International Film Festival Rotterdam had some dazzling pieces in its programme this year, but Sexual Drive seriously stands out in its ambition and creative execution. Japanese director Yoshida Kota’s odd but undeniably endearing film is (…) Continue Reading »

How did your film come about? In the beginning, there was the desire to talk about what had happened to Lebanon since October 2019, precisely, a catastrophic economic crisis and the protest movement that ensued. What happened in Lebanon in the (…) Continue Reading »

This week, guest and Mydylarama co-founder Judy Harris joins us to discuss the beauty of amateur cinema, community cohesion, gentrification, colourblind casting and the joys of play in Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. We also touch on the (…) Continue Reading »

How much are you aware of the severity of the droughts in Lebanon? Is this what sparked your interest in this subject matter? A lot of the environmental science concerned in the film derived from discussions with my father who is a soil-chemist (…) Continue Reading »

Can you explain your choice of title? During the preparatory stages and the shooting of the film, the project was called Kiki, after the class mascot. The film was written as a tragi-comedy, but the project went through a transformation as time (…) Continue Reading »

Obvious question. Why did you choose to explore this subject matter? Have you had any personal experience of the issues around euthanasia? I was drawn to this subject matter because I think it is one of the greatest questions of our age, or any (…) Continue Reading »

This is a very moving story. Is it based on personal experience or someone you know? The story of the arranged marriage depicted in my film Al-Sit is a common one in Sudan and the norm for many Sudanese families. While I did not personally (…) Continue Reading »

Can you explain the choice of title? Hilum means two different things in our language. In the Tagalog language, “hilum/hilom” means “remedy”, while in the Visayan language it means “silence”. I grew up in Manila where we speak Tagalog, while my (…) Continue Reading »

Beryl has featured in a number of your films. Can you tell us a bit more about her? Who was the inspiration for her character? How has Beryl’s character evolved since we first met her? Beryl started life as a very one-dimensional character in a (…) Continue Reading »

What made you want to tell the story of Vincent Blanchot? Is the character based on a real person? A few years ago I read Melville’s short story Bartleby. It takes place on Wall Street in the 1850s and tells the story of Bartleby, an accountant (…) Continue Reading »