Set in the here-and-now Mississippi Delta, Lance Hammer’s Ballast follows a trio of characters — a man in crisis and a single mother trying to keep ahead of disaster and her rootless son — in a very American setting with a very European sensibility. It is one that evokes the Dardenne brothers, one where the camera is hand-held but the emotions are kept at arm’s length. Hammer spoke with Cinematical at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about his decision to work with non-professional actors, the news that Ballast will be playing at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and what drew him to the Mississippi Delta for his debut: ‘There’s a sadness that lays upon the land (in the Delta) that’s very moving to me. ”

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Director and writer Terry George may best be known for his Oscar-nominated work on Hotel Rwanda; Reservation Road, his new film at the Toronto International Film Festival, may very well earn a few Oscar nominations of its own. George spoke with Cinematical in Toronto about working with an impressive group of actors (including Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mia Sorvino), the challenges of adapting John Burnham Schwartz’s novel and the difference between simple villains and complex characters; you can download the entire interview right here.

After a rapturous reception, rave reviews and winning the Palme D’Or at Cannes earlier this year, Romanian writer/director Christian Mungiu’s film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days has finally made it to North America — playing at both the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. Set in Romania during the last days of Ceaucescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days follows two college roommates, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu); Gabita’s trying to arrange an illegal abortion; Otilia’s standing by her friend, no matter what the cost. It’s a film with rough-hewn humanity and blunt realism, the tension of a nail-biting thriller and the unblinking gaze of a documentary. Cinematical had the chance to speak with Mungiu in Toronto, and the soft-spoken writer-director shared his thoughts on his directing process, his film’s possible reception in America and the personal stories that drove him to make this film. You can download the entire interview by clicking here.

Somehow, and with a surprising minimum of fuss, David Cronenberg went from being Canadian cinema’s most notorious bad boy to being one of its elder statesmen. Mention this to Cronenberg and he laughs. “I don’t think I’ve changed at all.” Cronenberg’s latest, Eastern Promises, explores many of the same themes as his last film, A History of Violence — it’s a exploration of morality and memory, wrapped in the cut-and-thrust clothes of a crime thriller. A London midwife (Naomi Watts) delivers a child to a dying mother — and in the search for the child’s surviving family, begins translating her diary; Viggo Mortensen plays the thuggish driver and Russian emigre tasked with getting the diary back at all costs. Cinematical had the pleasure of speaking with Cronenberg on a pre-Toronto press stop in San Francisco about working with Viggo Mortensen again, London’s bustling modern cityscape and why it’s not so much that he’s moved past making horror films than it is how the genre’s fallen behind. You can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:

You can listen to the interview by clicking here.