Mill Valley Film Festival Spotlight on Eva Victor (‘Sorry, Baby’) | Mind the Gap Award
The Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) presented Eva Victor with the Mind the Gap Award during their 48th edition.
As per the festival, this award, “honors those whose work has helped close the gender gap in the film industry and in our lives through their art and advocacy.” Mind the Gap was instituted by the California Film Institute in 2015 as part of the festival’s aims to increase the presence of female-directed films within their film slate, with filmmaker Angela Robinson being the inaugural honoree of this award in 2017. Victor is one of two recipients of the 2025 Mind the Gap Award, alongside Rose Byrne.
Following their graduation from Northwestern University, Victor worked for satirical news site Reductress. They later began posting comedic videos on social media, garnering a following in the process. After encountering Victor’s videos online, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins reached out to Victor via Instagram, encouraging them to submit scripts to his production company, Pastel. This offer eventually resulted in Jenkins and his decade-long producer Adele Romanski producing Victor’s directorial debut, Sorry, Baby. Additionally, Victor prepared for the director’s chair by shadowing Jane Schroenburn during the filming of I Saw the TV Glow.
Sorry, Baby premiered at Sundance 2025 earlier this year to critical acclaim, with Victor receiving the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Victor wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was purchased by A24 and released in theaters this summer.
The film follows graduate student Agnes’ life prior to and following a traumatic event. Victor discusses personal experiences via the fictional world that they create in the film, a separation that they found key to their filmmaking process.
They said, “I think it can be very exciting to build something that feels like it’s coming from the depth of your soul, and then to have the world be something you get to invent on your own terms. It allowed me to find empathy for people in a new way because I wasn’t so close to home.”
Accepting the award at the Smith Rafael Film Center, Victor read an extended excerpt from Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector’s novel “A Breath of Life.” “I honestly put a lot of the books that I felt were really meaningful to me into the film,” said Victor.
Textually, they considered the works of Lispector and Joan Didion to be greatly influential in the making of Sorry, Baby, alongside the likes of “Giovanni’s Room” and “To the Lighthouse.” They also admitted to drawing inspiration from some of Edward Hopper’s paintings.
Victor advised students like Agnes to savor their time in academia without fixating on the future. They said, “You have all the time in the world. It’s so exciting that you’re young, congratulations. It’s going to be over at some point. So enjoy it and explore everything.”
Following the award, Victor sat down for a live, in-depth discussion of Sorry, Baby. During the conversation, they broke down the intentions and process of creating two pivotal scenes from the film. Victor selected an exterior scene that covers Agnes’ scarring event from a distance, detailing their decision to track this moment from the exterior in order to respect Agnes’ space. Additionally, they unpacked a clip of Agnes encountering sandwich shop owner Pete in the midst of a panic attack, praising actor John Carroll Lynch and providing context regarding their choice of dialogue. The award presentation and discussion was followed by a reception at Lotus Cuisine.
MVFF48 took place in Marin County, California from October 2 to 12, 2025. Sorry, Baby begins streaming on HBO Max October 30.
- Of Gods and Monsters: Guillermo del Toro Receives the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize for ‘Frankenstein’ - November 13, 2025
- Mill Valley Film Festival Spotlight on Eva Victor (‘Sorry, Baby’) | Mind the Gap Award - October 15, 2025
- Checking In with the NEON International Feature Film Pickups from Cannes: ‘It Was Just an Accident,’ ‘The Secret Agent,’ and ‘Sirāt’ - October 13, 2025
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10