Some of us swoon for a love story, others crave the adrenaline of a thriller, while a few nerd out on documentaries that crack open hidden truths. Genres aren’t just categories—they’re mirrors for how we want to feel. Comedy when life’s too heavy. Horror when we want a safe scare. Drama when we need catharsis. Sci-fi when we long for possibility. Your answer says less about movies and more about you: what mood you’re chasing, what part of yourself you want reflected. So—what’s yours? And maybe, what does that say about you?
As for me, I love quirky independent films that tug at the heart as well as films from certain countries. On Thursday of our week-long MEA Film Fest in December, we give our workshop attendees the ability to choose from two genres or themes: one focused on three films by the same director and lead actress and actor made over the course of twenty years, and, the other three films and some shorts all focused on Japanese culture.
For any cinephile, spending a day watching Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy (“Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” “Before Midnight”) is a dream, especially wearing the lens of how our adult life stages evolve with each decade. Watching Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy through their 20s, 30s, and 40s is a sublime psychological experience. We’ll have Linklater’s long-time editor Sandra Adair with us to give us the behind the scenes story between these films as well as do a Q&A on a Vanity Fair retrospective on Linklater that we’ll watch.
At the other MEA Santa Fe retreat center on the ranch, we’ll offer a series of films focused on Japan. With master filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa, Japan’s film community has long been the envy of the rest of the world. We’ll watch “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” which is a profound tale of purpose later in the life (with a couple of short docs including the filmmakers), “Perfect Days,” Wim Wenders’ Oscar nominated film about finding awe anywhere, and “Lost in Translation,” the well-regarded Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s intergenerational film set in Tokyo. And, anyone choosing this Japanese film path that day gets the opportunity to do communal bathing at the luscious Ten Thousand Waves Japanese-inspired spa.
Most of the 60+ films we’ll have the choice of watching will be new and never been streamed before, but Thursday will be our retro day.
If you could curate a Film Fest and give your audience the choice between two genres with retrospective films, what two themes would you offer and which films?
-Chip