At the Tribeca Film Festival, Taylor Swift Surprised Fans With an Emotional Performance of ‘All Too Well’

Fandom comes in many forms, but none stronger than the one inspired by Taylor Swift. The ardor of the so-called “swifties” was on full display at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday afternoon, where the artist spoke with director Mike Mills about her short film, All Too Well, released last fall.

“I feel like I’m at a concert,” Mills joked to the screaming audience at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre.

Perched on stools, Mills and Swift spoke about the creation of the film, which stars Sadie Sink as Swift’s avatar and Dylan O’Brien as thinly veiled Jake Gyllenhaal. A cinematic interpretation of her 2012 song of the same name, All Too Well chronicles the dizzying highs and slow dissolution of the romance between an impressionable young woman and experienced older man. The theme of youth—its power and its fragility—echoes throughout the work.

“I really do write about girlhood a lot,” Swift said. “There’s a lot of girlhood woven into my music. Nineteen and 20 are such an interesting and profound [time] because you still have one foot in girlhood, and yet society and the world is telling you you’re an adult.”

Mills, known for acclaimed independent movies like Beginners (2010) and 20th Century Woman (2016), complimented the film’s technical and emotional composition.

“I found it incredibly fulfilling,” Swift said of the process. “It felt very natural from writing a song in my head and visualizing it to making a shot-list and story-boarding it.”

After a half hour of conversation, Swift surprised the audience by welcoming O’Brien and Sink to the stage. The two actors spoke of working with Swift as a director: The intimate production was based on collaboration, exploration, and improvisation. Both expressed their appreciation for her openness and emotional intelligence.

“This was so different from what I had done [before],” said Sink, known to many for her work as Max in Stranger Things. “There wasn’t a set script or movement you had to stick to. There was such freedom, and that’s how we got such real moments.”

O’Brien, who was dressed like a ’90s teen heartthrob in an open button-up and chinos, agreed. “[Swift] possesses these innate qualities in a director that I feel are tied to experience.”