[3] In 2007, under her aegis, the FSE released the European Screenwriters Manifesto, which asserted that “The screenwriter is an author of the film, a primary creator of the audiovisual work; the indiscriminate use of the possessory credit is unacceptable; and the moral rights of the screenwriter, especially the right to maintain the integrity of a work and to protect it from any distortion or misuse, should be inalienable and should be fully honored in practice.” As Kallas told the Los Angeles Times, “What we tried to do by naming it the ‘manifesto’ is to challenge the international film community and to start a discussion about what has gone wrong and how we could set it right.”[4] Relocating to New York City, Kallas began teaching at a number of universities and colleges, including Barnard College, Columbia University, The New School,[2] and Brooklyn College.
[8] Wrote Bill Arcineau in Film Threat, “The number of storylines conveyed and then ultimately converge is quite impressive to witness, with a weight that would crush any unprepared filmmaker.
Director Christina Kallas is completely capable of guiding with a strong editorial hand, the improv-heavy cast to its emotionally resonant and truly tense moments.
Editing and transitions are also something to behold, splitting the screen and testing our collective attention spans to complicate perspective importance and even time itself … Kallas is someone to watch.
As Lisa Nystrom wrote in FilmInk, “Kallas weaves together a captivating narrative using a complex spiderweb of different viewpoints, the camera seamlessly switching focus as background characters become protagonists, stepping forward when the time comes for their story to be told … The film brings together a diverse cacophony of voices touched by racism, sexism, and oppression, finding a harmony through shared experience.”[9] All of Kallas' feature films to date have been developed through a specific method, not unlike the one used by UK director Mike Leigh.