Ep. 88: How Dee Rees Went From Film School to Oscar Nominee in a Decade

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with director and screenwriter, Dee Rees. Beginning with her excellent semi-autobiographical debut 'Pariah' (2011), Rees has earned the reputation as one of her generation’s most exciting filmmakers. Her most recent feature film, 'Mudbound' (2017), earned 4 Academy Award nominations, including a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Rees; making her the first black woman to be nominated for any Academy Award in a writing category. Rees talks about the series of events that led her to NYU film school, working with mentors like Spike Lee and Lee Daniels, and long road to her first feature film, 'Pariah'. She also discusses why Netflix was the only studio to take a chance on 'Mudbound', how she approaches adaptation as an auteur, and what genre she would like to work in next.