Interview: Josh & Benny Safdie Talk ‘Heaven Knows What,’ The Drug Of Drama And More

Editor's Note: This interview originally ran November 2014 during the Tokyo Film Festival.

When we met Josh and Benny Safdie in a plush bar in Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills (it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it) they were fresh off the stage having just picked up not only the Grand Prix of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2014 for “Heaven Knows What,” (review here) but also the Best Director gong too. (This meant that, happily, as we discuss below, in addition to other prizes, they got two fancy watches from sponsor Seiko and didn’t have to work out how to divvy up just the one). The two have worked together on and off, but mostly on, for nearly a decade. Their first co-directed feature was 2009's “Daddy Longlegs,” and since then they’ve become well-known on the festival arthouse circuit, mostly with a series of short films.

“Heaven Knows What” marks their first narrative feature together since “Daddy Longlegs,” however, they also collaborated on 2013 doc "Lenny...