The Seventh Art

Eloy Enciso is a Galacian filmmaker whose films have explored themes of place, history, memory, and performance. His film Arraianos (2012) is a close look at a village in Galicia that has been compared to immersive ethnographic works like those made for the Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab, while featuring villagers reading existentialist dialogue in a… Continue reading Eloy Enciso Interview (Endless Night)

Albert Serra is a Catalan filmmaker whose films have explored themes of literary adaptation, formalism, history, and the combination of the artificial and the natural. His latest feature, Liberté (2019), premiered at Cannes where it won Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.

Pedro Costa is a Portuguese filmmaker whose latest feature film, Vitalina Verala (2019), reunites the director with two actors and collaborators from his previous feature, Horse Money (2014), Vitalina and Ventura, to further explore the Fontaínhas neighbourhood and its inhabitants.

Ben Rivers is an English filmmaker whose latest feature film, the hybrid documentary Krabi, 2562 (2019), is a collaboration with acclaimed Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong commissioned by the Thailand Biennale.

Thomas Heise is a filmmaker whose latest film, Heimat Is a Space in Time (2019), explores the archive of four generations of his family’s correspondences and personal effects as a means of also considering Germany’s history over that period. We discuss his process and formal techniques in presenting this archive.

Ghassan Halwani is an animator and filmmaker whose debut feature film, Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible (2018), explores the thousands of individuals who disappeared amidst the Lebanese Civil War and the affect it has on their family, friends and the city of Beirut to this day. The film had its North American premiere at the 2018 Toronto… Continue reading Ghassan Halwani Interview (Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible)

Richard Billingham is a Turner Prize-shortlisted English artist whose debut narrative feature, RAY & LIZ (2018), explores his family history, culminating an overall project that has included photography books, documentary video, and short films. The film had its North American premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where Christopher Heron talked to Richard about… Continue reading Richard Billingham Interview (Ray & Liz)

Ben Russell is an experimental filmmaker whose latest film, Good Luck (2017), explores the spaces and labour of a copper mine in Bor, Serbia and a smaller gold mine in Suriname. We discuss the structure, aesthetic and philosophy of the film.

Amy Seimetz discusses the second season of The Girlfriend Experience (2016), which she co-directs with Lodge Kerrigan. The series, produced by Steven Soderbergh, changes its characters for the second season and sees Amy and Lodge directing separate stories, bifurcating the narrative with each one having its own unique aesthetic.

Kris Avedisian discusses his debut feature film, Donald Cried (2016), which explores the relationship between the chaotic Donald and the straight-laced Peter, two old friends that are unexpectedly forced to spend time together when Peter is stuck back in his hometown and tensions over their past are uncovered. We talk about Avedisian’s dual roles as actor and director, the aesthetic of the film, the difficulties of making comedies, and his writing process.

Austrian documentary filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter discusses his latest film, Homo Sapiens (2016), a fictional documentary that depicts the empty spaces of our world after humans are gone. These real spaces are linked in static shots that are grouped thematically, as sound and subtle movement texture these decaying and calmly depeopled totems to civilization.

Sean Baker discusses his latest film, The Florida Project, a sensory-driven, DayGlo look into the world of families living in motels in the economic shadow of Disney World. We discuss the film’s production, motifs in his films, and realism v. convention in Hollywood filmmaking.