FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.
To listen along, have the film ready to go and hit “play” when prompted within the episode after the introductions.
PUMPKIN MOVIE (2017)
Two women trade stories of misogyny while carving pumpkins over Skype as part of a Halloween tradition.
In this episode, we discuss:
The film’s extremely truncated pre-production and production timelines.
Ultra low-budget filmmaking and unconventional production methods.
Structuring 45-minute conversations with editing.
Documentary, fiction, and the way that PUMPKIN MOVIE inadvertently became a hybrid of the two.
Sophy’s films can be seen on the CRITERION CHANNEL - feel free to sign up for a free trial if you aren’t a member.
Additional Resources:
Sophy Romvari is a Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Her critically-acclaimed short films have travelled the international festival circuit and have earned her a reputation as a leading young talent.
In 2017, her short Pumpkin Movie premiered at True/False, later playing Hot Docs and Sheffield. It has been praised by critics as "a lovely, subtle work of feminist protest." In 2018 her short Norman Norman premiered at TIFF and went on to serve as the centerpiece of a retrospective of Sophy’s work at the MoMI in NYC in 2019. She has also directed films for CBC Short Docs (In Dog Years, 2019) and Kino Lorber (Remembrance of József Romvári, 2020).
In 2020, Sophy completed her Master’s at York University. Her thesis film Still Processing premiered at TIFF in September 2020 before touring festivals across the world and winning multiple awards. Still Processing is now streaming online through MUBI and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. A collection of 8 of her short films are available on the Criterion Channel as of March 2022.
She is currently in development for her first feature film.