Directors Discuss Distribution

Eliza Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker, born and based in Brooklyn, NY. Her latest film, the critically acclaimed Never Rarely Sometimes Always, was released by Focus Features this spring following its international premiere in competition in the Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Award. The film had its US premiere in competition at Sundance where it won a special jury prize. Beach Rats, her previous film, premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where she won the Directing Award. It premiered internationally at Locarno in the Golden Leopard Competition and was the Centerpiece Film at New Directors / New Films. Beach Rats was released domestically by NEON Rated, and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. It was the winner of the Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting, Outstanding Screenwriting in a U.S. Feature at Outfest, and the London Critics’ Circle Film Award for Young British/Irish Performer of the Year. In 2018, it was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit awards and a Breakthrough Actor Award for the Gothams Awards. Her micro-budget feature film It Felt Like Love premiered at Sundance in 2013 in NEXT and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. She earned an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and is currently an Assistant Professor of Film/Video at Pratt Institute. She is the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center, and a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow.

Ivete Lucas was born in Brazil, started her career in Mexico and now lives in the United States. As an artist and filmmaker her work combines video, performance and installation. Her films have premiered and won awards at the Berlin, Toronto, and London International Film Festivals. Her short film Skip Day, which she directed, edited and produced, won the Illy Short Film Award at Quinzaine des Réalisateurs 2018. The Send-Off, co-directed with her partner Patrick Bresnan, premiered at Sundance in 2016 and won jury awards at SXSW, AFI Fest and the San Francisco International Film Festival. She is the producer and editor of the multiple award-winning short, The Rabbit Hunt. Her feature film Pahokee premiered at Sundance.

Puloma Basu has been active in the film & TV industry for over 10 years. During this time she has worked on many notable TV shows including The Night Of, Flight Of The Conchords and Bored To Death, and on films such as St. Vincent, The Namesake, Brooklyn’s Finest and The Meyerowitz Stories. She has directed music videos for artists such as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Aimee Mann. She produced the feature documentary Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows, and directed Other Music, which is set to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019.

Sonejuhi Sinha grew up in Northern India until the age of thirteen. After a short stint at a British boarding school in the Himalayas, Sonejuhi packed her bags to join her parents in New York City. Sonejuhi got her start in the industry working as a commercial film editor. Sonejuhi’s directing career began with a narrative short film, Love Comes Later, which was one of ten short films accepted to the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Sonejuhi was one of five 5 directors from all over the world chosen to do 5 films on child abuse. Sonejuhi wrote and directed Miles of Sand, a film that garnered attention around the world. Sonejuhi was selected for the prestigious Shoot New Director’s Showcase in New York and participated in Tribeca Film Institute’s prestigious Through Her Lens program where she was mentored by Dee Rees, Catherine Hardwicke, Rashida Jones among others. She also received a development grant from Tribeca Film Institute to further develop her narrative project The Quarry. She is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation development grant for her feature Stray Dolls, on which she is currently in post production. Stray Dolls is a Crime / Drama starring Cynthia Nixon, Rob Aramayo, Olivia Dejonge and Geetanjali Thapa. Stray Dolls is listed in Filmmaker Magazine’s most anticipated films of 2019. Sonejuhi’s work has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine, Huffington Post, Indiewire, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Variety, Bright Ideas Magazine and NOWNESS to name a few.

Leah Meyerhoff is the founder of FILM FATALES, a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization which advocates for parity in the film industry and supports a membership community of over one thousand women and non-binary feature filmmakers around the world. Meyerhoff wrote and directed the narrative feature film I Believe In Unicorns, starring Natalia Dyer and Peter Vack, which was released theatrically after premiering at SXSW and winning the Atlanta Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Her previous work has screened in over 200 film festivals and aired on IFC, PBS, LOGO and MTV. She is a fellow of the IFP Narrative Labs, Tribeca All Access Labs, and Emerging Visions program at the New York Film Festival. She holds a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University and an MFA in Directing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.