CHARLIEBIRD: Tribeca Best Narrative Feature Winner | Libby Ewing Interview

Action.

It’s the word we most often associate with movies — big spectacle, big movement, big moments. But some of the most powerful films move in a different way. Not through explosions or chase scenes, but through emotional tension, interior conflict, and the quiet shifts that change a life.

CHARLIEBIRD, winner of the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, is one of those films.

In this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we sit down with director Libby Ewing to talk about her feature debut and the journey of bringing this intimate independent drama from script to screen.

Written by and starring Samantha Smart, CHARLIEBIRD follows the evolving relationship between a music therapist working in a pediatric hospital ward and one of her teenage patients. As the two navigate grief, uncertainty, and the fragile process of healing, their connection becomes a lifeline for them both.

The teenage patient is played by Gabriela Ochoa Perez, whose breakout performance earned the Best Performance award at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.

In our conversation, Libby Ewing discusses the origins of the film, collaborating with Samantha Smart, directing emotionally vulnerable performances, and what it means for an intimate independent film to break through at one of the world’s major film festivals.

Watch clips from this conversation about CHARLIEBIRD now on  @INSIDETHEARTHOUSEclips 

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Video podcast exploring independent film, arthouse cinema, and the film industry. In-depth filmmaker interviews, behind-the-scenes conversations, and film analysis covering new releases, repertory cinema, and classic films. Hosted by Greg Laemmle & Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres, Inside the Arthouse focuses on film distribution, the movie business, and the creative process behind independent filmmaking

INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE is a YouTube film podcast featuring in-depth filmmaker interviews focused on independent film, arthouse cinema, documentary filmmaking, and the film industry.

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