It Felt Like Love, by first-time feature director Eliza Hittman, follows 14-year-old Lila (a perfectly cast Gina Piersanti) as she pursues an older teenage boy.
There are a few passing similarities between It Felt Like Love and Andrea Arnold’s similar themed Fish Tank. Hittman distinguishes herself with intimate closeups and following subjects with tracking shots through parties and wooded areas of outer Brooklyn.
This coming-of-age drama premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is a recipient of the Nancy Malone Marketing & Promotion Grant. It was fiscally sponsored by New York Women in Film & Television.
It Felt Like Love is playing at the IFC Center in NYC.
nywift
Related Posts
Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Samantha Herrera
Welcome to NYWIFT, Samantha Herrera! Samantha Herrera is a queer Filipina artist born and raised in Queens, NY. Her roots began in theatre with training at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, The Neighborhood Playhouse, and LAMDA. Saint Vegas is the first narrative film she has directed, written, and produced. It will internationally premiere in the Philippines hosted by Cine Balikbayan. This November, she played one of the lead roles in Diwata, directed by Shea Formanes. Aside from filmmaking, Samantha works at her alma mater - The Neighborhood Playhouse - and runs a Filipino food pop-up business with her partner. In our interview, Samantha discussed the mentors who shaped her artistry, her inspirations, and her upcoming work.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Joyce Hills
Welcome to NYWIFT, Joyce Hills! Joyce Hills is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch, where she co-wrote and directed the culturally-rich epic Viking short film The Feather, featuring out-of-this-world SFX hair and makeup, practical stunts, and generative workflows on a virtual production volume. She was the First Assistant Director and VFX Supervisor on the Seed & Spark-awarded short film Night of Melancholia, interned in Virtual Production at Gum Studios in Brooklyn, and performed as Sugarsop, The Widow, and assorted household servants in Will Kempe’s Players’ The Taming of the Shrew. Joyce is developing her first feature film, a dark fantasy inspired by mystical quests, heroes’ journeys, and time and destiny in popular culture. She is also developing a science fiction feminist short, and is pursuing additional education in XR mediamaking and STEM. In our interview, she discussed her childhood inspirations, emerging technologies, and the future of storytelling.
READ MORENYWIFT Member Spotlight: Kelcey Edwards
NYWIFT Member Kelcey Edwards found her way into documentary filmmaking through Iron Gate Studios, a nonprofit gallery and artist workspace she cofounded in her early twenties in Austin, Texas. At the time, she was making small narrative films alongside many other Austin-based filmmakers involved in the “mumblecore” scene; her first film, Letter, screened at SXSW in 2006. Since cameras and equipment were always present in the gallery, she began interviewing many of the artists who visited the space. Over time, the habit of recording conversations and documenting artists’ lives became a steady part of her practice. That interest eventually led her to pursue an MFA in Documentary Film at Stanford and later to move to New York, where she continued developing their work. About a decade later, she directed The Art of Making It, a feature documentary about the art world, which won the Audience Award at SXSW in 2022. It’s currently available on most streaming platforms. Kelcey’s films have received support from the MacArthur Foundation, Sundance, and Tribeca Film Institute, among others, have been broadcast internationally, and have screened at top-tier festivals including SXSW, Berlinale, and Hamptons International. In our interview, Kelcey discussed her teaching philosophy, approach to filmmaking, and upcoming projects.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Courtney DeStefano
Welcome to NYWIFT, Courtney DeStefano! Courtney grew up in a small town, where she spent hours devouring old movies and pouring through every indie-film magazine she could get her hands on. She graduated with a BFA in Film & Television from NYU Tisch School of the Arts before embarking on her editing career where she worked with clients like CBS, Bravo, Showtime, BET, NatGeo, Discovery & TLC. She’s spent the last several years dividing her time between chasing after her three young sons and hiding in her home office to write. Her work has been recognized by the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, PANO Network, Hollyshorts and the PAGE Awards, among others. In our interview, Courtney discussed her small-town inspirations, how editing informs her writing and directing, and her latest short film.
READ MORE
