a film that everybody needs to watch I would say would have to be Braveheart at the core of the film is I think it's something we all relate to which is being able for being able to fight for something that you truly love whatever it is that one thing that you really love that you're passionate about that you have to have and doing whatever it takes to have it that is what's at the core of of braveart and usually that's love usually that's you know someone that you love I I think that that's what makes that film so beautiful Little Miss Sunshine because at every moment you're going to be feeling something and at the end of it you're going to you're going to come out a better person than before you started watching him I was saying did documentary space I really like this uh documentary called Kiss by God which is the story of uh Andy arons which was a surfer that passed away unfortunately as far as like fiction I really like um glorious bastards and I don't know I feel like it's very solid on you know the technical part and the story um so I'm I'm I really like that film I feel like it's a really strong uh film Inception it's never going to change I just saw the movie um re-released in theaters um and I hadn't seen that movie in theater since it came out back in like 2010 um and my God that Nothing Compares that experience it felt like church again it it it was it was wonderful it made me fall in love again with the movie more than I already was oh I really loved the last repair shop the final repair shop that won the Oscar this year by Breakwater Studios it's so beautiful that's what I aspire to if I could tell stories like that that move people that call people to action and to help you know people celebrate the Arts and celebrate children and all the different layers of our communities I would be a very very happy person I would say Charlie chaplain's modern times should be on everybody's list arrival from Den uh it's one of my big Inspirations for many like poetry that I put in my writing and my films and the music and I just love it so much and I think it's such a smart and beautiful film and everybody should watch it Bicycle Thief which is a a film from the' 40s an Italian an Italian Neo realism movie uh it's a very basic story about a father who loses his bike uh and he needs that bike to you know to work to put up some posters uh the whole movie trying to find that bike with his son the bike appears disappears at certain points it's such a basic story that if you're a filmmaker and you want to tell a good story that's a story that you should definitely learn [Music] from I mean for me I'm a Spielberg kid right and one of the things I love about Spielberg is he does two things that are really wonderful SP he's really good at spectacle and he's really good at storytelling and that is the basis of all of all film and even though he's accessible that's okay because he's really really good at Story the one who has um inspired uh my latest work uh it's chantala Gman and she's also woman filmmaker from Belgium and she does documentary she has also done narrative but she's better known for her documentaries and her documentaries that are with really long steady shots some people would say boring but I find them beautiful so chantala Akerman has been a a great um source of inspiration when I see her movies the directors that inspire me are Christopher Nolan David Fincher and to a certain extent um Tarantino and Bong Jun Breakwater Studio I love the concept that they have and just making short but poignant and powerful short docks sometimes short docks get the short end of the stick because they're not feature length you're trying to get everything in there that you can but they also can be really impactful because they're manageable doses of a story that somebody can get during their travels they can do it kind of interstitially between other things and the impact that a short film can have is it's really been incredible to watch Michael man Stanley gobrick it always sort of comes comes around to step Spielberg and I believe that's just like the era that I grew up in uh you know ET Jurassic Park close encounters I remember watching Close Encounters over and over and over and over again as a kid and then finding out that he did this movie ET um and so I just and then Jurassic Park later on I got to see in theaters uh and I know that that's similar for a lot of filmmakers around my age but yeah it just always sort of comes comes to Stephen Spielberg so one of the filmmakers that I really really look towards for inspiration or admire his work obviously is Christopher Nolan he's you know one of the greatest directors if not the greatest living director at the moment and you know he's a writer as well he really looks at writing he focuses a lot on the writing and you know the craft of you know creating interesting characters and interesting plots and and very intriguing and immersive themes I think as a filmmaker he sets a certain standard that we all want to strive for I would say the French director selama she did portrait of the on fire which is very famous also in the US I think and another film that's called but Mom a little mom which is about these two kids who are twins and also go through a grave story and a family story and movie particularly inspired me a lot for my own film because it's very naturalistic and it's just there's no artifacts it's very raw and it's very watching you know this this this kids going through something um in a very in a very honest way that's what I like about her film [Music] making I really loveed and the reason that I love that film so much is that he helps you he makes you empathize with characters that you'd never even think of doing in the real world and I think that translates in opening our mind and considering the people around us Pride and Prejudice 2005 but it's not necessarily that the messages in that movie are the healthiest it's more just that I can just stare at it like it's so beautiful and so captivating in the music and the outfits and the dialogue and the looks and the furtive glances and uh it just really like puts you in that world and makes you want to just hang out in it Alfred Hitchcock's notorious Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince not only that's the best Harry Potter film in my opinion but it's also the most um beautifully made it's just like it's like watching a a dessert on fold like beautiful from cinematography from buo Del bonell all the way to um props set design um wardrobe I think I'm a little obsessed on The Shining I'm a big fan of kubric but yeah I I love The Shining I think every time I watch it I'm finding something new I just thought of Home Alone Home Alone but like um but when I think about home alone which is from the 90s I I don't know um I think more about about home I think because I remember watching it at home in Spanish it wasn't until I moved here that I saw it in English um but whenever I see it or find it I'm completely transported when I was a kid um so not so the movie is not that it was great but but I think like the moment when I saw the movie or the moments that the movie reminds me of it's what it's important you know there's a film called judgment night with Emilio EST stz and Cuba Gooding Jor um and it's an action-packed suspense thriller it you know it didn't win any major Awards but I love the film because it literally immerses you into this world that these guys are living and it's crazy and it's wild and I think that we all have that one film that we watch and if we feel feel like we're in that movie with them with those characters those are the movies you're going to watch a milon of one time you're going to be able to watch them over and over and over why because it trans it's transcending it transports you into that world I would say little me sunshine I watch this film many times when I was a kid and I still watch it now and it still does the same effect to me I cry I laugh and I think it's a gorgeous film in me I do want to see something cooler but uh or something off on guard or something but really the movie that I would pick is Men in Black that that movie for some reason every time on uh anytime I can catch it at any point I will finish it uh it's something that I've watched over and over and over and over again and I really love uh Barry sonnenfeld the the the director he has such a unique way of filming things along with the writer Ed Solomon who also wrote Bill and Ted which I also love I think the the number one thing is when it comes out is the timing and and uh what is happening on in culture I mean if for example if Tarantino made Pulp Fiction today would it have the impact that it had in the 90s no not at all um because there's been 5,000 variations of that by now so I think I think a filmmaker when he brings something to the table it has to have it's just like everything else timing is everything it has to have a a big impact on culture it meets a balance at least for me it's not just about story it's also about the visuals because film is a visual medium so it needs to have this perfect um balance between the two of a great story and then um visual delicacy and it doesn't need to be visually beautiful but at least understanding that for the Aesthetics as for what you're trying to do it looks it looks very very pretty in the aspect the best examples that I gar June um part two where that's the film that that has massive scope in storytelling but then visually it's gorgeous and then the opposite of that is a movie like seven which it's it's gruesome and it's and it's horrible imagery but then it's beautifully made so it adds adds layers onto the storytelling the best films that I've seen have all left me wondering about something even after I'm done watching does this have the potential to make me think about something for longer than I otherwise would have or to ask a question I haven't asked myself before or to contemplate a response that I otherwise wouldn't have you know it just like opens up my mind what makes a film great the sound of it no just kidding just kidding as a sound person that's what I have to say um I feel like I mean I'm I'm more into like the document space not so much the scripted space so what makes a film great documentary scripted it's the story if you have a good story and people are always you know going to be wanting to see more a point of view it can create emotion and as long as it's directive and specific to that emotion um I think everything kind of kind of falls into place after that what makes a film great is when I can for forget everything else but focusing on the emotion of the story and I can forget you know cinematography and editing and not focusing on every other technical aspect of the film I think that makes a great film for me because I'm able to like detach myself from that and it's very hard for me cuz I watch you know every little like detail and I'm like oh I should do that I should do that so yes but I also love films that are like really beautifully shot and I can you know really take in the cinematography and the sounds and I really noce the efforts but I think when a film really makes me forget all of that then it's it's great for me I will always say honesty honesty you can see it you can see the honesty when somebody does a you know when when I see a documentary when I see a narrative there's some kind of honesty in the making of something when you make it with love when you make it with care um with you when you make it uh in a thoughtful way when you care about your crew I think that's what makes a good movie and also that moves you um you know after you watch it that has some impact the impact that has even in a small um in a small little super little small way I mean sometimes I know we're aiming for big crowds to see our movies um but I think like when you get the when you get the respond of some people who saw your movie and they got it they completely got it and they relate to your feelings and you relate to them and there's that connection I think when that happens um I think a movie a movie is great sometimes you can get you know too caught up in you know what kind of camera you use uh you know all these technical aspects but all in all the story is everything that's What Makes a Movie great it doesn't matter if you film it on any type of camera if the story if you can tell that story and and the story is great if you can read it in a script and from the script it's you think it's great then then I think that's that's the movie what makes a film really really really great is when people can see themselves in it uh sometimes and it's it's a really interesting topic directors may not see themselves as a part of the that they're filming and you can see that distance in the way that they film so if you're able to build up a strong enough relationship with your principal participants then the audience no matter where they're from or what Walk of Life they've been through can see themselves in one of your characters that's it that's always that's always The Sweet Spot when there's a shared almost Humanity that comes across in the film [Music]