Press
Reporter interview on moderating for the Santa Fe International Film Festival
“One of the things that’s really stuck with me is the sense that filmmakers don’t want to be in competition with each other. I think particularly in the indie sphere, so often, we’re told there’s this one tiny pie, and a slice you get is a slice I don’t get. The vast majority of filmmakers don’t feel that way, don’t buy into that, don’t want to buy into that. I hope that’s what the panels open up—not competition, but instead, collaboration.”
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Radio guest show: Radon’s Daughters Preview
Siena Sofia Bergt: “[…] what continues to be left out in [narratives like “Oppenheimer”] are stories of this place, and the people who have remained in it after Oppenheimer left--and how we continue to deal with the literal and figurative fallout of his actions. That’s what “Radon’s Daughters” is about. And that’s why this story needs to be told now.
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Radio interview: OPIA and Radon’s Daughters
Gary Farmer: “I can’t help but think that maybe your upbringing out there in Agua Fria gave you the tools to process […] turmoil [through making film].”
Siena Sofia Bergt: “I would definitely agree with that because […] I think [growing up with] that sort of a sense of a communal outlook as opposed to an individualistic one helped me get outside of my personal pain enough to figure out, ‘ok, what can I do with this that will benefit my community or in some way give back to it?’”
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We Are Moving Stories interview with the director of “OPIA”
“The world we're living in is so culturally saturated in suicide that it's hard to read the newspaper or turn on the TV without encountering a statistic or story about its potential causes, its commonest victims, or the latest celebrity lost. What so often gets left out of the picture is the visceral experience that accompanies mourning these kinds of death: the tangible dangers and intangible sensations that appear in suicide's wake. Opia is meant to make those experiences more emotionally accessible for people who haven’t gone through such losses themselves, in order to bridge the gap between mourners and their friends and family.”
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Reporter review of “OPIA”
“Opia abandons traditional narrative structure for the sake of what feels like an authentic portrayal of the way suicide can make the world feel like it's turning inside out and upside down. The cinematography ranges from shaky cam to beautiful artistic imagery and helps draw the viewer into the turmoil of the main character's psyche”
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Pasatiempo review of “OPIA”
“Handheld camera work, vibrant colors dominated by bright red and blue, nighttime interiors awash in the glow of neon, and feature-distorting shadows give OPIA a phantasmagoric tone. It’s not an easy film to digest and it borders on the experimental, but it’s alive with the energy and enthusiasm of its young protagonists.”
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Client testimonial: Screenwriting
“Ms. Bergt has worked with me as a co-writer over the past year and half, restructuring and rewriting a script which I thought hopeless. I couldn’t be more pleased with the final product. Siena is the most brilliant, fresh film maker I have met in a long time. She has a great sense of story structure, dialogue and making any script relevant to tumultuous and uncomfortable modern issues. She is fearless, serious, humorous and untiring. I have hired her again as editor and co-writer for the next episode.
I could not finish this project without Siena. I was astonished at her facility in crafting nuanced, but precise dialogue which is relevant to the times. Her work ethic matches the depth of her creativity which she so generously shares. She is a muse, a movie maker with great social purpose, a passionate gifted writer and an amazing human being. She is knowledgeable beyond her years. I almost don’t want to share her.”
- Andrea Tomasetti, client for “Statues” feature film script