Spotlight on Lauren Wolkstein

Spotlight on Lauren Wolkstein

Nov 28 2017

Get to know the faculty and staff of the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts

by Hadiyah Weaver

Lauren Wolkstein is worth talking about. Wolkstein is an assistant professor of film at Temple and award-winning filmmaker. She is the co-director with Christopher Radcliff of The Strange Ones (2011 Sundance Film Festival). Professor Wolkstein and Radcliff adapted The Strange Ones into their first feature film of the same name, starring James Freedson-Jackson and Alex Pettyfer, which world premiered to critical acclaim at the SXSW Film Festival in 2017, receiving the Jury Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She was named by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” in 2013 and most recently announced as one of the six Women at Sundance Fellows for 2017-2018. She shares her thoughts with us.


What has been your favorite work you’ve directed so far?

My favorite work is the project that I am going to make next.

When your birthday and what is your astrology sign?

My birthday is March 20th (the first day of Spring) and I am a Pisces.

What is your favorite movie from your undergraduate years?

Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. left huge impressions on me when I was in college so much so that I programmed them for the film society to be screened as a double feature every night on 35mm for an entire week.

You double-majored in computer science and film, what made you choose those two subjects?

I was a computer programmer in high school and I was really good at coding, but then in college I started making films and fell in love with the craft of filmmaking, and I had a lot of stories to tell.

If you could be any celebrity, who would you be and why?

I wish I was as smart at poker as Annie Duke and as fearless and bitingly funny as John Waters.

If you could rewind back to any point in your life, which would that be?  

I try not to think backwards, but I loved being in film school and being given permission to fail.

Oranges or Apples?

I love the smell of oranges and the taste of biting into apples.

How do you feel about Philadelphia?

It’s very charming and there is still so much that I would love to discover and explore about Philly.

Do you eat cheesesteaks, what’s your favorite place to get one?

Yes, wherever I can get them.

Which animal do you feel describes you the most? Why? 

Well, I am a night owl so Temple is the perfect place for me.


 
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