In this episode, Jessie and Chris met with Associate Professor Kristen Warner to discuss her recent experience at the Sundance Film Festival, her deep appreciation of film in its various genres, and how her experiences influence her approach to teaching film classes here in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.
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Transcript
00:00 Music
Chris Christensen 00:11
Hello. I'm Christopher Christensen. Welcome to Episode 65 of the PMA podcast. In this episode, Jessie and I met with Associate Professor Kristen Warner to discuss her recent experience at the Sundance Film Festival, her deep appreciation of film in its various genres, and how her experiences influence her approach to teaching film classes here in the department of Performing and Media Arts. Oh, goodness, is this your this is your first time on the podcast.
Kristen Warner 00:39
It is!
Chris Christensen 00:40
Nice
Kristen Warner 00:41
I'm excited! I was like, Wait, there's a podcast we could be on. Yeah!
Chris Christensen 00:47
Yeah. And we've only been trying to make this happen for
Kristen Warner 00:50
It's been like, like, a few months now. Yeah, excited. I'm glad.
Chris Christensen 00:55
Well, let's catch up a little bit. Well, first of all, can you tell us a little bit about your backstory before you came to PMA. Oh, who are you?
Kristen Warner 01:03
Who am I? I wonder that every day. So this is my second year,-- '25, '24, '23-- Yeah, my second year here at Cornell. I came from the land of the South. Before that, I was at the University of Alabama for 13 years, and so a lot of change. And then I am a Louisiana native, and so, like, I've pretty much lived in the South the duration of my of my adult life. And so this is my first time in the up in the north or the east or wherever we are, central, however, whoever, whatever the discourse is around this place. So yeah,
Chris Christensen 01:50
And what is your favorite part about life in the Finger Lakes just this time of year? I know we we've talked about your love of winter and all things cold.
Kristen Warner 01:59
I think I'm actually becoming accustomed to sort of the hibernation period that so many like in this area, sort of like, we just go into our homes and we just sort of make soup. And there was a part of me my first year that was very much like, What do you mean? You go inside and you make soup, like, what is that? That sounds you know, a recipe for depression. Now it's more like, I mean, I kind of get it. It's like, what? Like, it's dark at four o'clock, and it's like, Well, I'm just gonna go up to the house, I'm gonna turn on the TV, turn my Humidifier on so that, like, I am not, like, drying out, and I'm just gonna, like, heat up some, like, it does, like, oh, a nice brothy soup. That's why I think it's it's starting to make sense, although I am very much like, this is weird. Y'all like, this is this, is this is weird.
Chris Christensen 02:54
We've kind of hit the rut at this point. I think in February, I know for myself, yeah, like, I kind of woke up this morning and realized I have not gone outside and done anything in ages, yeah, for anything more than to walk from a building to a building, or to go from the car to a building, or back and forth.
Kristen Warner 03:10
Pretty much! I mean, I got back from Sundance on Thursday of last week, and I realized I didn't go outside again until Monday, when it was time to go to school, and I was like, Oh, I just like, that whole weekend, just, it just faded away, because it was just like, what are you gonna do? You're gonna go outside to go fight in like the snow and with the drivers, and just, Nah, just sit at the house. Yeah, Hibernate. So it's a it's a trudge. But, I mean, I hope this ends quickly. I hope this this ends.
Jessie Jia 03:43
Oh, Jessie was just asking me, does it get hot hotter in February? That's the way she describes, like, it never gets hot in February.
Kristen Warner 03:43
I mean, it's like, I know that there's like, it seems like this is going to be it, and then it's like, winter one and winter two and all.
Chris Christensen 03:57
I like that!
Kristen Warner 03:59
I just, I can't, can we just do that faster?
Chris Christensen 04:02
I mean, I don't like winter one and winter two, but I like the description
Kristen Warner 04:05
Yeah, there's, like, winter one and then it's like, oh, we're over it. No... winter two. And I was like, this is rude.
Chris Christensen 04:11
Maybe that's why we always schedule the chili cook-off sometime in February.
Kristen Warner 04:14
It's, like, the first week of March. I thought, when it is, sign is up. Now Chris like, see, they're trying to, like, speed winter along too. I was like, I see you Ithaca. I love it.
Jessie Jia 04:29
What is that? I don't think I've heard of the chili cook-off.
Chris Christensen 04:33
Yeah, I've been of all the years that I've lived here, I think I've gone once. So it's a big Chili cook-off. It takes place. I think multiple restaurants around the area have booths, and it's on the commons.
Kristen Warner 04:44
And who makes the best chili? Which, you know, I don't know about it up here, like y'all don't like seasoning, so I don't really know if I believe anybody makes really good chili. Have you been did you go to the chili cook off? I have not, but I just my sense of it is salt and pepper is like, the one is like the seasoning that Ithaca knows best, and that's fine.
Chris Christensen 05:11
Mostly, maybe we'll bring a recording device, will go down, and we'll have a part two to the podcast,
Kristen Warner 05:17
Exactly, and you'll just be KW sprinkling Tony sasheries and all of her bowls. It's like, this would be great with a little extra. I love this one the best.
Chris Christensen 05:28
All right. Well, beginning of March, then there we go. We're there.
Jessie Jia 05:32
You mentioned, like the Sundance programs, yeah? Wondering if that's like a class that you're teaching or a program, yeah?
Kristen Warner 05:39
So every year this. So this is my second time taking students from Cornell, but p reviously I've gone with students more than four or five times to Sundance Film Festival. We just came back, and I think there were 11 students, all women, and they went and went to movies and went to panels and did events and did all this really, really cool stuff. And I think it's important, particularly for our students, because there's so much anxiety about what they can do once you graduate, it's like, what, I don't know where to go. I don't know where to start. I don't know how to talk to people, you know, like, all of that angst, and so being able to put them in a place where everybody is there, like all these industry people are there, all these executives and directors and producers and other filmmakers are there, and putting them in that space where it's like, Okay, try, like, there's no stakes here, if you don't get it right, if You You know, like, there's no there's no penalty for not there's no penalty for not knowing what you don't know. Just try and talk to people, and they're the way that the surge of confidence sort of boosted by the time we left. They were all like I talked to so and so, and I have so and so's Instagram and so and so's LinkedIn, and it wasn't that bad, and I could just be myself. And all things that I said, By the way, like all the things that I was like, This is what's gonna happen. And they're just, you know, like, one again, one year ago out the other but then when they start telling me back what I said, and they're just like, they came up with it, I'm just like, well, that's fine, yeah, just for you, you do. Yeah, that's exactly that's good. So, yeah, it's a good opportunity. And I'm always so excited to see how students, what they come out with, and what kind of thing, what, how they how their own sort of opinions of themselves, and what they can do, their own knowledge of what, what's what's possible, how it expands. So that's exciting.
Jessie Jia 07:40
This sounds amazing. Yeah. Are you teaching, like, any other classes at Cornell? And kind of like, how is teaching at Cornell like?
Kristen Warner 07:47
Oh, yeah. So I'm teaching this semester an intro to storytelling class which has like 40 some students in it, which is pretty big for Cornell, for Cornell. And then I'm teaching a black cult media class, which only has two students, which I'm just befuddled by. I'm like, Why don't y'all want to take this class? What's the title of the class, black cult media? Oh, interesting. Yeah. We're looking at cult films and like, you know, the African American point of view. But it should be fun. I look forward to it. What is it like teaching students here at Cornell. I mean, it's similar to anywhere I've been in the industry teaching for starting 2003 so like 22 years. So it's been like more than half my life at this point. And I enjoy teaching. I enjoy, like, the kickback, immediate of sort of jumping in front of a class and doing my dog and pony show, because my my at myself in front of a classroom and myself like regular is so very different. There is, like my alter ego, my Sasha Fierce shows up and she's, you know, she's a fun, fun gal. So I enjoy so that part I always enjoy. And so wherever I am, that's cool. The thing that I think I appreciate about Cornell students versus other students, and a lot of times like students are students, generally speaking, but the thing that I think I enjoy the most is that Cornell students, did y'all read the syllabus? Like y'all will read it. Y'all will be have it ready to like it is. There are no questions about I very rarely have questions where I have to go. Well, did you read the syllabus? I have not yet had to do that. And so it's very like, Hmm, that's nice. That's pleasant. Like, y'all are ready to go. And so, I mean, that's pleasant. I enjoy that part. Yeah,
Jessie Jia 09:44
yeah, that sounds great. A couple of my friends also went to Sundance with you.
Kristen Warner 09:49
Oh yes, yes. She is. She is so funny because she is so talented, like she we did an Instagram takeover. She came to Sundance and. And she did an Instagram take every every the way I every student who went on the trip, they were sorted out into like where, into their hotel rooms like they each day they had to do Instagram takeover on the PMA Cornell page. And the day that Dahyun Ryu did hers. She came out the gate with, like, this comic book style, like pictures and all of these, like, you know, captions and things and just her humor and her just, she's, she's, like, a visual genius. And so I was so impressed with it and but she's so sort of, like, humble about it, like, Oh, I didn't know what to do. And it's like, Girl, you're so good. You're so good. Like, I immediately was like, What can I get you to do? I need you to I need to figure out how to put you in things so that you can have more stuff to pull your bill. No, she's fantastic. Yeah, definitely.
Jessie Jia 10:57
I--on the game that I showed Chris. She's actually one of the artists that drew all the images, and she's just amazing at drawing and the arts. Kristen Warner 11:06 Amazing, she walked around every day. I saw her leave the hotel to go, you know, onto Main Street. She had her camera with her ready to go. And I was like, my god, like everybody else was just like, I don't know what to do. She was just out meeting who she could meet taking, I mean, she's so good. It was, I was just, I'm just so impressed. I'm so impressed with her.
Chris Christensen 11:27
I'm curious, Kristen, what do you learn? Or what is your takeaway by seeing what the students take away from experiences like this?
Kristen Warner 11:35
You know? I mean, I think at its base level every year that I think, should we do this trip again? Like, I don't know, it's so much work. It's so much sort of like grinding to try and get it, and I have to turn into a salesperson for a little while, and come on, let's do this trip. And every year it's like, do I really want to do it? Is it really worth it to put this much time and energy into it and and try and figure out how to make all these things happen at the base level, seeing that it does, that they're the result is still, you know unequivocally that they that they learn something, that they build confidence, that they build Some self assurance, and those things. It makes it like, whenever I get ready to question, Should I do it again? Or whenever I get ready, like, I'm just, I quit. I'm, like, somebody else can do it. It takes me back. Okay, no, it's worth it. It's worth it. Like, they're, they're doing, they're learning it. Look, they're picking it up. Look, they're going and, like, you know, like, By day three, they're going to be ready to go, and they're going to leave you, and they're not going to have any questions for you anymore, and they're not going to like, you know, you know, you know, dog pile, the Group Me to find information. They're going to know how to do it, and inevitably, they do. So at the core level, it's that it works like doing these travel courses and letting them trial by fire, and with a short amount of time, giving them just enough time to kind of figure it out, see what they can do, pick themselves up, if they if they mess up, and keep going. That it works when with with this other stuff, I think it's mostly that I've I enjoy seeing I enjoy learning who they are. Like every trip I learn, you know, students kind of show you what they want you to see, and they are kind of surprised, like they, they, but they sometimes can surprise themselves. I, you know, like she's just really humble, and so I taught her in a couple of classes. And, you know, she's always been very sweet, but just kind of very disarming. So, you know, really, I didn't quite know where how she would fit, but I was like, you know, she seems interested in this, let's go coming out of the trip and seeing how she created this beautiful, like, Day of images and visuals and things. Now it's like, okay, there's this thing that you can do. Well, let's plug you in into all these other capacities, because you now have shown, like, this is a thing you're really good at. So why don't we plug you into the to Aster, the film festival? Why don't we plug you into these different things, and, you know, help you shape you know what things you could do next. It's that kind of thing, like when they they surprise themselves, and then, and I, when I see it, I'm like, Okay, let's figure out how to harness this. So I there. There are those moments, there are those things that are just very that I'm I'm grateful for that, when they click with each other when they gel together. Those are things that I couldn't that are very organic. And if it didn't work, it wouldn't work, but they find who the leaders are, and everybody kind of finds their role in the hierarchy. It's a very interesting thing. Nice, yeah, yeah.
Jessie Jia 14:57
Yeah, that sounds amazing. Personally, of the I'm a big fan of, like, going to film festivals and, like, really watching the films and seeing the candidates too. So I'm just wondering, it seems like you travel a fair amount to, like the different film festivals. So where have you been, and how was the experience like?
Kristen Warner 15:15
Oh, yeah. So Sundance, this was my 20th anniversary of my very first Sundance. I haven't been 20 times, but I've been closer, maybe like 13,14, in the 20 years. So that's that was my very first film festival back in 2005. Where have I been since then? I've done Telluride Film Festival twice. I've done Cannes Film Festival three times, and I've done which one else did I do? Let's see other big ones, New York Film Festival. I just went for the first time last fall, and hopefully I was talking the Sundance students. They were all like, where are we going next time? So I was like, well, maybe we could put together a little short trip to do New York Film Festival next fall and see how that goes. And then I've done some regional festivals. My favorite one is Indie Memphis festival in Memphis, Tennessee. It's a beautiful festival. It is really about, you know, the region, the southern region, and Southern filmmaking, but it also is very much about really thinking about diversity and and, like the different kinds of filmmakers and the different, you know, kinds of stories that they tell. So I'm excited about all those. So I've done the really, really big, big, big ones. I've done some smaller ones. And I mean, I just, I really enjoy the festival experience, like there's something about kind of getting in and learning how things work. I'm always a researcher at core, so it never really the film part is there, but she's far less interested. Now, once you go to a couple film festivals for a few years, you can get easily cynical. So the researcher part of me is there to kind of balance it out. And so I go in and I just start studying how people what the mannerisms are, and how people behave. And, you know, Telluride is very much cult liked, like, they like to hug you and stuff, and that's weird. Welcome to film. And like, don't hug, don't touch me. I don't touch I didn't ask for all this like, but it's also like, because it's so small, they feel like that's okay, versus Cannes, which is like, glamor and, you know, yachts and red carpets and protocol and, like, all these things, that is also different. But it's also weird when you know that you're just a regular person walking up a red carpet. And there are these people who are just visitors, people who in their regular clothes, looking at you and taking your picture like they think you're somebody. It is the most like dissonant, like, the way that my body's like, I am not there, like, there's that, and then there's sort of, like, all the things in between. You know, Sundance is just a Sundance is fun and accessible. It has exclusive things. But, I mean, I think it for students in particular, I think it's really good, because they can kind of see a little bit of everything. It's not too bougie, it's not too regular, it's not really culty like so they can kind of move around and kind of see what they want to see, yeah, but it's fun. So I try to kind of get around to as many as I can. Yeah, I actually just applied to Cannes Two days ago. Their application just started. Oh, yeah, for the three days. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. And that is, like a thing that Cannes didn't do prior to pre COVID. And so they're one of the things I'm trying to work on going this year to try and figure out how to do a study course for Cannes, because now they have those kinds of things, like three days in Cannes and all those other things. There's also other kind of passes you can get to be able to kind of expand your time there, but yeah, now that they have those things because they see that students and young people are interested in going and they don't want y'all with like, cardboard signs and your evening gowns at eight o'clock in the morning asking for tickets like that is no longer cute. I'm glad that they figured out that there's actually revenue streaming, like, there's a there's a profit, a profit motive that they can, uh, capitalize on. Because it was just ridiculous for a while.
Jessie Jia 19:29
Yeah, that's amazing. I'm really excited for like, being able to actually go, Yeah, I also went to, like, the New York Film Festival last year. So, yeah, what did you think? Yeah, I went to The Brutalist, which was,
Kristen Warner 19:40
I was in there!
Jessie Jia 19:42
It's a funny story. I actually, I didn't buy, like, the VIP ticket holder, so I ran out, was able to get ticket, but I went on Red Note, which is on, like, because I'm Chinese, so I been on Red Note. It's like a Chinese platform maybe. And then I randomly can't even cross this post of this guy, just randomly giving out tickets. I was, like, very suspicious at first, because he had, like, no posts and no information. And then I met up with him, like, at the festival, and then he actually just gave me the ticket for free.
Kristen Warner 20:13
Oh, that's really nice. That's really very nice. No, I like that, and I know I it's there were some students who were at Sundance and who had gotten tickets before their ticket package had kicked in. They had found some tickets on Reddit, and they were like, and it wasn't a scam. And I was like, That's good girl, because I, I don't know. Like, I don't know. So that's, that's really good I, too was, I was in the Brutalist screening. It was brutal. It was long, yeah, and those seats are not comfortable for three hour and 15 minutes screening, yeah, no, that's exciting. The Cannes, the Cannes thing is, is, is great. And I, I am very much a fan, very supportive of of of you going, I think it's a great opportunity. Lots of lots of things to see. But the one thing that I always try to I've also been to Toronto, my brain always forgets that I've done that one the one thing that I would stress, and the one thing that I often try to stress to students at Sundance, the movies are great. Most of the movies you will see come through. They will mostly come through distribution at some point, right? Like they are. You know, this is the film trends of 2025 this is what European art cinema is going to look like in 2025 that is typically what Cannes is largely elevated. But all these movies, or the majority of them, will make it in. They will have distribution, and they will show up in some capacity, be it at New York Film Festival, which is the curation Festival that takes all the festival films from all of the A levels and sort of puts it in their programming or on streaming or in theaters or what have you, if you can do the industry part, depending on what your interest is like. So I don't want to assume, but if you are thinking of any career in film and television or creative industries, if you can, if, with that three day pass, you get access to the market, which I don't know if it does or not. I don't know if it allows you to get into marche if your accreditation allows you a marche badge. That is equally, if not more important. That is the thing that I try to stress to students like the movies are great. It is great to be the first person to ever have seen The Great Gatsby or Top Gun Maverick or, you know, whatever thing is opening in Cannes that weekend. But it is equally as important to understand how those the business that subsidizes those movies, which is in the building right next to the Lumiere, it is those three levels where those movie producers and financiers are pre selling and pitching and buying and distributing all that stuff, like all those movies, and then movies that are not at all going to be in competition at all. It is equally as important, if not more important, to understand what is happening over there, because that's where the business is. That's where the decisions are being made. That's what is shaping what movies you actually see play in the movie theaters or come to Amazon or Netflix or wherever, and I, and those are the people who, if you want to think about what your careers could be, those are the people who were over there doing that stuff. So it's like to go to Cannes to see the movies. That's important. That's valuable. I would I go see whatever you can get your hands on. Go, go, go, and see the other side of it too, because that's the part one thing subsidizes the other. And to not understand that ecosystem, to not understand who all those people are, who all those players are, and where your part could be, if that is something you're interested in, like that is such a disservice, like you're over there trying to do stuff, trying to get into stuff, but also try and and learn who these people are. Because, again, so those people don't go to they're not interested in the Grand Ballroom screenings. They're not interested in the movies that actually are in competition. They have no interest in that. They don't actually they the my I play. There's this movie called Seduced and Abandoned, and it's essentially about Cannes Film Festival. I show it to students. And there's this one part where there's this guy who is a producer in the who's in the market the Marche and Larenz and and he pretty much is like, I the only movie. People who watch those movies in the ballroom are, like, the parents, you know, cousins and, you know, like, those are people who see that. Those aren't the movies that I'm interested in making. And it's such a Why would you say such a thing? But there is, but that's where he understood that that's the. Money isn't over there, the money is over here. And so if that's the case, to whatever degree that's useful or not, still going and seeing what that is going and walking through there and seeing all the posters and the PR, and you know, these people who are just busting but every single day while the festival is happening, trying to get things done and trying to get deals made. That part is such is so much, it's so important, I think, to the experience. So when you go, that would be the thing like, try, if you can get in the comment, if it comes with an accreditation that allows you into the market, go, if your pre sale screenings, you can go into where you can see what they're actually selling, because they're not selling those movies that are premiering. But if they are, if they're if you can get into those like little screening rooms and see like, the little movies that they're trying to get distribution for, like, do that.
Jessie Jia 25:53
Wow, that's new to learn. I don't think any like us browsing for like the internet searching for like advices for three day users. I don't think none of that ever came up in those websites.
Kristen Warner 26:04
Yeah, because I think everybody, I think the thing is to try, it's, it's all about input, right? It's all literally, like, what thing can I see? What thing can I see? And I think, yes, that is important, because that is what a film festival is, largely, but Cannes like Sundance, like Toronto is so like Berlinale is so much bigger than the festival part, like the festival gets subsidized by the marketplace. So understanding, I mean, if you are just the film, film goer, and you don't have an interest in the industry or working in industry, then that is fine. If you're, you know, movie reviewer, and that's all that you want to do, although I would say that that limits your perspective, like the context, I think, is equally as important as the film itself. That could be a justification. But it seems to me that if you are at all interested in understanding like, there's, there's always these complaints about, why isn't this being made, or why isn't that being made? Why aren't we making more of this? Why aren't we making more of that? You can see what literally is being like pitched. You can see what kind what things are being sold in these markets. And so that gives you as much of a sense of what the trends are, of what people were willing to buy or what people are willing to invest in, and who are the investors, and who are these hedge fund financiers and private equity people like understanding that is so important to understanding what actually shows up in your movie theaters and then on your streaming platforms and stuff. And so that is, I think, the thing that people don't take into account. They like, Oh, I'm going to film festival. I'm going to watch films. But that is it. I feel like it's, it's like, bread and, you know, bread and circuses, like, it feels very much like a distraction from the actual thing that's happening. It feels like more and more of what's happening in film festivals is like the films are a cloak for the business that's happening, and that if the business doesn't happen, then the film festival can't happen. So you have to be watching both kind of pull focus a little bit and see both things at the same time in order to get the at least a fuller picture. So no, they probably wouldn't, because people don't think about the marketplace. It's back there in the corner doing what it does, and we're like, Oh, but I got to see the see what. I got to see the Great Gatsby, and I got to see the record. And it's, let me not undersell this. If you get up there on those steps and you have to run quickly and take your little selfie, because the protocol people are telling you you have to go inside. You're gonna like, it's a moment. It's a beautiful moment. You should have it. Don't undervalue that. I don't want to understand that was not important. I mean, it is. It's fantastic. Just don't trip. That's the worst. That's the worst, because then you're like, I'm out here on this little carpet, and nobody's gonna come help me that. But so don't undersell that, but recognize at the same time that that is occurring, that there's all these other things happening right around this, this one activity, and that there are things like look in the corners and the margins of things, and kind of notice that, I think is just important, particularly in this, in this time period, to kind of to see the full picture of all the things that's happening. How does this festival get produced? Who are the people involved in that, and how does that inform the decisions that the festival makes? You know about what it wants to be and all that stuff. So,
Jessie Jia 29:44
Yeah, I'll look into it.
Chris Christensen 29:46
When are you going?
Kristen Warner 29:48
You gonna try and do May
Jessie Jia 29:49
yeah, yeah. May I applied for like, the last three days.
Kristen Warner 29:53
Oh, so you did the last week, because I know they used to, I they you get the choice of first three days or last three days. Yeah?
Jessie Jia 29:59
Yeah, they have three slots this year. It's like, first three, middle three, and then last three. Yeah. I thought closing would give me, like, a kind of, like, all the movies would like, play again,
Kristen Warner 30:10
yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a logic to that, for sure. I mean, the first three, you're competing with so many other folks, right? Like, the first three days, when the first, like, the first weekend, is the big premiers, and that the website will give you a stroke. It is, it is very French. It's very French, but it's but, yeah, you are in competition, trying to constantly like, Can I get a ticket to this? Can I get one? Let me keep pressing this button until it lets me in the last three Yeah, by that point, fewer people are there. Industry has mostly left by that point, so the access should be better, so the odds are better that you'll get to see stuff.
Chris Christensen 30:53
Yeah, I love the fact that this is taking place in this conversation, taking place in this podcast for both of you, because it's essentially going to change your whole experience. Yeah,
Kristen Warner 31:02
and I may very well be there. So, you know, that's one, yeah, let's, let's keep in touch, because I will be out. I don't know if I'll be there the full 10 days, but I'll be there at least seven of the 10.
Jessie Jia 31:15
Wow. Yeah, I definitely plan on because my exam have a game thing, game showcase at like, last day, so I couldn't make the first three. Okay? I finally just flying straight over right after my exams and stuff.
Kristen Warner 31:28
Do you have a place to stay? Do you know what you're gonna do?
Jessie Jia 31:31
Not yet.
Kristen Warner 31:31
Okay, we can talk. Yeah, we can talk. Now, that's very exciting. And it's a yeah, it's a great opportunity. Thank you for reminding me, because I know it opens in February, but I was just like, oh, do sign up for the pass. I'll do it. No, that. I need to get on that and do that this weekend.
Jessie Jia 31:50
Yeah it was open two days ago. I was like, waiting for this moment to come, because I heard, like, for three days, yeah, the earlier you applied, the better chance to get in. So yeah, I was like, counting down this thing.
Kristen Warner 32:01
Yes it is--It is definitely, it is definitely an experience. It is definitely an experience. But, and again, I'm just really glad that they have opened that up to that they've seen that there is actually a market for people or students, young people, because I don't know if they did differentiate between you have to have a student ID or if you have to be a certain age. Festivals are weird about that, but I'm just glad that they do that now.
Jessie Jia 32:23
Yeah, definitely super excited. Nice.
Chris Christensen 32:27
I'm curious, Kristen, what are your personal tastes in film? Is there a particular genre you're drawn to, or genres?
Kristen Warner 32:35
You know, if you ask my mom, she says, I hate everything. She's very much like Kristen doesn't like anything everything is bad. Like, she likes weird, quirky stuff. I don't know if I like weird, quirky stuff. I don't know it until I see it. Like I, I tend to if, like in everyday stuff, I tend to be I love a good melodrama. Like I like good like she's upset of tears, I kind of, I can generally say I like a good melodrama,
Chris Christensen 33:09
Any particular titles?
Kristen Warner 33:14
like Imitation of Life (1959), Like Terms of Endearment, like Steel Magnolias, like those are, like, the quick beaches, like the ones that I'm just like, we're just gonna cry today. That's fine. Just sit up and sob. Like those, I can easily, kind of, like, gear my mind toward but I think I'm more even though I don't really subscribe to the auteur theory. I tend to trust certain filmmakers over others, like, I tend to know like, there are certain experiences I can trust this person to take me on a journey for so like Sean Baker, whose film Anora, premiered at Cannes in 2024 that's up for all these Oscars, Sean Baker is the kind of filmmaker who I can trust, like whatever experience he wants to take me on, I trust that I'll enjoy it. So Tangerine, Florida Project, and now Red Rocket. And now this one, it's like, I mean, I did not expect to laugh as hard as I did Anora. I think I just, I saw it at New York Film Festival, and it was just, I mean, the whole theater, we all just cracked up. I mean, it was, I very rarely, like, been in the theater at a film festival where we all laugh at the same time. And it's not like, this is awkward. No, we just laughed. So I tend to enjoy that kind of thing. My mother, she was like, I mean, it was fine, but like, for her, that's not it. She likes more, like solid, grounded, big Hollywood tent pole thing. She's a Marvel Girl, so, and I'm the antithesis, antithesis of that. So that'll give you a sense of it. But like Sean Baker, like Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread, like. Like, that is the kind of like, Punch Drunk Love. Like I love, and I will screen that movie every time I get the chance in my classes, I will have students watch Punch Drunk Love, because I'm like, if you don't know who Adam Sandler is, because I have now, because the generations have now complete I don't know, but it doesn't matter, because you are going to watch this movie and you're going to see the beauty of this film. Like, we're just, let's just get into it that, like, I trust him and like, that's the kind of that's the kind of thing. So it may very well be quirky, but I just didn't like, there are certain people who I'm, like, they get me, like, I don't have to say what I want, but they kind of get it. And so I can just kind of get into and just relax. I don't have to be like, Oh, I don't know what this is. Don't know what this is gonna do. I hate that feeling. So
Chris Christensen 35:46
I love hearing that you're sitting with a bunch of people at these film festivals, and you have the experience together. I guess that's one of the things I really miss about film. Is a lot of times I go to see something at Regal and there's, you know, hundreds of seats, and there might be five other people there, and that that group consciousness doesn't seem to exist the way it once did. So it's nice to know that there are still these experiences that you can have.
Kristen Warner 36:09
Yeah, yeah. It's, I think that's the one thing, one of the many things about film festivals, I think I didn't that. I think many of us took for granted pre-COVID, that that watching a film together and putting, let me put a little yield sign here, Film Festival audiences are not reliable audiences in any particular way. If you're like as a test, we are not a good audience, because Film Festival audiences are just so glad to be there. We're just so happy that we're all here together, and we all love film, and everybody's just got their own opinions, and they all have you seen it, so we're not a reliable audience, because everything we will see we will, like, everything will be like, standing ovations and claps and like, applause and like, yeah, it has to be really terrible for us to, like, for the boo hiss of Cannes or or whatever. Like, it's got to be something really difficult or bad for us to sort of, to turn on it. So we are unreliable in the sense that, if that, if the movie that we watched at the film festival, if we were to watch it six months later at Regal we might very well be like, what was that, what did I what what was in the room like, was there, like, some sort of, like, you know, like, what kind of drug, what kind of pheromone was in there? Because I'm this is not good, you will. We are not reliable. That said there was this moment I remember watching when Sundance went virtual in 2021 and I remember sitting in my living room watching a movie called Fresh with Sebastian Stan. And it was like, 11 o'clock at night, and I'm sitting there by myself on my couch watching this movie. And on one hand, I was like, Well, this is great. Like, I get to watch this movie on my TV, this film festival movie on my television, where I'm sitting on the couch with my blanket on the guy like, I can take, I can pause and go get snacks. Like, I don't have to, like, be sitting next to somebody taking off my coat and, like, it's beautiful. On the other hand, I would have paid money to be in the space with these other people to see how they would react to these different moments. That part I realized, Oh, this is why we do this. Because I couldn't, like, it's hard to rely on your own individual response, as opposed to sort of seeing what you as a group would do that part. I think I immediately was like, Oh, I this is why we need to do this. This is why we need to bring back movie this is why the movie theater needs to exist, and why we need to keep this going, because to not have it, you know, like real only, or if you only have a group of five people in the room with you, it's not the same as, you know, this big audience that can help you kind of see if y'all are all on the same, if the group think is happening or not. That part I, I missed, and so that, that is the one thing about being in the festival, like you can sit or in a movie theater with people in a full theater, and just, y'all all can take it in if the energy is bad, like, we all kind of lean in it to it together, if it's good, same. And so I just that part, that part, I I am grateful for that part I do enjoy wonderful. Yeah, yeah. So it's a bummer, yeah, it's like, going to a movie and there's two people in there, and it's just, who am I supposed to complain with? It does work. Well, though, if you are in a movie and it's a terrible movie, and you want to yell and scream at the screen, that is true. I did that recently, and that was helpful. It was very cathartic. There was no one in the theater with me, so I was just like, this is horrible. How dare he was.
Chris Christensen 38:28
Do I dare ask which film is what?
Kristen Warner 39:46
Baby Girl.
Chris Christensen 39:46
Oh, I haven't seen that yet.
Kristen Warner 39:48
Don't. Don't.
Chris Christensen 39:48
Don't! Okay, then.
Jessie Jia 39:49
I was trash about to watch it, but guess not. Let me go. Just yell at the screen.
Kristen Warner 40:01
I felt like it was, I felt like I felt like it was. It did a disservice to women. I feel like it just, I felt like it, I feel like it thought women were a little stupid, and so I was like, Oh, this isn't, this isn't what I would have, I would have done. But okay, everybody gets to try, everybody gets to try.
Chris Christensen 40:27
Give me just a moment. I don't know if you're hearing that, hearing some bleed through, coming through from the film forum. And I want to get that cleared out.
Jessie Jia 40:33
Um, I'm really interested in, like, the industry part you mentioned was that, um, like, is it more like a carnival, like a photo, like a booth around or like parties,
Kristen Warner 40:43
So the Marche, so the entire space, where the where the main theater, where the main part of the festival happens, is what they call the casino and off the crescent, and so, like, when you walk in to the casino, like, there's, like, all these different levels. One is where, like, they do a lot of like, most of the space in one part is just movie theater, like, where the movies are screened. But then if you go to the like, there's a roundabout section where you can go into the other side, and that is all marketplace that's literally, that's called the Marche, and it's three huge levels of, like, partitions. And are we back? Or, yeah, you
Chris Christensen 41:32
could just keep on recording.
Kristen Warner 41:34
Okay, no,
Chris Christensen 41:36
Sure. Why not?
Kristen Warner 41:37
You can, like, there's this, like, three big levels, and so with your account, with your accreditation, like your badge is everything. Your badge tells them what you can get into and which can't. You can go to the go in and just sort of wander around like you don't necessarily. You don't have to talk to anybody if you don't want, but like you can see all the different production companies, all the different, you know, all the different sort of people who are there, like the press, the journalists, uh, acquisitions folks, distribution folks, you know, like all those folks are there, and everybody's working and taking meetings and things and so, you know, if they're not busy, and there's somebody you may be interested in, You may see a name that you have a curiosity about, look them up, you know, do a quick Google search, and then go back and, you know, if they're not busy and they're, you know, like, there's not, like, running around, go up and introduce yourself and, like, ask them about what they're here and what things they you know, what things they're looking for, what kinds of trend like, go in there and just sort of be curious. And again, as I tell students all the time, I promise nothing like I can guarantee you no jobs. That is not how this works. This is all relationship networking systems and apprenticeship systems. So there isn't any sort of like job here, but it but I do think it's helpful to just be able to go up and talk to people, and again, if they're not busy, if they're not sort of like in their minds, in other places, in 15 different places. I'm a student, and I'm interested in doing this, you know, and so, you know, what, what kinds of pathways would you advise, or what things would you suggest, or what things would you see, you know, at the festival, or like, those kind of questions and sort of build rapport. Those are like that. There's so many people there, so from so many places. It's just, it's an it is, once you It is unbelievable when, when you walk in there and they're just like, it is as if there is no festival happening. They don't recognize that there's a festival going on. Like, these are the people who will like, you know, get tickets to the things and be like, I can't go. I got a meeting. I got to this, I got to that. So those are the why the tickets then sort of reappear, and the on the website, or whatever. So there's just, there's just always something. Also, if you can get on a boat, go on a yacht, like, go to a yacht party, go to one. But here's the proviso, if you, you know, like, there are, there are bigger. Like, I had no idea about this until I went to Cannes, like, the bigger the yacht, like, the farther it has to park into, like, the ocean. These are things that make sense, but I didn't know, I know about a yacht. So, like, like, you know, so, like, the Microsoft guy was, or whatever it is, like he had a he has a huge yacht, and he often is that Cannes, and his boat is so big that he it can't be, like, you know, docked in, like the regular little port or whatever. So he has to, like, set whatever, whatever the phrase is, park in, like, the middle of the ocean. So in order to get to his yacht, you have to, like, take a helicopter or a submarine. Chris Christensen 44:48 That's what I've heard, submarine, submarine. You have not written in a submarine, submarine. Kristen Warner 44:52 I have not no which is the point of this story. If you have to take a helicopter, a boat or a submarine to get. There to that party, you have to also think about how you're going to get back right, like so don't go if you don't have a ride back. If you have to think about, how am I going to get out of this? Don't go. Because these businesses, these these folks, are here for fun and all kinds of ways, and sometimes they're not necessarily thinking about safety as their as part of their fun. And so that is my cautionary tale. If there's a somebody's offering you, like, Hey, you want to get on this yacht, there's free food if you can get off the yacht. If, like, it's like, the steps are right there, the sidewalk is right there. Hey, Go enjoy yourself. But just be mindful that you have to get back and that everybody's not checking to see how you get back. Cannes is a fun it is a playground for the rich. It is a playground for those who have means and materials and resources in all different kinds of ways, and so for young people, like my big suggestion, my big advice is like, be you your best your best asset to these folks is your youth that can be exploited. So just be mindful about that. Like every place isn't a place you want to necessarily be. Meet people in the daytime, in the marche, like, it's just, it's that. It's just, it becomes very easy to sort of get played by folks who are here on their little Safari journeys. They're on vacation, and they're going to do a little bit of work, and will play. And so things can get real, real, real, real, real, real Safari like, so just be mindful this, that you're not the they're not the predator. You're oftentimes to prey, not to be a downer. But yeah, that's also like, I gotta sort of like, for the fun and the beauty and the style and the glamor and the glitz and all these things they can easily also turn into some other stuff. So just, you know,
Chris Christensen 46:57
I'm glad you're being really upfront and honest about it, because those are the kind of things that sometimes don't get talked about. It's you've got the personal experience. You've been there enough.
Kristen Warner 47:05
I have seen a lot of like, really, like, I've gone on, done Cannes with young people. And it's like, Oh, I get to dress up and wear these beautiful clothes, and people tell me, I'm so beautiful, and they want to take me out here, and they want me to go here, and they want me to do this. And it's like, how will you get back? Who is your buddy system? What is Who are these people? What do they want with you? What have they offered you? Like that's the just, you know, these folks are here on vacation, and I just try to stress that their play is not necessarily regular people's play. So if you are not accustomed to dealing with these people, like arm's length sort of reactions, Keep it keep it cute. Because they can smell desperation and thirst. They can spell like the hunger of youth and wanting an ambition. And they know how to not to say that, not to put to put this in the conversation of all, but some are very aware of the the hunger for wanting to do something, and can figure out how to exploit that. So just, you know, it's a general thing. Just look around and take, take note of who, who is around you. So this is not just directed to you, Jessie, but in general, if you're going to Cannes and you're under the age of 30, you know, just, you know, these folks are not all here to help you, and that's the thing. Like everybody's not. Everybody's there for their own for a host of reasons, and they are there oftentimes for their own pleasure and their own professional development, so they can't also think about you, so you have to think about yourself. Put yourself first. Jessie Jia 48:48 Yeah, it's like the dark side. Kristen Warner 48:51 Yeah, I mean that. Yes, very much so, very much so. The dark side, and it's not a it certainly feels a lot different than it did when I first started going a decade ago. But I think there, there's a lot of in even in the mildest ways, not even sort of like this is a super scary situation, but just in the mildest ways that people can take you for a ride, because you don't know what you don't know, right? You don't know what a producer is. If I'm a producer, what does you produce? Let me look at your IMDB. If there is nothing there, you are probably not a producer, right? If you made something and the last time you made something was in 1985 and now you're just kind of coasting on that, like, that's great, but you're probably still not a producer. Like, just do your research so that you can know who you're dealing with and who you're interacting with, and they're not again, taking advantage of your naivete or your goodwill and good faith to be able to just kind of, you know, have. Have somebody who have a hanger on that makes them feel better about themselves, even in the mildest ways, it's just just annoying,
Jessie Jia 50:08
Yeah, um, is there particularly any interesting story can be, like, lighter, like funny stories?
Kristen Warner 50:14
Yeah? Oh, a tons. Uh, tons. Listen like I do my little advisory, simply because it's just as a, as a, as a woman, as a black woman, it just feels important to be able to do that. And this is not just to women. Also. I should just say anybody youth is youth. Lighter: so I, I am the person who runs into, like, runs into random celebrities. Like, that's my, my, my magic trick, like, I'll be, I was at a party and Cannes and it was on a was on a boat, and I was, like, it was, like, a, it was, let's see. That was the year that Lee Daniels was there. Lee Daniels was there with a movie called The Paper Boy, which I love, but if, but people will not love that movie. And that tells you about my taste that just that gives you a good sense of, like, if you watch Paper Boy and you're like, Kristen, like this? I did. I loved it! Um, but like, if you want to see Nicole Kidman play the version of what she should have done in Baby Girl, Paper Boy. But I was sitting at this party, and it was Lee Daniels was the guest DJ at this party this night, and I didn't think anything about it. I was just, like, on the dance floor, you know, like, you know, like, with my little friends, we're just all out there, just like, Okay, this is fun, ish. And then I look up in front of me. I'm like, my I don't know where my eyes were before, but I look up in front of me, and there is Lee Daniels in front of me in like, disco, you know, Saturday Night Fever style, hand finger pointed out, and he's got on, like, track pants and like, shower shoes. And I was like, oh god. That's Lee Daniels, standing in front of me, and he was like, let's dance. So I was like, okay, Lee Daniels, let's, let's dance in your shower shoes and your like, track pants. Okay, let's, let's, let's do that. Um, yeah, that was that was fun. And let's see who else I think that same? No, the year after I was okay, Robin Thicke Blurred Lines had come out. Cannes is very particular. Like the music that is, like, whatever is going to be the big song of the summer plays repeatedly at Cannes. So the year before, it was Get Lucky, the Daft Punk that that following year, it was Blurred Lines. Blurred Lines. Every time you turn around, Everybody get up, and it was just like, oh, god, okay, here we go. Here's the song playing again, again and again. And Robin Thicke was there for he did a little show, a little Cannes party show thing. And we had somehow, oh, this is, this is a fun little thing. My friend group, we were all just kind of walking along the croisette. The croisette is sort of the main road in front of Cannes, like the where the theater plays all the premieres, is along the croisette. And the further you go in one direction is where, like the big expensive hotels are, where all the celebrities are. The farthest end is like what they call the Hotel de cop. But then there's like these others, and I can't remember what the name of the one we made it to was, but we were just walking. I don't remember why we were walking, but we were walking. I think we came out of a theater, came out of a movie or a screening or something. We were just wandering along. And sure enough, we ran like, somehow we, we, we grouped in with, oh Lord. I've lost her name, Jane, Lord. What is her name? Nine to Five, not Lily Tomlin, but Jane Fonda, oh, Lord, what happened? It wasn't coming to me. I was like, what happened? Oh, god, my blanked out. Uh oh, the age thing is happening. No, Jane Fonda was there, and she was with her entourage. So we sort of filed in unknowingly with Jane Fonda, and like, she's got this red dress on, and it's just this crowd of people. And then we just sort of like, let's just go with Jane. So we were like, where's Jane going? We walked with Jane. And just kind of were like, oh my god, we're walking with Jane Fonda. Okay, so we walk Jane goes into this hotel, and we're like, we're with Jane Fonda. So everybody just grouped up real tight and walked in to the hotel with Jane Fonda, and then at some point, Jane Fonda vanishes. But it doesn't matter, because we're in this hotel unchecked because of Jane Fonda, and we were just sitting there just kind of like, well, what are we going to do now? And there's, like, to my left, I look and there's Robin Thicke, and like, walking through. I was going up the stairs, and, you know, he gives you this kind of come hither look. And we were all just like, should we go with Robin Thicke? We didn't. We didn't go with Robin Thicke, but it certainly would have been a really interesting tale and to do that. So those are the things like, Yeah, that happens that. Those are the random things that happened. I was on a Sundance a few years ago. I was waiting on a shuttle bus to take me to another theater, and I just come out of a screening. And who was there with me, but Ryan Coogler, who walked out of the screening too. So we spent like 20 minutes waiting on the bus, talking about his favorite movies. And, like, those are the kinds of things that are just kind of fun where you're just like, this dude who made, like, the Black Panther and Creed and all these things, is talking to me about how he loved the Kings Speech. And, you know, I'm like, though, really, and I could be judgey, and he was just like, that's fine. And, I mean, that's a beautiful thing. Like, those are the fun things to be able to do. Trying to think of one other one that I tell students often. I the hotel that we stay at is was very infamous for having like celebrities there. I'd walked in to go check in one year, and I walked right into Jeff Goldblum, like he walked. He was the door slides open. I'm walking with a suitcase, and there's six foot 10, Jeff Goldblum, who we proceeded to sort of quiet, quiet stalk the duration of his stay. We were at, you know, dinner in the restaurant, and he was over there having dinner by himself. And like all of us, were like, quietly taking selfies in front, like, with Jeff Goldblum, without Jeff Goldblum, you know, knowing about it, so those are the kind of fun things that happen a lot.
Chris Christensen 56:47
I feel like I would be missing out on something that we chatted a while back and you wanted me to ask about an interaction you had with John Hamm,
Kristen Warner 56:56
Oh my god, Yes!
Chris Christensen 56:57
which is not necessarily Film Festival related, but I do want to hear this.
Kristen Warner 57:00
Yes, oh, my God. Okay, so I was a Emmy's seat filler, which meant that my job was to sit in the seats when the talent were accepting awards, or when they went to, you know, bathroom breaks, or sit in the concession stand or wherever they went, you know, because they you know that that's their business. And so our job was to keep everything looking full. So I was sitting in the they arranged us when the show, right before the show started, and all the talent started to come in, started to fill, to be loaded in, as they say it. And I was in the front row waiting to be assigned wherever I was supposed to go. And in walks John Hamm, and, at the time, his partner, and he was walking right past me. My foot was out and like, I had my legs like crossed out, like, you know, and like, further out, and he walked past me. He does not give me eye contact. That's fine, but I put my foot out, and I extended it, and I contemplated, contemplated tripping him so that he would, like, fall in my lap, and I would just be like, Oh, Mr. Hamm, I'm so sorry. It was very close. It was very, very close. And I thought about it, and I just retracted my my foot. But I was slick that year, because when Jessica Lange won for I was some I was sitting in Matthew Weiner's seat, the creator of Mad Men. I was sitting in his seat while he went to the concessions and get a hot dog or whatever. And so I'm sitting in his seat on the edge of the row, and Jessica Lange has also seated four seats ahead of me. This is when she won for American Horror Story, four seats ahead of me and also at the edge of the row. And the way that they set up the cameras is that for all the nominees, they put a camera person in front of each one. So whoever wins the camera, the tech director will assign that camera. You know, this is their shot. I don't know. I had a feeling Jessica was gonna win, so I'm on the edge, and I just think, you know, why don't you just tilt your head out just a little bit. Just tilt out just a bit. So when Jessica wins, the camera goes to her, and there's this shot of me just quietly leaning into the frame, knowing I'm going to be on TV. Like, it's, if you so. And I have that moment, I have it for myself, because I'm like, Yeah, I did that. I did this is somewhere on YouTube where we can find it. It is, I will send it to you so you can see, like, it's just this low key, lean, like, I'm just like, hey, just in case she wins, I'm ready. I'm ready to be on camera. And I didn't wait. I was trying to keep it cute. But, yeah, that was fun. That was fun. I also ran. I was running Emmy filling. Seat filling is like, they treat you so poorly, like, like you you're like, if they when the camera's on, if you have, if you're running, like, just fall. Like, just fall. We don't want to see people's bodies everywhere, so you pretty much are just. You know, this to help this hip probably accelerated my age, my pain, my hip pain, or whatever. But I was, like, running in four inch hills, and I slid in front of Bobby Cannavale or somebody. It was just like, just like, it was just a real nice slide. And I was like, my god, this is gonna hurt tomorrow. Yeah, it's always that kind of fun stuff.
Chris Christensen 1:00:24
Kristen, this has been a delightful conversation.
Kristen Warner 1:00:27
Yes but, I don't--have we learned anything? It feels like I was like, I'm just I've been mumbling for a while.
Chris Christensen 1:00:37
Oh my gosh. I think this is wonderful content. Is there anything we didn't ask you today that you would love to chat about.
Kristen Warner 1:00:47
No, no, this was good. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. This was fun.
Chris Christensen 1:00:51
All right. Well, thanks for joining us. Best of luck as we continue into the spring semester. And sooner or later, spring is going to be here and we'll have some warmer temps.
Kristen Warner 1:01:00
Absolutely, we should revisit-
Chris Christensen 1:01:02
yeah, yeah,
Kristen Warner 1:01:03
-when it's spring. Okay,
Chris Christensen 1:01:04
Okay, sounds good. Thanks so much.
Kristen Warner 1:01:06
Thank y'all!
Jessie Jia 1:01:13
Thank you.
