The interviews were just for critical matter group and they were just the first round. I also applied to tangible media but have yet to receive an interview request. According to the PI critical matter group received the most applicants out of all groups.
The interview request for Critical Matter went out today and will take place next week.
I would not reach out the professors but rather the current masters and phd students. Thats what I did and interestingly enough they were already familiar with my work. This was about a full year ago so it's a long process to reach out in advance.