Sasha Waters is a moving image artist trained in photography and 16mm cinema, whose work explores ecstatic, metaphorical realism through the materials and relationships of everyday life. Her 2018 feature Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable won a Special Jury Prize at SXSW, screened internationally, and inspired her forthcoming book Garry Winogrand Archive 1948–1984, created in collaboration with Jeffrey Ladd and Artbook | D.A.P. Her 2024 short Ghost Protists premiered in Europe at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. She is also a Professor of Film at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia.
Please List the Title of Your Film at BIFF 2026
MARY OLIVER: SAVED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD
What was your first experience with film and how did it influence your first project?
As a student at P.S. 75 in Manhattan in the 1970s, I was immersed in an unusually vibrant culture of filmmaking, video, creative writing, and performance. This culminated in a full-length production of Uncle Vanya at Symphony Space, directed by Phillip Lopate, in which I was deeply involved. My 2010 film Chekhov for Children draws on student-made films and video from that production. The immediacy and handmade quality of those early collaborations continue to shape my work, which favors a tactile, personal approach and prioritizes intimacy and texture over polish. Committed to experimentation, I continue to work in 16mm film as both a material choice and a declaration of values in a digital era.
Who are your favorite Filmmakers?
Agnès Varda, Louis Malle, Amy Halpern, Chick Strand, John Cassavetes, Charles Burnett, Lizzie Borden… and more.
What are you working on that no one knows about?
A very short 16mm film portrait tentatively titled Bobby Previte Makes Tomato Toast—the title gives it away.
Who would play you in a movie? What’s your go to movie snack? What’s the film title that best describes your life?
Play me in a movie: According to my children, Margaret Qualley (a much younger version of me).
Go-to movie snack: Red licorice.
Film title that best describes my life: Elevator to the Gallows.
