Watch With Jen - S2: E23 - International Dysfunctional Family Films with Steven Santos

As Leo Tolstoy wrote in the first sentence of Anna Karenina, "happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Joining me to discuss five wide-ranging international films centered on families with varying levels of dysfunction is NYU trained freelance television editor and writer, producer, director Steven Santos.

A New York City native who now lives in Los Angeles, for nearly fifteen years, Steven Santos has edited nonfiction TV shows for a variety of cable channels including Discovery, Animal Planet, The Travel Channel, NatGeo, A&E, TLC, History Channel, HGTV, and Oxygen.

In 2010, Steven also began to produce and cut video essays solo as well as in a creative partnership with film and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz, which led to some top-notch work both online and off as the two developed a television show about film for Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail.

Returning to his first love of writing and filmmaking, after relocating to Hollywood in 2018, Steven has written and developed several film and TV projects, including scripting a full season of television by himself, while still working as a TV editor.

Filled with both personal stories and cinematic analysis, in this extended episode, we dissect My Family aka Mi Familia from 1996 (set in Mexico and America), Secrets & Lies, which was made a year later in England, Festen or The Celebration, which came out of Denmark in '98, The Royal Tenenbaums from America in 2001, and France's A Christmas Tale, which was released in '08.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (6/11/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52386781