Interviews

Interview: Janicza Bravo & Brett Gelman (Lemon)

Published on August 17, 2017

I’ve been a fan of her work since being exposed to her gleefully sardonic award-winning short film Gregory Go Boom at Sundance back in 2014. Fast-forward three years, Janicza Bravo unveiled Lemon in Park City back in January. I had the chance to sit down with Bravo and creative/real-life partner Brett Gelman and dig into Gelman’s character of Isaac, how he embodied the character, the five year preparation process and Bravo’s strong visual choices and how theatre and photography contribute to her overall aesthetic. Hands down, one of the best American independent filmmaking debut films of 2017, Magnolia Pictures releases the film theatrically on August 18th. Here is my interview:

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).