May 1, 2025
Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Sarah Kambe Holland whose new film Egghead and Twinkie flips the gay guy-straight girl trope on its head with the story of a gay girl-straight boy friendship that undergoes some changes after the girl comes out. Sarah talks about starting work on the project at 19, taking inspiration from her own coming out story, shooting a road movie within one hour of Orlando, Florida and having most of her crew be under 25 years old. She also talks about moving to the U.S. from Japan at nine and undergoing serious culture shock, incorporating her own love of animation into the movie and the lesson she learned from her actors during one particularly emotional scene. Other topics include: becoming a YouTuber with thousands of subscribers at 15, casting an actress who had never had a speaking role in a film before as Twinkie the Flipcam her family gave her that started her love of filmmaking and her real-life coming out speech to her parents that occured at the chain restaurant First Watch.