Catching Up With AFI FEST Alumni: Julia Loktev, Director of THE LONELIEST PLANET
Julia Loktev’s film THE LONELIEST PLANET won the grand jury prize from the New Auteurs Critics at AFI FEST 2011. We grabbed a couple minutes of her time on the eve of the film’s Los Angeles and New York theatrical premiere.
What is your favorite AFI FEST memory?
It’s kind of a funny, silly moment. There was a dinner for all the IFC films. And someone took a picture of me and my lead actress Hani Furstenberg with the Dardennes brothers, Bela Tarr, Wim Wenders and Jacqueline Lyanga. I was very pleased and honored to be in such illustrious company. Then Indiewire ran the photo—with all of our names, including mine—but cropped me out of the pic. You can just see some hair and a little bit of my cheek and a bit of my dress, like an ex-wife that’s been cut out of the picture. So that was quite funny. At the same dinner, the Dardennes told me they loved my film DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT, which made my night. Okay, my month!
What are you working on now?
I always have a hard time talking about things before they are done (unless I’m asking someone for money of course), so perhaps I should stay quiet for now.
