Listen Now

On this episode, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney talks about several highlights of the 2023 Berlinale from the festival's sidebars. 0:00 Intro to the Berlinale & the episode 4:12 Here (Belgium, dir. Bas Devos) 12:20 The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany, dir. İlker Çatak) 16:59 The Quiet Migration / Stille Liv (Denmark, dir. Malene Choi) 23:17 Intro to the Generation sidebar  25:30 Delegation (Israel/Poland/Germany, dir. Asaf Savan) 30:15 Le Paradis / The Lost Boys (Belgium/France, dir. Zeno Gratan) 37:20 Wrap up First, Alex discusses the best film of the festival she saw, Here (dir. Bas Devos), which screened in the Encounters section where it won the top prize. Next, Alex discusses two films from the Panorama sidebar (the not quite prestigious enough for competition sidebar): award winner The Teachers' Lounge and the low key Danish film The Quiet Migration. Finally, Alex discusses two films from the Generation sidebar, a sidebar of Young Adult films for Young Adults: Delegation and Le Paradis. Finally,  Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. Show Notes Read our interview with the director and star of Ninjababy, a Berlinale 2021 Generation program highlight Listen to our podcast on Ninjababy Read our interview with the director of Brother's Keeper, a Berlinale 2021 Panorama film which, like The Teachers' Lounge, is also about systemic injustices in the educational system. Read our review of Magnus von Horn's The Here After, which would make a great double feature with the 2023 film Le Paradis (The Lost Boys). Listen to our podcast on My Small Land, which screened in the Generation sidebar at Berlinale 2022. Like this year's The Quiet Migration, My Small Land also tackled the story of a young immigrant in a country where they grew up not looking like the majority of the population. Read and listen to all of our Berlinale coverage from this year and past years. Related episodes mentioned on this episode Ep. 83: Berlinale 2021 Part 1: The sidebars Ep. 84: Berlinale 2021 Part 2: The Competition Ep. 125: Berlinale 2022 Ep. 101 Magnus von Horn’s films: The Here After and Sweat How to listen to episodes marked "MEMBERS ONLY" Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. When you purchase your membership, you wil be given a personal podcast feed link, which you can then open in your favourite podcatcher. After that, the Premium Seventh Row Podcast (MEMBERS ONLY), will update in your podcatcher with new episodes just like every free podcast you listen to. All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Speakers on the episode This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney You can find Alex on Twitter @bwestcineaste, Instagram @bwestcineaste, and Letterboxd @bwestcineaste.  

In the seventh and final episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss the documentaries at Sundance 2023, focusing on the films Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There?, The Stroll, and Plan C. We also discuss the best films of Sundance and wrap up our discussion of the festival. 00:00 Introduction 01:26 Why we’re talking about documentaries at Sundance 03:05 And the King Said What a Fantastic Machine directed by Axel Danielsen & Maximilien Van Aertryck 11:19 Is There Anybody Out There? directed by Ella Glendining (and other first-person disability docs) 31:13 The Stroll directed by Kristen Parker Lovell & Zackary Drucker 36:04 Plan C directed by Tracy Droz Tragos 39:35 Milisuthando directed by Milisuthando Bongela 42:28 Against the Tide directed by Sarvnik Kaur 56:27 Final thoughts on Sundance 2023 and top tens 01:10:57 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast. About the Sundance 2023 season Visit https://seventh-row.com/sundance for links to all of the episodes in the season, a downloadable bingo card, as well as a list of all of the films covered on this season. You will also find links to the show notes on each of the episodes and information on our coverage of Sundance dating back to 2015. Show Notes Buy a copy of our ebook Subjective realities, which features essays and interviews on creative nonfiction film (including our interview with Pacho Velez on Searchers). The book also features an interview with director Chase Joynt who has made two documentaries featuring Zackary Drucker, director of the 2023 Sundance film The Stroll. Read our 2016 Sundance interview with Penny Lane on NUTS! in which she introduced us to the term 'creative nonfiction' as a way to describe innovative approaches to documentary. Watch Axel Danielsen and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s short film Ten Meter Tower for free on YouTube. Watch Guy Goma’s hilarious interview on the BBC, which features in Fantastic Machine Read Orla’s review of I Didn’t See You There Read Alex’s review of Gleason Read Orla’s interview with Chase Joynt and Morgan M. Page on Framing Agnes, which stars Zackary Drucker who co-directed in the 2023 film The Stroll Read Orla's interview with the filmmakers behind No Ordinary Man, which features Zackary Drucker, director of the film The Stroll. Read Orla’s review of All That Breathes Read Alex’s review of Captains of Za’atari Read Orla’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw Read Alex’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Listen to our last podcast season, which tackles the history of women at the Cannes film festival, and read our comprehensive list of all the women filmmakers who have been programmed by Cannes. Related episodes mentioned on this episode For more information on how these episodes relate to this episode, click here. To listen to each episode, or find out more about the episode, click on the link below Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 99: Creative nonfiction with Carol Nguyen and Penny Lane (FREE FOREVER). Ep. 106: Christine and Kate Plays Christine: Reviving Christine Chubbuck (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 53: Boys State and First Stripes (MEMBERS ONLY) Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming histories in documentaries. (MEMBERS ONLY) How to listen to episodes marked "MEMBERS ONLY" Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. When you purchase your membership, you wil be given a personal podcast feed link, which you can then open in your favourite podcatcher. After that, the Premium Seventh Row Podcast (MEMBERS ONLY), will update in your podcatcher with new episodes just like every free podcast you listen to. All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Speakers on the episode This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith. You can find Alex on Twitter @bwestcineaste, Instagram @bwestcineaste, and Letterboxd @bwestcineaste. You can find Orla on Twitter @orlamango, Instagram @orla_p_smith, and Letterboxd @orlamango  

In the sixth episode (and third dispatch) of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss highlights like Ira Sachs's film Passages, Nicole Holofcener's film You Hurt My Feelings, Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sun, and Angus MacLachlan's A Little Prayer, as well as other buzzed-about films at the festival. 00:00 Introduction 01:10 Brief thoughts on Fremont, Infinity Pool, Bad Behaviour, Rye Lane, Drift, A Thousand and One 39:20 You Hurt My Feelings by Nicole Holofcener 52:04 Rotting in the Sun by Sebastián Silva 1:04:22 Passages by Ira Sachs 1:21:55 A Little Prayer by Angus MacLachlan 1:33:30 Fair Play, Cat Person, and the legacy of Promising Young Woman 1:54:49 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. In this episode, we discuss four of our favourite films of Sundance 2023, each in the Premieres section: Nicole Holofcener's dreamed, You Hurt My Feelings, Sebastián Silva's black comedy Rotting in the Sun, Ira Sachs' relationship drama Passages, and Angus MacLachlan's quietly insightful family drama. We also talk briefly about the disappointing films that have forged themselves in the image of Promising Young Woman: Fair Play and Cat Person. Orla discusses one of her most hated films of the festival, Infinity Pool, and Alex defends Alice Englert's troubled feature debut Bad Behaviour. Alex also adds her thoughts on Fremont, which Orla first discussed in episode 3 (Alex agrees it's excellent). Finally, we both discuss some minor highlights of the festival. We were underwhelmed by British rom-com Rye Lane, though think it's a good depiction of the city. Alex liked Anthony Chen's (Ilo Ilo and Wet Season) English-language debut Drift, starring Cynthia Erivo and Alia Shawkat, despite its problematic script, because the direction and performances were so good (Honor Swinton-Byrne also shows up!). Orla also weighs in on the US Grand Jury Prize Winner One Thousand Nights. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Read Indiewire’s article on the making of Rotting in the Sun, which we quote from in this episode. Read our interview with Sebastián Silva on his film Magic Magic Treat yourself by following Franz Rogowski on Instagram. Read our profile of Geraldine Viswanathan, who was wasted by Cat Person. Read Kristen Roupenian’s original Cat Person short story, published by The New Yorker. Listen to episode three of our Sundance 2023 podcast season, in which we discuss Slow, which features a far better example of asexual representation than Cat Person. Read our interview with Ana Katz, the director of The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet, which was our favourite film of Sundance 2021. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Listen to our last podcast season, which tackles the history of women at the Cannes film festival, and read our comprehensive list of all the women filmmakers who have been programmed by Cannes. Related episodes All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Click here to become a member, and access our entire podcast archive, as well as new Members Only episodes. Episodes related to the Franz Rogowski in the film Passages Ep. 5: Christian Petzold’s Transit (MEMBERS ONLY): Franz Rogowski, who stars in the film Passages, is one of the best actors working today. Head back to one of our earliest episodes where we discuss his amazing (best of the decade) performance in one of the best films of the decade. Ep. 119: Mike Leigh’s Naked (FREE — soon becoming MEMBERS ONLY): There are very few good cinematic depictions of narcissists. Ira Sachs's Passages is the latest entry into the canon, and the narcissist at its centre, played by Franz Rogowski, reminded us of Johnny (David Thewlis) from Mike Leigh's Naked, if much less sympathetic (and yet less abusive). Episodes about Ben Whishaw, co-star of Passages Ep. 69: Paddington and Paddington 2 (MEMBERS ONLY): Ben Whishaw was at Sundance this year with two new movies: Alice Englert's film Bad Behaviour (as a cult leader) and Ira Sachs's film Passages (as a man married to Franz Rogowski who cheats on him with a woman). We celebrated Whishaw's work in both Paddington films, and his prowess as an actor more generally, in this discussion that concludes Paddington is the ultimate symbol of British colonialism. Bonus ep. 25: This is Going to Hurt (MEMBERS ONLY): Ben Whishaw is one of the very best working actors today. With two films at Sundance coming out later this year (hopefully!), now is a great time to visit his tour de force career best work as the lead of This is Going To Hurt, a show about physician mental health in the NHS. His performance is both comic and dramatic and absolutely heartbreaking. It's also so incredibly detailed. Nobody else could do it like him. Related episodes to the films A Little Prayer, Rotting in the Sun, and You Hurt My Feelings. Ep. 40: Remembering dead mothers in Stories We Tell, Louder Than Bombs, and Mouthpiece (MEMBERS ONLY): A Little Prayer is a film very much about the family as an ecosystem and a unit of people trying their best under difficult circumstances and often screwing. That's also what Joachim Trier's Louder Than Bombs (2015) is about, and we discuss it in depth in this episode. Louder Than Bombs is also about what happens to a family when a major secret has been kept and comes out, wreaking some havoc, just as in the film You Hurt My Feelings. Ep. 94: HBO’s Looking (MEMBERS ONLY): It's not often that we get media that is unabashedly gay, depicting gay spaces and the gay community in a way that might make heterosexuals uncomfortable. HBO's Looking was pioneer for this on TV, including the way it depicted gay sex and intimacy. Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sunalso pushes the envelope, though in a much more confronting (and depressing) way. Related episodes to Cat Person and Fair Play Ep. 73: Explorations of rape culture in Promising Young Woman and The Assistant (MEMBERS ONLY): Fair Play and Cat Person at Sundance this year feel like poor attempts to ride the Promising Young Woman hype. Revisit our original bashing of Promising Young Woman for context about why we think its approach to addressing sexual assault is really problematic. We compare it to The Assistant which was way better and also screened at Sundance that year, a much subtler and smarter approach to the topic. Bonus ep. 16: Watching Lena Dunham’s Girls in 2021 (MEMBERS ONLY): Lena Dunham was a pioneer of uncomfortable sex scenes involving women in the their 20s, and films like Promising Young Woman, Cat Person, and Fair Play have picked up the baton (if not reached Dunham's heights). In this episode, we discussed what it was like to watch Girls in 2021 (for the first time for Orla).

In the fifth episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss some of this year's buzziest titles, including William Oldroyd's film Eileen, Andrew Durham's film Fairyland, and some hidden gems like Babak Jalali's film Fremont and Rachel Lambert's film Sometimes I Think About Dying. 00:00 Introduction 01:49 Brief thoughts on Mutt, Cassandro, Polite Society, Theater Camp 17:58 Sometimes I Think About Dying directed by Rachel Lambert 28:45 Fremont by Babak Jalali 36:16 Eileen by William Oldroyd 51:43 Fairyland by Andrew Durham 1:08:59 Sundance bingo Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Read Orla Smith’s analysis of Thomasin McKenzie’s performance in Leave No Trace, which appears in our ebook Leave No Trace: A Special Issue. Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, and McKenzie returns to Sundance this year as the lead of William Oldroyd’s Eileen. Read Alex Heeney's analysis of Gael García Bernal's performance in Ema, and why he is one of the very best actors working today. Bernal stars in and is the highlight of Cassandro. View the list of all of the films covered on the Sundance 2023 podcast Sundance 2023 season (FREE): Catch up with all of our episodes. Sundance 2023 season (FREE): Catch up with all of our episodes. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Related episodes All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). Ep. 1: Leave No Trace (FREE): We first fell in love with Thomasin McKenzie for her work in the Sundance film Leave No Trace, which we wrote a book about. In this companion episode to the book, we discuss why the film was so great and what a talent McKenzie is. McKenzie returned to Sundance this year as the star of William Oldroyd's film Eileen. Ep. 22: The King (FREE): In this crossover episode with our Shakespeare Podcast, 21st Folio, we watch the terrible film The King for you, and report back on what a mess it is and how under-used Thomasin McKenzie is. Ep. 91: AIDS on screen, featuring It’s a Sin (MEMBERS ONLY): In this episode, we give an overview of films/TV/recorded theatre dating back to the 1990s that have addressed the AIDS crisis. It's a must listen before seeing Fairyland and offers many recommendations for films that address the AIDS crisis well (which Fairylanddoes not). Ep. 98: Angels in America adaptations (MEMBERS ONLY): Tony Kushner's Angels in America is one of the most famous AIDS plays, and we delve deep into the HBO miniseries and the National Theatre's 2016 recorded production. We also talk about how the two productions address the AIDS crisis and how the views of the play have shifted in the last 20 years.

In the fourth episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss the North American films by and about Indigenous Peoples at the festival, including Twice Colonized, Bad Press, Murder in Big Horn, and Fancy Dance. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  00:00 Introduction 01:05 Why are we discussing Indigenous films at Sundance? 14:11 Fancy Dance is our favourite Indigenous film at Sundance 14:54 Murder in Big Horn 31:00 Twice Colonized 41:13 Bad Press 49:26 The trend of an Indigenous filmmaker and a settler filmmaker co-directing 57:58 Indigenous films at Sundance set outside of North America: Heroic, Sorcery, Against the Tide More about the episode In this episode, we discuss Indigenous Films at Sundance: films directed or co-directed by Indigenous people as well as a couple of films about Indigenous people but directed by settlers. We kick off with our favourite Indigenous film at the festival, Fancy Dance, about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) which we already went deep on in episode 3. We then dig into the disappointing documentary miniseries Murder in Big Horn (dir. Razelle Benally who is Oglala Lakota/Diné and Matthew Galkin), which looks at MMIWG in the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations. The Sundance miniseries Murder in Big Horn is told through the lens of an Indigenous investigative journalist looking into the case and uses the tropes of true crime. We talk about the often thoughtful but inchoate Twice Colonized, which was directed by a settler The film Twice Colonized follows the wonderful Inuk lawyer Aaju Peter (who also appears in Angry Inuk). Next, we talk briefly about another disappointing Sundance US Indigenous film, a documentary co-directed by an Indigenous director, Bad Press (dir. Muscogee filmmaker Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler), about the Mvskoke Media in the Muscogee Creek Nation navigating gaining and then losing and then trying to regain their status as free press. We also touch briefly on Fox Maxy's New Frontiers experimental film. Finally, we briefly discuss Heroic, a World Dramatic Competition film about an Indigenous character and mention the other World Cinema films that are about (but not made by) Indigenous people. About the Sundance 2023 season This is the fourth episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes About the Sundance 2023 season This is the thid episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Explore our archive of interviews with Indigenous filmmakers. Listen to the third episode of our Sundance 2023 podcast season, in which we discuss Erica Tremblay’s film Fancy Dance. Listen to the podcast Finding Cleo on CBC Radio. Read our interview with Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers on her film Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. Read our interview with Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn on The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, in which they discuss their collaboration. Then listen to our four-person masterclass with the pair and Mouthpiece collaborators Norah Sadava and Amy Nostbakken. Read our interview with Sonia Boileau on her film Rustic Oracle, which is about the issue Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Read our interview with director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril on Angry Inuk, her documentary about seal hunting. Listen to our last podcast season, which discussed the history of women filmmakers at the Cannes film festival. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Related episodes At Seventh Row, we have a long-standing interest in covering Indigenous Films from around the world, with a special focus on films produced in Canada. In this episode, we reference any great Indigenous films and creatives that we've discussed on previous episodes. If you'd like to learn more about Indigenous filmmaking, we recommend checking these out. Ep. 131: Remembering Jeff Barnaby (FREE). The great Mi'gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby passed away last year. We paid tribute to his enormous influence on Indigenous filmmaking, Canadian cinema, and the filmmaking industry more broadly through his work and activism. We also discuss his short films and two feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum, and why they have had such a lasting impact. Ep. 126: Run Woman Run (also featuring a discussion of Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy) (FREE, soon becoming Members Only). We discuss the Indigenous film Run Woman Run. The film is the second feature from director Zoe Leigh Hopkins. It's a coming-of-age at 30+ story about an Indigenous woman and mother who must learn to care for herself after getting a diabetes diagnosis. We also talk about Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers's documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. In this episode, we discuss how Murder In Big Hornlacks the empathy for its subjects that we see in The Meaning of Empathy. Ep. 62 and 63: Indigenous YA part 1 and Indigenous YA part 2 (in which we discuss Rustic Oracle) (Members Only): We discuss a number of Indigenous YA films out of Canada, including the MMIWG films Rustic Oracle. Ep. 120: David Gulpilil: Remembering his work in Charlie’s Country and beyond (FREE, soon becoming Members Only): The great Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil passed away in 2021. We began 2022 with a tribute to his work and legacy. Ep. 38: Australian westerns and True History of the Kelly Gang (in which we discuss Sweet Country) (Members Only): We discuss how Aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thornton upends colonial tropes in the Australian Western with his film Sweet Country (which screened at Sundance!). We look at the film in context with some contemporary settler Australian Westerns.

In our first dispatch on the world premieres at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, we delve into the under-discussed and oft-ignored World Dramatic Competition. We go deep on our favourite World Dramatic Competition title so far: Slow (dir. Marija Kavtaradze), Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan), and When It Melts (dir. Veerle Baetens). Finally, we turn to two early US highlights: Erica Tremblay's Fance Dance and Luke Lorentzen's documentary A Still Small Voice.  Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  00:00 Introduction 09:10 Films from the Sundance World Dramatic Competition so far: Slow, Heroic, Scrapper, When It Melts, Mamacruz, Girl 53:23 Fancy Dance starring Lily Gladstone 1:18:35 A Still Small Voice 1:24:22 Sundance bingo More about the films discussed in the episode Erica Tremblay's Fancy Dance is in the US Dramatic Competition and about an Indigenous woman (Lily Gladstone) searching for her sister who recently went missing (MMIWG) while suddenly finding herself the sole guardian for her 12-year-old niece. The documentary A Still Small Voice(dir. Luke Lorentzen) in the US Documentary Competition is about the toll on a hospital chaplain of constantly extending empathy to others. Slow is a Lithuanian film about a dancer navigating a new relationship with her asexual partner. The film Scrapper is about a working class twelve-year-old girl in Dagenham who recently lost her mother and reconnects with her estranged father (an excellent Harris Dickinson). When It Melts is about a traumatic childhood event in a twelve-year-old girl's life that has devastating consequences for her as an adult. We also discuss Heroic (dir. David Zonana, Workforce) and Mamacruz (dir. Patricia Ortega), which also screened in the World Dramatic Competition. In past years, we've found some of our favourite films at Sundance in this section, including The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet (2021), Charter (2020), The Souvenir (2020), God's Own Country (2017), Mammal (2016), Sand Storm (2016), and Homesick (2015). Unfortunately, these films also have the tendency to disappear so we wanted to throw a spotlight on the competition this year (as we do every year!), to draw attention to films you'll want to watch out for at local film festivals, which may be your only opportunity to watch them, or could get buried on VOD in the future. And hopefully, we can help get these films noticed and distributed! About the Sundance 2023 season This is the third episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste on Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes on E3 of the Sundance 2023 podcast season: Fancy Dance, Slow, Scrapper, A Still Small Voice and more Links to articles/books related to the 2023 selections Get our book on creative nonfiction film, Subjective Realities, featuring interviews with Tabitha Jackson, Penny Lane, Robert Greene, Kirsten Johnson, Joe Bini, Pacho Velez, and more. Read our coverage of Hala and Crystal Swan, which were both shot by cinematographer Carolina Costa (who did Fancy Dance). Listen to our Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen interview (which also exists in Subjective Realities) in podcast form where they discuss the genre "creative nonfiction" and how why Lane coined it to describe her films. Read about why we named Harris Dickinson and Lily Gladstone as two of the fifty screen stars of tomorrow in 2021. Dickinson stars in the World Dramatic Competition film Scrapper at Sundance 2023. Gladstone stars in the US Dramatic Competition film Fancy Dance. Watch Lockdown Film School with Lily Gladstone. Gladstone has a new film, Fancy Dance, at Sundance 2023, and we’re excited to see it. Read an excerpt from our interview with Lily Gladstone which touches on her love of linguistics from the ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt’s broken American Dreams. Gladstone talks about learning different languages, which is particularly relevant to Fancy Dance in which she speaks Cherokee. Read our interview with writer-director Sonia Boileau on her Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) drama Rustic Oracle. Fancy Dance, one of our festival favourites thus far, also addresses MMIWG. Read Orla's Quick Thoughts review on last year's Girl Picture, in which one third of the central trio of characters questions whether she's asexual. This was the highlight of the 2022 World Dramatic Competition. This year's Slowalso features an asexual character. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Related episodes to E3 Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (FREE): In this episode, we talk about Sundance's history of programming creative nonfiction films and how this has changed in the last decade. We'll be on the lookout for exciting new creative nonfiction films at the festival this year. Our early favourite is A Still Small Voice. Bonus Episode 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction Films (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the highs, lows, discoveries, and disappointments among the fiction films at the festival, including Girl Picture, the best film in the 2022 World Dramatic Competition. Ep. 63: Indigenous YA, part 2 (Members Only): In this episode, we discuss a fantastic films about MMIWG that precedes Fancy Dance, Rustic Oracle, a film made in Canada. Rustic Oracle would make for a great double feature with Fancy Dance. Ep. 53: First Stripes and Boys State (Members Only): We go deep on the fantastic documentary First Stripes, which follows new recruits through basic training in the Canadian military.        

In the second episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss Sundance's Spotlight Program, its only feature film program dedicated to films that premiered at other festivals. We discuss the program's history of picking great films and giving them the spotlight they needed (but didn't get at other festivals).  We discuss four of the five films programmed in the Spotlight section: Other People's Children, Joyland, L'Immensità, and The Eight Mountains. Since we already talked about Other People's Children in depth on a previous episode, we only discuss it briefly here. Additionally, we go deep on The Eight Mountains, which Alex loved, and briefly discuss the other two films in the program that we've seen which we weren't too keen on. We've actually written books featuring several of the films that screened in Spotlight, including You Were Never Really Here, Girlhood, and The Worst Person in the World. And several of the films previously programmed in the last decade have made our list of the best films of the 2010s. Click here to read the episode show notes. You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.  About the Sundance 2023 season This is the second episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). Sundance 2023 Bingo Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find this year's bingo card in the show notes on our website. In each expisode we'll track our progress on the Bingo card, individuall and as a Seventh Row team. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Links to articles/books on films that previously screened in Spotlight Read our list of Seventh Row's 50 Favourite Films of the 2010s, which also includes many films that screened in Sundance's Spotlight Program, including Oslo, August 31st (#1), Their Finest, Raw, and You Were Never Really Here. Get our ebook on Lynne Ramsay's most recent Spotlight film: You Were Never Really Here: A Special Issue Get our ebook on the Céline Sciamma, Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, which includes an interview with Sciamma on Girlhood conducted in Park City at Sundance in 2015 when the film screened in Spotlight. Read Orla Smith's interview with writer-director Haifaa Al-Mansour on The Perfect Candidate, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2020. Read Alex Heeney's interview with writer-director Rebecca Miller on Maggie’s Plan, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2016. Read Alex Heeney's interview with director Lone Scherfig on Their Finest, which previously screened in Spotlight in 2017. Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home. Related episodes to E2: Sundance 2023 Spotlight program Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 116: Virtual film festivals: Taking stock of their past, present, and future (Members Only). Sundance is one of the only festivals in 2023 still offering a virtual component. On this episode, we talked about the advent of virtual film festivals and what we'd like to see in the future. Ep. 129: Highlights of 2022 Fall Film Festivals (Members Only). We discuss the best films that screened on the festival circuit in fall 2022. This includes a free in-depth discussion of Other People's Children. Episodes on Films featured in the Spotlight section Ep. 112: Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World (Free). As the world experts on the films of Joachim Trier (our book on his work will be out later this year), we published an episode on his twice Oscar-nominated film The Worst Person in the World (2021), which screened in Spotlight in 2022. Ep. 73: Explorations of rape culture in Promising Young Woman and The Assistant (Members Only). Although The Assistant premiered at Telluride in 2020, it only really started generating buzz after its 2021 screening in the Spotlight Program at Sundance. In this episode, we discuss its depiction of rape culture alongside a bigger Sundance hit (which was also much less nuanced), Promising Young Woman. Ep. 107: Another Round and Oslo, August 31st: Are men OK? Masculinity, mental health, & addiction(Members Only). Joachim Trier first came to Sundance in 2012 with Oslo, August 31st (which premiered at Cannes in 2011), our #1 film of the 2010s. We talk about how the film addresses masculinity, mental health, & addiction and how this compares with the more recent film, a decade later, Another Round. Episodes on genre films featured in the Sundance Spotlight program Ep. 17: The Nightingale (Members Only): Having launched her career in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance, Jennifer Kent once again returned to the festival with her second feature, The Nightingale, which premiered at Venice to an underwhelming response. We thought the film was rich and excellent in many ways (if flawed), and went deep on it on the podcast. Ep. 112: Raw and Thelma and modern female monsters (Members Only): After receiving rave reviews (and press about vomiting walkouts) at Cannes and TIFF, Julia Ducournau (who later won the Palme d'Or for Titane) screened her first feature, Raw at Sundance in the Spotlight program. We talk about the film in comparison with Joachim Trier's Thelma. Ep. 38 Australian Westerns: The True History of the Kelly Gang, Sweet Country, and The Dressmaker (Members Only): Warwick Thornton's fantastic feature Sweet Country previously screened in the Sundance Spotlight program after premiering (and winning an award) at Venice and TIFF. In this episode, we discuss how Thornton decolonizes the Australian Western, as well as how this compares to Australian Westerns about settler characters (made by settlers).

This is the first episode of our new podcast season on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Sundance 2023 runs from January 19-28, and we'll be covering this year's festival in a new podcast season about the films this year and how the programming fits into the festival's history. This is Seventh Row's second podcast season (the first was on Women at Cannes in 2022). In this episode, we discuss the films we're looking forward to at the 2023 Sundance Film Festivals based on directors we love, actors we love, and films we're hearing buzz about. We talk about the festival's importance in the film year, why we're pleased the festival has continued to offer a virtual option when other festivals are all returning to in-person only, and more. Because the festival loves to program films by slot and quota, we are also introducing our annual Sundance Bingo Card, which you can download here. Play along during the festival (or look at past festival editions and the films you've caught which screened there). You can find last year's bingo card here. Click here to read the episode show notes. 00:00 Introduction 05:31 The accessibility of a virtual Sundance 11:13 The films we’re looking forward to at the festival Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member. How to follow our Sundance 2023 coverage Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the 2023 Sundance podcast season and coverage on the website. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow; Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste Twitter and Instagram; and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter and @orla_p_smith on Instagram. Show Notes Links to articles/books related to the 2023 selections Watch Lockdown Film School with Lily Gladstone. Gladstone has a new film, Fancy Dance, at Sundance 2023, and we're excited to see it. Read an excerpt from our interview with Lily Gladstone from the ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt's broken American Dreams. Gladstone talks about learning different languages, which is particularly relevant to Fancy Dance in which she speaks Cherokee. Read Orla Smith's analysis of Thomasin McKenzie's performance in Leave No Trace, which appears in our ebook Leave No Trace: A Special Issue. Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, and McKenzie returns to Sundance this year as the lead of William Oldroyd's Eileen. Read an excerpt of Alex Heeney's interview with Matthieu Rytz on Anote's Ark, which premiered at Sundance in 2018. The full interview appears in the ebook The 2019 Canadian Cinema Yearbook, which is available to purchase here. Rytz returns to Sundance this year with the documentary Deep Rising, which we're looking forward to. Read Alex Heeney's interview with Sebastian Silva on Magic Magic from 2015. He returns to Sundance 2023 with the film Rotting in the Sun. Get our ebook God's Own Country: A Special Issue, about Francis Lee's film which premiered at Sundance in 2017 and marked the debut of a major filmmaker. Read our interview with Eliza Hittman on Beach Rats, which starred Harris Dickinson in his breakout role. In 2021, we named Dickinson as one of the fifty screen stars of tomorrow. Dickinson appears in Scrapper at Sundance 2023. Discover past Sundance coverage related to this year's selections Read our past reviews of Sundance films starring Ben Whishaw: Lilting and Surge. Whishaw returns to Sundance this year with two films: Passages and Bad Behaviour. Read Orla Smith's review of Fresh from Sundance 2022, which was one of the better Midnight films we've seen at Sundance. On the episode, Orla talks about not being impressed with the Midnight films that tend to screen at Sundance. Discover all of our past podcast episodes on films that screened at Sundance. Download the Sundance 2023 Bingo Card here. Related episodes to the Sundance 2023 preview All of our podcasts that are more than six months old are only available to members. We also regularly release members only bonus episodes. Many of the episodes listed here are now only available to members (Members Only). To listen to all of these related episodes, become a member. Ep. 116: Virtual film festivals: Taking stock of their past, present, and future (Members Only): Sundance is one of the only festivals in 2023 to continue to offer a virtual component. On this episode from 2021, we talked about the advent of virtual film festivals, why we like them, why they may struggle, and what we'd like to see in the future. Ep. 94: HBO's Looking (Members Only): Raúl Castillo first impressed us in Andrew Haigh's TV series Looking. He's finally starting to get more traction as a film actor, almost a decade later, and he stars in Cassandro at Sundance 2023. In this episode, we talk about why Looking was one of the best shows of the 21st century, and why Castillo is such a great actor. Sundance Film Festival episodes Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (Free): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the creative nonfiction films at the festival. Bonus Episode 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction Films (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2022, we reflect on the highs, lows, discoveries, and disappointments among the fiction films at the festival, from Sharp Stick to Living. Ep. 78: Sundance 2021 part 1 (Members only): At the end of Sundance 2021, we reflect on the highs and lows of the festival with guests Andrew Kendall and Lena Wilson. Ep. 79: Sundance 2021 part 2 (Members Only): At the end of Sundance 2021, we continue our discussion of the best and worst of the festival. Ben Whishaw episodes Bonus Episode 25: This is Going to Hurt and physician mental health (Members Only): We discuss how Ben Whishaw gave the performance of 2022 as the lead in the miniseries This is Going to Hurt, the best TV series of 2022. Whishaw returns to Sundance 2023 with two films. Ep. 69: Paddington and Paddington 2: We swoon over Ben Whishaw's performance in the Paddington films and in Lilting, which premiered at Sundance almost a decade ago. Ben Whishaw returns to Sundance 2023 with two films.  

In this episode, we discuss why the film Women Talking didn't work on every level. This includes the didactic screenplay, the bland and placeless production design, the typecasting, and the poor direction of group scenes. We are joined by special guest Dr. Angelo Muredda, who has a PhD in CanLit. To read the show notes and get the AI-generated transcript of the episode, click here. At Seventh Row, we've been long-time fans of Sarah Polley. We have even published episodes on her films Take This Waltz and Stories We Tell. Women Talking is her first bad, if well-intentioned, film. But it's been getting enormous Oscar buzz since its Telluride premiere. Angelo and Alex read the book by Miriam Toews, on which the film is based. We discuss the problems in the source text that get translated into the film — and how the film works (or doesn't) as a page-to-screen adaptation. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, as well as special guest Dr. Angelo Muredda. About the film Women Talking Based on a true story that happened in Bolivia, Women Talking is a fictional reimagining with an alternate ending. Almost every woman and girl in a small Mennonite community has been raped in their sleep by men or boys in the community. Traumatized and beaten down, a group of women volunteers from three families convene for a couple of days to discuss what the women should do. They must decide whether to stay and fight or to leave. The film then follows them through their discussions. The film Women Talking was adapted from the Miriam Toewes novel of the same name by Sarah Polley. Timings 00:00 Introduction 04:40 Why are talking about Women Talking? 07:20 An overview of our problems with Women Talking 25:05 Adapting Miriam Toews’s novel 34:00 The lack of specificity in Women Talking’s depiction of a Mennonite community 36:50 The casting and performances in Women Talking 52:10 The film’s treatment of its trans and disabled characters 1:06:05 Sarah Polley’s direction and the film’s cinematography 1:19:55 How Women Talking fits into CanLit 1:24:00 Why is this film resonating? Show Notes Read the 2019 New York Times article that Alex cites on the episode: in the piece, mennonites are interviewed about their thoughts on Miriam Toews’s novel, Women Talking. Read Alex's interview with the writer-director of Felix & Meira, a film about a Hasidic Jewish woman who decides to leave her community. On the episode, Alex compares Women Talking to films about Hasidic Jews. Read Alex's interview with the writer-director of Menashe, a film about Hasidic Jews made with actors who are part of the Hasidic Jewish community. On the episode, Alex compares the depiction of mennonites in Women Talking to the depiction of Hasidic Jewish characters in Menace Read Angelo’s recent review of Armageddon Time for Film Freak Central. Related episodes Ep. 43: Take This Waltz and Paper Year: Canadian marriage stories (Members Only) - We go deep on Sarah Polley's second feature, Take This Waltz, a film about a marriage breaking up, and compare it to another female-directed Canadian film about a troubled marriage, Paper Year. Ep. 40: Stories We Tell, Louder Than Bombs, & Mouthpiece: Dead mothers (Members Only): We discuss Sarah Polley's third feature, the creative nonfiction film Stories We Tell alongside two of our favourite films that are also about dead mothers. All three films were on Seventh Row's 50 favourite films of the decade list. Ep. 73: Promising Young Woman and The Assistant: Explorations of rape culture (Members only): We discuss two films that explore rape culture, one that does it thoughtfully (The Assistant) and one that does it poorly (Promising Young Woman). In the current episode, we regularly compare Women Talking to Promising Young Woman and refer back to this discussion in Ep. 73 Bonus 27: Empathy on film with Dr. Brett Pardy (FREE to everyone) - Dr. Pardy did his PhD research on how films can create empathy, and we discuss on Ep. 132 how Women Talking fails to create empathy. Where to find us Special Guest Angelo Muredda holds a PhD in disability studies on Canadian Literature and is a lecturer in the English department at Humber College. Angelo has also contributed to our ebook Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma with an essay on the female gaze, and to our ebook Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt's broken American dreams with an essay on Wendy and Lucy. You can find Angelo on Twitter and Instagram @amuredda. Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste. Host Orla Smith is the Executive Editor of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @orlamango and on Instagram @orla_p_smith. Become a Member All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only. We also regularly record members only episodes. To get full access to the podcast, become a member at http://seventh-row.com/join

Today, we pay tribute to the great films and enormous impact of Mi'gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby who passed away on October 13, 2022. He is best known for writing and directing (and editing and composing for) two landmark Indigenous feature films out of Canada: Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and Blood Quantum (2019). This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, as well as Associate Editor Dr. Brett Pardy. To read the show notes and get the AI-generated transcript of the episode, click here. More about the episode Mi'gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby passed away unexpectedly from cancer on October 13, 2022. He was only 46. He is best known as the writer-director of two feature films in colonial Canada: the landmark film about residential "schools" Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and the popular zombie film Blood Quantum (2019). But he has also made three excellent shorts, which we hope to help people discover: From Cherry English (2004), The Colony (2007), and Etlinisigu'niet: Bleed Down (2015). We've been huge fans of Barnaby's work and activism, and are still very much mourning the loss of this incredible talent who wasn't given the opportunities he deserved. There are so many films we will never get from him now. But we also wanted to talk about how many roadblocks were put in Barnaby's way while he was alive, preventing him from making all the films he could have and wanted to make in his time. This episode is a tribute to Jeff Barnaby — a complicated, difficult, visionary filmmaker — and what his work has revealed about Canada and the film industry. When Barnaby died, we didn't just lose so much future work from this important filmmaker that we all wanted to see (and he wanted to make), but we also lost a huge resource of cultural knowledge of the Canadian and Indigenous Film Industries. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, as well as Associate Editor Dr. Brett Pardy. On This Episode 01:51–3:45 Why are we talking about Jeff Barnaby? 3:45–6:26 Jeff Barnaby's unexpected passing and his huge impact on the film industry 6:26–10:38 Barnaby not only changed filmmaking but effected social change with his work 10:38–16:56 How the Canadian film funding bodies failed to support Barnaby's work in the ways it should have. We also discuss why they wanted to fund Rhymes for Young Ghouls but not Blood Quantum 16:56–19:44 Making films about colonial trauma without showing gratuitous violence or making trauma porn at the same time 19:44– 24:52 Dr. Brett Pardy on teaching Rhymes for Young Ghouls and its weighty emotional impact on the viewer. We also discuss Barnaby's use of genre to capture a settler audience and talk about colonialism. Barnaby did this without being didactic or preach. He's not there to teach; just to provoke. 24:52-30:21 Rhymes for Young Ghouls is so accomplished it doesn't feel like a first feature. 30:21-32:08 Barnaby wasn't given the opportunities he should have been given in the time that he had, even though everyone in the Canadian film industry knew how talented he was and how important his work was. 32:08-47:58 How Jeff Barnaby was refreshingly honest on Twitter and in interviews when discussing the realities of being an Indigenous filmmaker. Barnaby had a lot of integrity. He also worked to uplift other Indigenous artists. He was one of the most accessible filmmakers on Twitter and would regularly engage (positively) with other film fans and critics. 47:21-49:24 The loss of Barnaby also means the loss of a huge body of knowledge of how the Canadian film industry works to support (or fail to support) Indigenous filmmakers. 49:24-52:54 The lack of critical or academic interest in contemporary Canadian film, let alone Indigenous film, and how we have tried our best to fill the gap. 52:54-57:13 Jeff Barnaby's short films, as well as why they are worth catching up with 57:13-59:31 Related episodes, what's coming next on the podcast, and other wrap-up thoughts. Show Notes on the podcast on remembering Jeff Barnaby Read Alex Heeney's interview with Jeff Barnaby on Blood Quantum and colonialist zombies Read Seventh Row's 50 favourite films of the decade which also includes Rhymes for Young Ghouls as #6. Watch Jeff Barnaby's short From Cherry English (2004) (Available worldwide) Watch Jeff Barnaby's short The Colony (2007) (Available worldwide) Watch Jeff Barnaby's NFB short made from archival footage, Etlinisigu'niet (Ble)ed Down (2015) (Available worldwide) Become a member for access to all of our upcoming episodes. This also includes most of our episodes on Indigenous films. Listen to our first podcast season on Women at Cannes Related episodes Bonus 27: Empathy on film with Dr. Brett Pardy (FREE to everyone) - Dr. Pardy did his PhD research on how films can create empathy, and used Barnaby's Rhymes for Young Ghouls as a case study for some of his on-the-ground research. Ep. 39: Jeff Barnaby's Rhymes for Young Ghouls & Blood Quantum (Members only) - In this early episode of the podcast, we compare and contrast Barnaby's two features, as well as discuss how he uses genre in innovative ways, and more. Ep. 62: Indigenous YA, part 1 (Members Only) - We discuss three recent contemporary Indigenous YA films from Canada: Beans (2020), Monkey Beach (2020), and the TV show Trickster (2020). Ep. 63: Indigenous YA, part 2 (Members only) - A broader survey of Indigenous YA out of Canada from the last decade, including Rustic Oracle (2019), Tia and Piujuk (2018), The Grizzlies (2018), Kuessipan (2019), and Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013). Where to find us Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow. Follow Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste, Orla Smith @orlamango, and Dr. Brett Pardy @DrAntiqueiPod on Twitter. 

This is an excerpt of a members only episode. To listen to the full episode, become a member at http://seventh-row.com/join One of the best movies of 2022, Jerzy Skolimowski's visually and aurally inventive Eo, is now in cinemas for a limited time. The film is about injustice in the animal world seen through the eyes of a donkey. It's a great big screen experience (for sound and image) so we're going deep on the film this week. Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith are joined by Associate Editor Dr. Brett "Empathy" Pardy.  About the excerpt In this excerpt, we discuss whether Eo is presented as an "exceptional" animal/donkey in the film. Many films about animals depict them as exceptional, like Air Bud the golden retriever who can play basketball or Okja the superpig. In many ways, Skolimowski's film bucks convention here by making Eo a fairly normal donkey whose experiences (and the way he's depicted) render him a subject of interest rather than because he's a particularly special donkey.  We ask, why do we care about animals on screen (in general) and why do we care about Eo? Does a home exist for a donkey like Eo? Become a member to listen to the rest of the discussion, which includes: In the full episode, we go even deeper on how the film creates empathy for a donkey and give a donkey the appearance of a full emotional inner-life. We also compare Eo to other recent films about (or featuring) animals — including White God, Lean on Pete, Cow, and Gunda — to help us understand how empathy is usually extended toward on-screen animals. Finally, we discuss how some of the best politically conscious films being made today, with youthful exuberance, are coming from directors over 70.   01:51 Why are we talking about Eo? 09:18 Placing Eo within the canon of donkey stories 13:53 Exceptional donkeys (this section is the only one available free)32:00 Anthropomorphising animals  46:56 An older generation of political filmmakers Show Notes Become a member for access to all of our upcoming episodes Listen to our previous podcast season on Women at Cannes Read Alex Heeney's review of Eo Get your copy of our ebook on Lean on Pete, a film about an unexceptional horse Read Alex Heeney's White God interview with the film's director and animal trainer Get your copy of our ebook Road to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt's broken American dreams. It features an interview with the First Cow and Lean on Pete animal trainer. Watch the 2009 Sam Mendes Charlie Rose interview referenced in the episode. He discusses the differences between directing film and theatre Related episodes Ep. 11: Mike Leigh's Peterloo (Free) - on the film and what we learned about Leigh's process and the film from writing the book Peterloo in process: A Mike Leigh collaboration Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo (Members only) - we discuss creating empathy for characters navigating an unjust world Ep 93: The films of Agnieszka Holland (Members Only) - we discuss Europa Europa, Washington Square, and Charlatan and how Holland depicts life under totalitarian states (which has similarities what Eo experiences as a lower class donkey) Ep. 104: Agnieszka Holland on directing (Members Only) - an in-depth interview with the director about bucking convention from early on in her career, and how she continues to do so now Ep. 7: Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete (Free) - we discuss the film and its depiction of an unexceptional horse, as well as insights gleaned from our ebook on the film (Lean on Pete: A Special Issue), including how it was made Where to find us Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow. Follow Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste, Orla Smith @orlamango, and Dr. Brett Pardy @DrAntiqueiPod on Twitter. 

This is an excerpt of a members only episode. To listen to the full episode, become a member at http://seventh-row.com/join Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith discuss the highlights of the fall film festival circuit, the new and troubling dominance of Netflix (and other streamers') films, and exciting (or not-so-exciting) first features. We discuss favourites like The Eternal Daughter, Saint Omer, Other People's Children — many of which will get a full-length episode of their own in the coming months. We also discuss some of the biggest disappointments. Orla shares her experience at the London Film Festival. Alex shares her experience attending the Toronto International Film Festival. Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram @SeventhRow. Follow Alex Heeney @bwestcineaste and Orla Smith @orlamango on Twitter.  On this episode excerpt: 00:00-5:24 - Intro to the episode and the festivals we've covered 5:24-18:55 Rebecca Zlotowski's Other People's Children and a new film grammar for women as multitaskers in Other People's Children, Mia Hansen-Løve's One Fine Morning, and Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter  FREE EXCERPT ENDS HERE Become a member to listen to the rest o the discussion, which includes: 18:55-20:55 How many films we saw, and some of the downsides 20:55-25:45 Orla's favourites including Laura Poitras's All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and  Verena Paravel's De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Jamie Dack's Palm Trees and Power Lines 25:45-31:14 Alex favourites including Alice Winocour's Paris Memories and Darlene Naponse's Stellar 31:14-50:34 The dominance of Netflix and streamers, Matthew Warchus's Matilda, Causeway 50:34-56:50 The festival circuit: great festival films from earlier this year that disappeared (My Small Land, Lullaby, 32 Sounds), screened only at local festivals (Nelly and Nadine, Framing Agnes) and films that keep coming back. We also discuss the London Film Festival's problematic approach to programming and why we love the Berlinale's programming. 56:50-1:00:24 The lack of live cinema experiences at festivals (like 32 Sounds) in a year when we are being forced to return to cinemas for festivals. 1:00:24-1:05:50 Directors' first features, Charlotte Wells's Aftersun, the rise of Paul Mescal, Georgia Oakley's Blue Jean 1:05:50-1:16:15 Depressing trends in British cinema and the British film industry and how that relates to the country's funding practices. We also draw comparisons to the Canadian film industry. Why is it so hard to get a second feature made? And why do first features have to conform so much to industry standards? We discuss Francis Lee's films, Hope Dickson Leach's film, and several Canadian filmmakers. 1:16:15-1:25:29 Thinking about National Cinema at film festivals, especially Canadian cinema and British cinema 1:25:29-1:31:36 Plan 75, Palm Trees and Power Lines, and other great under-seen first features that keep screening everywhere 1:31:36 Sign offs and related episodes Related episodes Women at Cannes Season: Listen to our five-episode 2022 season on the history of Women directors at the Cannes Film Festival. We highlight some of the best films by women and women filmmakers to screen at the festival. We also discuss the festival's ongoing poor track record of programming films directed by women. Ep. 125: Berlinale 2022: On this omnibus episode, we discuss the highlights of the Berlin Film Festival screening in the festival's under-discussed and under-appreciated (but excellently programmed) sidebars. Ep. 109: TIFF 2021 Part 1: In last year's counterpart to this episode, we discussed the highlights of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), including Terence Davies's Benediction and Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World Ep. 111: TIFF 2021 Part 2: Continuing our discussion on the fall film festivals in 2021, with a focus on TIFF, we discussed Power of the Dog, Ali & Ava, and more highlights from TIFF. Ep. 49: Split screen storytelling in Lungs and Conversations with Other Women: Listen to our episode on Matilda director Matthew Warchus's fantastic live-recorded theatre production of Lungs, (Members only) Ep 60: Old Vic In Camera Productions: Three Kings and Faith Healer: Listen to our podcast on Matthew Warchus's two follow-up live-broadcasted productions of Three Kings and Faith Healer (Members only) Show Notes Read all of our TIFF 2022 coverage Read all of our film festival coverage from this fall here Read Alex Heeney's review of Matilda: The Musical on stage Read Alex Heeney's review of Stellar Read Alex Heeney's review of Eo Read our review of Matilda director Matthew Warchus's Pride Read Alex Heeney's review of Palm Trees and Power Lines Read Alex Heeney's interview with Sam Green on his live documentary 32 Sounds Read Alex Heeney on Canadian immigration stories at TIFF 2022.

In this episode, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith discuss the Japanese hidden gem My Small Land, the first feature film from Emma Kawawada. We fell in love with the film at the Berlinale earlier this year, and are excited that it's finally getting a Canadian release this week. My Small Land, is the story of a Kurdish teenage girl, Sarya (Lina Arashi) who is an immigrant in Japan. She grew up just outside of Tokyo and has no memories of her home, which was colonised Kurdish territory in Turkey. Sarya ends up in an impossible situation when her family loses their work visas, and travel permission, and she suddenly becomes responsible for her younger siblings with no way to earn money legally. My Small Land follows in the tradition of social realism, and the style of filmmaking owes much to Kore-eda's small scale character dramas. My Small Land will be screening at TIFF in Toronto from November 9 to 16 and in Charlottetown PEI until November 8. The film has also screened at VIFF in Vancouver and the Montreal Cinematheque. Watch for it on VOD soon if it's not coming to your city.

After a six-month hiatus, the Seventh Row podcast is back and revamped. We won't be publishing weekly, but we will regularly release episodes every time there's a film or topic we really, really care about. Here's a preview of what's coming in November and December — many of which are members only episodes. We also announce our next podcast season due out in 2023. We've been hard at work researching and preparing for this since May (hence the hiatus). To become a member for exclusive access to all of our episodes, including all of our in-between season episodes, go to http://seventh-row.com/join

On today's episode, we look back at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival: both its many institutional failings when it comes to encouraging and promoting diversity and bunch of great films by women that we watched from the programme. This episode of the podcast features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: Intro (0:00) How Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up fared at Cannes 2022 (2:40) The Cannes Film Festival’s backwards approach to diversity (11:10) The award winners (18:17) What we thought of Cannes films we saw (27:12) Closing thoughts (1:00:25) Show notes View the history of women directors at Cannes Read Alex's review of Corsage (Marie Kreutzer) Read Alex's review of Under the Fig Trees (Erige Sehiri) Read Alex's review of Everybody Loves Jeanne (Céline Devaux) Read Alex's review of Plan 75 (Chie Hayakawa) Read Alex's review of Falcon Lake (Charlotte Lebon) Read Orla's review of Aloners (Hong Seong-eun) from TIFF 2021 Related episodes Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022 Women at Cannes Ep. 3: Céline Sciamma at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 4: Naomi Kawase at Cannes Ep. 126: Run Woman Run: An Indigenous coming of age after 30 film Ep. 122: Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World Ep. 121: Ninjababy & Obvious Child: Unwanted pregnancies in romantic comedies Ep. 119: Mike Leigh’s Naked Ep. 118: The Souvenir Part I and II Ep. 43: Normal People and On Chesil Beach (Members Only) Bonus 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction films (Members Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

On today's episode of the podcast, we discuss Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase who has been programmed at the Cannes Film Festival more than almost any other director this century, and why she's one of the best and most under-appreciated filmmakers. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guest Milly Gribben. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: Intro (0:00) Who is Naomi Kawase? (11:45) Our introductions to Naomi Kawase (15:57) The themes in Naomi Kawase’s films (26:00) Sound and sense of place in Kawase’s films (47:15) Why are men so mad at Naomi Kawase? (51:48) Why Cannes hasn’t always been the best launchpad for Naomi Kawase (1:04:50) Closing thoughts (1:07:47) Show notes: View the history of women directors at Cannes Watch Naomi Kawase’s TED Talk on her approach to cinema Read Lindsay Pugh’s review of Sweet Bean on her website Woman in Revolt Read Lindsay's interview with Sweet Bean actress Kirin Kiki Read Alex's profile interview with Agnieszka Holland Read Orla's interview with Ammonite director Francis Lee Related episodes: Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022 Women at Cannes Ep. 3: Céline Sciamma at Cannes Ep. 80: The Babadook and Prevenge: Motherhood in horror (Members' Only) Bonus 16: Watching Lena Dunham’s Girls in 2021 (Members' Only) : Water Lilies and Jennifer’s Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

In 2020, we wrote an ebook called Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, after Sciamma's fourth feature (and first Cannes Competition film), Portrait of a Lady on Fire, was released. We were surprised and delighted to see Sciamma gaining a huge following after years of being so underappreciated. On this episode, we talk about Sciamma's greatness and how the industry was slow to catch up with it. We also fall into a long conversation about the wider pattern in the film industry of recognising female writer-directors for their writing rather than their directing, and why these fields are seen as so gendered. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: Who is Céline Sciamma? (4:51) How Sciamma’s films have been misunderstood throughout her career (13:52) How Portrait of a Lady on Fire differs from Sciamma’s earlier films (19:1) Sciamma’s precision (32:06) How the film industry sees women as directors versus screenwriters (35:54) How has Portrait impacted Sciamma’s career going forward? (53:55) Show notes View the history of women directors at Cannes Read Lindsay’s review of Portraits of resistance at Woman in Revolt Read Alex's interview with Sciamma's regular editor, Julien Lacheray Read Alex's in-depth conversation with the women behind Mouthpiece - Patricia Rozema, Amy Nostbakken, and Norah Sadava Read Alex's interview with director Andrew Haigh on the 10th anniversary of Weekend Related episodes Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022 Ep. 128: Petite Maman and Céline Sciamma’s temporary utopias Ep. 96: Water Lilies and Jennifer’s Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)  

On today's episode, we look back on the career of one of our favourite filmmakers, Kelly Reichardt (First Cow, Certain Women), and ask why it's taken until her 8th feature, Showing Up, for her to get a slot in the Cannes Competition. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  Find out what we know so far about Kelly Reichardt’s new film, Showing Up. On this episode: About our Kelly Reichardt ebook, Roads to Nowhere (4:22) Who is Kelly Reichardt? (5:52) Why 2022 is The Year of Kelly Reichardt (9:02) Kelly Reichardt’s history with Cannes and other festivals (10:36) Why we love Kelly Reichardt (28:42) Reichardt’s explorations of capitalist systems (37:15) The finances of a Kelly Reichardt film (41:46) Kelly Reichardt is a comedic filmmaker! (59:14) Showing Up and Reichardt’s collaborators (53:41) Related episodes: Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother’s day (Members' Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

We kick off our #WomenAtCannes podcast season with an episode on the history of women at Cannes. We examine how Cannes works and uncover a number of surprising stats. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Associate Editor Brett Pardy. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.  On this episode: How Cannes works (2:55) Running the numbers on women at Cannes (10:47) Chantal Akerman and Agnès Varda at Cannes (21:10) The importance of the Cannes sidebars (23:37) Learn more about the Women in the Cannes Competition Box Set (33:14) How Cannes markets itself (34:46) Cannes awards (38:05) The lack of intersectionality in this conversation (42:45) A case study on Cannes 2021 (46:58) Conclusion (55:39) Coming soon (1:00:25) Related episodes: Bonus 28: Portraits of female artists: Part 2 (Members' Only) Ep. 114: Mia Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come and Bergman Island (Members' Only) Ep. 102: Cannes 2021 (Members' Only) Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother’s day (Members' Only) Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

Cannes 2022 kicks off on May 17, so let’s celebrate the wonderful work by women who have been at Cannes this year and in the past. Join us for a podcast season starting May 11 on women directors in the Cannes Competition, and get the Box Set of books on women directors at Cannes.