Jess Zeidman and Leo Gallagher find rhythm in fragments in 'Human Theories'

Director Jess Zeidman previously wrote 'Tahara' for Olivia Peace to direct, and this time stepped behind the camera herself, working alongside cinematographer Leo Gallagher, who moved up from gaffer on that earlier project to DP here. Jess unpacks what shifted in her instincts now that every creative choice landed on her desk, while Leo identifies which lessons from his prior work translated most directly to this larger undertaking.

Built from more than 40 interconnected vignettes and a cast of over 20 named characters, the film demanded a different kind of groundwork than anything shorter form requires. Jess and Leo describe negotiating how self-contained each segment should feel against the urge to thread them together, and how they mapped out a shoot this sprawling in setting and tone without boxing themselves in too rigidly.

Filmed over roughly a year across real New York locations with a lean crew and actors dressed in their own wardrobes, the visual approach, including mounting the camera on a Lazy Susan, had to carry a lot of narrative weight, whether each vignette earns its own distinct look or the throughline comes from one unified way of observing all these different lives. Jess and Leo close by reflecting on how laughter, both from crew during production and later from audiences, became a kind of compass throughout the process, guiding what ultimately made the cut and confirming when a scene had found its truth.