Seventh Row Podcast

Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss Brady Corbet's The Brutalist, a four-hour fictional biopic about a brutalist architect and Holocaust survivor adjusting to life in post-war America. The film is Directorial Choices: The Movie. It won the Best Director Prize at the Venice Film Festival, but we had a lot of issues with the direction and the film. Despite its shortcomings, it offers a lot of fodder for discussion. The episode is spoiler-free. For detailed show notes, visit: https://seventh-row.com/2024/10/23/tiff-2024-brady-corbet-the-brutalist/ About the TIFF 2024 season: The TIFF 2024 season previews under-the-radar gems and buzzy titles at the festival with spoiler-free episodes that will help you prioritize what to watch for in the coming months. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24

**Are you interested in discovering extraordinary under-the-radar movies and discussing them with a community of film lovers?** **Sign up for the Reel Ruminators (Free Trial), by visiting https://email.seventh-row.com/trial. The discussion will happen on October 13 at 12 p.m. EST. ** Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss one of the biggest directorial swings at TIFF: Joshua Oppenheimer's The End. Starring Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, and Michael Shannon, the film is a musical about a rich family surviving in isolation in a salt mine bunker after the climate apocalypse. We discuss how the film works as a post-apocalyptic story and a musical, and how what we found interesting about the film may not be what Oppenheimer felt was most central. The End will be released in North America on December 6, 2024. The episode avoids major spoilers. About the TIFF 2024 season: The TIFF 2024 season previews under-the-radar gems and buzzy titles at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24

**To sign up for the Reel Ruminators (Free Trial), visit https://email.seventh-row.com/trial.** In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex is joined by Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda to discuss one of our most anticipated titles of the festival: Luca Guadagnino's Queer.  The film adapts the Williams S. Burroughs novel of the same name. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, Burroughs' alter-ego, a lonely man in post-war Mexico City, desperately chasing after younger men. When he meets Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), he's instantly smitten, but Allerton plays hot and cold with him. After a tentative on-again-off-again courtship, Lee persuades Allerton to go to South America with him in search of hallucinogenic drugs that will help with telepathy. In Queer, Guadagnino has reteamed with several Challengers collaborators: screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, costume designer Jonathan Anderson, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, and editor Marco Costa.  The episode is spoiler-free. About the TIFF 2024 season: The TIFF 2024 season will give you a preview of some of the best under-the-radar gems and some of the buzziest titles at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24

In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two films starring Ralph Fiennes: Uberto Pasolini's The Return and Edward Berger's Conclave. In them, Fiennes respectively plays Odysseus at the end of his journey and a cardinal in charge of the process for selecting a new pope. The episode is spoiler-free. About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films about bicultural daughters and their absent fathers. Fittingly, the films are about identity, the role of the father-daughter relationship, and what it may mean for both father and daughter for that relationship to be severed.  To discuss the films' differing cultural contexts, I quote from interviews with the filmmakers, who share many similar insights despite their disparate backgrounds. All three films are world premieres at TIFF and are still seeking North American/UK distributors. The films are: Egil Pederson’s My Father’s Daughter (Sápmi) - first feature Koya Kamura’s Winter in Sokcho (France) - first feature Guillaume Senez’s A Missing Part  (Belgium/France) About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two new films from masters of British social realism: Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths. Bird had its world premiere at Cannes in May; Hard Truths had its world premiere at TIFF. Alex finds similarities in subject matter and storytelling approach between the films, including the very strong performances from some Seventh Row favourites, and discusses what each of them is individually doing that's worth noting.  Alex wrote the book on Mike Leigh's Peterloo and his process, so her discussion of Hard Truths places it within Leigh's oeuvre and discusses how his signature process helped make this film an impressive achievement. On this episode 0:00 Intro to the episode 3:34 Andrea Arnold's Bird 16:32 Mike Leigh's Hard Truths 38:14 Closing remarks, more from TIFF to find and look forward to More Andrea Arnold An essay on landscape and limbo in Fish Tank by Gillie Collins A review of American Honey by Elena Lazic An interview with editor Joe Bini by Orla Smith on editing Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here and how that differs from working with Andrea Arnold More Mike Leigh Read our ebook on Mike Leigh's Peterloo: mikeleighbook.com Listen to Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo (Members Only) Listen to Ep. 119: Mike Leigh's Naked (FREE) Listen to us discuss Vera Drake and its place in the history of abortion movies in our Abortion on Film season. About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films from around the world that take place within the world of sports but aren't really about sports.  Alex finds common ground in how the films are shot and tell stories, often through gestures and blocking rather than dialogue. These films are: Leonardo van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet – Belgium/Sweden (sales title) Frida Kempff's The Swedish Torpedo - World Premiere - Sweden (sales title) Hiroshi Okuyama’s My Sunshine - Japan (Film Movement will distribute) About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24  

In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses the four Palestinian films at this year's festival. These films are: No Other Land (Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor) - Norway/Palestine To a Land Unknown (Mehdi Fleifel) - Germany, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Happy Holidays (Scandar Copti) - Germany, France, Italy, Palestine, Qatar From Ground Zero (22 directors), France, Jordan, Palestine, Qatar About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and look for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world are exploring similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24  

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off on Thursday, September 5, and Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will cover it with a series of podcast episodes. In this episode, Alex introduces the podcast season and explains why this season is for you and whether or not you're attending TIFF this year. I'll explain what to expect from this podcast season and why TIFF and our coverage are relevant to you if you're interested in exploring world cinema.  About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and look for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world are exploring similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Click here for a link to all of our TIFF 2024 coverage. ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.  

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).