Breaking Through the Lens at Sundance: Filmmakers on Resilience, Risk, and Not Selling Out
There’s a particular kind of honesty that surfaces at Sundance—usually not on the red carpet, but in the quiet spaces where filmmakers gather to tell the truth about how hard this all really is. At the Canon Creative Studio Space in Park City, Breaking Through the Lens created one of those moments. The room was […]
Sundance 2026: Unapologetically Imperfect: Siri Hjorton Wagner on Female Desire and Motherhood in “Without Kelly”
“Without Kelly” screened at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Shorts Program, following its Orizzonti International Short Film Award win at the Venice Film Festival. Made by Swedish filmmaking duo Lovisa Sirén (director) and Siri Hjorton Wagner (producer), the short offers a raw, intimate portrait of young single motherhood and the layered […]
Sundancing on My Own: My Four Extraordinary Days in Park City
Sundance has always been a festival I had admired at a distance. How Robert Redford had gone about using his platform to launch the careers of countless filmmakers for over four decades had always left me in awe. So many of my favorite films had premiered at Redford’s festival nestled in the snow-capped mountains of […]
Sundance 2025: Cristina Costantini shows different kinds of bravery in her film “Sally”
While growing up, one of my heroes was Amelia Earhart. She defied expectations by attempting to fly around the world. Rumors were that she had disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle, but apparently no one has seen her since that day she disappeared in 1937. There is so much missing about her story that I would […]
Sundance 2025: “Sally,” “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake),” “Brides,” and “Sorry, Baby”
For my second Sundance dispatch, I exchanged my snow boots for my slippers, and viewed most of the films from the comfort of my couch. While certainly not comparable to watching movies in the snowy mountains, I felt a coziness in my experience at home. The excitement from the in-person festival was still fresh in […]
Sundance 2025: Amel Guellaty, Eya Bellagha and Slim Baccar on “Where the Wind Comes From”
It was an honor to speak with Tunsian filmmaker Amel Guellaty about her feature film “Where the Wind Comes From.” The film is about two young people in Tunsia, Alyssa and Mehdi who are both creative individuals. They are also best friends. When Mehdi gets a chance at going to art school, Alyssa will do […]
Sundance 2025: Nadia Fall, Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar on “Brides”
Shortly after 9/11, two things happened to me. I was 18 and in college at the time. And I was starting to feel different than everyone else. My mental health was plummeting, and I wasn’t sure what was going on with me. I thought, ‘I better find a place where I belong,’ and what I […]
Sally Aitken’s “Every Little Thing” is a cinematic beacon of hope
The wildfires in Los Angeles have been dominating our media streams. It’s truly been horrific to see people robbed of their homes as a result of our increasingly destructive weather patterns. It makes you question whether we are focusing our attention on the right things. The way these communities in Los Angeles are coming together […]
Shiori Ito’s “Black Box Diaries” is a Triumph
Sexual assault is sadly the most inclusive crime there is. I don’t know a single person, man or woman, who has not been somehow, whether they know it or not, affected by rape and sexual assault, and the impact of it is often intergenerational. Nancy Miller (Nancy Miller on “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark”, […]
Sundance 40: Mel Eslyn’s coming-of-age debut series “Penelope” will have you yearning for simpler times
Have you ever stood on a bridge and been tempted to throw your phone down into the water? Or chuck it right out the car window, letting it smash into little pieces behind you? When’s the last time you hugged a tree, or felt grass beneath your fingers? Living in a constant state of technology […]
Sundance 40: Kicking off January with “Thelma” star June Squibb and producer Zoë Worth
This interview is dedicated to my grandmother Christine Ada Martin, who is going to be 99 next month on February 15th. June Squibb started as a leading lady on the stage. She was mostly a theater actress, but when she transitioned into film, she memorably played supporting characters over a span of a seventy-year career, […]
Sierra Urich explores the spaces that children of immigrants occupy in her documentary feature debut “Joonam”
We bring back our Sundance 2023 interview with Sierra Urich in anticipation of the 12/1 theatrical release, kicking off in NYC. “Joonam” is a beautiful debut documentary from Iranian-American filmmaker Sierra Urich. In the film, Urich connects with her Persian mother and grandmother while learning Farsi and trying to build her own foundation with her […]