Of the 8,500 or so filmmakers who receive an automated rejection email from Sundance’s Geoff Gilmore every year, usually the Tuesday or Wednesday after Thanksgiving, nearly none receive the sweet revenge Antonio Campos has been privy to. Both his 2005 NYU undergrad short Buy It Now and his 2008 debut feature Afterschool were rejected by the Redford Cabal. Both were accepted into Cannes however, the short making Campos the youngest man ever to win a prize on the Croisette, the feature cementing his reputation as one of the most promising young American directors of his generation. Hot off the heels of its American debut at the New York Film Festival, Afterschool still awaits stateside commercial distribution. I recently had the privilege, along with my colleagues at Filmmaker Magazine, of bestowing the film with a Gotham Award nomination for “The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You”. It will wind its way back to New York screens fairly soon when it screens at MOMA as part of a program supporting the nominees. In the meantime, we caught up with Campos to discuss The Godfather, Steve Reich and why he isn’t reading nearly enough fiction. For more with Campos, check out this interview over at Cinema Echo Chamber. …Read more