In conversation with...whit Stillman

Writer-director Whit Stillman gives IFTA Academy Members an insight into his work, his distinctive style, and themes across his films.

Academy Award nominee, director and screenwriter, Whit Stillman is one of American independent cinemas’ most distinctive and unique filmmakers, best known for his films Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco, Barcelona and Damsels in Distress.

Known for his refreshingly original tales and sharp dialogue, Stillman’s debut feature Metropolitan earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

His two subsequent features - Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco (seen as a trilogy of comedies of manners alongside Metropolitan) - have also been lauded by critics, as well as 2011’s Damsels in Distress.

Stillman is noted for his dry humour and distinctive style with legendary critic Roger Ebert once commenting “if Scott Fitzgerald were alive, he would feel at home watching a Whit Stillman movie.”

In addition to his Academy Award nomination, Stillman also won Best First Feature at the  Independent Spirit Awards, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize (Drama) at the Sundance Film Festival, and he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best New Director.