Karlovy Vary's Karel Och on Mixing RPG Cinematic Debut, Gloomier Auteur Fare and That Iran Film
This year's edition of the big summer festival in the Czech spa town, which is a favorite of movie buffs, celebrities from Hollywood and beyond, and industry insiders, runs through July 12, once again putting the spotlight on new releases from around the world, as well as highlights of the film festival circuit from the past year, including Cannes and Berlin.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
AMC Theatres Strikes Deals to Resolve Litigation, Boost Balance Sheet, Touts Box Office Outlook
Serial Killer Thriller Series 'The Dark' From ITV Studios' Poison Pen Gets Green Light
Max's Best-Performing Local Original Production Is... Turkey's 'The Prince' (Exclusive)
Stellan Skarsgård, Peter Sarsgaard, Vicky Krieps, and Dakota Johnson are among the big names traveling to picturesque Karlovy Vary this year, along with Michael Douglas, who will present a newly restored version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
But KVIFF is also expanding its offerings this year, adding to the range of audiovisual content it showcases with the world premiere, as part of its Special Screenings section, of 'a cinematic cut of Warhorse Studios' internationally successful video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut,' a role-playing game (RPG), as well as Serbian miniseries Absolute 100.
Ahead of the festival's opening night, Karel Och, who has been serving as the artistic director of the festival since 2010, discussed the 2025 KVIFF lineup, mixing more traditional gloomier auteur fare with messages with gaming adventure, the death and legacy of long-time festival president Jiří Bartoška, and the Iran competition film that his team had to keep a mystery for a while to ensure the safety of its delegation.
Looking across the 2025 lineup for the festival, it looks like a really broad selection. Any thoughts on that, and anything you have noticed as a trend?
Overall, we're really happy with the selection. It's probably the most diverse selection in years in terms of the aesthetics and the formal approach of the filmmakers. But all films included in the competitions, especially the Crystal Globe [main] competition, have this soul or core, which is very strong and through which the filmmaker tries to communicate something important. Sometimes it's in a bit more classical way, formally narratively speaking, sometimes it's a more challenging, more cryptic way.
The second competition, your Proxima section, which is now in its fourth year, wants to provide a space for bold works by young filmmakers and renowned auteurs alike from around the globe. It replaced the East of the West competition, which was established in the 1990s with the goal of helping filmmakers from the former Eastern Bloc. And Proxima seems to have become a really exciting place of discovery. How do you feel about it?
The second competition was geographically limited to first, so we couldn't offer much to up-and-coming filmmakers from Latin America and Asia. But their voices were one of the reasons why we decided to change things and open this up to the whole world. This year, we have three Proxima films from Latin America that were specifically submitted for the section, which is clearly and visibly quite challenging for the spectator. Some titles will always be divisive, but we feel that we can bring them in front of the audience with all the love that we can show to a film.
Any other trends or anything new in your lineup this year?
If we expand beyond the competitions, there is one particular film that I would like to discuss, which is called Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut. It's a revolutionary moment in the new history of Karlovy Vary when we're presenting a world premiere of a cinematic cut from the narrative scenes of a video game, which I saw a few months ago and was excited about.
During the spring, you're often excited by what you see [as we are planning the festival program], but sometimes it's very gloomy. Of course, art house cinema is working in the territory of the contemporary world and all its problems and tragedies, which makes sense. But then at some point, you're being offered two hours of a beautiful, exciting, and adventurous form of entertainment, and you realize that there are different ways to tell a story, and it can be a video game. And I watched these two hours, which is part of the narrative of the video game, and I was blown away by how engaging this was as an experience for a spectator.
I'm not someone who is very knowledgeable about the world of video games, but I am proud that we are working with Warhorse Studios. And together, we'll put this on a big screen. I'm really curious, because we hope that this event will bring perhaps a new type of audience, or another type of audience. We hope that people like me, who have no clue, will go and enjoy it, but also those who know the game well and maybe less about the world of cinema. So that's something new.
While we're talking about unusual Czech projects and the Special Screenings section, I want to ask you about , directed by Marek Novák and Mikuláš Novotný, which was inspired by Wim Wenders' , shot during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Karlovy Vary played a key role in the new film, right?
I keep wondering how interesting it might be for people outside of the Czech Republic. Yes, a couple of Czech producers came up with an idea influenced by or inspired by the Wim Wenders documentary about 18 months ago. They asked us: 'Could we use a room in the Hotel Thermal during the festival where we would give five minutes to Czech filmmakers or filmmakers from abroad living in the Czech Republic in front of the camera, talking about what is Czech in Czech film?' So we did this.
We have about 27 filmmakers of all generations, and it's edited into a film called The Czech Film Project. It's interesting from the perspective of what you learn about Czech film, but also what you learn about the characters of Czech filmmakers. I think it's very exciting. At the end of the screening, you can get an idea not just about what is Czech, but maybe what is a central European approach to everything, mainly cinema.
It could be this type of content that starts as a very local thing, in the sense that we want to learn about something from the inside. But it could transcend that and maybe travel [to other places]. So, I'm curious.
The 12th and final movie in your main competition is Soheil Beiraghi's from Iran, which tells the story of a female singer who refuses to accept that women are not allowed to perform in public. How difficult was it to get the film and its filmmakers to the festival, and what went into that?
It was just amazing to have the opportunity to preview this film with my colleagues thanks to the relationships of my colleagues. We watched the film immediately, and we were blown away, not just by the political aspect of the film and the courage of the filmmakers to go that far concerning something, which in our parts of the world is just a natural thing – seeing a young woman singing in the streets of a metropolis, but also by how it's made. It's not just about the content. It's a really well-made film that has the potential to talk to people all around the world. We were really excited and delighted when we got confirmation of the film.
But then the moment came when we discussed the announcement. Because whenever you're announcing something about a movie coming from Iran, which is clearly going to stir some controversy, you have to be careful. And we listened to the team behind the film, and we agreed to postpone until they were out of the country.
Then, of course, the whole problem between Iran and Israel and America's involvement came up, but by that time the crew was already outside of the country, and we could safely announce the film. I can't wait to see the reaction of the people.
After the sad recent death of long-time KVIFF president Jiří Bartoška, the festival with the opening film , directed by Jakub Jurásek, screenings of Radek Bajgar's film , which stars the legendary Czech actor and fest president, and the exhibition 'Jiří Bartoška – KVIFF President.' How has it been to prepare for the festival without him around?
It's still very fresh. And it was strange, because with such a complex, amazing Renaissance person, it's difficult not to think about him all the time, because he was so present everywhere in a way, his persona, his spirit. Maybe he was less involved in the actual [day-to-day] work of the festival over the last few years, so people don't have to be afraid of what is going to happen to the festival. But it's more about his symbolic presence. In Cannes, after his passing, I felt he was kind of walking behind me. It was like when David Bowie died. With people like that, you sometimes feel like they are immortal.
I had a similar experience a few years ago with Eva Zaoralova, the artistic director before me, who chose me as her successor, and a person who was extremely important to me. So, yes, the first months are very sad, because you miss the physical presence of the person. But then at some point, inevitably, it changes, and the pain disappears, and you feel the person coming back in spirit. So I'm still in the office, which I shared with Eva Zaoralova, and I can feel her presence in my mind. I'm discussing things with her, and I'm pretty sure the same thing will happen with Jiří Bartoška. We're lucky and blessed that he was such a big part of our lives.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best
13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
23 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Idris Elba says 'grim' memories of his pre-Hollywood job help keep him motivated
At 52, Idris Elba has made a name for himself as an actor, a producer, and even a DJ who played at Coachella this year. He says he gets his drive from not forgetting what his pre-Hollywood life was like. During an interview on the " Good Hang with Amy Poehler" podcast published on Tuesday, "The Wire" actor spoke about his career and how the challenges he faced before fame continue to motivate him. Elba told host Amy Poehler that he didn't find success until he was around 35 and that life before that was often difficult. "There were some very tough times," he said. Coming from a working-class family, Elba said he grew up without having much "at all," adding that he had spent more of his life being poor than he has been famous or successful. Part of what drives him is the fear of losing the success he's worked so hard to achieve: "There's part of it which is like, 'I don't want to let this go, so I just keep chucking for it,'" Elba said. But the main thing that keeps him going is the memory of his pre-Hollywood job, he said. He used to work the "night shift" at the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, East London. "That is grim. It's a grim job, all right," Elba said. "Nothing compares to doing that, so when I get an opportunity to come and work with you, to come and work on a set, it doesn't even feel like work." While it may seem to others that he's working incredibly hard now that he's famous, he doesn't see it that way. "Actually, it's not that hard," he said. Moreover, his Hollywood career allows him to try his hand at many different things, unlike his factory job. "You know, in a job like that, I did the same thing every night. Every night for two straight years. My dad did the same job for 25 years, so I consider this a privilege. This ain't work," Elba said. In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter promoting his then-partnership with the automobile manufacturer, Elba said he worked at Ford in the '80s because of his dad. "My dad didn't want me to be a broke actor," Elba told The Hollywood Reporter. In a 2022 SiriusXM interview, the actor said he also used to work as a security guard at a comedy club in New York City, and even sold weed to some comedians, including Dave Chappelle. In a 2023 podcast, Elba said that he started going to therapy because he was "an absolute workaholic." "It's just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry that I'm rewarded for those unhealthy habits," he said. Elba isn't the only actor who has spoken about their less-than-glamorous jobs before becoming famous. Christopher Walken used to work in a circus when he was a child, while Nicole Kidman used to be a massage therapist, and Hugh Jackman was a physical education teacher at a high school before getting his big acting break.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Real Reason Eva Longoria Didn't Attend BFF Lauren Sanchez's Wedding to Jeff Bezos After Accusing Their Other Guest's Family of ‘Spewing Hate'
There was a notable absence at Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos' wedding. One of the former journalist's closest friends, Eva Longoria, didn't attend the 'wedding of the century,' and the decision raised a lot of eyebrows. Sánchez and Longoria's friendship goes back a while, but several sites like People and Page Six reported that the Desperate Housewives star was seen on a beach in Spain during the nuptials. There seems to be no bad blood between the besties, with Longoria's excuse to missing out on the event being that she's in the middle of filming her CNN series Eva Longoria: Searching for France. The actress' husband, José Bastón, also recently underwent shoulder surgery and was sporting a sling in paparazzi photos. More from StyleCaster Here's if Lauren Sanchez's Ex-Husband 'Knew' of Her Alleged Affair With Jeff Bezos & What He Thinks of the Amazon Founder Now The Real Reason Trump Didn't Attend Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez's Wedding After the Amazon Founder's Complicated History With the President The actress did attend Sánchez's bachelorette party in Paris, France, in May 2025, alongside A-list friends like Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian. 'I had to pop in and out, so I wasn't there as long,' Longoria told People of the party at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. 'But yeah, it's so nice to celebrate love. It's just the best feeling in the world to be there and go, 'Yay, love.''Perry also did not attend the nuptials due to her busy touring schedule in Australia. Notable wedding guests include Perry's ex Orlando Bloom, Oprah Winfrey, Ivanka Trump, and husband Jared Kushner. Longoria, who now primarily lives in Spain and Mexico, criticized the Trump administration when the Donald Trump was elected into office. 'I'm privileged,' the actress told Marie Claire, 'I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren't so lucky. They're going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.' Longoria has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party and endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 election. 'The shocking part is not that he won,' she told the outlet. 'It's that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could hold the highest office.' The Amazon founder and the former Fox Sports anchor attended Trump's inauguration in January 2025. In 2024, Bezos and Sánchez awarded Eva Longoria with the Bezos Courage and Civility Award. 'She has a relentless commitment to making a significant impact through her foundation and her advocacy,' the helicopter entrepreneur told Elle. The two have also bonded about their Mexican-American heritage. 'She's talking about getting the vote out right now; she's supporting civic engagement with Latinos. She does these things called listening tours where she hears from Latinas directly about what the issues are that we really care about. I think her point is, as she says, 'We're tired of the candidates and parties telling us what we care about,' so she's out there hearing directly from the Latinas about the issues that matter to them.' The actress received a $50 million grant to distribute to her favorite charities, including her own, the Eva Longoria Foundation. 'Whether it's economic status, poverty, food insecurity, the environment, there are so many issues we're facing in the world,' Longoria told Elle. 'I love the concept of this award, which is supporting people who are doing great things.' Best of StyleCaster The 26 Best Romantic Comedies to Watch if You Want to Know What Love Feels Like These 'Bachelor' Secrets & Rules Prove What Happens Behind the Scenes Is So Much Juicier BTS's 7 Members Were Discovered in the Most Unconventional Ways
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Sorry, Baby' Filmmaker and Star Eva Victor Can Do It All — Make You Laugh, Make You Cry, and Keep the Cat Alive
Two weeks before the limited release of Eva Victor's feature directorial debut, 'Sorry, Baby,' the multi-hyphenate was busy with some off-beat grassroots marketing: assuring Instagram followers that the film's feline supporting star, who appears in much of the Sundance hit's marketing, was OK. More than OK! 'I keep having to do them,' Victor told IndieWire during a recent interview about those homegrown PSAs. 'Someone told me that their friends aren't going to see it because they're worried the cat dies. And I was like, OK, so, something must be done. I'm continually trying to remind people, but I don't know if it'll work out. But I hope the word will get around eventually that it's not that kind of movie. [And it's not just] 'the cat doesn't die.' I want it to be 'the cat lives a wonderful life and nothing bad ever happens to the cat.' You know what I mean? Because that's different.' More from IndieWire SCAD Takes Cannes: IndieWire's Future of Filmmaking 'The Eva Victor Grad Program': Inside the Year-and-a-Half the Director Spent Preparing to Make 'Sorry, Baby' That's the sort of care and attention that Victor — who wrote, directed, and stars in the film — lavishes on everything they do (Victor uses she/they pronouns). And it's that exact sort of sensitivity that runs through every minute of 'Sorry, Baby,' which premiered to great acclaim at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it also picked up distribution from A24 and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Victor. Victor's debut is a darkly funny and enormously tender film that is about what happens after the worst happens, but with plenty of room to weave the light next to the dark. As the film's logline hints, 'something bad' happens to Victor's Agnes, but the creator and star is wise enough to understand that's only part of the story, because that's only part of life itself. Told in non-linear chapters, the film follows Agnes as she deals with said awful life event, all of it set in the small New England town where she attended grad school and is now a professor. While 'Sorry, Baby' might be rooted specifically in Agnes' story and the bad thing at its center, in its specificity, there's still tremendous room for wider recognition and revelation. Plus: cute cat. So, yes, the cat (named Olga in the film, as played by Noochie the cat) is just fine, more than fine. Other animals? Well, there is a key scene in the film involving a mouse who doesn't fare quite as well, though that's all treated with the same blend of kindness and dark humor that sets the film apart. Victor is incredibly easy to talk to, and on a wide array of subjects, so chatting about Olga soon led to talking about their own cat (Clyde) and this writer's pair of tuxedos (Felix and Oscar) and their various adventures with in-house vermin (mostly bad). Then, of course, came this exchange, which feels as if it could have been pulled directly out of 'Sorry, Baby': Kate Erbland: I got a hamster when I was Victor: Bad? And while 'bad' doesn't even begin to cover it (anyone who has ever owned a hamster can see where this is going, and that's before I mention that my hamster came to me pregnant), the quickness with which Victor can read emotion, respond to it, and do it in such a way that you feel like instant confidants, well, that's probably why 'Sorry, Baby' is such a revelation. Cats, mice, hamsters, oh my! aside, how is Victor feeling now, on the cusp of the film being released? 'I'm feeling good. And weird. But I feel really excited for the movie to come out and have real people see it,' they said, speaking in the same clipped manner as Agnes. 'It's been so amazing that film people see it, but it's also a movie I made for a version of myself that didn't know much about film and just wanted to feel a film. That's sort of who the film's for. It just feels like kind of this pent-up thing, but I'm ready to release. It's funny it's called a release. It's mirroring so much about birth in a way that I'm surprised by.' Victor is quite thoughtful on the subject of who the film is 'for.' 'Whenever you're in a finance meeting, people love to talk about 'target audience,' and I'm like, 'Honestly, I think for a film like this, it's actually so much based on your lived experience,'' they said. 'I remember all the financiers were like, 'It's young women!' and I'm like, 'Maybe?' I don't know, but I'm excited to figure out who ends up seeing it and who finds it.' Taking the film around to other festivals and screenings has been instructive, and Victor has spent the weeks and months since that Sundance premiere getting a sense of who will find the film. Who needs the film. 'Once in a while, I'll do a Q&A after a screening, and then there are people who I meet, people who are feeling connected to it,' Victor said. 'It's not always the people I expect, based on how they look or something, but I really like that.' They noted that producer and Pastel principal Adele Romanski has a 'finance bro friend' who is 'obsessed' with the movie. 'I feel like the more time I spend in gender-fluid mentality, the more I'm like, 'Everyone's just fucking figuring it out.' I think people are surprising. People can surprise you with what hits for them,' Victor said. Victor talks about film in a very visceral, physical way. Films can hit you. They can move you. They can lodge in you. 'The way I keep thinking about movies right now, it's like there are some films that come in as you're watching them and then move through you and leave. They leave your body. And then there's some films that lodge themselves into your body and soul,' Victor said. 'Because the movie is so personal, I can't really tell [which one it is]. It's up to each person, whether it lodges or whether it moves.' Victor has been open about the very personal nature of her film, and that Agnes' experiences are inspired by things that happened in her own life. In the early days of lockdown, Victor did what many people did — got super into watching movies — and while they'd already been performing by that point (stand-up, incredibly hilarious social media bits), their interest in movies took a different cast. She started looking for stories that appealed to her own lived experiences, and that desire to see those experiences and stories and emotions eventually led to Victor writing the film's screenplay. 'When I was writing it was like, 'Can this [even] be a script?,'' they said. 'And then I started to understand how movies are not a script. One part of what the film will be exists in the script, and the rest is visual, and you can try to write towards it, but it's a completely different medium. That part I actually found a lot of joy in.' The kind of films that inspired Victor — they named some 'really intense' titles like 'Three Colors: Blue,' 'The Double Life of Veronique,' and 'The Piano Teacher' — were more about the feelings they wanted to convey. 'It started becoming clear that this is what the movie looks like and this is what the movie feels like in different moments,' Victor said. Victor said there are two distinct moments in the script where all of that blended together during the writing process — how it would look versus how it would feel, and what visuals were needed to bridge that — including the opening shot of the film and a key moment that happens in the film's second chapter, 'The Year with the Bad Thing.' Both moments focus on a building: the opening shot is of Agnes' small country house, the other scene is of her professor's (Louis Cancelmi) rowhouse over the course of a few hours. 'Those were two moments where I was like, 'This is very clear to me, the filmmaking in this is very simple and clear to me,'' Victor said. 'And they're sort of driving moments of the film visually that allowed me to see it as a movie and that it needs to be a movie. I think the screenplay part, I felt pretty comfortable, I felt like I understood what the screenplay was, and it was really about translating it into a film. That was the part that I was like, 'Oh, my God.' But, also, if you have a screenplay, it is in there. You just have to figure out exactly what you mean.' Starring in the film? That was an easier ask for Victor. Directing it? OK, a bit more fraught. 'I knew I wanted to act in it because I wrote it for myself ultimately, honestly,' they said. 'I was like, 'Maybe we should find someone else to direct it, because that seems like a lot,' and I thought about it for a little bit and I was like, 'Wait, this feels weird.' My producers were like, 'Go think about it, let it crystallize.'' I took a couple months and then I think I wrote back an email that the subject was like, 'Crystallizing Happening' or something.' Those producers include the team at Pastel, including fellow filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak. Pastel came on early to the project, and were instrumental to Victor in many ways, including getting Victor to the point where directing felt possible. 'It took me a little bit. Then I was like, 'I do want to direct it, and these are the places where I feel very insecure about that,'' Victor said. 'They sort of set me up on a journey. We collaborated on a journey of getting me to feel comfortable directing. Which, I don't know if I've ever felt comfortable directing, but I got to a place where there was no more learning to be done not on the job.' Romanski and co-producer and Pastel exec Catalina Rojter were often on the film's Massachusetts set, Victor said, joined by Jenkins when his schedule allowed. (Victor said the pair really bonded during the editing of the film, when Victor was editing 'Sorry, Baby' at the same post-production facility as Jenkins' 'The Lion King: Mufasa.' 'We edited in the same place as 'Lion King,' but they built a wall so that we couldn't see what they were making, because it was very private,' Victor said with a wry smile. 'Like, one time I saw one image of an owl, and I was like, 'Fuck, I'm going to get fired.' And then I was like, 'Fuck, that looks good.'') To prepare for their first day on set, Victor also turned to other filmmakers for some advice. Jane Schoenbrun offered some that really stuck, speaking to both the pragmatism and emotion Victor wanted to bring to the production. 'At that point, I was just ready,' Victor said. 'I was really nervous though, too, because I was trying to set tone in all these ways before [we even started]. I remember Jane told me this thing while they were shooting 'I Saw TV Glow,' and they were like, 'The most important thing about the first day is making the day.' So, you have to finish on time, because morale needs it, and people need to trust that you know how to do that. That was a lesson that I took with me. I was like, 'We're finishing the day on time.'' The first shot? A little trickier, as it involved Victor as Agnes and Naomi Ackie as her devoted best friend Lydie going for a walk near Agnes' house (which also used to be Lydie's house). 'There was a train that went by every 20 minutes under the tunnel we were walking over, and I really wanted to wait for the train,' Victor said. 'And Adele was like, 'That's crazy. This is the first shot of the day.' And I was like, 'Ah, man, I don't know if I should wait for the train,' and then I turned to Naomi, and I was like, 'Should we wait for it?' And Naomi was like, 'Whatever you want. Do whatever you want. I'm here.'' In some ways, that's Agnes and Lydie's relationship in a nutshell, one borne of love, trust, and confidence. If Lydie is Agnes' person, it sure sounds like Ackie filled that same role for Victor. 'I really think the reason that the shoot worked was because Naomi had so much trust in me from the beginning, without having any proof I could do it,' Victor said. 'There were moments when I had to think about what I wanted, and the patience that she gave me and the love that she gave me was completely essential for me to then become more confident. That's such a gift from day one for her to trust me without having any reason to, really.' The last day of production focused on scenes with Victor and co-star Lucas Hedges, including a handful of more intimate moments between Victor and Hedges. No spoilers here, but Victor said Hedges' last shot sees his Gavin running out of his house toward Victor's Agnes, and Victor's last shot was the converse, with Agnes running toward him. That's a sweet enough note to end it on, but Victor, as ever, had a slew of hilarious details that only added to its power and humor. 'Our Steadicam operator, Dean, was recovering from Norovirus that he got from his kids,' Victor said. 'I kept running in the wrong direction, because I was running toward the house, because my intuition was telling me that, but I really had to run toward these lights. I kept running the wrong way, and he just kept chugging Gatorade and I felt so bad. Then it started snowing. The whole reason I wanted to shoot there and then was because I wanted to get fucking snow in the movie, and it snowed the weekend before we shot, and it snowed the night we were wrapping, and we actually had to wait for it to stop snowing because the shots wouldn't match. So, snow didn't happen! But I heard that happened to 'Certain Women,' too, which is a really important movie for this film. I'm in good company.' What did it feel like to wrap production? 'It was fun, but it was weird,' Victor said. 'There's a grief to it. When you're imagining your film, it's endless, and the reason it's hard is that it doesn't exist yet, but it's everything. By the end of the shoot, there's this sadness of, it's finite, what you have is what you have. But then it's also euphoric, because you have it.' Victor laughed. 'And I had never done an edit before, so we wrapped and I was like, 'We did it! It's over!,'' they said. 'And it's like, hell no. I was humbled quick. I went to LA the next week to start editing. I had one week off where I was in my parents' house, comatose. It was an intense time. It was amazing. I miss it. The further I get from it, the more I crave it. I really do miss the part where we were making something.' There's little question that making the film was intensely personal and deeply healing for Victor, but they also understand that by saying the film is based on their own experiences or events in their life, that opens a door for people to pry. 'I'm incredibly interested in privacy,' they said. 'It's something I've had for a long time. When I was doing stand-up, I had all these boundaries around what I would say. I think it made me a pretty bad stand-up, because I was like, 'I don't want to talk about anything about my relationships.' That's one of the most interesting things people could talk about!' But 'Sorry, Baby' is, Victor stressed, a fictional narrative film. 'I know, [there's] a lot of curiosity,' Victor said. 'It's obviously a personal film, but I did have a lot of joy in the creation of world-building and in the fictional parts. It was kind of the best of both worlds, where I got to weave in my little truths in ways that are disguised enough in this world that I got to build to support this person's story. Real life is real life, but a movie has to be contained, because it only lasts a certain amount of time and the world has to support the story.' Victor added, 'People's interest in my experience, I'm trying to look at it pretty empathetically, that people feel connected to the film and are wanting for more information.' For those wanting more information, Victor points back to the film itself. 'I do think the film is the purest version of what I could ever say about me, and the film is also not me,' Victor said. 'The film is the film. The film is what we can all look at, and I'm just a part of it in my own ways. It is a piece of art. It's meant to be a piece of artistic creation. So, I do always feel it's appropriate to point people toward the film if they have questions about me.' As we were speaking in a tucked-away alcove on the second floor of the Cherry Lane Theatre (which A24 purchased in 2023), Ackie and Hedges were on stage doing remote video interviews. A monitor in the alcove featured a live feed, and we could see and hear the interviews as they unfolded. On one hand, so nice! On the other, so nerve-wracking! 'It's so nice to have Naomi and Lucas around me doing [press] with me, because I don't want it to just be my film,' the filmmaker said. 'I want it to feel like a film we all made, because we did. It's nice to remember that it's not just me.' As another remote video interview started up, Victor couldn't help but smile at the monitor. 'Aw, look at their cute little faces,' they said, just as the interviewer asked a question about Victor. 'It's so awkward. They're talking about me and I'm not here.' While we managed to turn the volume down, Victor couldn't help zeroing in on a slight framing problem, with Ackie and Hedges not quite evenly situated next to each other. 'It's freaking me out that they're not sitting in the middle,' Victor said, with a smile. 'But that's my problem. I'm the director.' A24 will release 'Sorry, Baby' in limited release on Friday, June 27, with a nationwide release to follow on Friday, July 18. Best of IndieWire The Best Lesbian Movies Ever Made, from 'D.E.B.S.' and 'Carol' to 'Bound' and 'Pariah' The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme'
