We Need to Talk About Oscar

‘Bunnylovr’ is out in theaters today. Premiering at Sundance in January 2025 as part of the US Dramatic Competition, writer-director-star Katarina Zhu’s debut feature follows Becca, a Chinese-American cam girl in New York navigating a toxic relationship with a mysterious client while quietly trying to reconnect with her estranged, dying father.This is our conversation with Katarina and her cinematographer Daisy Zhou, their first collaboration together. The admiration between them is palpable throughout, two people who clearly found something rare in each other on their first project. We open with how they connected and what drew each of them to the material, before getting into what it means to direct and perform simultaneously and how that shapes the set from both sides of the camera.From there the conversation moves into the heart of the film: how Katarina built Becca as a character who moves between very private digital spaces and the more grounded textures of everyday life without ever splitting into two different people, and how Daisy translated those shifts into a visual language where each space carries its own feeling while still belonging to the same film.(Photos: Courtesy of Katarina Zhu)

Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, the comedy duo known as BriTANicK, brought two feature films to SXSW 2026: 'Pizza Movie,' which they wrote and directed, and 'Over Your Dead Body,' which they adapted for Jorma Taccone to direct. They reflect on their sketch comedy roots and whether anything they'd done before approached narrative filmmaking, plus how they regard sketches within the broader realm of cinema. The pair also share how their festival weekend turned out, juggling two premieres and a live comedy show.Our conversation explores how their dynamic as performers translates behind the camera, and the mechanics of escalation in 'Pizza Movie,' a film that constantly heightens the stakes. They discuss whether that comes from instinct or structure, and how they think about audience experience now that it's heading to Hulu after theatrical screenings.We turn to 'Over Your Dead Body,' examining what writing for someone else to direct feels like versus helming their own work, and how they approached "Americanizing" a 2021 Norwegian film while navigating what to touch and what to leave alone. Having been candid about their creative differences over the years, they consider whether the partnerships depicted, roommates in one film and a married couple in the other, mirror anything about how they actually collaborate.(Photo: Courtesy of Disney and Brett Roedel)

Writer-director-star Matthew Shear took home the SXSW Audience Award for 'Fantasy Life,' with Amanda Peet earning a Special Jury Award for her performance. Matthew reflects on what this double recognition means for a film drawn so directly from his own experience, and whether the script could have been directed by anyone else given how personal it is.Drawing on his acting background with directors like Noah Baumbach and M. Night Shyamalan, Matthew identifies where he consciously chose his own path versus where he unknowingly broke from what he'd learned. He tackles his frustration with mental health narratives that sensationalize crisis rather than depicting the reality of living with mental illness.Matthew shares his approach to working with an intergenerational cast of Jewish New Yorkers including Bob Balaban and Judd Hirsch, letting their natural rhythms and comic instincts surface. He also examines how the film explores a particular vision of Jewish American success and what he's learned about that ideal through making and sharing this deeply personal work.(Photo: Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)

Writer-director-star Aisha Evelyna builds on her 2024 short 'Nola' with 'Seahorse,' expanding the story of the same titular character to feature length. Aisha reflects on the jump from short to feature and her evolving collaboration with Natalie Remplakowski, who co-directed the short and now produces the feature. She shares how they navigated dividing responsibilities as their partnership transformed.We explore the challenge of balancing roles in front of and behind the camera. Aisha discusses how she reconciles her presence as both director and star, and who makes the final call on whether a take works when those two roles might disagree. She addresses capturing authentic restaurant kitchen atmosphere on a low budget in an era when audiences have become familiar with that world through shows like 'The Bear,' and her deliberate approach to using flashbacks as a storytelling device.Aisha gets candid about how work-life balance functions when your life and feelings are embedded in the work itself, revealing the complex reality of transforming personal pain into cinema where the boundaries between artist and art dissolve entirely.

Director Will Ropp and cinematographer Matthew Pothier stob by to talk about 'Brian,' a character-driven teen comedy with a dramatic edge that feels almost extinct in today's IP-driven landscape. Will opens up about recognizing his own high school anxiety in the script and what it means to make a film about a kid whose inner life operates at a volume the rest of the world can't hear.Our conversation explores how Will invited collaborators into such a personal world, and how Matthew entered that space constructively without overstepping. They discuss shooting in Oklahoma City, how location scouting informed Brian's journey, and the visual strategies Matt employed to translate teenage isolation through framing and composition. Will reflects on pushing comedy to the edge of discomfort, honoring the moments where humor and pain overlap.Matt also shares his experience working with first-time feature directors and what draws him to those collaborations. We close by examining what it means to make a film about someone who keeps choosing the harder path, and how that mirrors the choices they made as filmmakers.(Photo credit: Ryan Orange)

‘Anima,’ premiering at SXSW this week, is Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s narrative feature debut. An acclaimed documentarian, Brian now turns to a sci-fi road movie following an impulsive young woman and a reclusive older man on a cross-country trip to preserve his failing consciousness at an experimental facility.We open with what the leap from documentary to narrative actually feels like and what each form demands that the other doesn’t, before getting into the decision to shoot on film and why the logistical weight it carries is more than justified by what it gives back. From there Brian talks about working with Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira, and how their casting shaped not just the performances but the characters and the entire film around them.We also get into something that runs quietly through everything Brian makes: his faith, and how it finds its way into a story that on the surface seems to sit in direct tension with it. We close by looking at what making ‘Anima’ means for how he thinks about both forms of filmmaking going forward.

Emily Robinson brings 'Ugly Cry' to the screen as writer, director, producer, and star, exploring the vulnerable act of crying as an actor and what it reveals about performance and authenticity. She reflects on the decision to take on all these roles simultaneously, navigating the challenges of being both in front of and behind the camera while maintaining perspective on the story.Our conversation delves into the institution of auditioning and how it's evolved over the years in the industry. Emily opens up about her personal evolution as someone who's been acting since childhood, sharing how that long history shapes her collaboration with cast and crew. She brings a unique empathy to directing actors, understanding their process from the inside out.Emily reveals how a tonal shift during production changed the entire emotional trajectory of the film, transforming what it could be. She reflects on how her acting experience fundamentally shapes her directing approach.(Photo credit: Brody S. Anderson)

Writer-director Millicent Hailes takes ‘Perfect,' her feature directorial debut, to SXSW. Millicent opens up about whether feeling ready to take the leap of making your first feature is essential to actually doing so, sharing her own experience of moving forward despite uncertainty and what that taught her about the creative process.Our conversation goes into Millicent's transition from music videos to feature length filmmaking, examining how she navigated the shift from short to long form storytelling. She unpacks figuring out the pacing and other aspects unique to the medium, from sustaining narrative momentum over 90 minutes to developing visual language that serves an extended story rather than a three-minute track.Millicent shares her approach to assembling her cast while maintaining the chemistry and relationships established earlier in the process, ensuring those connections translated authentically on screen. We also delve into the title itself and the concept of someone or something being "perfect," exploring how that theme permeates the film. We close our conversation with what this project means for Millicent's plans going forward as she charts her path as a feature filmmaker.

Director and executive producer Tom Verica and cinematographer Jeffrey Jur discuss their work on 'Bridgerton,' tracing their collaboration back nearly two decades. They share how their creative partnership was formed and has evolved over countless projects, building the trust and shorthand that allows them to tackle ambitious productions like the Bridgerton universe.Our conversation explores their journey through the world of 'Bridgerton,' from the different stages they've worked on across each season to helming 'Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story' as a cohesive whole, approaching it almost like a feature film. Tom and Jeff share how their roles and responsibilities shift depending on the scale and scope of each production within the franchise.We dig into the fourth season of the widely beloved series, examining multiple facets: the elaborate masquerade ball sequence, the visual language used to showcase class differences in Regency era London, and what it takes for a team like Tom, Jeff, and their crew to operate at such a consistently high level year after year, season after season.