Sarah Hanssen’s film and video works have shown at festivals, museums and screenings throughout North America, Asia and Europe. She received her Masters of Fine Art in film and video at the Massachusetts College of Art. In addition to her artwork, she has served on festival juries and worked as a programmer for The Hamptons International Film Festival. Sarah is an assistant professor at CUNY's Bronx Community College and mother of three amazing children.
“The American Dream was alive everywhere except America.” – Michael Moore
Sarah Hanssen and Joshua Adler talk about the online fantasy sports world, gambling, and the joys and frustrations of sport mediated by social media, phone firmly hand.
An Interview with Eren Lee Carr about her new film and the ethical dilemmas of criminalizing fantasies and punishing intentions.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a love story, albeit a scary one. And the beautiful adventure of love Amirpour portrays is one where the person beside you may be different than you imagined. They may be much stronger, they may destroy you, and you may destroy them.
Absent a flashy visual style, Citizenfour may seem like an easy movie to make, but Laura Poitras’ “privileged access” to Edward Snowden reminds viewers that the pursuit of this controversial story was propelled by her strong ideology and her uniqueness, unteachable in film school.
Sarah Hanssen interviews producer, Mary Beth Minnis about “Return to Mogadishu: Remembering Black Hawk Down”.
"Valentine Road": A Moral Tale
In 2008, eigth-grader Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King at point blank range. “Valentine Road” tells of the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as the aftermath.
Filmmakers take us on imaginary journeys, either by the suspense of a horror film or the longed-for consummation of a romance. We tolerate many inconsistencies and stretches of the truth in an effort to hold onto a larger story. The problem with this film is that the larger story holds few truths at all.
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
An interview with filmmaker Terence Nance
The documentary Battle for Brooklyn, co-directed by Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky, follows community activist Daniel Goldstein as he fights to preserve his community in the face of the massive Atlantic Yards development that threatens to carve up Prospect Heights. The proposed project would displace many lifelong residents as well as those new to the […]
Marc Simon’s latest documentary, Unraveled, delves into the mind of Marc Dreier, an attorney convicted of fraud. Overshadowed by the Bernie Madoff scandal, Dreier’s story, though in the press, might still be news to viewers. What’s most unusual is Simon’s access to Dreier for the weeks he is under house arrest prior to his sentencing. […]
A film about one man’s journey to answer some of the most profound questions of life: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better?
Tiny Furniture and Tiny Milestones
I admire that this filmmaker wasn’t trying to tell a story she didn’t know, but took the risk of creating a work that was close to home, albeit somewhat self-indulgent.
Insecurity, Creativity, and Superiority
The Social Network inspires complicated questions of why we create and how we measure our own worth and morality.
Last Summer at Coney Island: An Interview with J.L. Aronson
Sarah Hanssen discusses documentary film-making and the “people’s playground” with director J.L. Aronson.
Our House: An Interview with Greg King
Sarah Hanssen talks with Greg King about his new documentary, Our House, which explores an intentional Christian community in an abandoned warehouse-turned-homestead for the chronically homeless and recovering addicts in Brooklyn.
An Interview with Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
Filmmakers – and sisters – Sarah and Emily Kunstler talk with Sarah Hanssen about their new documentary and their father’s fight for justice.
Up In The Air gets so many of our modern conundrums right that it’s hard not to classify the film as a tragedy, even with some great laughs.
Two films with similar settings, but very different outlooks on success, help us examine our own ideas about privilege, hard work, and what makes us feel valued.
The Myth of Extremism: The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Baader Meinhof Complex is a complex, challenging film about extremism and powerlessness.
Dreams, Chickpeas, and Cold Souls: An Interview with Sophie Barthes
Filmmaker Sophie Barthes was born in France and grew up in the Middle East and South America. A Columbia University graduate, Barthes has made short films that garnered numerous awards. She completed residencies at the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and the 2007 Sundance Directors Lab. Her new film, Cold Souls, is in selected theaters now. The […]
Some guidelines for starting a movie night.
Recording Reality: An Interview with Brent Renaud
An interview with award-winning documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud.
Revolutionary Road: Marred Sophistication, Trapped Dreams
One of Mendes’s great successes is the mood he captures, in which we see doom but continue to hope for these characters. Kate Winslet’s April is that fragile balance of strength and whim so rarely achieved without overdoing it. The world around her closes in, and yet she continues to believe that things can change. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank for the coward he is; his youthful good looks and charm allow him to coast in a world where people are pleased to accept the easiest answers and deflect personal responsibility.
Morality Suspended in Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds: touching, or morally reprehensible?
Moskow, Belgium is the kind of film that appeals to both the hopeless romantics and the sarcastic cynics.
The Fight For Salmon in "Upstream Battle"
In a country overrun with Wal*Marts and convenience stores, the idea of living dependent only on the land seems abstract. But director Ben Kempas’s new documentary turns that distant truth into a concrete reality.
Pre-School Mayhem in Nursery University
If you thought college applications were grueling, wait until you find out about Manhattan’s most competitive nursery schools.
Thoughts On Watching "Man On Wire"
It is a fantastic mixture of confidence and humbleness that allows us to dream of the image of our own bodies suspended in air, confident that anything is possible, humble to the inspiration.
Rethinking What It Means To Be "Made In America"
We’d prefer the challenging message masked in metaphor, symbolism, or fiction – but Stacy Peralta’s latest documentary demands that Americans face their own bigoted perspective head on.
Previous page Next page