Episode 95: ‘Heathers’ with ‘Jawline’ Director Liza Mandelup

Episode notes

Liza Mandelup is an award winning film director from New York residing in Los Angeles. Starting her career in photography, she graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts and embedded herself in fascinating communities for photo series that culminated in two photo books. In 2018, Liza received the prestigious Sundance Documentary Fund grant for her film Jawline, following a handful of online teen heartthrob boys to chronicle the curious rise of a burgeoning yet fleeting economy. Jawline premiered at Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker. She was also named by Filmmaker magazine as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2018 and one of 10 Documentary Filmmakers to Watch by Variety.

The movie that Liza chose to discuss ties in effortlessly with her own film Jawline – that would be 1988’s dark comedy Heathers. April and Liza discuss the nature of being a teenager and just how serious everything feels. Liza talks about interviewing all the wannabe influencers for her film Jawline and how, no matter the place, everyone dressed the exact same. She also discusses the effects of “follow culture” and how that is demonstrated in both Heathers and Jawline.

You can stream Jawline on Hulu now.

And if you haven’t seen Heathers yet, watch it now!

With April Wolfe and Liza Mandelup.

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Produced by Casey O’Brien and Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org.