Watch the recording of the Filmmakers in Conversation event organised in partnership with Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. Filmmakers Nira Burnstein, director of Charm Circle and Sam Firth, director of Wolf Suit discuss about the challenges and ethics of making personal documentaries and their creative process.
Charm Circle is screening at the CCA in Glasgow on Saturday, 14 May, from 8.05pm and will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker. More info & booking here.
Nira Burstein is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York. Her documentary film debut Charm Circle had its World Premiere at Sheffield DocFest last year where it won the Audience Award and First Feature Award Special Mention. It has played festivals worldwide, including DOC NYC where it won the Special Jury Recognition in the Metropolis Competition. Charm Circle was nominated for Best Editing by the International Documentary Association, where it was also shortlisted for the Best Feature Award.
Nira is an Independent Gotham Documentary Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation, Women Make Movies & Jewish Story Partners. She has written, directed & edited several narrative short films & music videos, and is currently developing both narrative and documentary projects.
Sam Firth is a practicing filmmaker based in Scotland, with an interest in both documentary and fiction and has her own film production company – Lacunae Films. She has been making short films since 2009 that have been screened in art galleries and at film festivals and have won awards internationally.
Her films explore how our experiences are shaped by the narratives we construct, particularly when we record images. Most of her work is documentary but Sam also wrote and directed the fiction film (Creeling 2015) and originally trained as a screenwriter.
Sam is also a story consultant and has worked for Film Four, Screen Yorkshire and the Welsh Arts Council. She has worked as a community filmmaking practitioner winning awards for this work and is currently programme leader for the BA Filmmaking at the University of the West of Scotland.
The Wolf Suit is Sam’s first feature, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2021.
The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival takes place between 4-24 May in Scotland and online. The film festival will run between 12-15 May in Glasgow.
