I regret that Interstellar wasn't an hour shorter and that Matt Damon didn't kill Matthew McConaughey when he had the chance. I regret the location of every movie I make outside of Washington State. I regretted my poor grasp of French every time the director of my last film had an outburst in that language. I do not regret how much I enjoyed working with Mel Gibson last summer. I regret that 100x more people will see Interstellar than A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. I regret to inform all men that, in person, Diego Luna is better than you. I regret that Theeb is the best movie I saw in 2014 and no one will likely care because it was made with Bedouin nonactors. I regret that there is still no income tax in Washington State, because without it there will be no way to fund a decent film incentive program and no significant uptick in local film production work. I regret being away from Seattle when I'm in Abu Dhabi (except between the months of November and March, when I don't really miss Seattle at all). I regret knowing how popular hymen reconstruction surgery is in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. I regret that I waited until 2014 to visit Beirut. I regret regularly siding (ideologically) with groups like ISIS and the Tea Party just to liven up the conversation. I regret that none of my NYU Abu Dhabi students know who Dean Martin is. I regret missing the Replacements at Bumbershoot, but since I grew up in Minneapolis and got to see them well over 100 times in the '80s, I figure that's probably fair. I regret that my tan is fading. I regret missing every local show Telekinesis played in 2014. I regret that I didn't make more Ebola jokes in 2014. I regret University Village. I regret everything on the other side of the 520 bridge. I regret that marijuana became legal in Washington just as my daughter became a teenager. I regret that my spell-checker doesn't know that when I type "marijuna" I mean marijuana. —Jennifer Roth, producer (Black Swan, Blood Father, Laggies), linchpin

I regret going to film school for two and a half months. —Scott Blake, director, 2013 Stranger Genius Award nominee

As I get deep into fundraising for my first feature film, Lane 1974 (lane1974film.com), I sincerely regret that money people in this town are not more deeply and passionately connected to the filmmakers of this town. It doesn't make sense, really. Hopefully this will be corrected in 2015! I regret enthusiastically declaring to my new-mama friend Alycia Delmore: Every Friday is great for me and I can't wait to come hang out with you and your awesome son! When the fact turned out to be that no Friday was great for me. Again, looking for a correction in 2015. I regret being out of the country when Ahamefule J. Oluo's show Now I'm Fine was up at On the Boards. The shame will hang around my neck forever. —SJ Chiro, director (Howard from Ohio)

I regret working instead of going to the Sundance Labs, paying rent in two cities for nine months this year, not being able to shoot Gabe's movie in Athens, not having shot Transparent or Under the Skin, not maintaining Silver status with United Airlines, not staying longer at Green Rows Farm on Oahu, having to fire someone in New York, Red Cameras, HDTV with motion blur intact, 4K projectors, not having a bicycle that fits in my carry-on luggage, my fear of sharks, letting UPS handle my self-shaped surfboard, three friends having to fight cancer, not having a wedding gift ready for my brother, Delta Airlines, my brother's current deployment in Iraq, that the Washington State film incentive evaporated by June, that we have not all elected Jus Reign as president of Earth, most of last August, not writing more, not buying those drums, that I didn't start the Big Dig doc when I could have, two lung infections, not being in Seattle more, the self-promoting jackass at Eddie Rouse's memorial, not being able to visit Jennifer Roth in Abu Dhabi, not making another movie with Lynn Shelton, food poisoning from Ray's Pizza on Houston Street, that Todd Rohal's Sweet Cheeks has not been completed yet, and that the cities of Austin, Paris, Berlin, São Paulo, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and Encinitas are not connected by waterslides. —Benjamin Kasulke, cinematographer (The Heart, She Holler; Laggies; Safety Not Guaranteed), 2013 Stranger Genius Award winner

I regret all of the armchair parenting I did before I became a parent. I also regret the early estimations for completing my first film as a producer. I have since learned some things about how animation works. —Alycia Delmore, actor (Humpday), producer (Rocketmen)

I regret trying to drive an automobile on a day when both the Sounders and the Seahawks were playing. I regret shouting the very strange and incomprehensible curse words at the sports fans in various shades of green. I regret the bad thoughts I thought about people who enjoy watching men hit each other and run around for hours at a time in a sterile and commercially fetishized atmosphere. —Drew Christie, director (The Beast Inside), animator, 2014 Stranger Genius Award winner

I regret not cutting ties with people I had reason to mistrust politically sooner. If I had, the news of Michael Brown and Eric Garner wouldn't have been as much of a social shaking-out period as it was for me. I could've been prepared, but I chose to assume the best of people. That shit is dead. It's a time for choosing sides now. —Shaun Scott, director (Pacific Aggression, Seat of Empire), 2012 Stranger Genius Award nominee

I regret that no one wants to rep me out of LA. I regret that a year just passed without me noticing. I regret that rewrites for Writer Rider, which I will shoot next year, took so long. I regret that flagrant act of self-promotion. I regret that it took four months to recuperate from shoulder surgery. I regret that Wes Anderson, Michael Bay, Tyler Perry, and Christopher Nolan didn't call me. I don't regret Land Ho! being nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. —Paul Eenhoorn, actor (Land Ho!), 2014 Stranger Genius Award nominee

I want to be Zen and say I have no regret, but that would be a lie. First, I regret not making a HUMP! film with SJ Chiro. I wish that I had bought more spiced beets from the Ballard Market. I yearn for those to this day. It's torture. I apologize to everyone impacted by me sticking my head in the sand praying that problems would fix themselves. I regret purchasing the cheapest handcuffs. —Tracy Rector, Seattle Arts Commission member, executive director of Longhouse Media, independent film producer (Redemption, History Is Unwritten)

I regret my distinct lack of 2014 karaoke injuries. At press time, only one busted knee and three ripped crotches have been reported. I also regret leaking the Sony e-mails and letting North Korea take the heat. I regret not reading Gone Girl, The Wolf of Wall Street, or The Fault in Our Stars before seeing the films. But at least I started Inherent Vice. —Mel Eslyn, indie film producer (The One I Love, Safety Not Guaranteed)

I don't have time to list my many personal regrets, but I do have one major societal regret for 2014: that people still have to take to the streets to demand basic civil rights and survival wages. —Bob Nelson, screenwriter, 2014 Academy Award nominee (best original screenplay, Nebraska), 2014 Stranger Genius Award nominee