DGA Monthly

D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 I 7 3 Screenings Q&As listed in alphabetical order by Director. See more detailed descriptions, additional photos & podcasts online at www.dga.org. Special Projects Screenings Q&As Director Akinola Davies' semi-autobiographical drama, My Father's Shadow, tells the story of two young boys who reconnect with the father who's been missing most of their lives. But what begins as a reunion quietly unravels into something deeper as they witness their father's daily struggles as the political unrest of the 1993 Nigerian election crisis threatens their journey home. My Father's Shadow was nominated for the Un Certain Regard award and the Golden Camera award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. After the Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screening in Los Angeles, via video from Brazil, Davies discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Special Projects Committee Co-Chair Rachel Raimist and revealed the complications of shooting on film in a continent with no film development labs. "A couple of young filmmakers shadowed me for this film and one of them was based in Dublin. She ended up being in Nigeria when we were shooting and she was meant to come back [to Dublin] halfway through the shoot. So, we were like, 'Why don't you take some film?' Another producer took some film, and you just keep going back and forth. I mean, logistically, it's a nightmare. No one really wants to be in that position where you're taking cans through scanners consistently worried about what you could lose." Global Cinema Series Screens Akinola Davies' film from Nigeria, My Father's Shadow photos by Quintin Lundy Photos: Director Akinola Davies (via video) discusses the making of My Father's Shadow. Inset: Director Rachel Raimist serves as moderator for the discussion. For years, disgruntled neighbor Susan Lorincz called the police on the children who play in the vacant land next to her Florida home. But her hostility takes a sinister and lethal turn when it escalates into the shooting of Ajike "AJ" Owens, a beloved and vibrant mother of four. Told almost entirely through police bodycam footage, Director Geeta Ghandbir's The Perfect Neighbor probes the aftermath of Florida's controversial "stand your ground" laws and reveals the consequences that can occur when individuals feel emboldened by the law to act on their fear and prejudice. The film won the Directing Award in the 2025 Sundance US Documentary Competition. After the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Documentary Series screening in New York, Ghandbir discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Yance Ford and revealed why she opted to show the community in the film. "You see the community as they are. You often only see in these types of tragedies, the aftermath. You see the grieving family. You maybe see the funeral, maybe there's the day of, but you don't get to see the community as they were before. To me, this beautiful little community is really the best of what we are in society – a multi-racial community, living together, raising children together, a strong social network. Being able to recreate that community for the audience was so important." Documentary Series Screens Geeta Ghandbir's The Perfect Neighbor Documentary Series Screens Ben Stiller's Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost photo by Marcie Revens Photo: Directors Geeta Ghandbir and Yance Ford (moderator) discuss the making of The Perfect Neighbor in NY on October 16. Comedy is hard. Marriage is harder. Jerry and Anne somehow juggled both. Director Ben Stiller's Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost, tells the story of his parents, comedy icons Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, exploring their impact both on popular culture and at home, where the lines between creativity, family, life and art were often blurred. After the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Documentary Series screening in New York, Stiller discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Ethan Hawke and revealed the genesis of the film. "My dad died. [I had a] knee jerk reaction to start filming in the apartment because I knew we were going to sell it. In my head, I can't do a memorial for him because it's COVID. I felt very stressed about that – about how do you honor your parents, especially when my dad died because he was such an important person in my life, but to a lot of people. I was like, how do I pay tribute to them, even in just a memorial, like we did for my mom. Then, I thought there should be a movie about them, so that's how I started." photo by Marcie Revens Photo: Directors Ben Stiller (right) and Ethan Hawke (moderator) discuss the making of Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost in NY on November 7.

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