FILMS from AFAR

Jon Levy found out he was dyslexic as a kid. As a result, he says, “I didn’t really have the option to read, write and take notes in the same way as everybody else. I had to develop different ways and different skills to cope.” To compensate, he says, he developed social skills. A couple of decades later, Levy applied those social skills to create the Influencers Dinner, a now-global series of events that brings together 12 guests to cook and dine together, during which they guess each other’s careers. Guests have ranged from Olympians and celebrities to scientists, Nobel laureates, artists and corporate executives. There have been more than 300 Influencers Dinners in 11 cities and four countries to date. These events are just one avenue of influence for Levy, the author of You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging and The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure. As a researcher with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Levy led a 2019 study that analyzed a dataset of more than 421 million potential matches between users of an online dating app to predict “synchronization and similarity in dating preferences.” Applied behavioral science, Levy notes, is all about translating research about behavior and applying it to real-world scenarios—something that can help leaders thrive. Here’s how. Read the full interview at SUCCESS magazine.

José M. Hernández credits his father’s five-part “recipe for success,” from defining a goal to achieving it, for helping him realize his dreams. But the Stockton-based astronaut, the son of migrant workers, likes to add his own ingredient — perseverance — recalling that it took 12 applications before NASA accepted him to its training program at 41 years old. “That’s why it’s important that we enjoy the journey to the destination,” he said, noting that it’s 80%-90% of the story. That story is detailed in a new movie about his life, “A Million Miles Away,” starring Michael Peña and based on Hernández’s autobiography. A graduate of the University of the Pacific, Hernández was assigned to the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-128. He later ran for Congress in the Bay Area’s 10th District in 2012. Today, he and his family have a winery, Tierra Luna Cellars, in Lodi. “You can take a kid out of the farm but not the farm from the kid,” he said with a chuckle. Since his days in space, four of his five children have entered science, technology, engineering and math fields, and through his foundation, Reaching for the Stars, he aims to “preach the gospel of STEM careers throughout the Central Valley of California, especially in underserved communities.” I spoke with Hernández, now 61, about the film and the future of space exploration for the San Francisco Chronicle. Read the full interview here. Images courtesy of José Hernández.

The moment may seem ripe for director Isabel Coixet’s latest film. Following in the footsteps of Oscar best picture nominees Roma and The Favourite, Elisa & Marcela is a female-centered, same-sex period romance that represents Netflix’s latest black-and-white feature slated for theatrical release. But in reality, Coixet says the 10-year journey to get the film made meant the project had to wait for the times to catch up. “Maybe now, 10 years later, it’s easy for us to say this is a fascinating story about two women in 1901 who decided to get married and one of them posed as a man,” says the 58-year-old helmer. “But 10 years ago, people really looked at you like you were a freak.” The multifaceted, Barcelona-born filmmaker is known for intimate, largely female-focused stories set and shot all over the world. True to form, on her latest she brought in several untested but talented young women in lead roles, both behind and in front of the camera, including co-star Greta Fernandez, first-time DP Jennifer Cox and debut composer Sofia Oriana Infante. Coixet spoke with THR about the importance of a theatrical release, her reluctance to work in TV and why she insisted on shooting her Berlinale entry in black and white. Read the full Q&A here. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

When you talk with energetic British entrepreneur John Lee, it’s hard to imagine there might one day be two of him. That’s because the self-made millionaire and global public speaker is in the midst of cloning himself. Yes, you heard that right.

Heartcore Business describes itself as “the premier training and coaching company for driven entrepreneurs who want to create a massive impact and generate financial freedom without sacrifice.” Those values are embodied in Heartcore’s founder, Shanda Sumpter. “I consider myself a trailblazer because I did everything first in my family,” Sumpter says. “Leaders forgive first. They step up first, and I think it’s really hard to make it in business today if you’re not a trailblazer.” Heartcore is, by Sumpter’s telling, an “eight-figure company” that works with entrepreneurs at every stage of their business who find they “are not reaching enough people.” It also owns an AI-specialized virtual assistant outfit that handles everything from design and marketing to online summits, and Heartcore organizes 28 events each year to help business owners grow their companies. Sumpter says more than 70% of her clients are “creating results each quarter.” But Heartcore is about more than just business results. The company also helps entrepreneurs drill down and define their culture—their values and identity. “My hook is to show you how to reach more people,” Sumpter says. “I love entrepreneurs because I think they’re leaders. And what better than to train a leader to be a better human being in the world and to be more responsible for what they see is important and to expand that through their family and friends and help more people to change the world?” Sumpter laughs, saying she might be “crazy enough” to believe she can change the world. Here’s how she aims to do that. Read the full interview at SUCCESS magazine.

When writer-director Ashley Avis signed on to direct the remake of Black Beauty, released in 2020 on Disney+, she didn’t know how it would change the course of at least the next several years of her life, leading to her follow-up project, the creation of a foundation, the adoption of multiple wild horses and a new role in advocacy. Avis’s documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West earned her a Special Congressional Commendation from Congresswoman Dina Titus in March and is now nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award for Best Science/Nature Documentary. I spoke with Avis for AWFJ in November. You can read the full interview here. Images courtesy of Ashley Avis.

You’ve probably heard the reassuring saying that when one door closes, another one opens. Author, executive coach and positive psychology expert Stella Grizont says she hopes her story demonstrates that “you don’t have to actually shut the door. You might be perfectly where you need to be and [may only need to] adjust something within.” That mindset shift of embracing the detours and seeing setbacks as “setups” encapsulates key aspects of The Work Happiness Method, which is also the title of Grizont’s new book. Grizont describes going through her own existential crisis, crying in bathrooms at work, suffering from imposter syndrome and feeling unfulfilled—even after completing a master’s degree in happiness (applied positive psychology) and launching her own business. “Then something clicked,” she recalls. “I realized I was the common denominator. I realized maybe it wasn’t the corporate clients who weren’t creative enough. Maybe it wasn’t the leadership at the startup. Maybe it’s me.” That realization was the genesis for what is now a thriving coaching program, reaching more than 100,000 people through talks in more than 40 countries. In her book, Grizont describes the process and tools she uses to guide people on a personal journey to find happiness at work. She focuses on work because it’s where we spend most of our waking hours, and it can be “the best sandpaper for our growth,” but you can apply her method to any facet of life. “I’m grateful that my path led me to this,” she says. “I’m just trying to help people avoid the anguish and existential crisis that I had.” Here, Grizont explains the eight inner skills she coaches to help steer people toward growth—and enjoy the process. Read the full article at SUCCESS.com

Susanne Bier is among Europe’s most prolific and honored female film and television writer-directors. Her career filmography spans formats, genres and countries. Originally from Denmark, some of Bier’s best-known works, at least for international audiences, include Hollywood productions like Bird Box and In A Better World, and the Hollywood remakes of her original films, like Brothers and After the Wedding. Bier is said to be the first female director to win a Golden Globe (Best Picture, In A Better World), a Primetime Emmy (Directing, The Night Manager), a European Film Award (many, including Achievement in World Cinema in 2021) and an Oscar (Foreign Language Film, In a Better World). She currently co-chairs the Academy’s International Feature Film Executive Committee. Now she’s back to television, with a star-studded, 6-episode series in the works for Netflix based on Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Perfect Couple. Starring Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, the shoot got shut down by the strikes and is waiting to resume, with four more weeks left of shooting time, Bier says. AWFJ has interviewed Bier twice before, including in 2007 when she was in post-production on her very first American film, Things We Lost in the Fire. Since then, she has worked steadily on both continents. Continue reading on AWFJ.org Images courtesy of the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival. EMIFF photos by Johanna Gunnberg.

Brazilian film Greta, premiering Tuesday in the Berlin film festival's Panorama section, offers a character study of an aging gay male nurse grappling with oppressive loneliness, a fugitive lover, a dying transgender best friend and an obsession with Greta Garbo. It’s not exactly the kind of material likely to be celebrated by Brazil’s newly installed president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has publicly berated the LGBTQ community and said he’d rather his own son die than be gay. ​ “Things have really changed for the worse in Brazil,” admits Greta director Armando Praca. “The views of the current president and some of his people go totally against what I believe as a human being. We have consistently heard racist and homophobic statements that threaten the existence of the LGBTQ+ community, indigenous peoples and other minorities and more vulnerable populations.” According to Greta producer Nara Aragao, the "uncertain moment" facing the country — and the film sector specifically — under the new administration has so far not directly affected this film. Although it had difficulties finding financing as an art house project from a first-time feature director (the budget is around 450,000 euros), Greta has solid distributor backing in Brazil’s Pandora Filmes and Berlin-based international sales agent M-Appeal, not to mention the premiere slot in Panorama. It also stars the well-known actor Marco Nanini, a veteran of Brazilian TV, stage and film. There was never talk of stalling the project or eliminating any of its more explicit scenes, Aragao says. In fact, while the film’s local release date has not yet been set and could potentially still be complicated by the current climate, Praca says he considers it an “ethical obligation” to release the film precisely in these times, to give “visibility to this community, their issues, their desires and their lives.” Yet Praca also insists his film tells a universal story that is not limited to or even conceived solely for the LGBTQ community. Read the full article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Best known internationally for his Golden Globe-nominated role as Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series Narcos, actor-turned-director Wagner Moura is also recognized in his native Brazil as, in his words, "a progressive, left-wing artist." Moura’s directorial debut Marighella, about a 1960s revolutionary who fought against the Brazilian military dictatorship of the era, won’t do much to change that reputation. The film is premiering at the Berlin film festival out of competition. Fresh off Sergio, the Netflix film he produced and starred in as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights killed by terrorists in Baghdad in 2003, Moura flies to Cuba directly after Berlin to shoot Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, the 1990s-era story of five Cuban spies controversially tried and imprisoned in the US. The candid first-time director talked with The Hollywood Reporter about why his film, which elicited threats during the shoot and as yet has no release date back home, is especially relevant today in Brazil, but wasn’t intended as a response to the country’s new conservative government. Read the full Q&A in The Hollywood Reporter.

Director Alice Furtado tells the story of a lovestruck teen attempting to defy the laws of nature at a time when Brazilian filmmakers are facing an uncertain future. Brazilian director Alice Furtado’s feature debut, "Sick, Sick, Sick," is created by young people for young people at a time when its makers are gravely concerned about the future of the next generation of Brazilian creative talents. The local industry is undergoing "a political and bureaucratic crisis" after state film agency Ancine in April froze its incentive programs and Brazil’s controversial new president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced the cancellation of investments from leading industry sponsors, according to Sick producer Matheus Peçanha. If things don’t change, Peçanha warns, "we will lose a big generation of young filmmakers, producers and technicians." Sick screened in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2019. Read more about the director's inspiration for her film in The Hollywood Reporter.

Barcelona-born director Oriol Paulo has done what few European filmmakers have managed to achieve: he’s cracked the Chinese market. Paulo's 2017 crime thriller Invisible Guest, which grossed a respectable, if hardly outstanding, $3.9 million in Spain, earned $26 million in China. In April of this year, his follow-up, the time-travel mystery Mirage, was a flop in Spain, making less than $900,000 on its initial release via Warner Bros. — but it grossed nearly $17 million in China, prompting the studio to take the unconventional step of re-releasing it in Paulo's home territory. Netflix snapped up world rights outside China and Spain on Mirage before Paulo began filming. In addition to their own success, Paulo's twisty, complex thriller scripts have spawned multiple remakes in Asia, the U.S. and elsewhere. He sold remake rights to his directorial feature debut, 2012’s The Body, to the U.S., South Korea, South Africa and India. Five countries, including China and the U.S., picked up remake rights to The Invisible Guest; and Mirage is set to be remade in four Asian territories, including China. Mercedes Gamero, managing director of Atresmedia Cine and producer on all of Paulo’s films to date, suggests Paulo's particular style of plot-driven thrillers with a focus on storytelling over special effects, works nicely in China as "counter programming" to the blockbuster fare on offer from the major studios. “His films combine ambitious script structures, suspense and characters in extreme situations,” adds Sandra Hermida, executive producer and production manager on Mirage and producer and production manager on Invisible Guest. “It's the balance between genre and emotion that makes his films unique." Paulo, currently working on the eight-episode suspense series El Inocente for Netflix, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about his inspiration, what he thinks of the remakes of his films and what it's like to be big in China. Read the full Q&A in The Hollywood Reporter.