Leaves don’t change colors here in LA. You can tell it’s fall when the Emmy FYC billboards start to change into ads for next year’s Spirit Award & Oscar contenders. So before we dive head first into the end of year excitement, we wanted to take a look back at the great films we screened for our Film Independent members over the last few months. This time we have Andrew Ahn’s remake of the classic The Wedding Banquet, a doc about rediscovering an artist mother in A Photographic Memory, a new show about the world of ballet from the Palladinos in Étoile, a romantic hostage situation with Oh, Hi!, an indie story of Black love in Love, Brooklyn, and a riotous breakup comedy, Splitsville.

After each screening, of course, we bring the audience into the filmmaking process with Q&As with the creators and stars of the film. Here are a few of our latest Q&As.

 

THE WEDDING BANQUET

Featuring: Andrew Ahn (director); moderated by Angela Lee (Director of Artist Development, Film Independent) 

Where to watch: Apple TV

Logline: From director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating the disasters and delights of family expectations, queerness, and cultural identity.

Interview Highlight: “In the wedding Banquet, I had to let the emotions free, that’s what these characters wanted, that’s the genre, the romcom. Wearing my heart on the sleeve, it required a certain trust in the process,” says Andrew Ahn.

 

A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY

Featuring: Rachel Elizabeth Seed (director) and Christopher Stoudt (co-writer/editor); moderated by Kate Mason (Film Independent)

Where to watch: Apple TV

Logline: Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed was only 18 months old when her mother, renowned journalist Sheila Turner Seed, unexpectedly passed  away. Moved to uncover more of what she left behind, Rachel sets out to revisit her mom’s subjects, family and friends, revisiting the iconic photographers she interviewed decades before.

What critics are saying: “Searching for Sheila gives Rachel a way to understand herself. Revisiting the record of time reminds us that we are all but a moment in a much grander narrative,” writes Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

Interview Highlight: “ Personal film, it really like takes over your life, you have figure out how to capture your real life in a film. It’s like bringing a child in into the world,” says Christopher Stoudt.

 

ÉTOILE

Featuring: Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (creators, writers, directors, and executive producers); moderated by Debra Birnbaum (Gold Derby)

Where to watch: Prime Video

Logline: Set in New York City and Paris, the eight-episode Étoile follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies, as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars.

Interview Highlight: “Dancers are fascinating creatures, they are the only art form where you are literary guaranteed to never make any money. You have to have to start at an incredibly early age, and your whole life is devoted to training for something that could be over by twenty five, meanwhile you’ve missed out on your childhood. They’re very pure, they love the art form and they are utterly and completely devoted to it,” says Amy Sherman-Palladino

What critics are saying: “likably light-on-its-feet, infused with its creators’ love and admiration for this world and boasting strong lead performances from Luke Kirby and Charlotte Gainsbourg as well as a knockout English-language debut from co-star Lou de Laâge,” writes Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter

 

OH, HI!

Featuring: Sophie Brooks (writer/director), Molly Gordon (actor/producer), Logan Lerman and Geraldine Viswanathan (actor); moderated by David Canfield (Vanity Fair)

Where to watch: Prime Video

Logline: Iris and Isaac’s first romantic weekend getaway as a couple goes awry. Convinced that he’s just confused, Iris goes to increasingly ridiculous and irrational lengths to prove to him that they are meant to be together.

What critics are saying: “There’s a lot to like about Oh, Hi! With its playful writing and game cast, the film is sure to attract young fans and find its audience. At its root, this is a surprisingly sensitive commentary on uniquely millennial romantic loneliness,” writes  Jourdain Searles, The Hollywood Reporter

Interview Highlight: “Our women matter, they are really driven, Sophie (writer/director) and I always say that when a man is looking for love, it’s like hot and attractive, but when a woman is, it’s desperate. So it was interesting to explore this,” says Molly Gordon.

 

LOVE, BROOKLYN

Featuring: André Holland (actor/producer); moderated by Carla Renata (Critic)

Where to watch: Theaters

Logline: A writer navigates complicated relationships with his ex, an art gallery owner, and his current lover, a newly-single mother, with the support of his best friend. A modern romance set against the rapidly changing landscape of Brooklyn, New York.

What critics are saying: “There’s no doubt that Holder and Zimmerman know Brooklyn well and have much affection for it. They are also lucky to have found these three actors who are able to conjure so much emotion with ease and in the process make the romantic narrative beguilingly tangible,” writes  Murtada Elfadl, Variety

Interview Highlight: “One of the things that we really wanted to do is to make a movie about black people, who are just trying to figure out their lives, one that doesn’t spin on trauma or drama or it doesn’t require any kind of a big dramatic thing. Just gonna put the camera on these black folks and just watch them live, and try to move from this position to that,” says André Holland.

 

SPLITSVILLE

Featuring: Michael Angelo Covino (writer/director/actor) and  Kyle Marvin (writer/actor); moderated by Jenelle Riley (Variety)

Where to watch: Theaters

Logline: After Ashley (Arjona) asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey (Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage, that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.

What critics are saying: “Splitsville underlines how those claiming they’ve cracked the code on how to maintain a successful love life, whether by sticking with one partner or seeking as many as possible, eventually crack up themselves,” writes  Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter.

Interview Highlight: On what he expects from directors, Kyle Marvin says “There is total freedom, the script is really specific, what we are doing is very specific, but the freedom comes in the performance that’s what you’re yearning for, a clear path to feel liberated.”

 
 
These screenings were all free for Film Independent members. Join today, and the next one can be free for you too.