Interviews

Since her Sundance premiere, Dawn Porter has been turning heads and hearts with Gideon's Army, her first feature documentary about the tough but vital role of public defenders in the US justice system. Here's why The Independent has an eye on her in 2013.

Jared M. Gordon is convinced that studying screenwriting outside of NY or LA can greatly benefit budding scribes. He spoke to graduate program directors at Carnegie Mellon University, Hollins University, Northwestern University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to gather facts and substantiate his theory.

Festival du Nouveau Cinema's Philippe Gajan explains how web docs are new media and not just documentaries on the web: "The place of the viewer is completely different now. You can choose the way you participate in the documentary." The Independent's Patrick Pearce gets the whole scoop on how the definition of nouveau changes from year to year.

Timing is everything. Though Robert Connolly took six years to make his last film, he turned out the first Julian Assange biopic in a year. The Independent's Katherine Brodsky caught up with him at TIFF 2012.

Shorts programs may not garner headlines, or coverage at all for that matter, but there are MANY reasons to cut it short. The Independent's Katherine Brodsky spoke to five Canadian filmmakers at Toronto International Film Festival about why short is soo sweet.

On and off-screen partners Kenny Stevenson and Dorien Davies teamed up with producer Lisa Rudin and director Eric Kissack on the indie festival comedy hit Missed Connections, which makes its international debut later this month. Rebecca Reynolds inquires about casting, budgeting, and the recipe for "comedy chops."

Julia Bacha's follow up to Budrus is My Neighborhood, which follows a young boy who comes of age in East Jerusalem through eviction, protests, and unexpected allegiances. She told The Independent that "the story of My Neighborhood isn’t over. We wanted to get the film out as soon as possible, because we didn’t want the window to close while there was still time to try and stop the settlements there."

"I think everyone has a particular summer when your life took a real shift," says Laura Colella to The Independent's David Pierotti within days of her third narrative feature debut. Colella calls Breakfast With Curtis a no-budget feature. It takes place in her real-life backyard starring her real-life neighbors... and marks at least one character's seminal summer.

The Independent shines a spotlight on 10 innovative filmmakers to keep your eye on this year, and coming years. We've got web series creators, animators, and filmmakers of all genres... and in the last month we've been releasing exclusive new extras on Facebook.

In another installment of "That's Classic," a column that connects classics to indie film, The Independent's Beth Brosnan checks in with Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader, who kicks off another season hosting TCM's Essentials Jr. this weekend.