Sundance 2023 #7: Best of the fest + documentaries Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There, The Stroll, and more

Seventh Row Podcast

In the seventh and final episode of the Sundance 2023 podcast season, we discuss the documentaries at Sundance 2023, focusing on the films Fantastic Machine, Is There Anybody Out There?, The Stroll, and Plan C. We also discuss the best films of Sundance and wrap up our discussion of the festival.

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:26 Why we’re talking about documentaries at Sundance
• 03:05 And the King Said What a Fantastic Machine directed by Axel Danielsen & Maximilien Van Aertryck
• 11:19 Is There Anybody Out There? directed by Ella Glendining (and other first-person disability docs)
• 31:13 The Stroll directed by Kristen Parker Lovell & Zackary Drucker
• 36:04 Plan C directed by Tracy Droz Tragos
• 39:35 Milisuthando directed by Milisuthando Bongela
• 42:28 Against the Tide directed by Sarvnik Kaur
• 56:27 Final thoughts on Sundance 2023 and top tens
• 01:10:57 Sundance bingo

Click here to read the episode show notes.

You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.

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About the Sundance 2023 season

Visit https://seventh-row.com/sundance for links to all of the episodes in the season, a downloadable bingo card, as well as a list of all of the films covered on this season. You will also find links to the show notes on each of the episodes and information on our coverage of Sundance dating back to 2015.

Show Notes

• Buy a copy of our ebook Subjective realities, which features essays and interviews on creative nonfiction film (including our interview with Pacho Velez on Searchers). The book also features an interview with director Chase Joynt who has made two documentaries featuring Zackary Drucker, director of the 2023 Sundance film The Stroll.
• Read our 2016 Sundance interview with Penny Lane on NUTS! in which she introduced us to the term 'creative nonfiction' as a way to describe innovative approaches to documentary.
• Watch Axel Danielsen and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s short film Ten Meter Tower for free on YouTube.
• Watch Guy Goma’s hilarious interview on the BBC, which features in Fantastic Machine
• Read Orla’s review of I Didn’t See You There
• Read Alex’s review of Gleason
• Read Orla’s interview with Chase Joynt and Morgan M. Page on Framing Agnes, which stars Zackary Drucker who co-directed in the 2023 film The Stroll
• Read Orla's interview with the filmmakers behind No Ordinary Man, which features Zackary Drucker, director of the film The Stroll.
• Read Orla’s review of All That Breathes
• Read Alex’s review of Captains of Za’atari
• Read Orla’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw
• Read Alex’s Letterboxd ranking of the Sundance 2023 films she saw
• Download the Sundance 2023 bingo card to follow along at home.
• Listen to our last podcast season, which tackles the history of women at the Cannes film festival, and read our comprehensive list of all the women filmmakers who have been programmed by Cannes.

Related episodes mentioned on this episode

For more information on how these episodes relate to this episode, click here. To listen to each episode, or find out more about the episode, click on the link below

• Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative nonfiction (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Ep. 99: Creative nonfiction with Carol Nguyen and Penny Lane (FREE FOREVER).
• Ep. 106: Christine and Kate Plays Christine: Reviving Christine Chubbuck (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Ep. 53: Boys State and First Stripes (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming histories in documentaries. (MEMBERS ONLY)

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Speakers on the episode

This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith.

You can find Alex on Twitter @bwestcineaste, Instagram @bwestcineaste, and Letterboxd @bwestcineaste.

You can find Orla on Twitter @orlamango, Instagram @orla_p_smith, and Letterboxd @orlamango