Join five leading UK and US independent filmmakers for a vibrant and thoughtful discussion of their careers, creative processes, and films from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Wendy Mitchell moderates, exploring the work of Janicza Bravo (Zola), Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), Romola Garai (Amulet), Justin Simien (Bad Hair), and Julie Taymor (The Glorias).


This panel was part of the Celebration of Sundance Film Festival: London.

Moderator
Wendy Mitchell is a seasoned writer/editor who specializes in entertainment coverage for online and print publications. She also consults for film festivals including San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Zurich, Connext, Goteborg, and more. Wendy has moderated many panels, Q&As and masterclasses with filmmakers, actors and industry executives. Her latest book Citizen Canine: Dog in the Movies was published in February 2020 by Laurence King (UK) and Chronicle (US). more...
Panelist
Justin Simien is a writer, director, and producer of both television and film based in Los Angeles, California. In 2014 he wrote and directed his first feature film, the critically acclaimed Indie Dear White People, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. After being called “timely and important” by critics and audiences alike, the project won him the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent and was picked up by Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions. more...
Panelist
Janicza Bravo directs theater, film, and TV. She directed the 2017 feature-length dark comedy Lemon, starring her husband Brett Gellman, Michael Cera, Judy Greer, Marcia Gibbs, and Nia Long. She has also directed episodes of Atlanta and Dear White People. Her latest film Zola, starring Taylour Paige, based on the 2015 viral Twitter story about two strippers’ misadventures in Florida, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. more...
Panelist
Photo credit: John Wilson Emerald Fennell is an Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, Emmy®, DGA, PGA and WGA nominated writer, director, actress and author who has established herself as a prolific multihyphenate in film, television and theatre. more...
Panelist
Romola Garai is an English actress-writer-director who has worked extensively in film, television and theatre. As an actress she is known for her performances in films such as Atonement (2007), Angel (2007), I Capture the Castle (2003) and Suffragette. In television, her work includes her BAFTA-nominated performance in The Crimson Petal and the White (2011), The Hour (2012), Born to Kill (2017) and The Miniaturist (2017). As a director her work includes the Sundance Best International Short Film nominated Scrubber. Her debut feature, the horror film Amulet, premiered in the Midnight Madness section at Sundance 2020. more...
Panelist
Julie Taymor is an award-winning theater, opera, and film director best known for being the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a Broadway Musical: The Lion King. After college, she spent a year studying puppetry in Eastern Europe, Indonesia, and Japan and spent four years in Java. Returning to the United States, her career took off quickly. Her theater and opera credits include: The Haggadah (1980), Liberty’s Taken (1985), The Tempest (1986), The Magic Flute (1993), The Flying Dutchman (1995), The Lion King (1997), Grounded (2015), M. Butterfly (2017). Her film credits include: Titus (1999), Frida (2002). Across the Universe (2007), and The Glorias (2020). Taymor has received dozens of awards in addition to her Tony, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. more...

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