Sundance: Focus on Debut Directors
6 new directors share insights behind their films
Sundance 2026 has begun, kicking off what promises to be an historic and emotional year as the last hurrah in Park City. We’ll be covering it from the ground over the next week, starting by spotlighting the bold new voices making their feature directorial debuts at Sundance.
Below, I’m sharing exclusive insights into the making of:
Barbara Forever directed by Brydie O’Connor
The Disciple directed by Joanna Natasegara
Kikuyu Land co-directed by Andrew H. Brown and Bea Wangondu
TheyDream directed by William D. Caballero
Joybubbles directed by Rachael J. Morrison
This is the perfect moment to become a paid Doc Voices subscriber. You’ll unlock upcoming paywalled editions, including features with Sundance editors, cinematographers and veteran directors, and get full access to our archive of 80+ past newsletters.
I’ll be in Park City for the first half of the festival, with a few extra Pure Nonfiction beanies to give away to subscribers. If you spot me, come say hello!
An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.
My path to becoming a documentary director:
I wrote my thesis on Barbara Hammer’s early filmography in undergraduate, and connected with Barbara through purchasing her DVDs for my research. At the time, I thought I would be a writer or a film critic, but Barbara’s fearless and inventive approach to documenting her body, lovers, and her community inspired me to try making my own films. When Barbara passed in 2019, I reached out to her widow, Florrie Burke, to share how much Barbara impacted me and see if she would be interested in collaborating on a short documentary about Barbara’s legacy through the lens of her and Florrie’s love that lasted 31 years. We began working together on this piece, eventually released in 2022 as Love, Barbara, and I was totally invigorated by the process of discovery involved in the research and editing phases of documentary filmmaking, in particular.
As I continued working on my Barbara Hammer project at large, which has now culminated in Barbara Forever, I made several other documentary shorts that revisit the past as a vehicle for self-discovery and creating lineage, often utilizing personal archival collections. Barbara Forever is my debut feature documentary, and the culmination of my generative work to date.
Why I wanted to tell this story:
Barbara Hammer was one of the first filmmakers to put a lesbian life on screen, at a time when she hadn’t seen herself reflected in cinema before. That dedication to self-invention and creating presence is what initially drew me to her work. Barbara didn’t wait for permission to create, she developed and shared her worldview through experimentation, risk, and persistence.
For me, Barbara’s films function as both historical records, and a path forward into the future. They offer a blueprint for women, queer people, and creatively expansive artists to write our own histories into existence, especially when those histories have been ignored or erased. I was motivated to tell this story not only to honor Barbara’s extraordinary body of work, but to illuminate her way of working – her commitment to curiosity, play, and continual reinvention.
My hope is that encountering Barbara’s films and her process encourages viewers to keep making, keep questioning, and keep trusting their own creative impulses, regardless of age, institutional support, or experience. Barbara’s life and work offer not only a legacy to be preserved and proliferated, but an ongoing invitation to live and create boldly, on one’s own terms.
Barbara Forever premieres on January 24, 5:45pm MST at The Ray Theatre
An outsider fueled by relentless determination works his way into the inner circle of the Wu-Tang Clan, where his ambition and creativity converge in the making of an album poised to ignite global controversy.
My path to becoming a documentary director:
I’ve been working as a documentary producer for quite a long time with some of the world's most talented directors and teams. I have always very much enjoyed the creative end of the job and I think contributed a lot to that side of the work. I felt it was time to set myself a new challenge and so just dove in at the deep end. It’s been a really enjoyable and joyful process working with the most supportive producers in Abigail Anketell-Jones, Lauren Dark and Vanessa Kirby, uber talented DPs in Franklin Dow and Pierre Aïm and an amazing editing team in Chloe Lambourne and Chris Dickens, not to mention our heroic composer, MJ Cole and there are so many other folks as well!
Why I wanted to tell this story:
When I first heard it, I thought the story was just so unbelievably interesting and original, but also moved through worlds and art that I happened to have loved since I was a child. The more I dug, the more I found the layers and depth to the story that resonated with something deeply in me, but first and foremost the story itself really is just an exceptionally fun and boisterous odyssey. I also think the themes of mentorship and fighting for your dreams are things we see the characters live through, and are credos we all need to hang on to as artists.
The Disciple premiered yesterday at Eccles Theatre and will screen next on January 23 at 12pm MST at Megaplex Redstone - 1.
