Paul Townend is Betway's racing ambassador, and for all new customers, bet 10 pounds and get 40 pounds in free bets, plus build your Cheltenham Potts. Download the Betway app today.

18 plus TZZ Apply, Bet the Responsible Way, Gamblerware.org.

You are listening to the Next Best Picture podcast, and this is Daniel Howitt's interview with the director for Instruments of a Beating Heart, Emma Ryan thank you so much for chatting with me about your film Instruments of a Beating Heart.

I love this movie so much. I think it's incredible.

And I'm just thrilled for your Oscar nomination. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Of course, you're nominated alongside your husband, Eric, who is also nominated for Blackback Diaries, which you edited. Just so much

love going all around. Were you together, you and Eric, when you received the news about the nominations?

Yes, we were. Yes, it's just been a wild time for our family, but very, very happy, you know.

I mean, we've been working on these films for years, and it's just really nice that it's, you know, the nominations, of course, but also the fact that the world cares, you know, about the work.

Absolutely.

Well, let's dive into the film.

I understand that instruments of a beating heart is actually extracted from your feature documentary, the making of a Japanese.

What led to the decision to sort of separate out this story from the larger piece?

It's actually not, we don't call it an extraction. I was in this elementary school for a full

year and I was filming various things and this short came about kind of together with the making of a Japanese, which is kind of an examination of the institution of the system.

And then this short, as you know, instruments of it beating hard kind of follows a singular story about this first grade class, especially this girl Ayame, on their quest to perform a musical piece, Ode to Joy, for the new incoming first grade class, especially this girl Ayame, on their quest to perform a musical piece,

Ode to Joy, for the new incoming first grade class. So I was in the school for 150 days,

filming not every day, but almost every day of the school year. And as soon as this music story

started to happen, you know, with auditions and ultimately you see in

the film, this one girl, a sentence around this one girl, but every day there was someone

crying, happy, sad, and it was just so, it just felt like the climax of their school year.

...