DGA Monthly

N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 I 3 1 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 Two sisters reconnect with their estranged father, a filmmaker set on crafting his career opus in Director Joachim Trier's comedic drama from Norway, Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi). Trier's intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. On September 29, after the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screening in New York, Trier discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Frank Oz and revealed how he preps for a shoot. "I'm a big planner. We block and do floor plans of everything, all the shots. I hang out at locations with my team and my cinematographer and production designer – the whole team. We make the plans so that we can get rid of it on the day, so a part of that is I like to spend a half day in rehearsals, not to spend the energy of the actors, and to trigger them to go home and think. Ultimately, they're much better at this than I am, so I leave space. Then, I go with the team, and I block." Director Joachim Trier discusses Sentimental Value An Eastern Region Special Projects Global Cinema Series Screening of a film from Norway photo by Marcie Revens Photo: Directors Frank Oz (moderator) and Joachim Trier discuss the making of Sentimental Value, following the New York screening on September 29 Director Les Blank's 1982 documentary, Burden of Dreams, follows Director Werner Herzog during the making of his feature, Fitzcarraldo — the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Blank captured the unfolding of the production, made more perilous by Herzog's determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of indigenous Peruvians to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain. Following a DGA Special Projects Committee Documentary Series screening in Los Angeles, Herzog stood in for Blank who passed away in 2013 and discussed his participation in the documentary as well as his own body of work. During the conversation Documentary Series Subcommittee Chair Ondi Timoner asked Herzog if he had any advice for fellow filmmakers, to which he replied, "Start shooting tomorrow. Anything that comes to you, you have to do instantly. Don't wait for inspiration. The world is full of stories. They come at you. It's like the burglars in your kitchen at 4:00 in the morning. You wake up because something is stirring and one of them comes swinging at you so that's the one with whom you have to deal first. This is how I'm dealing with my work." Werner Herzog discusses Les Blank's 1982 documentary, Burden of Dreams A Special Projects Documentary Series Screening photo by Elisa Haber Photo: Special Projects Documentary Series Subcommittee Chair Ondi Timoner and Director/film subject Werner Herzog discuss the making of Director Les Blank's 1982 documentary, Burden of Dreams, following the New York screening on September 24. Director Benny Safdie's biographical drama, The Smashing Machine, dramatizes the life of mixed-martial artist and UFC champion, Mark Kerr, a former collegiate wrestler who reaches the peak of his career but faces personal hardships along the way including drug addiction and depression. Safdie discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by DGA President Christopher Nolan in Los Angeles and Director Bradley Cooper in New York. During the Los Angeles conversation he revealed how he approached the style of the film. "If you allow yourself to exist in these moments they become real scenes. There was a time at a bus stop and by living in that scene for a good period of time, you actually discover a lot about the character. That's how I approach this. Take these moments in these lives and kind of magnify them with performance, camera placement, positioning, and just make it feel like you're there. You can understand as an audience member, 'I'm here. I know where I am.' And even in the editing process I was always aware of if the camera had technically seen itself, so I would edit as if — 'I can't use that shot over there because I'd be looking at myself.'" Benny Safdie discusses The Smashing Machine photo by Elisa Haber photo by Marcie Revens Photos Director Benny Safdie with moderators Christopher Nolan in LA on October 5 and Bradley Cooper in NY on October 11.

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