USA Archives - Directors Notes

Gregory Foltynowicz’s Arthouse Film ‘Lachesis’ Piercingly Ponders If We Can Control our Own Future

With Academy Ratio, stark black-and-white images and high-contrast camerawork, Gregory Foltynowicz explores the inevitability of fate.

Animation

Kenzie Sutton Highlights the Mundanity of Everyday Life in Stop Motion Short ‘Somebody Take the Wheel’

Animator Kenzie Sutton breaks down how she solo managed the lengthy yet rewarding production process of her impressive cyclical stop motion short.

Live Action, Premiere

Jermaine Manigault’s Experimental Short ‘Not Black Enough’ Cathartically Confronts Blackness in America

Epic long takes, musical pastiche and minimalist music, Jermaine Manigault reveals the tools he used to create a unique portrait of what blackness means.

Live Action

Bianca Poletti Tests the Boundaries of Traditional Dating & Relationships in Comedy Short ‘Radical Honesty’

Bianca Poletti reveals how she drew out the more subtle moments of comedy in her deliciously awkward portrayal of a first date in the modern era.

Art & Fashion

Bram VanderMark’s Dance Film ‘I Carry Them’ Captures the Melancholy of Leaving Loved One’s Behind

Bram VanderMark discusses exploring the burden of carrying your memories with you through deeply-felt choreography and a wistful score for Films.Dance.

Documentary

Christian Schultz’s ‘Cultivating Originality with Director Jodeb’ Goes Deep on the Artistic Process

Christian Schultz discusses working with acclaimed music video director Jodeb as documentary subject for an intimate portrait of how he finds inspiration.

Music

Rodney Chrome Splashes the Cash Around NYC in Zac Dov Wiesel’s Vivid Music Video ‘To The Money’

Zac Dov Wiesel divulges how he technically manifested the vivid and poppy feel of his vivacious NYC-based music video for Rodney Chrome.

Documentary, Premiere

Blake Bogosian Catalogues the Off-Kilter Outlook of David Fullarton in Doc ‘I Lied About Being an Artist’

Blake Bogosian delineates how the initial audio recordings for his doc set the foundations for a celebratory mosaic of a defiant artist’s unique viewpoint.

Live Action

A Forlorn Teenager Auditions for the High School Choir in Kate McCarthy’s Comedy Drama ‘Look, Mira’

Kate McCarthy breaks down the trials and tribulations of making her debut short, about an awkward teenager auditioning to be church cantor.

Documentary

Kirby Ferguson Opens up About His Career as an Online Creator and the Decision to Retire From Internet Filmmaking

Kirby Ferguson discusses the multifaceted role of the internet filmmaker across the past two decades in an in-depth career-spanning interview with DN.