To grow up in a filmmaking family and be constantly
surrounded by people who make it their life’s work to tell stories through
motion pictures must cause you to absorb the techniques so that you end up with
intuition through osmosis. The patriarch Francis Ford Coppola went to film
school to learn his trade and honed his skills while making some of the great
classics of American cinema. His knowledge passed to his daughter Sofia, who
has made some excellent films herself. Other members of the extended family
have had success as actors, writers, and producers. Now comes Gia Coppola,
granddaughter to Francis, and niece to Sofia, with her directorial debut Palo Alto, which she adapted from James
Franco’s story series of the same name.
