QUANTUM Interviews: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Michael Greyeyes Talk Zombies and Indigenous Representation in Film
Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum is a very singular zombie film, set in a First Nations reserve in Canada called Red Crow. Structurally, Blood Quantum follows pretty much two days in the lives of several characters from the reserve, including the chief...
THE PALE DOOR Interview: Director Aaron B. Koontz Talks Cowboys, Witches And Brotherhood
The Pale Door is the latest film that combines the western and the horror genre. In it, a gang of outlaws loses one of its members just before a robbery, then the leader Duncan’s (Zachary Knighton) clean younger brother Jake...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Natasha Kermani and Brea Grant Get LUCKY
Orginally intended to premiere at SXSW and a slew of other festivals, Lucky plays for Canadian audiences via virtual Fantasia 2020. Natasha Kermani (Imitation Girl) directs writer and star Brea Grant (Dexter, Eastsiders; Grant is also the writer/director of 12 Hour Shift,...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Brea Grant Talks 12 HOUR SHIFT
Multi-hyphenate talent Brea Grant (Heroes, Dexter) has come into her own as a writer/director. She helmed the apocalypse buddy road trip film Best Friends Forever as well as episodes of Eastsiders and Pandora, and this year, she has two features coming out. Grant wrote...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Justin McConnell on Indie Filmmaking and CLAPBOARD JUNGLE
Canadian indie filmmaker Justin McConnell (Lifechanger) has been in the game for a good deal of his life, either by providing technical services, programming his Little Terrors short film series in Toronto, or by being behind the camera. It's the...
