HCAF '24: Interview with Markus Zizenbacher, Director of The Life of Sean DeLear

The Life of Sean DeLear is a vivacious and colorful look at the crushingly charismatic Sean DeLear and his experiences in the LA punk scene of the 80s and 90s.

Interviews, Houston Cinema Arts FestEli FischerNovember 20, 2024Comment

HCAF '24: Interview with Director Haley Elizabeth Anderson

We are joined today by the director of Tendaberry, a year-spanning, character-driven epic that chronicles the life of a young woman navigating living in New York after her boyfriend returns to Ukraine to be with his ailing father.

AFF ‘24: Rob Taylor and Nic Costa on Raging Midlife

We sat down with Rob Taylor and Nic Costa on Zoom to ask a few questions about their latest release, Raging Midlife. Along the way we covered the joy of filmmaking, the balance of their process, the inspiration of pro wrestling, and the sincerity of this comedy film.

Austin Film Fest, InterviewsAP DwivediNovember 14, 2024Austin Film Festival, Rob Taylor, Nic Costa, Raging MidlfeComment

AFF ‘24: Getting Hyperreal with Dirty Towel’s Co-writer and Director, Callie Carpinteri

A few days after making its Texas Premiere at the Austin Film Festival, Callie sat down with Hyperreal Film Club’s Justin Norris to talk about the characters of her short, working with a primarily female film crew, and the other areas of the female experience that film can still explore.

Austin Film Fest, InterviewsJustin NorrisNovember 13, 2024Austin Film Festival, Callie Carpinteri, Dirty TowelComment

AFF ‘24 - Getting Hyperreal with Mermaid, Bitch’s Writer and Director, Victoria Negri

Coming off its premiere at the Austin Film Festival on October 27th, Victoria sat down with Hyperreal Interviewer, Justin Norris, to talk about her short, collaborating with Alexi on the script, and her favorite on-screen friendships.

Interviews, Austin Film FestJustin NorrisNovember 13, 2024Victoria Negri, Austin Film FestivalComment

AFF '24: Interview with Angela Gulner, Writer and Director of The Beldham

Today we’re joined by longtime actor and writer Angela Gulner to talk about her directorial debut feature, The Beldham, which is a multigenerational monster movie.

Austin Film Fest, InterviewsEli FischerNovember 12, 2024Austin Film Fest, The Beldham, Angela GulnerComment

AFF '24: Interview with Dani Hurtado, Director of Affogato

Today we’re joined by Dani Hurtado, writer, star, and director of the short film Affogato, which screened at the 2024 Austin Film Festival.

InterviewsEli FischerNovember 12, 2024Interview, Austin Film Festival, 2024, Affogato, Dani HurtadoComment

AFF '24: Interview with Norita Producers Sarah Schoellkopf & Melissa Daniels

We sat down with Norita producers Sarah Schoellkopf and Melissa Daniels to discuss their connection to Nora Cortiñas and the feminist message at the heart of the film.

Film Fests, InterviewsAlix MamminaOctober 29, 2024documentary, argentina, feminism, Austin Film Festival, InterviewComment

Foxfire Director Annette Haywood-Carter on the Film's Legacy

In honor of Foxfire's screening as part of Austin Film Society’s Girls To the Front series, which Hyperreal Film Club partnered on, we sat down with director Annette Haywood-Carter to discuss the film’s journey from forgotten gem to feminist cult classic.

AFS Cinema, InterviewsJessica BuieOctober 17, 2024firefox, interview, annette haywood-carter, Angelina JolieComment

Put Your Big Girl Pants On & Go Do Something: Susan Skoog on Whatever (1998)

Jadie Stillwell sits down with Susan Skoog to discuss Whatever, a film that traces the fine lines between apathy, autonomy, and acceptance.

InterviewsJadie StillwellOctober 11, 2024Whatever, Susan Skoog, Liza Weil, Chad MorganComment

Past Is Future: A Retrospective on Shu Lea Cheang’s Fresh Kill

Fresh Kill is a neon-green love letter to what was then the new world of hacktivism, a playful form of civil disobedience attempting to disrupt and infiltrate the technological systems that control modern life by replacing algorithms with abstraction and logic with poetry.

Interviews, ReviewsJessica BuieOctober 8, 2024Fresh Kill, Shu Lea Cheang, B. Ruby Rich, Derek Jarman, Cheryl Dunye, Isaac JulienComment

Houston, The Music City? Interview with Director of When Houston Had the Blues

Alan Swyer, director of the documentary When Houston Had the Blues, shares more about his work to tell the largely untold story of a vibrant and rich American music scene in Houston, Texas.

InterviewsEli FischerOctober 2, 2024documentary, Houston, musicComment

BigXThaPlug and Ro$ama Interview: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

We caught up with BigXthaPlug and Ro$ama about their new song Beast Mode for the new movie, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire! Hyperrealist, Blake Williams, talks to them about their creative process, and their favorite movies growing up, and gets to the bottom of who’s more of a Godzilla or a King Kong in the hip-hop duo!

InterviewsBlake WilliamsJuly 30, 2024Godzille x Kong: The New Empire, BigXThaPlug, Ro$samaComment

Towards a Marxist Porno: Make Me a Pizza’s Talia Shea Levin and Kara Grace Miller Talk Intimacy Coordination

The short film Make Me a Pizza is on its surface a very silly nod to ‘80s and ‘90s porn, but director Talia Shea Levin and producer Kara Grace Miller approached the preparation and filming of these comedic scenes seriously and methodically.

InterviewsJulia HebnerJuly 16, 2024Make Me a Pizza, Talia She Levin, Kara Grace Miller, SXSWComment

There is Only Time and Place: Discussing Romance and Cinema with Shaun Seneviratne

For director Shaun Seneviratne, life is cinema and cinema is life. His first feature film, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in Four Parts, which debuted at SXSW this year, places the viewer as a fly on the wall, witnesses to a week in the life of a couple’s attempt to figure out their future. It is the result of a fourteen-year-long filmmaking process.

Exclusive Interview: Ishana Night Shyamalan on The Watchers

Ahead of her directorial debut The Watchers, we sat down with Ishana Night Shyamalan to talk about her influences, working with Dakota Fanning, and what’s missing in the modern horror genre.

InterviewsAlix MamminaJune 6, 2024Ishana Night Shyamalan, The WatchersComment

Centered in the Circle: Talking Anxiety, Observation, and Stillness with “Tennis, Oranges” Director Sean Pecknold

I had the pleasure of speaking with Sean about the process of making “Tennis, Oranges,” quiet spaces in LA Chinatown, and the power of saying as little as possible.

InterviewsJulia HebnerJune 4, 2024Comment

Her Dog Satan and the DIY Art Scene: An Interview with Scott Conn

In advance of the Eastside Cinema screening of Her Dog Satan on May 4,Scott Conn, the director of Dirt Road to Psychedelia, sat down with Hyperreal Film Journal to talk about DIY filmmaking, the Austin punk scene, and Roger Corman inspirations.

InterviewsZiah GraceApril 30, 2024Scott Conn, Texas Archive of the Moving Image, Her Dog Satan, SlackerComment

Peeling Away the Artifice of Self with Dissolution Director Anthony Saxe

With Dissolution, the short film which won the Narrative Shorts Jury Award at SXSW, director Anthony Saxe explores this disconnection from the past by looking to his parents. Through home videos captured in his infancy or before he was born, he investigates who his parents were to themselves and to each other when they lived completely different lives to the ones he now knows.

InterviewsJulia HebnerApril 30, 2024SXSW, Anthony Saxe, Dissolution Comments

Pondering the Multitudinous Laundromat with The Bleacher directors Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder

Nicole Daddano and Adam Wilder’s short animated film The Bleacher makes the viewer a voyeur in a dark and gritty world, centered around a laundromat where a regular has some very dirty laundry to do indeed. HFC sat down with Nicole and Adam to discuss all the strange turns the film takes and shifting from live action to animation.