HFPA in Conversation

Icelandic filmmaker Tinna Hrafnsdóttir describes her home country as a great setting for crime stories. She tells HFPA journalist Tina Jøhnk Christensen that in January there is darkness almost 18 to 20 hours a day.

Mysteries have always interested Brazilian filmmaker Diego Freitas. He tells HFPA journalist Ana Maria Bahiana that he chose film thrillers and horror movies because they aren’t as expensive as fantasy.

In her latest movie, Black Milk, Mongolian-German filmmaker Uisenma Borchu tells the story of two sisters who meet after decades of separation in Mongolia. The culture clashes cause tension, even though the bond between the sisters is strong.

Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain wants to raise awareness to social realism. Her movie Made in Bangladesh tells how Shimu’s (Rikita Nandini Shimu) battles against corporation, capitalism, and patriarchy.

Director, actor, and author Yangzom Brauen, the daughter of Swiss anthropologist Martin Brauen and Tibetan artist Sonam Dolma Brauen, was born to be a socially conscious activist. She tells HFPA journalist Marlene von Arx that those themes are also important on the two TV shows, The Republic of Sarah and Rebel, that Brauen has been directing lately.

While studying film at Columbia University, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili contemplated what it meant to belong somewhere.   When she returned to her home country she visited the small mountain village where her father used to live.

Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó needs to be touched by the stories he directs. His latest film, Pieces of a Woman, is based on his and his wife’s Kata Wéber personal story.

Turkish filmmaker Eylem Kaftan got to know beekeepers when she was filming a documentary series about urban farmers. That inspired her to write and direct her first feature film, Hive.

Estonian producer Ivo Felt believed in his instinct when he founded Allfilm 25 years ago with his business partners. During the years two of his films, Tangerines and The Fencer have been nominated for the Golden Globes, in the Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language category.

Italian American director Gianfranco Rosi’s most recent film Notturno was the Italian selection for the International Film Category at the Academy Awards and was shortlisted for the best documentary category. The idea for the story started to develop in 2016, when he was filming Fire at Sea, the documentary that captured life on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa during the European migrant crisis.