We’ve seen plenty of film festivals introduce the next generation from an artistic family. But Laurie Simmons is that rare artist making her feature film debut as a writer-director (and star) after her daughter, Lena Dunham, set the path. Not that she’s been waiting. Simmons is one of America’s more successful contemporary artists with works…
Author: Lesley Coffin
Fifteen years in the making, Garcia releases ‘One Percent More Humid’
After 15 years with a script she wrote at the tender age of 25, Liz W. Garcia finally saw her film One Percent More Humid hit the screens as part of the US Narrative Competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The sun-soaked drama tells the story of two college-aged girls (played by Juno Temple and…
‘Divine Order' director takes lighthearted approach to suffrage
***Update*** The 16th Annual Tribeca Film Festival Nora Ephron Prize winner. The Nora Ephron Prize: Petra Volpe, writer/director of The Divine Order (Switzerland). Jurors Dianna Agron, Joy Bryant, Diane Lane, Zoe Lister-Jones and Christina Ricci awarded the film for its “intrepid and compassionate storytelling, beautiful cinematography (by a woman), complex characterization of the female experience, seamless…
Shamim Sarif breaks the mold with anti-le Carré spy thriller
Shamim Sarif is breaking the mold as a filmmaker, not only writing and directing her own projects, but adapting her own novels and producing with wife Hanan Kattan. Since 2007, she’s made three dramatically different romantic dramas. Her first two films (both starring Sheetal Sheth and Lisa Ray) were the period drama The World Unseen…
Director Lone Scherfig on ‘Their Finest,’ visionary filmmaking
When Lone Scherfig made the sleeper hit An Education, the coming-of-age romance that launched Carey Mulligan to stardom, she was already well into her impressive career. A graduate of the National Film School of Denmark, and won festival praise for her films The Birthday Party and On Our Own. But it was Italian for Beginners,…
First-time director Susan Johnson embraces 'old-school' Hollywood
Susan Johnson’s been working in the film industry for more than a decade, making a name for herself as the producer of 2004’s Mean Creek and going on to produce Nearing Grace, Eye of the Hurricane, God Help the Girl and Unleashed. Now she’s making her feature directing debut with the romantic-comedy, coming of age…
‘American Fable’ director talks Richard Schiff, politics and directing chickens
American Fable, the new thriller from Anne Hamilton, is one of the most visually spectacular indie in years. Made with a big sense of scope, and small budget, she’s turned what could be an intimate family drama into a spectacular fantasy thriller about the end of girl’s childhood. Starring newcomer Peyton Kennedy, and familiar faces…
Nora Ephron and a Baking Bible: Celebrating SWAN Day
To celebrate the 10th Annual International SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day on Saturday, March 25, 2017, the FF2 Media team is highlighting their favorite female artists.The holiday, also observed throughout the months of March and April, highlights the creative feats of female artists and their audiences. Senior Contributor Lesley Coffin: To celebrating SWAN Day,…
Sandilands captures 'Uncertain,' small-town America
One of the most evocative documentaries looks at a slowly dying rural community on the boarder of Texas, a town appropriately named Uncertain. When and if they can, young people leave to find jobs in neighboring urban area (although three hours from Louisiana, nothing is too close) and due to an increasing ecological crisis, the…
'The Last Laugh' director encourages humor, empathy in new documentary
Are there topics too horrible or controversial to make jokes about? Abortion, slavery, race, 9/11. Should the Holocaust be considered off limits to comedians? According to Director Ferne Pearlstein and the comedians and subjects interviewed for her new documentary The Last Laugh, that’s the wrong approach. Humor can be empowering for survivors, and have a…