The third installment of the Sands: St Andrews International Film Festival has set its slate, and this will include director Steven Soderbergh engaging in conversation with directors Anthony and Joe Russo. I’ll be moderating that discussion, which will touch on the unexpected way Soderbergh and his godfather discovered the careers of the duo who directed the highest-grossing Hollywood film of all time, Avengers: Endgame. The festival continues next month from April 19 to 21.
Soderbergh’s career began with… sex lies videos, The film that just celebrated its 35th anniversary turned Sundance into a profitable independent film hatchery. The film won the Palme d’Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, followed by Soderbergh’s first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He has gone on to direct various films such as passage, Which won the 2000 Academy Award for Directing, the same year it was nominated Optical fiber – the Ocean Tripleinfection magic mike, And the HBO movie behind the lights, Winner of the 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing. He has been a long-time supporter of emerging filmmakers, producing or serving as an executive producer for filmmakers including Greg Mottola (day travelers, 1996), Gary Ross (Pleasantville1998), Christopher Nolan (insomnia2002), and Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton2007), among many others.
His role in helping the Russians is particularly inspiring, and will be discussed in detail at Sands. The brothers maxed out their credit cards to produce their first film to cut, Which earned a place in the 1997 Slamdance Film Festival. Although the film was never released, it was seen by Soderbergh, who researched them and taught them the ropes, to produce their next film, Welcome to Collinwood, Starring William H. Macy, Sam Rockwell and George Clooney, he has been their mentor, mentor and friend ever since. The Russians founded AGBO with mentorship in mind, offering a blind script deal to The Daniels team that resulted in the Best Picture Oscar-winning Everything, Everywhere, At Once.
This live and personal conversation is followed by a presentation of Welcome to Collinwood which has not been released in UK cinemas since 2003 and represents the first opportunity the trio have had to discuss their long friendship and professional achievements to a general audience.
“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Stephen at the Sands: International Film Festival, where we go back to the origins of filmmaking. Stephen has been a wonderful source of guidance and guidance for us. It is really exciting to look back on our journey and discuss the future of storytelling,” said the Russo brothers. “Rookies.”
Among other highlights on the Sands program are discussions with composer and conductor Alan Silvestri and casting director Debra Zinn, whose credits include hunger Games Commercial franchiseOcean’s Eleven, Catch Me If You Can And American beauty.
AGBO is among Sands’ founding sponsors, as is Deadline, and donors include the Murphy family. Festival Program Director Anya Trzebiatowska is finalizing the film list.