‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Director Jim Jarmusch Goes Off After Local Union Rep “F–ked” Him: “My Next Film I’m Not Shooting in the U.S.”

Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch had some choice words for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) at the press screening of his new anthology film, Father Mother Sister Brother, at the 2025 New York Film Festival.

At a press conference following an NYFF press screening of the film on Friday morning, Jarmusch said that the a particular person from the labor union—which represents the vast majority of behind-the-scene workers on American film sets—”shut down” his film’s production in New Jersey, back in November 2023.

“We were all set to shoot in America, we shoot them in order, and we had a very unfortunate situation I won’t go in to with IATSE,” Jarmusch said, when asked about the locations where he shot his new film. “One local IATSE person fucked us. Shut down our film. I lost a lot of money and then had to move production to shoot first in Ireland, and then come back and shoot in the U.S., and then go back and shoot in Paris. I have a very bad feeling, still, from this. It’s very unfortunate. My next film I’m not shooting in the U.S., for this kind of reason.”

Jarmusch went on to clarify, “I’m not anti-union, believe me. I’m in the guild. I used to be in the sheet metal and aircraft workers union, which paid my way to Columbia, etc. It was just this particular thing that crushed a hand-made film, that I resent. So there, I said it.”

It was a rare instance of an independent filmmaker saying the quiet part out loud.

Jarmusch’s new film, Father Mother Sister Brother, which he wrote and directed, first premiered at Venice Film Festival in August, where it won the coveted Golden Lion prize. The film is split into three stories and three locations: in New Jersey, where an eccentric father (Tom Waits) hosts a visit for his weary children (Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik); in Ireland, where a wealthy mother (Charlotte Rampling) hosts a formal tea for her grown daughters (Vicky Krieps and Cate Blanchett); and in Paris, where twin siblings (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) pay a final visit to their late parents’ home. Though the characters don’t overlap in the three chapters, the stories are connected by a theme of families who struggle to connect with one and other.

Father Mother Sister Brother is set to release in U.S. theaters on December 24, 2025 via MUBI, and is expect to stream on MUBI’s streaming platform at a later date.