How To See The Future

This talk was presented on Thursday August 31, 2023 in Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto.

With every film that I’ve written, I’ve found myself personally living out its themes during the course of making it. Sometimes more directly than others, but always somehow. If this pattern continues to hold true, we have a problem here – unless your themes are all sunshine and rainbows, having life imitate art in this way isn’t always going to be entirely pleasant. Why would anybody, after recognizing this pattern, choose to write about anything other than happiness and love? Why is it that this pattern exists? How do we make sense of voluntarily entering darker thematic territory? What are the personal implications of this pattern, considering the films I plan to write and direct in Berlin?