Ab Film Review & The Last New Wave

On this episode, Andrew chats with American filmmaker Lola Blanc about her new short film Pruning. This creepy flick follows a Fox News adjacent political commentator, played by Madeline Brewer, who finds herself in a moral conflict when a mass shooter cites her as an influence for their actions. Over fifteen minutes, Lola Blanc forces viewers to question the morality of those who spout reactionary and inflammatory comments in the media, all the while trying to distance themselves from the violence that is inspired by their words. In this interview, recorded ahead of Pruning's International Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, Lola talks about creating the main character with Madeleine, where her interest in exploring the fractured mindset that emerges from these kinds of fringe voices comes from, and then around the halfway mark we head into spoiler territory as Lola talks about some of the more fantastical and unsettling elements of Pruning. Aside from being a filmmaker, Lola is also an accomplished musi