Janicza Bravo

FILMMAKER

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

More sensitive than not.

DESCRIBE A RECENT CROSSROADS AT WHICH YOU FOUND YOURSELF.

I think I’m still at it. I’m in my 40s and the possibility that there’s gonna be less time on this side than there was on the other is ringing loud. It’s not fear of the end; it’s less room to get much done. Will I have done as much as I’d hoped? I’m trying my best to rearrange my outlook. I want to look back and feel proud.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY? LESS OF?

Less trepidation. Less math. Nurturing the unnurtured.

““I’m in my 40s and the possibility that there’s gonna be less time on this side than there was on the other is ringing loud. Will I have done as much as I’d hoped? I want to look back and feel proud.””

WHAT’S COMING UP FOR YOU IN 2024?

I’m feeling a bit allergic to the question of “what’s next.” I believe this is more a question of “what now.” There’s lots of writing in front of me, and I’m finishing a couple of TV shows that are meant to come out later this year.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR WORK?

I’d been regretting a creative choice I’d made that had taken some years out of me. I was beating myself up about having walked through the wrong door. Imagine there are a series of doors in front of you and you’ve picked the wrong one. I’d made a tally of every shit choice. Productive. I was raised to punish myself. The nice thing about getting older is a little more ease. So, rather than think I’d walked through the wrong door, I decided that I’d chosen a necessary lesson for the next chapter.