DGA Monthly

D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 I 6 7 Membership Screenings Q&As listed in alphabetical order by Director. See more detailed descriptions, additional photos & podcasts online at www.dga.org. DGA Screenings Q&As Director Levan Akin's award-winning drama from Georgia, Crossing, tells the story of a woman in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, fulfi lling a promise to her now dead sister to fi nd her missing transgender niece, who she hasn't seen since the girl's transphobic parents disowned her. Via video from New York after the Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screening in Los Angeles, Akin discussed the making of the fi lm with Global Cinema Series Co-Chair Victoria Hochberg and spoke about some of the challenges he faced during the production. "One of the most diffi cult things is working across borders like we did. We fi lmed part of it in Georgia with a partly Georgian team. And then Georgia and Turkey are so close, it's literally that border, but it's so different and they can't communicate language-wise. So, then we had a Turkish team, and fi lming in Istanbul logistically was incredibly, incredibly diffi cult. And even though the Turkish team was fantastic, and there was a great camaraderie, they work differently than I'm used to. I don't think there's a right or a wrong way — everybody manages to do things in their own way." Global Cinema Series Screens Levan Akin's fi lm from Georgia, Crossing photos by Quntin Lundy Photo: Director Levan Akin (via video) discusses the making of his fi lm from Georgia, Crossing, following the Special Projects Global Cinema Series screening in Los Angeles on November 7. Inset: Global Cinema Series Chair Victoria Hochberg serves as moderator for the discussion. On April 19, 1995, a terrorist truck bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the deadliest act of homegrown terrorism against the government in U.S. history. Director Marc Levin's An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th uses that bombing as a lens to look at the evolution of domestic political violence in the USA, from its recent roots in the early '80s to the reverberations leading up to January 6, 2021. During a conversation moderated by Director Alexandra Pelosi, Levin observed that the younger generation seem unaware of this historic event. "This is not taught in any state in the country in high school except Oklahoma and just in terms of our popular culture — obviously 9/11 and the horrors that happened overwhelmed everything — the signifi cance of what was really going on back then and the reverberations we are so still in the midst of, has been missed. So, that's kind of why we made the movie." He also revealed why he opted to make a feature although they had enough material for multiple episodes. "It is easy to get lost in the conspiracy world, but you can't lose sight of this bigger picture of these movements of legitimate grievances that are real and how they can be exploited and capitalized and demagogues can take advantage of them. That's the bigger picture, the meta picture, that we're wrestling with right now. Our job is to dig deeper, but not get so lost in the conspiratorial or exposé mode that you lose both the human story and the historic kind of context." Documentary Series Screens Marc Levin's An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th photo by Marcie Revens Photo: Directors Marc Levin (right) and Alexandra Pelosi (moderator) discuss the making of An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th in NY on October 29. Follow Us On Social Media Stay connected with the Directors Guild of America! Follow us across social media to learn about events and Guild activities. Join the conversation by following our channels today! • Facebook: www.facebook.com/directorsguildofamericadga • X: twitter.com/directorsguild • Instagram: www.instagram.com/directorsguild • YouTube: www.youtube.com/@directorsguildofamericaDGA

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