Navigated to Breaking Down a Doc Fest Run: Process, People, and Payoff

Breaking Down a Doc Fest Run: Process, People, and Payoff

January 15
37 mins

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Episode Description

In this episode, Charles Haine sits down with documentary co-directors Geneva Peschka and Anna Andersen to discuss their latest project The Solace of Sisterhood, which recently premiered at Tribeca. The conversation dives deep into the ethics of documentary filmmaking, how they found and built trust with their subjects—the Caramel Curves, a New Orleans-based all-female motorcycle club—and how they navigated a successful festival run. From storytelling intention to set culture, the team shares their collaborative journey in bringing vulnerability, softness, and strength to the screen.

In this episode, No Film School's Charles Haine and guests discuss...

  • How Geneva and Anna met and began their creative partnership

  • Their journey developing The Solace of Sisterhood and pitching it to Fujifilm

  • Building trust and a safe space for documentary subjects

  • How bringing in co-founder True’s daughter, Skye, as a camera operator deepened the film

  • The evolving importance of ethical statements in festival submissions

  • Shifting set culture to prioritize respect, connection, and vulnerability

  • Working with the Fujifilm GFX100 and achieving a cinematic, soft visual tone

  • The emotional highs and logistical challenges of their festival journey, including premiering at Tribeca

Memorable Quotes:

  • "It starts for us on set—how people come together and how we approach one another and hold space for each other."

  • "Documentary inherently asks so much out of our participants... it’s a job you have to do with integrity and with ethics."

  • "You’re changing who’s telling the story... you’re letting them know they are a part of their narrative, as they should be."

  • "Filmmaking can be very lonely... but we are each other's strengths."

Guests:

Resources:

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