The Hollywood Reporter: "Every Film Must Be Something That Has Never Been Done Before": AFM Indie Director Roundtable

by Scott Roxborough

Five helmers from around the world and across the genre spectrum discuss finding inspiration in true stories, the financial and artistic challenges in getting their movies made, the impact of #MeToo a year on and whether indie film as we know it has a future.

The power of the real was on display at this year’s AFM Independent Director Roundtable, with five helmers from around the world and across the genre spectrum finding inspiration in true stories. Respected documentarian Jennifer Fox, 59, cross-examined the darkest corner of her own history for The Tale, her first fiction feature. For his English-language debut, 40-year-old Felix Van Groeningen (Belgian helmer of the Oscar-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown) chose two addiction memoirs — written by an addict and his father — for Beautiful Boy, starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell. Helmer Cynthia Lowen, 32, whose debut doc Netizens looks at the dangers of cyber stalking, and Russian director Victor Kossakovsky, 57, who, in Aquarela, explored the wonders of the world of water, pointed their cameras directly at contemporary life. Even first-timer Jasmin Mozaffari, 30, drew heavily on her own experiences for her debut feature, Firecrackers, about two teenagers struggling to escape their lives in a Canadian town. This eclectic group met Sept. 29 at the swanky B2 Boutique Hotel + Spa during the 2018 Zurich International Film Festival for a lively discussion on the financial and artistic challenges in getting their movies made, on the impact of #MeToo a year on and whether indie film as we know it has a future.