SXSW Filmmakers In Focus: I Am Belfast, LOEV, My Beautiful Broken Brain

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1 Menu SXSW Filmmakers In Focus: I Am Belfast, LOEV, My Beautiful Broken Brain Written by Christina Wiese (/authors/christina-wiese) Thursday, Mar 3, 2016 Film (/taxonomy/term/32)fif (/fif/archive)screenings (/screenings/archive) Another day, another chance to get to know the 2016 SXSW filmmakers. On deck for today s Filmmakers In Focus are three risk-taking directors featured in the SXSW Visions (/film/festival/lineup#visions) screening section. Get to know the auteurs below, and then hop on over to our online schedule ( to start building your SXSW adventure. Haven t registered to attend yet? There s still time to join us! Register now (/attend) for a Film, Gold, or Platinum badge to experience nine days of film screenings, inspirational sessions (/film/conference/tracks), unparalleled networking opportunities (/film/networking-events/), and more. Director Mark Cousins on I am Belfast ( 1 of 9 03/03/16 23:40

2 Tell us a little about your film. It tries to show you a place like you've never seen it before. Why did you start making films? To stave off real life. Because of the way Kim Novak walked in Vertigo. Because I wasn't much good at words. Because I was obsessed. Tell us a random fact (or two!) that would help our attendees get a better idea of who you are. I drove from Scotland to India in a campervan; I film every day; I never wear swimming trunks. Director Sudhanshu Saria on LOEV ( 2 of 9 03/03/16 23:40

3 Tell us a little about your film. LOEV is an honest, nuanced, complicated love story between men who are trying to negotiate the distance between love and friendship. It also happens to be set in India where sodomy was recently re-criminalized and made punishable by life imprisonment. Why did you start making films? Because of Mira Nair. I had just seen Monsoon Wedding which left a huge impression on me and read an interview of hers where she said, "If we don't tell our stories, no one will." That made me want to get off my couch and start investigating the specific world around me, find my story so I could tell it. Have you been to SXSW before? What are you looking forward to? No. Good music, amazing films, the unabashed love of every SXSW audience member? ;) Tell us a random fact (or two!) that would help our attendees get a better idea of who you are. I grew up on a tea-estate in Darjeeling (INDIA). I speak 7 languages. I wrote this film because I never thought anyone would make it. Directors Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland on My Beautiful Broken Brain ( 3 of 9 03/03/16 23:40

4 SXSW Filmmakers In Focus: I Am Belfast, LOEV, My Beautiful Broken Brain Tell us a little about your film. My Beautiful Broken Brain is a profoundly personal voyage into the complexity, fragility and wonder of the human brain, after Lotje Sodderland miraculously survives a hemorrhagic stroke and finds herself starting again in an alien world, bereft of language and logic. This feature documentary takes us on a genre-twisting tale that is by turns excruciating and exquisite from the devastating consequences of a first-time neurological experiment, through to the extraordinary revelations of her altered sensory perception. Why did you start making films? Sophie: When I was 15 I watched a documentary called 15 Days in May which affected me profoundly. It made me see that truth is more powerful than fiction and so it was really from there that I decided I wanted to make documentaries. Stories inspire. True stories even more so. Lotje: I became interested in filmmaking because the process offers an opportunity to investigate the experience of being human, to share peepholes into reality and challenge assumptions. Tell us a random fact (or two!) that would help our attendees get a better idea of who you are. Sophie: Sophie is currently making her latest feature documentary I Get Knocked Down as well as executive producing a music documentary with Mumford & Sons. Lotje: Lotje received a BA in Sociology from the University of Manchester, and MA in Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam where she worked concurrently as a researcher for Dr. Talja Blokland. 4 of 9 03/03/16 23:40

5 SXSW Photo Filmmakers credits: In Focus: I Am Belfast, LOEV, My Beautiful Broken Brain I Am Belfast photo courtesy of the filmmakers LOEV photo by Oankar Chavan My Beautiful Broken Brain photo courtesy of Netflix Related News: Read More 2016 Filmmakers In Focus Interviews (/fif/archive) Themes in the SXSW Film Lineup: Blast From the Past (/film/news/2016/themes-lineup-blast-past) Themes in the SXSW Film Lineup: Sports (/news/2016/themes-lineup-sxsports-open-interactive-badges) Recent news Chow Down On SouthBites Films at SXSW 2016 (/news/2016/themes-chow-down-soutbites-films) Four on the Floor: Philadelphia Representing at SXSW Music (/music/news/2016/four-floor-philadelphia-representing) Innovation Doors Open Wide at Budweiser Beer Garage (/news/2016/innovation-doors-open-wide-at-budweiser-beer-garage) Killer Infographics at SXSW Interactive 2016 (/news/2016/killer-infographics-sxsw-interactive-2016) 2016 SXSW Film Program Guide Now Online (/film/news/2016/film-digital-program-guide-now-available-online) Read More Stories» (/news) Major Film Sponsors ( ( ( ( /sponsors) ( ( ( 5 of 9 03/03/16 23:40

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