Earth Mama with Savanah Leaf and Celine Song (Ep. 423)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Savanah Leaf discusses her new film, Earth Mama, with fellow Director Celine Song in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, Leaf discusses her familial inspiration for the story, working with a lead who isn’t typically an actor, and using cinematography as a method to bring out more from the actors. The film tells the story of Gia, a young pregnant woman with two children in the foster care system, who lives her life on the margins. As she works to make a life for herself and her kids, she fights the system in hopes of reclaiming her family, in this heavy yet hopeful look at young motherhood. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2023/September2023/EarthMama_QnA_0723.aspx

Transcript

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0:00.0	He's not just trying to make a pretty image.
0:03.5	He's really looking at actors, really looking at the scene, really thinking about how do we
0:08.5	observe this reality without forcing an emotion through the scene.
0:14.7	Yeah, I feel like we were talking about like contextual and meaningful cinematography and not
0:19.4	just like pretty pictures too.
0:21.5	Yeah, exactly.
0:22.7	Exactly.
0:23.3	Like how do you let the actors guide us and let the cinematography be about them rather than the other way?
0:31.4	Yeah.
0:31.9	Yeah.
0:36.9	Yeah. Hello, and welcome back to the Directors' Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:55.7	In this episode, a single mother embraces her Bay Area community as she determines the fate of her family in director Savannah Leaf's coming-of-age story, Earth Mama.
1:06.9	The film tells the story of Gia, a young pregnant woman with two children in the foster care system,
1:13.1	who lives her life on the margins. As she works to make a life for herself and her kids,
1:17.9	she fights the system in hopes of reclaiming her family in this heavy yet hopeful look at young
1:23.6	motherhood. Earth Mama is Leif's feature directorial debut.
1:30.3	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater in New York,
1:34.4	Leif spoke with director Celine's song about filming EarthMama.
1:38.9	Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
1:46.9	Hi, everyone. Hi, everyone.
1:48.3	My name is Celine Song,
1:49.8	and the filmmaker of past lives.
	...

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