There is one production designer whose aesthetic did more to inform Hollywood’s second Golden Age than almost any other. In his honor, Synecdoche has published Conversations with Dean Tavoularis, a book as beautifully designed as his movies.

“Copy and paste is sort of an oppressive way to approach creation.” 

“There's a delirium to that notion of constant reproduction across mediums.”

Two films, both told entirely through computer screens, indicate that the screenlife genre may produce the new folktales of the Myspace to TikTok generations.

“When a film acknowledges and fulfills those different forms and legacies and responsibilities, that feels cinematic.”

“There’s no absolute right answer when it comes to creative work. You have to trust your gut, make a decision and stick to it.”

We are not doing any year-end lists for 2020, but here are a few standout tracks that are still stuck in our heads.

How can you capture the feeling of an entire century in cinema?

“You have to create this reality, this delusional vision for yourself, that this is so important that it has to be in the world.”

“Ghana is my motivation. It's my muse. It's everything.”

“Everything I’m creating now is for my own catharsis.“

“New York and Los Angeles are microcosms of what this whole world will look like in 100 years. If you can't get behind diversity, you won't make it.”

“My first love was and will always be cinema. A way to defy time zones, explore, create, build and control your own form of reality and the world.”

Filmmakers have a unique understanding of the lens’ power to shape narrative. What might it actually mean when we equip cops with cameras?

“If you tell a story three different times in filmmaking, I feel like I want to kill myself in a different way three different times.”