Split Picks: 'What Happened Was...' Vs. 'Things We Like' with Adi Jahic

Ahead of Things We Like’s premiere, director Adi Jahic joins Split Picks to discuss his debut feature and an underseen classic from a beloved character actor. Writer-director Adi Jahic spoke with Split Tooth back in February about his excellent debut film,Things We Like, which he also edited and features him on screen in a crucial second act role. Early in the conversation, Jahic noted that he’s rarely inspired by films in the traditional sense, never watching anything while at work on a project or making conscious homage. He credits Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was..., however, with convincing him to set out on directing a feature-length film of his own. Jahic describes the 1994 Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner as, like the best features, “saying a short film’s worth of things every 10 minutes.” Things We Like premieres next week at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. In anticipation of the May 17 screening, Jahic joined associate film editor Bennett Glace to discuss how both his film and Noonan’s present viewers with unexpected emotional turns, the benefits of the occasional mishap on set, and more.