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A biweekly (during seasons) podcast about socially progressive movies that matter.

Become a member to access the full (200+ episode) podcast archive and get early access to new episodes: http://seventh-row.com/join

Upending the canon to be more inclusive by spotlighting and diving deep into international and independent films by and about women, Indigenous People, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups. Find multiple episodes on the films of Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, Andrew Haigh, and Joachim Trier.

COMING SOON: A season on Abortion on Screen (Fall 2023)
83 Episodes
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In the fifth and final episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season, Alex Heeney talks to Penny Lane about her experimentations with documentary form in Confessions of a Good Samaritan. The film is a trip inside Penny’s brain as she goes through the stressful process of anonymously donating her kidney and investigates why kidney donations are necessary. Lane weaves almost all of the techniques from her previous films (and a few more!) into Confessions of a Good Samaritan, offering a thoughtful, educational, and funny look at the complicated feelings that come with doing good in the world at some personal expense. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Useful links Visit the Creative Nonfiction Podcast homepage Discover all of our resources on the films of Joachim Trier Pre-order Existential detours: Joachim Trier's cinema of indecisions and revisions More on creative nonfiction Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here. Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here. Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1 Listen to the podcast on the ebook Subjective realities: The art of creative nonfiction film Become a Member Members receive early access to all new episodes of our season. Members can also access the entire podcast archive of 150+ episodes. Our recent episodes from our seasons and regular episodes from the last six months are free to all for a limited time. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Related Episodes Members Only Episodes Ep. 12: Penny Lane on Hail Satan? (Members' Exclusive): Penny Lane discusses her 2019 film Hail Satan Ep. 40: Dead Mothers (Members' Exclusive): We discuss Joachim Trier's Louder Than Bombs, a film that expertly gets inside the head of its thoughtful characters. We also compare it to Mouthpiece and Stories We Tell. Ep. 122: Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World (Free): Joachim Trier's breakout hit is also a film that is very good at getting us inside the protagonist's mind amidst an existential crisis. Free Episodes Ep. 105: Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film: We discuss the making of the ebook Subjective Realities and what you can expect from the book Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction Credits Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Email us at contact seventh row com. This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
In the fourth episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season,  Alex Heeney talks to Sam Green about 32 Sounds and his work exploring the possibilities of his work that he describes as "live documentaries". These are part locked footage, part live performance, usually including a live band on stage performing the film's music. On this episode, we give some background on Sam Green's work in live documentary, talk about how A Thousand Thoughts (2018), co-directed with Joe Bini, felt like a turning point for his work in the form, and discuss what makes 32 Sounds such a wonderful and innovative film. Finally, Alex talks to Sam Green about making 32 Sounds, and more broadly about how he thinks about live documentary and why this is a space he likes working in. The episode features a conversation between Alex Heeney and Orla Smith about 32 Sounds and live documentary, recorded in January 2022 right after the world premiere of 32 Sounds. The interview with Sam Green was conducted via Zoom in January 2022 the day after 32 Sounds had its world (virtual) premiere at Sundance. This is an edited version of the complete conversation; the complete conversation is available on our website here.  Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Useful links Read Alex Heeney's full interview with Sam Green on 32 Sounds Find screenings of Sam Green's live documentaries Find screenings of 32 Sounds Read Sam Green's introduction to live documentary and Utopia in Four Movements More on creative nonfiction Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here. Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here. Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1 Listen to the podcast on the ebook Subjective realities: The art of creative nonfiction film Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Related Episodes Members Only Episodes Ep. 67: Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris and City Hall  Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming history in documentary (Members only) Free Episodes Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction Credits Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Email us at contact seventh row com. This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
In the third episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season, Philippe Falardeau discusses Lac-Mégantic: This is Not An Accident is a four-part documentary series about the catastrophic 2013 trainwreck in Lac-Mégantic, its inevitability, the aftermath, and the government failure to change safety requirements to avoid another "accident" in future. Lac-Mégantic had its world premiere at the HotDocs Film Festival where all four episodes were screened back-to-back. The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster was the fourth-deadliest rail accident in Canadian history (47 people died) and the deadliest involving a non-passenger train. The documentary Lac-Mégantic not only chronicles the disaster and its devastating effects on the town Lac-Mégantic, but also how blame was handled and how similar disasters continue to happen. The series reclaims the history of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster by showing how systemic problems lead to a disaster that has been blamed on individuals. The series also reveals how appropriate safety measures have not been taken in the intervening years to prevent a similar disaster from happening (and other, smaller disasters have indeed continued to happen). At the beginning of the episode, Alex Heeney introduces the series Lac-Mégantic, and why she thinks it's worthy of discussion. Next, we play your Alex's interview with Falardeau about the film. Finally, we wrap up with how the film fits into the framework for creative nonfiction that we at Seventh Row created in our ebook Subjective realities, and offer some suggestions for what to watch and listen to next.  Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Useful links Watch our masterclass with Philippe Falardeau and Mina Shum Read our interview with Philippe Falardeau on My Internship in Canada More on creative nonfiction Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here. Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here. Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1 Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Related Episodes Members Only Episodes Bonus Episode 25: This is Going to Hurt and physician mental health Ep. 41: In the Loop and My Internship in Canada: Political satires Ep. 67: Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris and City Hall  Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming history in documentary (Members only) Free Episodes Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction Credits Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Email us at contact seventh row com. This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
In the second episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season, Sophie Fiennes discusses The Four Quartets and how she approaches documenting live performance on screen. In The Four Quartets, she captures the stage play of the same name, directed by and starring her brother, actor Ralph Fiennes. For the production, Ralph Fiennes adapted the T.S. Eliot poem for the stage — which was never originally intended to be performed that way — and then toured this production around the UK in 2021. Sophie Fiennes’s film of The Four Quartets is neither live capture nor a full adaptation of the play. Instead, Fiennes remarkably documents the theatre production on screen, maintaining all the original lighting and blocking. Her choices of framing and camera movement really puts us in the black box theatre with Ralph Fiennes. Unlike most recorded theatre, where there is a constant sense of information loss, Sophie Fiennes gives us a sense of the theatrical space so we get a better sense of what we’re missing when we’re missing it. It’s built into Sophie Fiennes’s direction. Sophie Fiennes discusses Ralph Fiennes’s production, the challenges of documenting the play on screen, and how working with Declan Donnellan of Cheek by Jowl just before she shot The Four Quartets changed how she thinks about acting and theatre. Click here to read the episode show notes. The show notes also include excerpts from Sophie Fiennes's director's script. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Useful links Read T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets Listen to Cheek by Jowl’s Not True But Useful podcast episode on thresholds and space Read our interview with Sophie Fiennes on Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami More on creative nonfiction Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here. Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here. Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1 Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Related Episodes on creative nonfiction Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen Sundance 2023 Ep. 7: Best of the fest + documentaries Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There, and more Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction Members Only Episodes Ep. 67: Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris and City Hall  (Members only) Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming history in documentary (Members only) Credits Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Email us at contact seventh row com. This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
In the first episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season, Alex Heeney previews what to expect in this five-episode season and discusses what is creative nonfiction film. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Get the tote bag with the Céline Sciamma quote "Cinema is the only art form ever where you share somebody else's lonelines" More on creative nonfiction Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here. Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here. Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1 Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Related Episodes on creative nonfiction Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen Sundance 2023 Ep. 7: Best of the fest + documentaries Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There, and more Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction Members Only Episodes Ep. 67: Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris and City Hall  (Members only) Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming history in documentary (Members only) Credits Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Email us at contact seventh row com. This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.
In the seventh and final episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss the documentaries at Sundance 2023, focusing on the films Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There?, The Stroll, and Plan C. We also discuss the best films of Sundance and wrap up our discussion of the festival. 00:00 Introduction 01:26 Why we’re talking about documentaries at Sundance 03:05 And the King Said What a Fantastic Machine directed by Axel Danielsen & Maximilien Van Aertryck 11:19 Is There Anybody Out There? directed by Ella Glendining (and other first-person disability docs) 31:13 The Stroll directed by Kristen Parker Lovell & Zackary Drucker 36:04 Plan C directed by Tracy Droz Tragos 39:35 Milisuthando directed by Milisuthando Bongela 42:28 Against the Tide directed by Sarvnik Kaur 56:27 Final thoughts on Sundance 2023 and top tens 01:10:57 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. About the Sundance 2023 season Visit https://seventh-row.com/sundance for links to all of the episodes in the season, a downloadable bingo card, as well as a list of all of the films covered on this season. You will also find links to the show notes on each of the episodes and information on our coverage of Sundance dating back to 2015. Show Notes Buy a copy of our ebook Subjective realities, which features essays and interviews on creative nonfiction film (including our interview with Pacho Velez on Searchers). The book also features an interview with director Chase Joynt who has made two documentaries featuring Zackary Drucker, director of the 2023 Sundance film The Stroll. Read our 2016 Sundance interview with Penny Lane on NUTS! in which she introduced us to the term 'creative nonfiction' as a way to describe innovative approaches to documentary. Watch Axel Danielsen and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s short film Ten Meter Tower for free on YouTube. Watch Guy Goma’s hilarious interview on the BBC, which features in Fantastic Machine Read Orla’s review of I Didn’t See You There Read Alex’s review of Gleason Read Orla’s interview with Chase Joynt and Morgan M. Page on Framing Agnes, which stars Zackary Drucker who co-directed in the 2023 film The Stroll Read Orla's interview with the filmmakers behind No Ordinary Man, which features Zackary Drucker, director of the film The Stroll. Read Orla’s review of All That Breathes Read Alex’s review of Captains of Za’atari Read Orla’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw Read Alex’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Listen to our last podcast season, which tackles the history of women at the Cannes film festival, and read our comprehensive list of all the women filmmakers who have been programmed by Cannes. Related episodes mentioned on this episode For more information on how these episodes relate to this episode, click here. To listen to each episode, or find out more about the episode, click on the link below Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 99: Creative nonfiction with Carol Nguyen and Penny Lane (FREE FOREVER). Ep. 106: Christine and Kate Plays Christine: Reviving Christine Chubbuck (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 53: Boys State and First Stripes (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming histories in documentaries. (MEMBERS ONLY) How to listen to episodes marked "MEMBERS ONLY" Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. When you purchase your membership, you wil be given a personal podcast feed link, which you can then open in your favourite podcatcher. After that, the Premium Seventh Row Podcast (MEMBERS ONLY), will update in your podcatcher with new episodes just like every free podcast you listen to. All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Speakers on the episode This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith. You can find Alex on Twitter @bwestcineaste, Instagram @bwestcineaste, and Letterboxd @bwestcineaste. You can find Orla on Twitter @orlamango, Instagram @orla_p_smith, and Letterboxd @orlamango  
In the sixth episode (and third dispatch) of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss highlights like Ira Sachs's film Passages, Nicole Holofcener's film You Hurt My Feelings, Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sun, and Angus MacLachlan's A Little Prayer, as well as other buzzed-about films at the festival. 00:00 Introduction 01:10 Brief thoughts on Fremont, Infinity Pool, Bad Behaviour, Rye Lane, Drift, A Thousand and One 39:20 You Hurt My Feelings by Nicole Holofcener 52:04 Rotting in the Sun by Sebastián Silva 1:04:22 Passages by Ira Sachs 1:21:55 A Little Prayer by Angus MacLachlan 1:33:30 Fair Play, Cat Person, and the legacy of Promising Young Woman 1:54:49 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. In this episode, we discuss four of our favourite films of Sundance 2023, each in the Premieres section: Nicole Holofcener's dreamed, You Hurt My Feelings, Sebastián Silva's black comedy Rotting in the Sun, Ira Sachs' relationship drama Passages, and Angus MacLachlan's quietly insightful family drama. We also talk briefly about the disappointing films that have forged themselves in the image of Promising Young Woman: Fair Play and Cat Person. Orla discusses one of her most hated films of the festival, Infinity Pool, and Alex defends Alice Englert's troubled feature debut Bad Behaviour. Alex also adds her thoughts on Fremont, which Orla first discussed in episode 3 (Alex agrees it's excellent). Finally, we both discuss some minor highlights of the festival. We were underwhelmed by British rom-com Rye Lane, though think it's a good depiction of the city. Alex liked Anthony Chen's (Ilo Ilo and Wet Season) English-language debut Drift, starring Cynthia Erivo and Alia Shawkat, despite its problematic script, because the direction and performances were so good (Honor Swinton-Byrne also shows up!). Orla also weighs in on the US Grand Jury Prize Winner One Thousand Nights. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Read Indiewire’s article on the making of Rotting in the Sun, which we quote from in this episode. Read our interview with Sebastián Silva on his film Magic Magic Treat yourself by following Franz Rogowski on Instagram. Read our profile of Geraldine Viswanathan, who was wasted by Cat Person. Read Kristen Roupenian’s original Cat Person short story, published by The New Yorker. Listen to episode three of our Sundance 2023 podcast season, in which we discuss Slow, which features a far better example of asexual representation than Cat Person. Read our interview with Ana Katz, the director of The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet, which was our favourite film of Sundance 2021. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Listen to our last podcast season, which tackles the history of women at the Cannes film festival, and read our comprehensive list of all the women filmmakers who have been programmed by Cannes. Related episodes All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. Episodes related to the Franz Rogowski in the film Passages Ep. 5: Christian Petzold’s Transit (MEMBERS ONLY): Franz Rogowski, who stars in the film Passages, is one of the best actors working today. Head back to one of our earliest episodes where we discuss his amazing (best of the decade) performance in one of the best films of the decade. Ep. 119: Mike Leigh’s Naked (FREE — soon becoming MEMBERS ONLY): There are very few good cinematic depictions of narcissists. Ira Sachs's Passages is the latest entry into the canon, and the narcissist at its centre, played by Franz Rogowski, reminded us of Johnny (David Thewlis) from Mike Leigh's Naked, if much less sympathetic (and yet less abusive). Episodes about Ben Whishaw, co-star of Passages Ep. 69: Paddington and Paddington 2 (MEMBERS ONLY): Ben Whishaw was at Sundance this year with two new movies: Alice Englert's film Bad Behaviour (as a cult leader) and Ira Sachs's film Passages (as a man married to Franz Rogowski who cheats on him with a woman). We celebrated Whishaw's work in both Paddington films, and his prowess as an actor more generally, in this discussion that concludes Paddington is the ultimate symbol of British colonialism. Bonus ep. 25: This is Going to Hurt (MEMBERS ONLY): Ben Whishaw is one of the very best working actors today. With two films at Sundance coming out later this year (hopefully!), now is a great time to visit his tour de force career best work as the lead of This is Going To Hurt, a show about physician mental health in the NHS. His performance is both comic and dramatic and absolutely heartbreaking. It's also so incredibly detailed. Nobody else could do it like him. Related episodes to the films A Little Prayer, Rotting in the Sun, and You Hurt My Feelings. Ep. 40: Remembering dead mothers in Stories We Tell, Louder Than Bombs, and Mouthpiece (MEMBERS ONLY): A Little Prayer is a film very much about the family as an ecosystem and a unit of people trying their best under difficult circumstances and often screwing. That's also what Joachim Trier's Louder Than Bombs (2015) is about, and we discuss it in depth in this episode. Louder Than Bombs is also about what happens to a family when a major secret has been kept and comes out, wreaking some havoc, just as in the film You Hurt My Feelings. Ep. 94: HBO’s Looking (MEMBERS ONLY): It's not often that we get media that is unabashedly gay, depicting gay spaces and the gay community in a way that might make heterosexuals uncomfortable. HBO's Looking was pioneer for this on TV, including the way it depicted gay sex and intimacy. Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sunalso pushes the envelope, though in a much more confronting (and depressing) way. Related episodes to Cat Person and Fair Play Ep. 73: Explorations of rape culture in Promising Young Woman and The Assistant (MEMBERS ONLY): Fair Play and Cat Person at Sundance this year feel like poor attempts to ride the Promising Young Woman hype. Revisit our original bashing of Promising Young Woman for context about why we think its approach to addressing sexual assault is really problematic. We compare it to The Assistant which was way better and also screened at Sundance that year, a much subtler and smarter approach to the topic. Bonus ep. 16: Watching Lena Dunham’s Girls in 2021 (MEMBERS ONLY): Lena Dunham was a pioneer of uncomfortable sex scenes involving women in the their 20s, and films like Promising Young Woman, Cat Person, and Fair Play have picked up the baton (if not reached Dunham's heights). In this episode, we discussed what it was like to watch Girls in 2021 (for the first time for Orla).
In the fifth episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss some of this year's buzziest titles, including William Oldroyd's film Eileen, Andrew Durham's film Fairyland, and some hidden gems like Babak Jalali's film Fremont and Rachel Lambert's film Sometimes I Think About Dying. 00:00 Introduction 01:49 Brief thoughts on Mutt, Cassandro, Polite Society, Theater Camp 17:58 Sometimes I Think About Dying directed by Rachel Lambert 28:45 Fremont by Babak Jalali 36:16 Eileen by William Oldroyd 51:43 Fairyland by Andrew Durham 1:08:59 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Read Orla Smith’s analysis of Thomasin McKenzie’s performance in Leave No Trace, which appears in our ebook Leave No Trace: A Special Issue. Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, and McKenzie returns to Sundance this year as the lead of William Oldroyd’s Eileen. Read Alex Heeney's analysis of Gael García Bernal's performance in Ema, and why he is one of the very best actors working today. Bernal stars in and is the highlight of Cassandro. View the list of all of the films covered on the Sundance 2023 podcast Sundance 2023 season (FREE): Catch up with all of our episodes. Sundance 2023 season (FREE): Catch up with all of our episodes. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Related episodes All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Ep. 1: Leave No Trace (FREE): We first fell in love with Thomasin McKenzie for her work in the Sundance film Leave No Trace, which we wrote a book about. In this companion episode to the book, we discuss why the film was so great and what a talent McKenzie is. McKenzie returned to Sundance this year as the star of William Oldroyd's film Eileen. Ep. 22: The King (FREE): In this crossover episode with our Shakespeare Podcast, 21st Folio, we watch the terrible film The King for you, and report back on what a mess it is and how under-used Thomasin McKenzie is. Ep. 91: AIDS on screen, featuring It’s a Sin (MEMBERS ONLY): In this episode, we give an overview of films/TV/recorded theatre dating back to the 1990s that have addressed the AIDS crisis. It's a must listen before seeing Fairyland and offers many recommendations for films that address the AIDS crisis well (which Fairylanddoes not). Ep. 98: Angels in America adaptations (MEMBERS ONLY): Tony Kushner's Angels in America is one of the most famous AIDS plays, and we delve deep into the HBO miniseries and the National Theatre's 2016 recorded production. We also talk about how the two productions address the AIDS crisis and how the views of the play have shifted in the last 20 years.
In the fourth episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss the North American films by and about Indigenous Peoples at the festival, including Twice Colonized, Bad Press, Murder in Big Horn, and Fancy Dance. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  00:00 Introduction 01:05 Why are we discussing Indigenous films at Sundance? 14:11 Fancy Dance is our favourite Indigenous film at Sundance 14:54 Murder in Big Horn 31:00 Twice Colonized 41:13 Bad Press 49:26 The trend of an Indigenous filmmaker and a settler filmmaker co-directing 57:58 Indigenous films at Sundance set outside of North America: Heroic, Sorcery, Against the Tide More about the episode In this episode, we discuss Indigenous Films at Sundance: films directed or co-directed by Indigenous people as well as a couple of films about Indigenous people but directed by settlers. We kick off with our favourite Indigenous film at the festival, Fancy Dance, about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) which we already went deep on in episode 3. We then dig into the disappointing documentary miniseries Murder in Big Horn (dir. Razelle Benally who is Oglala Lakota/Diné and Matthew Galkin), which looks at MMIWG in the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations. The Sundance miniseries Murder in Big Horn is told through the lens of an Indigenous investigative journalist looking into the case and uses the tropes of true crime. We talk about the often thoughtful but inchoate Twice Colonized, which was directed by a settler The film Twice Colonized follows the wonderful Inuk lawyer Aaju Peter (who also appears in Angry Inuk). Next, we talk briefly about another disappointing Sundance US Indigenous film, a documentary co-directed by an Indigenous director, Bad Press (dir. Muscogee filmmaker Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler), about the Mvskoke Media in the Muscogee Creek Nation navigating gaining and then losing and then trying to regain their status as free press. We also touch briefly on Fox Maxy's New Frontiers experimental film. Finally, we briefly discuss Heroic, a World Dramatic Competition film about an Indigenous character and mention the other World Cinema films that are about (but not made by) Indigenous people. About the Sundance 2023 season This is the fourth episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes About the Sundance 2023 season This is the thid episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Explore our archive of interviews with Indigenous filmmakers. Listen to the third episode of our Sundance 2023 podcast season, in which we discuss Erica Tremblay’s film Fancy Dance. Listen to the podcast Finding Cleo on CBC Radio. Read our interview with Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers on her film Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. Read our interview with Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn on The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, in which they discuss their collaboration. Then listen to our four-person masterclass with the pair and Mouthpiece collaborators Norah Sadava and Amy Nostbakken. Read our interview with Sonia Boileau on her film Rustic Oracle, which is about the issue Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Read our interview with director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril on Angry Inuk, her documentary about seal hunting. Listen to our last podcast season, which discussed the history of women filmmakers at the Cannes film festival. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Related episodes At Seventh Row, we have a long-standing interest in covering Indigenous Films from around the world, with a special focus on films produced in Canada. In this episode, we reference any great Indigenous films and creatives that we've discussed on previous episodes. If you'd like to learn more about Indigenous filmmaking, we recommend checking these out. Ep. 131: Remembering Jeff Barnaby (FREE). The great Mi'gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby passed away last year. We paid tribute to his enormous influence on Indigenous filmmaking, Canadian cinema, and the filmmaking industry more broadly through his work and activism. We also discuss his short films and two feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum, and why they have had such a lasting impact. Ep. 126: Run Woman Run (also featuring a discussion of Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy) (FREE, soon becoming Members Only). We discuss the Indigenous film Run Woman Run. The film is the second feature from director Zoe Leigh Hopkins. It's a coming-of-age at 30+ story about an Indigenous woman and mother who must learn to care for herself after getting a diabetes diagnosis. We also talk about Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers's documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. In this episode, we discuss how Murder In Big Hornlacks the empathy for its subjects that we see in The Meaning of Empathy. Ep. 62 and 63: Indigenous YA part 1 and Indigenous YA part 2 (in which we discuss Rustic Oracle) (Members Only): We discuss a number of Indigenous YA films out of Canada, including the MMIWG films Rustic Oracle. Ep. 120: David Gulpilil: Remembering his work in Charlie’s Country and beyond (FREE, soon becoming Members Only): The great Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil passed away in 2021. We began 2022 with a tribute to his work and legacy. Ep. 38: Australian westerns and True History of the Kelly Gang (in which we discuss Sweet Country) (Members Only): We discuss how Aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thornton upends colonial tropes in the Australian Western with his film Sweet Country (which screened at Sundance!). We look at the film in context with some contemporary settler Australian Westerns.
In our first dispatch on the world premieres at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, we delve into the under-discussed and oft-ignored World Dramatic Competition. We go deep on our favourite World Dramatic Competition title so far: Slow (dir. Marija Kavtaradze), Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan), and When It Melts (dir. Veerle Baetens). Finally, we turn to two early US highlights: Erica Tremblay's Fance Dance and Luke Lorentzen's documentary A Still Small Voice.  Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  00:00 Introduction 09:10 Films from the Sundance World Dramatic Competition so far: Slow, Heroic, Scrapper, When It Melts, Mamacruz, Girl 53:23 Fancy Dance starring Lily Gladstone 1:18:35 A Still Small Voice 1:24:22 Sundance bingo More about the films discussed in the episode Erica Tremblay's Fancy Dance is in the US Dramatic Competition and about an Indigenous woman (Lily Gladstone) searching for her sister who recently went missing (MMIWG) while suddenly finding herself the sole guardian for her 12-year-old niece. The documentary A Still Small Voice(dir. Luke Lorentzen) in the US Documentary Competition is about the toll on a hospital chaplain of constantly extending empathy to others. Slow is a Lithuanian film about a dancer navigating a new relationship with her asexual partner. The film Scrapper is about a working class twelve-year-old girl in Dagenham who recently lost her mother and reconnects with her estranged father (an excellent Harris Dickinson). When It Melts is about a traumatic childhood event in a twelve-year-old girl's life that has devastating consequences for her as an adult. We also discuss Heroic (dir. David Zonana, Workforce) and Mamacruz (dir. Patricia Ortega), which also screened in the World Dramatic Competition. In past years, we've found some of our favourite films at Sundance in this section, including The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet (2021), Charter (2020), The Souvenir (2020), God's Own Country (2017), Mammal (2016), Sand Storm (2016), and Homesick (2015). Unfortunately, these films also have the tendency to disappear so we wanted to throw a spotlight on the competition this year (as we do every year!), to draw attention to films you'll want to watch out for at local film festivals, which may be your only opportunity to watch them, or could get buried on VOD in the future. And hopefully, we can help get these films noticed and distributed! About the Sundance 2023 season This is the third episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes on E3 of the Sundance 2023 podcast season: Fancy Dance, Slow, Scrapper, A Still Small Voice and more Links to articles/books related to the 2023 selections Get our book on creative nonfiction film, Subjective Realities, featuring interviews with Tabitha Jackson, Penny Lane, Robert Greene, Kirsten Johnson, Joe Bini, Pacho Velez, and more. Read our coverage of Hala and Crystal Swan, which were both shot by cinematographer Carolina Costa (who did Fancy Dance). Listen to our Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen interview (which also exists in Subjective Realities) in podcast form where they discuss the genre "creative nonfiction" and how why Lane coined it to describe her films. Read about why we named Harris Dickinson and Lily Gladstone as two of the fifty screen stars of tomorrow in 2021. Dickinson stars in the World Dramatic Competition film Scrapper at Sundance 2023. Gladstone stars in the US Dramatic Competition film Fancy Dance. Watch Lockdown Film School with Lily Gladstone. Gladstone has a new film, Fancy Dance, at Sundance 2023, and we’re excited to see it. Read an excerpt from our interview with Lily Gladstone which touches on her love of linguistics from the ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt’s broken American Dreams. Gladstone talks about learning different languages, which is particularly relevant to Fancy Dance in which she speaks Cherokee. Read our interview with writer-director Sonia Boileau on her Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) drama Rustic Oracle. Fancy Dance, one of our festival favourites thus far, also addresses MMIWG. Read Orla's Quick Thoughts review on last year's Girl Picture, in which one third of the central trio of characters questions whether she's asexual. This was the highlight of the 2022 World Dramatic Competition. This year's Slowalso features an asexual character. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Related episodes to E3 Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (FREE): In this episode, we talk about Sundance's history of programming creative nonfiction films and how this has changed in the last decade. We'll be on the lookout for exciting new creative nonfiction films at the festival this year. Our early favourite is A Still Small Voice. Bonus Episode 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction Films (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the highs, lows, discoveries, and disappointments among the fiction films at the festival, including Girl Picture, the best film in the 2022 World Dramatic Competition. Ep. 63: Indigenous YA, part 2 (Members Only): In this episode, we discuss a fantastic films about MMIWG that precedes Fancy Dance, Rustic Oracle, a film made in Canada. Rustic Oracle would make for a great double feature with Fancy Dance. Ep. 53: First Stripes and Boys State (Members Only): We go deep on the fantastic documentary First Stripes, which follows new recruits through basic training in the Canadian military.        
In the second episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss Sundance's Spotlight Program, its only feature film program dedicated to films that premiered at other festivals. We discuss the program's history of picking great films and giving them the spotlight they needed (but didn't get at other festivals).  We discuss four of the five films programmed in the Spotlight section: Other People's Children, Joyland, L'Immensità, and The Eight Mountains. Since we already talked about Other People's Children in depth on a previous episode, we only discuss it briefly here. Additionally, we go deep on The Eight Mountains, which Alex loved, and briefly discuss the other two films in the program that we've seen which we weren't too keen on. We've actually written books featuring several of the films that screened in Spotlight, including You Were Never Really Here, Girlhood, and The Worst Person in the World. And several of the films previously programmed in the last decade have made our list of the best films of the 2010s. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  About the Sundance 2023 season This is the second episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Links to articles/books on films that previously screened in Spotlight Read our list of Seventh Row's 50 Favourite Films of the 2010s, which also includes many films that screened in Sundance's Spotlight Program, including Oslo, August 31st (#1), Their Finest, Raw, and You Were Never Really Here. Get our ebook on Lynne Ramsay's most recent Spotlight film: You Were Never Really Here: A Special Issue Get our ebook on the Céline Sciamma, Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, which includes an interview with Sciamma on Girlhood conducted in Park City at Sundance in 2015 when the film screened in Spotlight. Read Orla Smith's interview with writer-director Haifaa Al-Mansour on The Perfect Candidate, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2020. Read Alex Heeney's interview with writer-director Rebecca Miller on Maggie’s Plan, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2016. Read Alex Heeney's interview with director Lone Scherfig on Their Finest, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2017. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Related episodes to E2: Sundance 2023 Spotlight program Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 116: Virtual film festivals: Taking stock of their past, present, and future (Members Only). Sundance is one of the only festivals in 2023 still offering a virtual component. On this episode, we talked about the advent of virtual film festivals and what we'd like to see in the future. Ep. 129: Highlights of 2022 Fall Film Festivals (Members Only). We discuss the best films that screened on the festival circuit in fall 2022. This includes a free in-depth discussion of Other People's Children. Episodes on Films featured in the Spotlight section Ep. 112: Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World (Free). As the world experts on the films of Joachim Trier (our book on his work will be out later this year), we published an episode on his twice Oscar-nominated film The Worst Person in the World (2021), which screened in Spotlight in 2022. Ep. 73: Explorations of rape culture in Promising Young Woman and The Assistant (Members Only). Although The Assistant premiered at Telluride in 2020, it only really started generating buzz after its 2021 screening in the Spotlight Program at Sundance. In this episode, we discuss its depiction of rape culture alongside a bigger Sundance hit (which was also much less nuanced), Promising Young Woman. Ep. 107: Another Round and Oslo, August 31st: Are men OK? Masculinity, mental health, & addiction(Members Only). Joachim Trier first came to Sundance in 2012 with Oslo, August 31st (which premiered at Cannes in 2011), our #1 film of the 2010s. We talk about how the film addresses masculinity, mental health, & addiction and how this compares with the more recent film, a decade later, Another Round. Episodes on genre films featured in the Sundance Spotlight program Ep. 17: The Nightingale (Members Only): Having launched her career in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance, Jennifer Kent once again returned to the festival with her second feature, The Nightingale, which premiered at Venice to an underwhelming response. We thought the film was rich and excellent in many ways (if flawed), and went deep on it on the podcast. Ep. 112: Raw and Thelma and modern female monsters (Members Only): After receiving rave reviews (and press about vomiting walkouts) at Cannes and TIFF, Julia Ducournau (who later won the Palme d'Or for Titane) screened her first feature, Raw at Sundance in the Spotlight program. We talk about the film in comparison with Joachim Trier's Thelma. Ep. 38 Australian Westerns: The True History of the Kelly Gang, Sweet Country, and The Dressmaker (Members Only): Warwick Thornton's fantastic feature Sweet Country previously screened in the Sundance Spotlight program after premiering (and winning an award) at Venice and TIFF. In this episode, we discuss how Thornton decolonizes the Australian Western, as well as how this compares to Australian Westerns about settler characters (made by settlers).
This is the first episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). In this episode, we discuss the films we're looking forward to at the 2023 Sundance Film Festivals based on directors we love, actors we love, and films we're hearing buzz about. We talk about the festival's importance in the film year, why we're pleased the festival has continued to offer a virtual option when other festivals are all returning to in-person only, and more. Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find last year's bingo card here. Click here to read the episode show notes. 00:00 Introduction 05:31 The accessibility of a virtual Sundance 11:13 The films we’re looking forward to at the festival Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Links to articles/books related to the 2023 selections Watch Lockdown Film School with Lily Gladstone. Gladstone has a new film, Fancy Dance, at Sundance 2023, and we're excited to see it. Read an excerpt from our interview with Lily Gladstone from the ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt's broken American Dreams. Gladstone talks about learning different languages, which is particularly relevant to Fancy Dance in which she speaks Cherokee. Read Orla Smith's analysis of Thomasin McKenzie's performance in Leave No Trace, which appears in our ebook Leave No Trace: A Special Issue. Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, and McKenzie returns to Sundance this year as the lead of William Oldroyd's Eileen. Read an excerpt of Alex Heeney's interview with Matthieu Rytz on Anote's Ark, which premiered at Sundance in 2018. The full interview appears in the ebook The 2019 Canadian Cinema Yearbook, which is available to purchase here. Rytz returns to Sundance this year with the documentary Deep Rising, which we're looking forward to. Read Alex Heeney's interview with Sebastian Silva on Magic Magic from 2015. He returns to Sundance 2023 with the film Rotting in the Sun. Get our ebook God's Own Country: A Special Issue, about Francis Lee's film which premiered at Sundance in 2017 and marked the debut of a major filmmaker. Read our interview with Eliza Hittman on Beach Rats, which starred Harris Dickinson in his breakout role. In 2021, we named Dickinson as one of the fifty screen stars of tomorrow. Dickinson appears in Scrapper at Sundance 2023. Discover past Sundance coverage related to this year's selections Read our past reviews of Sundance films starring Ben Whishaw: Lilting and Surge. Whishaw returns to Sundance this year with two films: Passages and Bad Behaviour. Read Orla Smith's review of Fresh from Sundance 2022, which was one of the better Midnight films we've seen at Sundance. On the episode, Orla talks about not being impressed with the Midnight films that tend to screen at Sundance. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Download the Sundance 2023 Bingo Card here. Related episodes to the Sundance 2023 preview All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 116: Virtual film festivals: Taking stock of their past, present, and future (Members Only): Sundance is one of the only festivals in 2023 to continue to offer a virtual component. On this episode from 2021, we talked about the advent of virtual film festivals, why we like them, why they may struggle, and what we'd like to see in the future. Ep. 94: HBO's Looking (Members Only): Raúl Castillo first impressed us in Andrew Haigh's TV series Looking. He's finally starting to get more traction as a film actor, almost a decade later, and he stars in Cassandro at Sundance 2023. In this episode, we talk about why Looking was one of the best shows of the 21st century, and why Castillo is such a great actor. Sundance Film Festival episodes Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (Free): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the creative nonfiction films at the festival. Bonus Episode 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction Films (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the highs, lows, discoveries, and disappointments among the fiction films at the festival, from Sharp Stick to Living. Ep. 78: Sundance 2021 part 1 (Members only): At the end of Sundance 2021, we reflect on the highs and lows of the festival with guests Andrew Kendall and Lena Wilson. Ep. 79: Sundance 2021 part 2 (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2021, we continue our discussion of the best and worst of the festival. Ben Whishaw episodes Bonus Episode 25: This is Going to Hurt and physician mental health (Members Only): We discuss how Ben Whishaw gave the performance of 2022 as the lead in the miniseries This is Going to Hurt, the best TV series of 2022. Whishaw returns to Sundance 2023 with two films. Ep. 69: Paddington and Paddington 2: We swoon over Ben Whishaw's performance in the Paddington films and in Lilting, which premiered at Sundance almost a decade ago. Ben Whishaw returns to Sundance 2023 with two films.  
4. Naomi Kawase at Cannes

4. Naomi Kawase at Cannes

2022-06-0101:24:48

On today's episode of the podcast, we discuss Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase who has been programmed at the Cannes Film Festival more than almost any other director this century, and why she's one of the best and most under-appreciated filmmakers. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guest Milly Gribben. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: Intro (0:00) Who is Naomi Kawase? (11:45) Our introductions to Naomi Kawase (15:57) The themes in Naomi Kawase’s films (26:00) Sound and sense of place in Kawase’s films (47:15) Why are men so mad at Naomi Kawase? (51:48) Why Cannes hasn’t always been the best launchpad for Naomi Kawase (1:04:50) Closing thoughts (1:07:47) Show notes: View the history of women directors at Cannes Watch Naomi Kawase’s TED Talk on her approach to cinema Read Lindsay Pugh’s review of Sweet Bean on her website Woman in Revolt Read Lindsay's interview with Sweet Bean actress Kirin Kiki Read Alex's profile interview with Agnieszka Holland Read Orla's interview with Ammonite director Francis Lee Related episodes: Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022 Women at Cannes Ep. 3: Céline Sciamma at Cannes Ep. 80: The Babadook and Prevenge: Motherhood in horror (Members' Only) Bonus 16: Watching Lena Dunham’s Girls in 2021 (Members' Only) : Water Lilies and Jennifer’s Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.
In 2020, we wrote an ebook called Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, after Sciamma's fourth feature (and first Cannes Competition film), Portrait of a Lady on Fire, was released. We were surprised and delighted to see Sciamma gaining a huge following after years of being so underappreciated. On this episode, we talk about Sciamma's greatness and how the industry was slow to catch up with it. We also fall into a long conversation about the wider pattern in the film industry of recognising female writer-directors for their writing rather than their directing, and why these fields are seen as so gendered. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: Who is Céline Sciamma? (4:51) How Sciamma’s films have been misunderstood throughout her career (13:52) How Portrait of a Lady on Fire differs from Sciamma’s earlier films (19:1) Sciamma’s precision (32:06) How the film industry sees women as directors versus screenwriters (35:54) How has Portrait impacted Sciamma’s career going forward? (53:55) Show notes View the history of women directors at Cannes Read Lindsay’s review of Portraits of resistance at Woman in Revolt Read Alex's interview with Sciamma's regular editor, Julien Lacheray Read Alex's in-depth conversation with the women behind Mouthpiece - Patricia Rozema, Amy Nostbakken, and Norah Sadava Read Alex's interview with director Andrew Haigh on the 10th anniversary of Weekend Related episodes Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022 Ep. 128: Petite Maman and Céline Sciamma’s temporary utopias Ep. 96: Water Lilies and Jennifer’s Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)  
On today's episode, we look back on the career of one of our favourite filmmakers, Kelly Reichardt (First Cow, Certain Women), and ask why it's taken until her 8th feature, Showing Up, for her to get a slot in the Cannes Competition. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  Find out what we know so far about Kelly Reichardt’s new film, Showing Up. On this episode: About our Kelly Reichardt ebook, Roads to Nowhere (4:22) Who is Kelly Reichardt? (5:52) Why 2022 is The Year of Kelly Reichardt (9:02) Kelly Reichardt’s history with Cannes and other festivals (10:36) Why we love Kelly Reichardt (28:42) Reichardt’s explorations of capitalist systems (37:15) The finances of a Kelly Reichardt film (41:46) Kelly Reichardt is a comedic filmmaker! (59:14) Showing Up and Reichardt’s collaborators (53:41) Related episodes: Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother’s day (Members' Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.
We kick off our #WomenAtCannes podcast season with an episode on the history of women at Cannes. We examine how Cannes works and uncover a number of surprising stats. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Associate Editor Brett Pardy. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: How Cannes works (2:55) Running the numbers on women at Cannes (10:47) Chantal Akerman and Agnès Varda at Cannes (21:10) The importance of the Cannes sidebars (23:37) Learn more about the Women in the Cannes Competition Box Set (33:14) How Cannes markets itself (34:46) Cannes awards (38:05) The lack of intersectionality in this conversation (42:45) A case study on Cannes 2021 (46:58) Conclusion (55:39) Coming soon (1:00:25) Related episodes: Bonus 28: Portraits of female artists: Part 2 (Members' Only) Ep. 114: Mia Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come and Bergman Island (Members' Only) Ep. 102: Cannes 2021 (Members' Only) Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother’s day (Members' Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Emerald Fennell's new film, Saltburn, comes out today, so we're re-releasing our 2021 episode about two very different depictions of rape culture from 2020: Fennell's revenge thriller Promising Young Woman and Kitty Green's The Assistant, a portrait of a young woman working in a misogynistic office environment. This is a landmark episode of the podcast, which kickstarted a series of episodes on rape culture on film. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and special guest Lindsay Pugh. Want to support the podcast? Become a member today, and access our entire archive of 150+ episodes. It helps us pay our expenses to keep the podcast going and continue to improve the podcast. For detailed show notes, visit: https://seventh-row.com/2021/01/06/ep-73-explorations-of-rape-culture-in-promising-young-woman-and-the-assistant/ Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com. Related episodes: Ep. 86 (Members Only): Una & Slalom: Depictions of childhood sexual assault  Ep. 92 (Members Only): Sugar Daddy and An Easy Girl: Commidfying women Ep. 132 (Free): Sarah Polley's Women Talking Coming Soon: Abortion on Film Season In this six-episode season, we discuss how socially progressive depictions of abortion on film have changed and developed since the 1950s. We’re putting the finishing touches on the season now, and hoping to have it out in about a month’s time.  Members get early access to the Abortion on Film season! Once the season starts, we’ll be releasing new episodes every two weeks, but members will get the first three episodes immediately, and early access to the remaining episodes. Become a member.
In honour of Justine Triet's historic Palme d'Or win, we are republishing our in-depth discussion of her two most recent films for free. This episode was originally released on September 8, 2020 as episode 56. This week on the podcast we look at two of Justine Triet's feature films, In Bed With Victoria (2016) and Sibyl (2019). Both films are non-judgemental character studies of career women in their thirties who are falling apart in various ways. We discuss how Triet's blending of multiple genres emphasizes the multiple facets of a character's life, and more.  In Bed With Victoria (2016) had its world premiere in the Critics' Week section at Cannes. Sibyl (2019) had its world premiere in the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Justine Triet is now the third woman director to receive the Palme d'Or, and the second woman director to not share the prize with a man. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Editor at Large Mary Angela Rowe, and special guest Lindsay Pugh. For detailed show notes, visit: https://seventh-row.com/2020/09/08/ep-56-justine-triets-women-on-the-verge-in-bed-with-victoria-and-sibyl/ Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.
On this episode, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney talks about several highlights of the 2023 Berlinale from the festival's sidebars. 0:00 Intro to the Berlinale & the episode 4:12 Here (Belgium, dir. Bas Devos) 12:20 The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany, dir. İlker Çatak) 16:59 The Quiet Migration / Stille Liv (Denmark, dir. Malene Choi) 23:17 Intro to the Generation sidebar  25:30 Delegation (Israel/Poland/Germany, dir. Asaf Savan) 30:15 Le Paradis / The Lost Boys (Belgium/France, dir. Zeno Gratan) 37:20 Wrap up First, Alex discusses the best film of the festival she saw, Here (dir. Bas Devos), which screened in the Encounters section where it won the top prize. Next, Alex discusses two films from the Panorama sidebar (the not quite prestigious enough for competition sidebar): award winner The Teachers' Lounge and the low key Danish film The Quiet Migration. Finally, Alex discusses two films from the Generation sidebar, a sidebar of Young Adult films for Young Adults: Delegation and Le Paradis. Finally,  Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Show Notes Read our interview with the director and star of Ninjababy, a Berlinale 2021 Generation program highlight Listen to our podcast on Ninjababy Read our interview with the director of Brother's Keeper, a Berlinale 2021 Panorama film which, like The Teachers' Lounge, is also about systemic injustices in the educational system. Read our review of Magnus von Horn's The Here After, which would make a great double feature with the 2023 film Le Paradis (The Lost Boys). Listen to our podcast on My Small Land, which screened in the Generation sidebar at Berlinale 2022. Like this year's The Quiet Migration, My Small Land also tackled the story of a young immigrant in a country where they grew up not looking like the majority of the population. Read and listen to all of our Berlinale coverage from this year and past years. Related episodes mentioned on this episode Ep. 83: Berlinale 2021 Part 1: The sidebars Ep. 84: Berlinale 2021 Part 2: The Competition Ep. 125: Berlinale 2022 Ep. 101 Magnus von Horn’s films: The Here After and Sweat How to listen to episodes marked "MEMBERS ONLY" Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. When you purchase your membership, you wil be given a personal podcast feed link, which you can then open in your favourite podcatcher. After that, the Premium Seventh Row Podcast (MEMBERS ONLY), will update in your podcatcher with new episodes just like every free podcast you listen to. All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Speakers on the episode This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney You can find Alex on Twitter @bwestcineaste, Instagram @bwestcineaste, and Letterboxd @bwestcineaste.  
In this episode, we discuss why the film Women Talking didn't work on every level. This includes the didactic screenplay, the bland and placeless production design, the typecasting, and the poor direction of group scenes. We are joined by special guest Dr. Angelo Muredda, who has a PhD in CanLit. To read the show notes and get the AI-generated transcript of the episode, click here. At Seventh Row, we've been long-time fans of Sarah Polley. We have even published episodes on her films Take This Waltz and Stories We Tell. Women Talking is her first bad, if well-intentioned, film. But it's been getting enormous Oscar buzz since its Telluride premiere. Angelo and Alex read the book by Miriam Toews, on which the film is based. We discuss the problems in the source text that get translated into the film — and how the film works (or doesn't) as a page-to-screen adaptation. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, as well as special guest Dr. Angelo Muredda. About the film Women Talking Based on a true story that happened in Bolivia, Women Talking is a fictional reimagining with an alternate ending. Almost every woman and girl in a small Mennonite community has been raped in their sleep by men or boys in the community. Traumatized and beaten down, a group of women volunteers from three families convene for a couple of days to discuss what the women should do. They must decide whether to stay and fight or to leave. The film then follows them through their discussions. The film Women Talking was adapted from the Miriam Toewes novel of the same name by Sarah Polley. Timings 00:00 Introduction 04:40 Why are talking about Women Talking? 07:20 An overview of our problems with Women Talking 25:05 Adapting Miriam Toews’s novel 34:00 The lack of specificity in Women Talking’s depiction of a Mennonite community 36:50 The casting and performances in Women Talking 52:10 The film’s treatment of its trans and disabled characters 1:06:05 Sarah Polley’s direction and the film’s cinematography 1:19:55 How Women Talking fits into CanLit 1:24:00 Why is this film resonating? Show Notes Read the 2019 New York Times article that Alex cites on the episode: in the piece, mennonites are interviewed about their thoughts on Miriam Toews’s novel, Women Talking. Read Alex's interview with the writer-director of Felix & Meira, a film about a Hasidic Jewish woman who decides to leave her community. On the episode, Alex compares Women Talking to films about Hasidic Jews. Read Alex's interview with the writer-director of Menashe, a film about Hasidic Jews made with actors who are part of the Hasidic Jewish community. On the episode, Alex compares the depiction of mennonites in Women Talking to the depiction of Hasidic Jewish characters in Menace Read Angelo’s recent review of Armageddon Time for Film Freak Central. Related episodes Ep. 43: Take This Waltz and Paper Year: Canadian marriage stories (Members Only) - We go deep on Sarah Polley's second feature, Take This Waltz, a film about a marriage breaking up, and compare it to another female-directed Canadian film about a troubled marriage, Paper Year. Ep. 40: Stories We Tell, Louder Than Bombs, & Mouthpiece: Dead mothers (Members Only): We discuss Sarah Polley's third feature, the creative nonfiction film Stories We Tell alongside two of our favourite films that are also about dead mothers. All three films were on Seventh Row's 50 favourite films of the decade list. Ep. 73: Promising Young Woman and The Assistant: Explorations of rape culture (Members only): We discuss two films that explore rape culture, one that does it thoughtfully (The Assistant) and one that does it poorly (Promising Young Woman). In the current episode, we regularly compare Women Talking to Promising Young Woman and refer back to this discussion in Ep. 73 Bonus 27: Empathy on film with Dr. Brett Pardy (FREE to everyone) - Dr. Pardy did his PhD research on how films can create empathy, and we discuss on Ep. 132 how Women Talking fails to create empathy. Where to find us Special Guest Angelo Muredda holds a PhD in disability studies on Canadian Literature and is a lecturer in the English department at Humber College. Angelo has also contributed to our ebook Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma with an essay on the female gaze, and to our ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt's broken American dreams with an essay on Wendy and Lucy. You can find Angelo on Twitter and Instagram @amuredda. Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Host Orla Smith is the Executive Editor of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @orlamango and on Instagram @orla_p_smith. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, become a member at http://seventh-row.com/join
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