We Are Art People in conversation with Ry Russo-Young

Ry Russo-Young is a New York-born filmmaker, living and working in Los Angeles, California.

Through a natural evolution of becoming, storytelling and character exploration has been embedded in her since a young age, patching together short-movies with friends and family and her mothers’ taking photographs of her in the Meatpacking District in the 90's, dressed up as Cindy Sherman-esque characters.

Ry’s 3-part documentary series, Nuclear Family was released with HBO in 2021. It is an expose of Ry’s understanding and experience of being the daughter of two lesbian mothers who conceived Ry and her sister Cade, with known sperm donors, at a time when the concept of a LGBTQ+ family was untraveled, and which bred its own challenges. The series, which Ry wrote, directed and featured in navigates this origin story and the perspectives of those around her. Through the experience of her family being under the microscope at a young age, Ry took it on to tell her story and version of events. What evolved is an intimate telling, where Ry herself, candidly processes her unresolved feelings and takes the viewer on an emotional journey of healing and invokes us to comprehend the complex nature of family and relationships. 

We discuss Ry’s process for and taking time to find the best version of a project and her journey of adapting stories into a visual form and the complications that arise through this process. Ry has directed and co-written Nobody walks, with Lena Dunham featuring Olivia Thirlby and John Krasinski. She has collaborated with Stella Schnabel, in the writing and direction of You Won’t Miss Me, and other film and television projects, including episodes for Just Like That, Before I Fall and The Sun is Also a Star. Ry's work has been presented at Sundance, SXSW, Stockholm, Torino, and TriBeCa.

Links:

@ryrussoyoung

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1735543

Nuclear Family https://www.hbo.com/nuclear-family

You Won't Miss Me https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1249443

Show notes:

Hannah Takes the Stairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Takes_the_Stairs

Creative Capital https://creative-capital.org/

The Screenwriting Life https://bobcat-cello-9863.squarespace.com/episodes/148-jodie-foster-on-building-truthful-characters

Abbas Kiarostami 

Ingmar Bergman

Mishegas (Yiddish) meaning senseless behavior, craziness, or foolishness. 

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