Director Ryan Coogler discusses his new film, Sinners, with fellow Director Rachel Morrison in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses employing historical consultants to find authenticity in every niche of the film, how he collaborated with Composer and Executive Producer Ludwig Göransson to elevate the film with a distinct musicality, and how he came to the conclusion of using 70mm film to accentuate the sprawling, flat and isolating aspects of the southern setting.

In this fusion of gothic horror and 1930s Mississippi history, the film follows twins Smoke and Stack, who plan to open a new juke joint in their hometown. But as the pieces come together and their opening night begins, they find themselves confronted not only by the dangers of Jim Crow-era southern life but also a lurking undead menace.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/sinners_qna_0525

Director Andrew Ahn discusses his new film, The Wedding Banquet, with fellow Director Daniel Kwan in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses working with the Screenwriter of the original film, updating the story to reflect contemporary LGBTQ+ attitudes while staying faithful to the original plot, and how he and his Actors utilized inventive techniques for discovering their characters on set.

This remake of the 1993 film tells the story of Min, a gay man hoping to stay in the country and avoid being dragged into his family business. Proposing a green card marriage to his lesbian friend Angela, things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/theweddingbanquet_qna_0425

Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden discusses their new film, Freaky Tales, with fellow Director Shaz Bennett in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, they discuss the real-life events that influenced the stories, using distinct visual styles and camera aspect ratios to differentiate each story chapter, and utilizing real locations and cameos from Oakland-born figures to cement the authenticity of the work.

The film weaves together the seemingly disparate sagas of an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teenage punks, neo-Nazis and a debt collector as they embark on a collision course in 1987 Oakland, California.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/freakytales_qna_0425

Director Gavin O’Connor discusses his new film, The Accountant 2, with fellow Director Dan Gilroy in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses working with his Actors to find more opportunities for humor, building out the scope of the film to expand on the world within the story, and aiming for an entirely different look and tone to create a fresh experience separate from the first installment.

The film tells the story of Christian Wolff, hired again to use his brilliant mind and highly lethal skillset to solve the puzzling murder of a Treasury Chief. Though a danger in his own right, this time he enlists the help of his equally lethal estranged brother as they uncover a deadly conspiracy full of ruthless killers and buried secrets.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/accountant2_qna_0425

Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel discusses their new film, The Friend, with fellow Director Gail Mancuso in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, they discuss working with Actors Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, the consideration that went into changes from the source material to the film, and working with a dog trainer to achieve emotional performances from their mastiff actor.

The film tells the story of Iris, a solitary writer who inherits a great dane once belonging to a late friend. At first creating problems for Iris, she finds herself unexpectedly bonding with the mastiff, gradually coming to terms with her lost friend and own creative inner life.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/thefriend_qna_0425

Director Ami Canaan Mann discusses her new film, Audrey’s Children, with fellow Director Brad Silberling in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses using specific lenses and mis-en-scene to capture the interior thought process of the main character, working with child Actors in order to capture serious performances, and incorporating soft hints of the romance genre in the relationship between two of her leads to foreshadow their real-life relationship.

The film tells the story of Dr. Audrey Evans, who in 1969 was the first woman to assume the Chief of Oncology title at the world-renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Battling sexism, the subterfuge of her peers and medical conventions of the time, she develops revolutionary treatments and co-founds the first Ronald McDonald House, impacting millions of lives worldwide.

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https://www.dga.org/events/2025/june2025/audreyschildren_qna_0425

Director James Hawes discusses his new film, The Amateur, with fellow Director Sarah Pirozek in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses insisting on the protagonist being geeky, clumsy, charming and smart to reflect his novice, utilizing his camera to capture the main character’s degrading perspective as the story unfolds, and how previously working on the show Black Mirror informed aspects of this film.

The film tells the story of Charlie Heller, a brilliant CIA decoder whose world comes crashing down after his wife dies in a London terrorist attack. When his supervisors refuse to act due to conflicting internal priorities, he utilizes his intelligence as the ultimate weapon and travels across the globe to hunt down those responsible.

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https://dga.org/Events/2025/May2025/The-Amateur_QnA_0425

Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen discusses their new film, Novocaine, with fellow Director Drew Hancock in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, they discuss taking notes from 80s and 90s action movies to straddle the tonal line between comedy and action, their inspirations for casting Actors Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder in the lead roles, and finding a fighting style for a character not of your typical action hero makeup.

The film tells the story of Nathan Caine, a man born with the rare condition where he is physically incapable of feeling pain. When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped by gun-wielding bank robbers, he turns his rare condition into an unexpected advantage in the fight to rescue her.

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https://dga.org/Events/2025/May2025/Novocaine_QnA_0325

Director Bong Joon Ho, accompanied by his translator Sharon Choi, discusses his new film, Mickey 17, with fellow Director Ava DuVernay in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses how his storyboarding process covered every shot, how he approached having a love story for the first time, and the resonance of the film’s social themes with worldwide audiences.

The film tells the story of Mickey Barnes, an everyman hired by a tyrannical government to work as an “expendable” - a human clone willing to die for one dangerous mission after another. Repeatedly meeting his end for the advancement of space exploration, the 17th Mickey survives a seemingly fatal expedition and comes face to face with a new problem: Mickey 18.

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https://dga.org/Events/2025/May2025/Mickey17_QnA_0325

Director Josh Ruben discusses his new film, Heart Eyes, with fellow Director Zelda Williams in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses balancing the tone of romantic comedy and horror while not trying to betray them, the behind the scenes of special effects work that went into the kills, and the creation and influences of the killer’s look.

The film follows Ally, a cynical ad executive, and her hopelessly romantic colleague, Jay. After a meeting-turned-date, they accidentally become the next target of “Heart Eyes,” a masked maniac with glowing, red eyes who returns every Valentine's Day to slaughter unsuspecting couples, and must fight for their survival.

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https://dga.org/Events/2025/April2025/HeartEyes_QnA_0325