Shane Carruth and Marian Masone field questions at the ND/NF Q&A for Upstream Color. Photo by Godlis.

One of the hot tickets at the 42nd New Directors/New Films festival was Upstream Color, the new feature from writer-director-actor Shane Carruth. It may be surprising to hear that it’s only Carruth’s second time at the rodeo. His ingenious micro-budget time travel movie Primer was a breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and went on to achieve cult status.

Since then, fans have anxiously awaited Carruth’s follow-up, and Upstream Color has not disappointed. Its World Premiere was one of the most anticipated events at this year’s Sundance and it took home a Special Jury Prize for its brilliant sound design. From there, the film traveled to SXSW and then New Directors/New Films, before opening theatrically through a self release on Friday, April 5.

Following its ND/NF screening, Carruth sat down with selection committee member Marian Masone to talk about the film and answer questions from the audience. If you couldn’t make it to the screening, don’t fret! We’ve got clips of some of the highlights and full video of the fascinating Q&A…

The film’s visual language:

The connection with Henry David Thoreau’s Walden:

The source of the title:

Storyboarding the film:

The full Q&A with Shane Carruth: