5 Questions From Tour + 5 Recommendations

5 Questions from Tour…

1. What makes a great Q&A — and what ruins one? What’s the best and worst thing about Q&As? Does a Q&A ever make you feel very differently about a film? How many people is best on stage? Format? Vibe? I’m doing tons of these right now so of course I am curious what audiences really like…

2. Should the director, ummmm, get into it in the comments? On which platforms? On what sorts of topics or posts or reviews, on what matters? Boots Riley did it, and part of me thinks if it’s good enough for Boots Riley… personally, I like to engage in a friendly way, because creating content & generally being online is a great way to make new friends!!! But if someone makes a factual error, or an incorrect assumption about how the film was made, should I kindly correct the record? Or does responding inevitably make a filmmaker look defensive?

3. Is it bad for my career that I skipped the beauty tax this premiere season? I was all set to SPEND A TON OF MONEY doing my normal premiere routine: fixing my face with various injectables; buying nice new clothes in my current size; maybe updating the makeup look; getting a haircut and a mani/pedi. In the past, I saw this as a non-negotiable for someone about to be photographed every day. Now, I’m like, who has the money for this / why am I doing this? I am not wearing much makeup, I am not doing my hair (wearing a baseball cap), my wrinkles are visible, and my clothes are nothing to write home about. Will people judge me differently, or could I even potentially lose work?1

4. How do you sustain yourself spiritually through an exciting but exhausting season? Thinking a lot about how a successful launch (“Bloom Season”) induces a peculiar mix of excitement / good vibes / genuine happiness that the thing you made is reaching its people and just… full-on exhaustion. “Self-care” is truly not my thing — I come from a generation that in my 20s had me smoking a cigarette first thing in the morning, then going to a diner to continue smoking — but I find taking time to be alone in my garden, and also communing/cuddling with loved ones — these are 2 things I now realize I need more than ever. What restores you during an intense period — even a good and happy one?

5. Do you need a desk or an office? This one is about my creative home — and also a classified ad. I love my team at Spinning Nancy so much and it’s so important they can keep the home fires burning and keep projects moving forward. Thank you Gabriel, Julia, Danny and Nick. Could not do any of this without you. WE HAVE EXTRA SPACE IN OUR ENORMOUS BEAUTIFUL OFFICE SUITE in Gowanus at the Can Factory. Cute cool suite-mates, incredible artist community vibes guaranteed. I love our plants, our colorful decor, our high ceilings and all the sunlight. I truly love going there, it is where the magic happens!!!!

… and 5 Recommendations

1. My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
   I never saw this Amir Bar-Lev joint when it came out. I thought I had — I definitely heard about it — but now I know I didn’t, because if I HAD seen it, it would have been a major influence on me. I would now rank it as possibly one of my favorite docs of all time. It is astonishing beginning to end, expertly paced, funny, warm but incisive, complicated, provocative, troubling… it will blow your mind.

2. Watch these new-release docs!
   There’s never been more ways to see a new-release documentary. In theaters right now or coming very soon, we’ve got two masterpieces of personal filmmaking (Remake and The Same River Twice); two stellar artist portraits of pioneering lesbian artists (Mary Oliver: Saved the Beauty of the World and Barbara Forever); plus, two wildly different but equally excellent audience faves from Sundance: Cookie Queens and American Doctor. Sam Green, Lynne Sachs and William Greaves have new joints coming to theaters soon… and I’m psyched for that John Boorman Exorcist 2 doc too. On the internets, we’ve got Barbara Kopple’s The Hamptons (that’s not a new release; it’s from 2002! but I’d never heard of it and everyone is obsessed with it) playing for free on Le Cinema Club; I just subscribed to c5.now, so I can watch Star Cash, Physician, Heal Thyself! and Finding Orson; and on Netflix, we’ve got a new Maite Alberti film (A Child of My Own); Time and Water is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu; We Are Pat just hit TVOD… I could go on. These are beautiful times for documentary!!

3. A podcast with practical wisdom for indie filmmakers.
   “Have You Seen My Film? A Kinema Podcast” is so good. My favorite episodes so far are the ones with Dan Sickles, Loira Limbal, Jeanie Finlay, Jon Reiss, the one where a Gen Z Filmmaker explains TikTok to a Milennial, and of course, Social Media and Digital Marketing for Indie Film with Dor Dotson and Matt Delman, which covers much of what I would have covered with these two today had I not messed up the calendar (sorry!!).

4. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst
   Could not put this book down: a nonfiction suspense story you will not believe. Shocking story, wonderful characters, deep research, good writing, loved it. Also: it’s very short, if that’s the kind of thing that matters to you these days.

5. Dan Taberski’s Manifesto
   I love everything does, so it’s no surprise that I am loving this new series. The episode about the “Think Different” Apple ad campaign was a real highlight for me, but all of them are great. It’s equally good for binging, or episodic listening. Give it a listen!