Oscar-Nominee Shaka King on Writing & Directing “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. Our conversation with Shaka King was originally published on March 30, before he was nominated for two Oscars. The film was nominated for Best Picture (the nomination includes King and producing partners Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler), and King was nominated for Best Original Screenplay along with co-writers Will Berson, Kenny & Keith Lucas.

Judas and the Black Messiah galvanized moviegoers with its fact-based story about Black Panther leader Fred Hampton,

Oscar-Nominated DP Sean Bobbitt on Framing a Historic Power Struggle in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. Our conversation with Sean Bobbitt was first published on February 11, before he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

The late Fred Hampton, former chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, was renowned for his skill as an orator and his work in his community, though the American government chose to mainly view the young activist as a threat.

Oscar-Nominee Terence Blanchard on Scoring Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on June 12, 2020. Terrence Blanchard is nominated for Original Score.

Spike Lee’s films’ timeliness speaks to his prescience, and to his fearless, decades-long willingness to examine the continued and persistent injustice experienced by Black Americans. His new film Da 5 Bloods lands in the midst of a pandemic disproportionately affecting Black,

Oscar-Nominee Alan Baumgarten on Editing Aaron Sorkin’s Rapid-Fire Dialogue in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on October 13, 2020. Baumgarten has since been nominated for an Oscar for Editing.  

For his latest feature, writer and director Aaron Sorkin shifts his political eye from the West Wing to the US government’s judicial branch. In The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sorkin revisits the drawn-out trial of a group of Vietnam War protestors,

Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Kemp Powers on Finding Truth & Beauty in “One Night In Miami”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. The original story ran on February 2, before Kemp Powers was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Also worth noting—he co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature. 

After nearly two decades as a news reporter, Kemp Powers knew a good story when he found one. Discovering that four cultural icons — heavyweight champ Cassius Clay, soon to take the name Muhammad Ali;

Industrial Light & Magic Senior Creature Artist Dane Larocque on Constructing Unforgettable Creatures

Dane Larocque hails from rural British Columbia and Alberta and grew up in what he calls a “hardcore western rodeo family.” A career in visual effects, at arguably the most prestigious VFX company on the planet, wasn’t something he grew up imagining as an option. Yet Larocque had an enduring passion for film and was the type of kid who’d pore over the special features of a DVD to see how a particular film was actually made.

Oscar-Nominee Yuh-jung Youn on Creating Family in “Minari”

This interview with Yuh-jung Youn is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on February 16, before she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Writer/director Lee Isaac Chung’s film Minari is about a Korean family chasing the American dream in 1980s Arkansas. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han play parents Jacob and Monica, who have brought their two kids Ann and David to live and work on a farm,

Director Hanelle Culpepper on Filming Fights & Making History in “Kung Fu”

Directing a series pilot has a huge impact on the viability of the show, putting tremendous pressure on the director. It’s pressure Hanelle Culpepper can handle, exemplified by the ratings and stellar reviews of her award-winning work on last year’s Star Trek: Picard. On The CW’s Kung Fu, she was chosen by showrunner Christina M. Kim to direct the first two episodes of a series making history as the first hour-long drama featuring a predominantly Asian-American cast.

Oscar-Nominee Daniel Kaluuya on Honoring Fred Hampton’s Legacy in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview with Daniel Kaluuya is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on February 23, before Kaluuya was nominated, alongside co-star Lakeith Stanfield, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Daniel Kaluuya is such a comedian it’s hard to imagine he’s made a career out of acting in some of the most profound dramas of the past five years—a fact that he too, seems to frequently forget.

Vietnamese Filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh on a Filmmaker’s Life During the Pandemic

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Vietnamese filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh enjoyed a very promising start for her feature debut project Don’t Cry, Butterflies (previously known as Man Hunting), which saw her busy globetrotting from Asia to North America and Europe for film festivals and events.

In March 2019, her project won the competition at the Script to Screen workshop, organized by MPA, Asia Pacific Screen Awards,

Director Marian De Pontes on her Horizon Award-Winning Film “Etana”

For director Marian De Pontes‘ Horizon Award-winning short film Etana, the South African native did not choose an easy subject. De Pontes, who earned her MFA in film production from Chapman University, and her BA with Honors in Film Production from the University of The Witwatersrand in South Africa, was inspired by a New York Times article on child soldiers in South Sudan. Etana is a potent epic-in-miniature, focusing on the title character (played by Vivian Nweze) and her attempt to flee her forced servitude in an army that deploys children soldiers.

Horizon Award Winner Shira Baron on The Importance of Listening

For a young filmmaker casting about for a story, sometimes the subject is standing right in front of you, even calling out to you. That was the case for Shira Baron, a recent recipient of the Horizon Award, whose short De Sol a Sol won for Best Documentary Short. Baron’s film follows entrepreneurs Ricardo and Abraham, ice cream cart peddlers who have been working on Chicago’s northern shore for 20 years. Baron, currently enrolled in the University of Michigan’s Film,

How “The Unholy” Visual Effects Team Created Biblical Scares During Scary Times

“In the early innings, as the pandemic was ramping up, it was like looking out at the ocean and you see a storm coming, and you’re not sure you can get to shore before the storm gets there.” That’s an observation that might describe most of the past year; certainly, it’s politics, work and school life, and of course healthcare delivery. In this case, it also applies to the almost all-virtual workaround to finish the recent Screen Gems horror release The Unholy,

Editor Gabriel Rhodes on Cutting the Oscar-Nominated Doc “Time”

“I never thought a film could be made with such a minimal amount of information,” says editor Gabriel Rhodes. But not only was it made; it currently has an Oscar nomination for best feature-length documentary.

The film in question is called, simply, Time. Coming from director/artist Garrett Bradley, it chronicles a long stretch of time, twenty years’ worth, in which Louisiana-based wife and mother, Fox Rich,

“Godzilla vs. Kong” VFX Supervisor on Creating Titan Title Match of the Ages

John ‘D.J’. Des Jardin has been a go-to visual effects supervisor in Hollywood for decades, and he’s widely known as one of the best and nicest guys in the business. You can see his inventive, creative touch in The Matrix, X-Men, and Mission Impossible franchises. His work can be seen on Ang Lee’s achingly beautiful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The man’s talents cross all genres—if you need something to exist on screen that doesn’t,

Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer Bina Daigeler on Mixing History & Myth in “Mulan”

When director Niki Caro took on Disney’s live-action reboot of Mulan, you knew the New Zealand-born filmmaker was going to deliver something transporting. The original “Ballad of Mulan” was first shared in China in the 6th century, and was then shared again as a Disney animated movie in 1998. In Caro’s hands, the mythology of Mulan becomes a lush live-action epic, buoyant and beautiful, as our titular heroine goes from a headstrong daughter into a fearless warrior fighting to defend China,

Scoring a Serial Killer’s Many Transformations in “The Serpent”

In the 1970s, young travelers flocked to Asia for exotic adventures and a liberating nomadic lifestyle, but an evil force slithered beneath the surface to prey on them. Netflix’s The Serpent dives into the underbelly world of real-life serial killer, Charles Sobhraj. Tahar Rahim stars as the convicted murderer who targeted westerners and hippies traveling through Bangkok to steal their identities and funds. Composer Dominik Scherrer scored the hypnotic soundtrack that draws from the era and geographic setting,

Director Chiaki Kon on Her Netflix Anime Feature “The Way Of The Househusband”

A new Japanese anime series The Way Of The Househusband will premiere on Netflix globally on April 8. The five-episode series follows Tatsu, once a legendary yakuza nicknamed The Immortal Dragon, who is determined to become a devoted stay-at-home husband, diligently handling all the daily chores for his wife Miku, a busy career woman. But his newfound domestic bliss is soon interrupted when friends and foes from the past come back into his lives.

“French Exit” Director Azazel Jacobs on Loving His Wicked, Witty Central Character

Director Azazel Jacobs‘ French Exit won’t, on first blush, seem like a feel-good movie. Its protagonist, Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a ferociously acerbic fading socialite who more or less doesn’t want to live anymore. Based on Jacobs’ friend and collaborator Patrick DeWitt’s novel (and adapted by DeWitt himself), there seems no earthly reason why anyone, in the year 2021, would feel affectionate towards a privileged woman lamenting her third act turn towards insolvency by savaging everyone in her path.

Makeup Department Head Matiki Anoff on Capturing the 1920s Aesthetic in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Makeup department head Matiki Anoff had her work cut out for her with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Director George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of August Wilson’s play revolves around Viola Davis’s hard-charging blues singer Ma, and the tensions that boil over between her and her ambitious horn player Levee (the late Chadwick Boseman), as well as the white management running their recording session.

Like her colleagues, makeup artist Sergio Lopez-Rivera and hair department head Mia Neal,