Order Split Tooth's new double zine with Joe Swanberg's interview as a cover story: https://ko-fi.com/s/5df933982d Twenty years ago, Joe Swanberg completed his first rough cut of Hannah Takes The Stairs at 6 a.m. His blog post from August 19, 2006 on the film’s official website reads, “I'm going to watch it tonight, make some tweaks, and then step away from it for a while, let it sit, then come back in for the kill.” At this point, the term mumblecore had already been coined by Andrew Bujalski and Eric Masunaga — despite it being despised by the other filmmakers to which the term applied. SXSW was the pioneering festival for the DIY film movement, having already premiered two films by Bujalski and Swanberg and one feature by the Duplass brothers. But many cite the then-upcoming Hannah as the true jumping-off point for many of the movement’s future stars. No one, even Swanberg himself, could have known the impact this single film would have had on the next 20 years of cinema. Now, 20 years and roughly 20 films later, Joe Swanberg’s The Sun Never Sets is hitting theaters. The film follows Wendy (Dakota Fanning), a construction worker in Alaska whose life is uprooted when she has to choose between Jack (Jake Johnson), her older divorced boyfriend with children of his own, and Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), her newly resurfaced ex-boyfriend. The film marks Swanberg’s first directorial effort in almost seven years — quite the hiatus for someone who once famously directed seven films in one year. That doesn’t mean the filmmaker hasn’t kept busy. Since 2020, he has starred in eight films and produced seven — including a slate of five horror films by up-and-coming directors for Screambox and Yale Entertainment — as well as operating a video rental store, launching his own VHS tape label, and even starting a (now defunct) streaming service. He has remained as prolific as ever, though many were left wondering when he would make a true return to the director’s chair. For a man who had been appearing at film festivals nonstop for a decade straight, he hadn’t had a film play at a festival since Win It All premiered at SXSW in March 2017. The Sun Never Sets proves that Swanberg hasn’t skipped a beat in his time away. The film has resonated with festival audiences and further showcases the director’s ability to make actors feel right at home on his laidback, “anything goes”-style sets. His newest film is his most mature effort yet, but it also manages to play the hits: it’s about a young woman at a transitional point in her life dealing with the affection and attention of multiple men. This should sound familiar to anyone who has been following Swanberg’s career since Hannah. It’s still improvisational, but the sense of scale and emotional depth in The Sun Never Sets is new territory for the director. If anything, Swanberg has added to his toolbox thanks to his time spent on set with the young directors whose projects he has been acting in and producing. And audiences seem more game now than ever to meet him on his level. Now that he has released a new film, it feels appropriate to look back on the accomplishments of the first 15 years of his career. Swanberg’s films have had the chance to live on their own for years now, especially during his hiatus. I had the pleasure of chatting with Swanberg about his latest filmmaking endeavors, the impact of his work on younger filmmakers, and the current state of the film industry. He also offered some very helpful advice for the creators out there whose films are just learning to walk.
