Directed by Dustin Guy Defa

Directed by Dustin Guy Defa

8 Episodes

Though his filmography to date consists of only three features and a dozen or so acclaimed, eclectic short films, Dustin Guy Defa has carved out a unique niche as one of American independent cinema’s most intriguing and defiantly unorthodox auteurs. Interested, above all, in people and their relationships, his by turns wryly humorous and melancholic films are populated by unforgettable characters and feel something like a throwback to the smart, literate, observant human dramas of the 1970s. Defa’s unique touch is on perfect display in his award-winning short PERSON TO PERSON, which shares a title with his wonderfully low-key, shaggy-dog 2017 feature.

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Directed by Dustin Guy Defa
  • Dustin Guy Defa Interview

    Episode 1

    This interview with director Dustin Guy Defa was recorded in 2023.

  • Family Nightmare

    Episode 2

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2011 • United States

    Reconstructing a series of unearthed home movies, Dustin Guy Defa dubs his own voice over the voices of his family members to create an unsettling personal portrait of family dysfunction, revealing the devastating legacy of addiction, abuse, and...

  • Declaration of War

    Episode 3

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2013 • United States

    This found-footage compilation exposes the disturbing enthusiasm with which George W. Bush’s declaration of a “war on terror” was met.

  • Person to Person

    Episode 4

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2014 • United States
    Starring Bene Coopersmith, Deragh Campbell, Zachary Levy

    In this acclaimed short—a precursor to director Dustin Guy Defa’s feature of the same name—a Brooklyn record-store clerk discovers a stranger passed out on the floor of his apartment . . ....

  • God Is an Artist

    Episode 5

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2015 • United States

    In this idiosyncratic documentary, director Dustin Guy Defa travels to Detroit to contemplate the significance and (il)legality of street art—and finds himself tempted to join a Satanic cult along the way.

  • Review

    Episode 6

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2015 • United States
    Starring Caitlin Dennis, Tipper Newton, Ingrid Sophie Schram

    In this wry cinephile in-joke, a woman describes a film she has seen recently to a group of friends. Stop me if you’ve seen this one before . . .

  • Dramatic Relationships

    Episode 7

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2016 • United States
    Starring Bingham Bryant, Lindsay Burdge, Hannah Gross

    Dustin Guy Defa slyly deconstructs the male gaze in a series of scenes that humorously and pointedly reveal the relationship between a male director and his female actors.

  • Editing

    Episode 8

    Directed by Dustin Guy Defa • 2021 • United States
    Starring Gayle Rankin, Hannah Gross

    In this inventive, metacinematic commentary on the art of editing, a woman is confronted by a stranger who has, quite literally, been cut out of her life.