This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

In Black Snake Moan Christina Ricci plays Rae, a nymphomaniac wracked by vivid memories and dreams of being sexually abused during her childhood. Also in Craig Brewer’s follow-up to his Sundance-hit Hustle and Flow is Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Lazarus, a God-fearing farmer who picks at his guitar, sings blues songs about sin, and, after a chance encounter, attempts to oversee Rae’s salvation.

Some filmmakers might have taken the success they had with a film like Hustle and Flow and hightailed it straight to the world of the Hollywood mainstream. Not Brewer. Shooting again in Memphis, Tennessee, he’s made a film as provocative in its exploration of sexual politics as his previous was in playing with the racial stereotypes of the gangsta’ rap world. And, furthering his bold combination of realism and Southern melodrama, he’s also continued his collaboration with d.p. Amy Vincent, ASC.


After reading the script, Vincent says she envisioned a story about love, redemption and the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen next. “Part of the electricity is a tactile feeling that Rae could explode at any minute and lunge after people like a dog guarding her home,” Brewer comments.

During early preproduction, Brewer gave Vincent DVDs of Southern gothic films like Bad Georgia Road and Baby Doll to serve as visual references. “We were like a family,” Vincent observes. “Everybody contributed ideas to discussions about the visual style during preproduction. Scott [Bomar] came in one day and put a book from Fat Possum Records on the table. It was a collection of biographies and photos of North Mississippi Blues musicians. Craig got everybody involved in the discussion, including [producer] Stephanie Allain, [production designer] Keith Burns, [editor] Billy Fox and myself. I could see Craig listening and absorbing ideas.”

The production team first scouted juke joints to find an ideal dark bar to serve as the setting for Lazarus’ encounter with Rae. When they found it, Burns suggested spray painting the bottle lights red, a choice that inspired additional color selections in the film, including the further use of red light in a scene where Jackson sings “Stagger Lee.”

Other primary locations included interiors and the exterior of a farmhouse where Lazarus lives, and an expansive field of wavering soybeans with woods in the background. The farmhouse sets were designed so they could be moved from a soundstage to a small shack in the middle of the soybean field.

Brewer had Vincent by his side during rehearsals with Jackson and Ricci in spaces that were the same dimensions as the sets where they were planning to shoot. She offered suggestions about where wild walls, windows, doors and props should be placed to allow for flexibility in lighting and camera movement.

Rather than nailing the actors down to hitting marks, Brewer wanted to give them the freedom to follow their instincts. The rehearsals gave him and Vincent a sense of what the actors were going to do, so they could anticipate their actions and plan to light and move the cameras accordingly.

Brewer made an early decision to frame Black Snake Moan in a wide screen format. Vincent suggested shooting in Super 35 rather than anamorphic format to take advantage of the more flexible choice of “fast” spherical lenses, with one proviso: the guarantee of a budget for a digital intermediate.

Brewer covered the action with two cameras. The A camera, a Panaflex Platinum, was generally on a master shot, and the B camera, a Panaflex G2, was usually on a tighter shot. Vincent carried a full set of Primo prime lenses and 4:1 and 11:1 zooms, and she generally chose the prime lenses because their focal lengths were more specific.

Most images were recorded on the 500-speed Kodak VISION2 5218 film, which provided flexibility for them to reach deep into the darkest shadows and brightest highlights the same way the human eye would perceive those images. Brighter daylight exteriors were recorded on the 100-speed Kodak VISION2 5212 color negative.

Brewer limited coverage of dialogue and song scenes to no more than two takes unless an actor or an actress wanted another shot. He says, “Artists don’t paint multiple canvases and decide which one they like best later. That drains everyone’s energy, and it creates too many options in editing. If something didn’t work, we could do a reshoot.”

Vincent concurs, “Craig came to the set extremely well prepared, and he expected the same from everybody. In the first couple days of shooting, we realized getting the shots in one or two takes really worked for this film. It stepped up everybody’s game.”

Brewer rarely spent time in a video village with the exception of some music numbers when two cameras were rolling. He was usually standing with Vincent next to the camera in direct contact with the cast. Some bigger sequences were storyboarded, but Brewer generally preferred running and gunning shots that were designed in the moment.

He cites a visual transition that occurred in the juke joint from the first song that Lazarus plays early in the evening to the last one at three a.m. By the end, everyone had been dancing and sweating for hours. There is a close-up shot of Ricci on the dance floor. He asked for an adjustment from shooting at 24 frames per second to 120, resulting in a few seconds of slow-motion imagery.

FotoKem Film & Video in Burbank, California did both the front-end lab work and the DI. The conformed negative was scanned at 2K resolution. Vincent and Brewer had worked with DI colorist Walter Volpatto on Hustle & Flow, so he was also in tune with their tastes. They used digital color timing to add painterly accents to some shots. For example, in a scene where Rae and Lazarus are in the field of soybeans, the sunset painted a pink edge to the film on the horizon behind Rae. They created a matching pink edge on the horizon behind Lazarus in DI. After the DI was completed, the timed digital file was recorded directly onto intermediate film used to generate release prints in 2.4:1 aspect ratio.

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# posted by Max Friend @ 1/25/2007 12:41:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Padre Nuestro exemplifies the modern, international face of American independent cinema: the first-time director, Christopher Zalla, was born in Kenya, raised overseas (and is fluent in Spanish), schooled at Columbia, and created a stylish thriller that begins in Mexico and winds up in New York City. A smart film that — one could argue — uses its border-hopping protagonist’s stolen identity as a metaphor for globalization, Padre Nuestro will certainly spark debate at Sundance.

Padre Nuestro screens at Sundance in dramatic competition.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? I was born in Kenya in 1974 and spent much of my youth overseas. My parents separated and moved around for work, and my older brother and I went back and forth between them. Before it was over I had lived in dozens of countries on four continents. I sold tomatoes door-to-door as a five-year old, mowed twenty lawns a week when I was ten, worked as a rough carpenter in high school, and spent nine seasons as a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska.

Age? 32.

Education? BA Oberlin College
MFA Columbia University Film School

Film experience prior to this film? I started off as a PA on sets, but after I few months I realized that wasn’t going to teach me anything craft-wise. I then worked as the assistant to a producer named Cary Woods (Kids, Scream, Swingers, Gummo, Citizen Ruth) and probably read a thousand scripts, which was really helpful in giving me a sense of what kind of material I like. Ultimately, though, I saw producing wasn’t going to teach me how to actually make a movie, so I went to film school.

I’ve been doing writing work since I was in film school, including Marching Powder, for Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, about a British man thrown into a Bolivian Prison. Don Cheadle is attached to that one. As for filmmaking, other than some short exercises, this is my first film. Padre Nuestro was originally supposed to be my thesis.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film? I began writing Padre Nuestro the week after 9/11. I spent that first day digging through the rubble searching for the survivors that just weren’t there. I remember leaving the experience so devastated, and yet at the same time so touched by the incredible sense of connection and community that poured forth from New Yorkers toward each other. Normally, this is a city where people put up all sorts of boundaries between each other, but when there was a shock to the system, you could see the deep need for connection that we all have laid bare. It really struck me on that day that New York is just this big city of outsiders who are looking for some sense of connection. Although Padre Nuestro is a suspense film, on it’s deepest level I think it’s really about that search.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with? (actors, producers, DP, editor, composer, etc.) I was absolutely blessed with collaborators on this film. I’ve learned that the most important part of the directing process is choosing the people you’re going to work with, from the producer through the actors all the way down to the PA’s.

It started with Ben Odell, a producer that was a classmate of mine in film school. He has a background like mine (spent several years writing Spanish language TV in Colombia), and he really understood the moral complexity of the piece — the idea that morality itself is a privilege. It’s very easy for us to reduce the world into simple black and white, and I think Latin culture in particular is less prone to judgment and more tolerant of the picaresque sensibility in Padre Nuestro. Ben saw Juan, the impostor character in the movie, the same way I did: he’s just this charming kid that’s funny and having a good time and does what it takes to survive.

Ben introduced me to Igor Martinovic, our DP. Igor has done a lot of work on docs – including the Croatian war – and I was really looking for someone that was going to be bold, fearless, and willing to break some rules. He saw Padre Nuestro like I did — as a suspense film — and agreed that it required a heightened sense of realism. The script really does some unexpected things, and we wanted the audience to feel like the movie could really go in any direction at any moment. Most importantly, because Igor is also as hardcore about preparation as I am, when it came to shooting we were of one mind.

Another crucial collaborator in the film was Tommaso Ortino, our production designer. Mise-en-Scene is central to the sense of realism and atmosphere in a moody film like Padre Nuestro. On some level the movie is about New York City, and Tommaso understood that we had an opportunity to characterize the city in a really specific way. Although a lot of people balked when they saw the kinds of location we were finding — abandoned warehouses, construction sites, even crawl spaces under buildings — Tommaso was able to take what was already there and really bring it alive. He’s amazing. The payoff was immediate when you saw the actors walk into a space and immediately feel it. It gives them this great outside-in approach to their characters: “Oh, so this is where I live....”

Of course, there really isn’t room in this interview to do justice to the work done by the actors. I always believed that this project would live or die based on their work, and they proved me right. I sat with each of them and let them rewrite their dialogue so that every line would be delivered as they would say it. Each of them completely took possession of their characters and made them their own. They just laid themselves bare. It’s the first thing anyone talks about after they see the movie — and I think they are all going to get a lot of well-deserved attention for it.

There was also Aaron Yanes, our editor. This was Aaron’s first feature but you would never know it from working with him or seeing the final movie. Aaron is one of those editors that you can just turn off the monitor and talk about the movie with for an hour. I learned in this process that features require the ability of the editor and director to really listen to each other, but it also requires our ability to listen to the film itself. Once it’s shot, you’re starting all over again, and you have to be extremely open to the possibility that the film will take on a life of its own and become something other than you expected. I’ll always cherish the long, often exciting conversations we had as we started to recognize some of these new realities emerging. It was an intensely creative process.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently? I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so if I didn’t make any compromises on the film, I’d probably still be shooting the first set-up. Filmmaking is all about compromises on some level — you’re constantly pressured with this balance of money and time, no matter what budget you have. The key is to know when and where to spend those things. That said, it’s a lot easier to get what you want when you have incredible actors and such a great crew to work with.

Any film influences? (this could also include literature, art,
music, etc.) The books I read a lot of while I was writing were by Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Graham Greene. I listened to “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Nebraska” by Bruce Springsteen and “Clandestino” by Manu Chao.

What are your expectations for Sundance? Other than getting distribution, which is my primary hope for the festival, I’m really looking forward to the Q&A’s after the screenings. Padre really provokes people, often in pretty opposing ways, and I can’t wait to look into people’s eyes and have the conversation that I think the movie will generate.

As for the other aspects of the festival, this is my first time ever being there so I’m not really sure what to expect.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance? Cocalero, the doc about Evo Morales of Bolivia. The screenings I could go to were sold out when I went on line, so I’m hoping someone might be able to find me a couple of tickets (hint, hint).

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking? A movie is a marathon. Get in shape before you start.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors? What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/25/2007 12:21:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

A veteran of Sundance with his short films — including the cryptic, menacing fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood (starring Christina Ricci and Quentin Crisp!), Little Suck-A-Thumb, and The Frog King — which are regularly shown to film students as examples of exemplary short-form filmmaking, David Kaplan returns to the festival with his first feature, Year of the Fish. At once a singular New York immigrant story, as well as a re-imagining of the fairy tale (Kaplan's real-world, adult conception of children's stories can bring to mind Guillermo del Toro's terrifying, blood-and-vomit work in Pan's Labyrinth), Year of the Fish was also painstakingly rotoscoped-a process that took years. This eagerly anticipated feature is one of the most unique to ever screen at Sundance.

"Year of the Fish" screens at Sundance in the Spectrum section.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education?
I was born and raised in downtown New York City. I went to elementary and high school at Friends Seminary on 16th Street, college at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and graduate school at a film school I wasn't crazy about so I won't mention it
here. Prior to Year of the Fish, I had made several short films. The best known one is Little Red Riding Hood starring Christina Ricci and narrated by Quentin Crisp.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
I've always been interested in folklore, myths and fairy tales. I find them quite deep, strange, and they seem to lend themselves nicely to visual adaptation into the film medium. "Year of the Fish" is based on a ninth century variant of Cinderella, the oldest known recorded version of the story, but I thought it would be fun to set it in contemporary Chinatown in a massage parlor.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
Based on the screenplay and a short animation sample, I was able to
assemble a wonderful cast: Tsai Chin (Joy Luck Club) was the first to sign on. Then we got the acclaimed Shakespearean actor Randall Duk Kim and Ken Leung (Rush Hour). And I think we've made a major discovery with An Nguyen, who plays our lead in her feature film debut. And the crew was great too — young but totally enthused. We shot documentary style -- no lights, skeleton crew, handheld camera
-- so we were able to get into all kinds of off-the-beaten-path locations. Finally, I think our composer Paul Cantelon (Everything is Illuminated) has delivered such a lovely score that it threatens to outshine the film itself.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
Everything on a low-budget film is a compromise.

Any film influences?
For this film, maybe Black Orpheus and The Scent of Green Papaya. And during the animation, I was able to extract color palettes from well-known paintings -- in particular, Cezanne's — and apply those color schemes to my own shots. This gives the animation a very rich, unusual depth. And of course, Linklater's Waking Life was the pioneer for low-budget digital rotoscoping.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I honestly don't know what to expect.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
Many!

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
You have to work with what you've got on hand.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
Did you go to film school?

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/24/2007 12:56:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Making a feature film, independent or otherwise, isn’t easy (understatement of the century). The seemingly impossible hurdle of gaining financing — not to mention the tiny details of actually executing the film and then seeking distribution — seem Herculean enough to scare off most would-be filmmakers.

Now imagine directing a feature film with two other directors.

Suicidal, right?

Well, that’s exactly what three of Atlanta’s finest — Dan Bush, David Bruckner, and Jacob Gentry — did. The ballsy trio arrives at Sundance with their terrifying horror film, The Signal, which tells a story in three sections, or “transmissions,” of a mysterious white-noise — appearing from TV’s, radios, and cell phones — that compels ordinary citizens to become bloodthirsty killers. The film has a deeper agenda (perhaps commenting on the media...?) than simply scaring the hell out of its audience, but you can be certain of one thing: the crowds that see this world-premiere at Sundance will be sure to turn off their cell phones in the theater.

“The Signal” screens at Sundance in the Midnight section, and for this piece, we have comments from all three of the directors.

DAN BUSH

Can you say a little bit about your background?
I have been making movies since I was a kid. In junior high school in 1986 I used to edit with two VCRs. Studied filmmaking at USC — Columbia, South Carolina. I took a class with Dan Berman called "Previsualization." It changed my life. I realized then that the key to great movies begins with a vision — a fully engaged imagination. In Berman's class, we dissected movies and looked at each and every shot in sequences from movies that were just coming out. We spent most of our time that semester dissecting Goodfellas, which had just come out.

I realized later that all of the film theory and language was counterintuitive when writing and designing a movie. It is important to understand how the language works, but I tried afterwards to not let it cramp my style. It's like using fancy words inappropriately just because you have a large vocabulary. Better to watch the movie in your head and take notes then to watch someone else's movie and think, "That is how you do it.” I really think that if your imagination is fully engaged you will tap into something beyond yourself. This is the drop in point -- when your story becomes truth. I moved to film school at Chapel Hill, UNC after that. I met Fred Burns and studied animation. Simultaneously I worked with Marta King, an actress and acting coach from who was in Greensboro, N.C. She taught me most of what I know about directing actors and creating a safe place for them to trust themselves and to trust the moment enough to drop in and be real without forcing and without bullshit. In this way I began to find truth in imagined circumstances of the

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
It seems that I am always imagining a better life. I'm sure that is part of the human condition -- to always yearn for some more fulfilled life; a perfect love; a life without lies. At some point we have all wanted to just get on a train and take off to where the grass is greener -- to start a new life. But how often do we do this? Most of us are too scared to ever take such a risk. We settle with a mortgage, an IRA and an HMO. Or we fill in the empty spots of our unfulfilled lives with addictions or affairs, or perhaps numb the pain with self-help religions or TV.

What would it take to make us act on our instincts, leave out artificial lives and, as Ben Capstone, our protagonist, says in the opening of The Signal, "start a real life." Perhaps we will all wait until the end of the world before we make that move...

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
Every step of this film was a collaboration, from the writing to the sound design. It wasn't an army, so much as a tribe. We have all worked together here in Atlanta for many years. We all knew each other -- the grips, the art department, the producing team, the a.d., the actors. We workshopped each act of this movie while in preproduction. It was like boot camp except we called it Terminus Camp. We literally camped out for three days with the actors and worked every scene. Camp began with an obstacle course that forced everyone to work together. Then we broke off for scene work and exercises including historical improvisations to develop real relationships. We wanted to "load our guns,” so to speak, so that in we could move through production quickly. It worked. When we started shooting it was like a barn raising.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
Yes -- huge compromises. There is no other way to squeeze three driven and stubborn directors into one director’s chair. Whether the movie suffered because of these sacrifices? Perhaps it's the opposite. We'll never know for sure, but I think in the end this film can boast a powerful yet lean story line despite its many layers and complexities.

Any film influences? (this could also include literature, art, music, etc.)
Films? Trance and Dance in Bali by Margaret Mead. The Graduate, Little Big Man, Being There, Evil Dead II, Drugstore Cowboy, The Last Detail, Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Down By Law, The Thing (Carpenter), New York Stories, Rashomon, Reservoir Dogs, Children Of Men. These are the first to come to mind.

Authors: William Saroyan, Sam Shepard. Paul Auster. Joseph Campbell, William Faulkner, Kurt Vonnegut, Ken Kesey.

Books: The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, The Hawkline Monster, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, poems by Pablo Neruda, The Autobiography of Malcom X, Snow Crash.

Music: Jerry Goldsmith, The Books, Rachel's, Roy Ayers, Beck, Radiohead, Marvin Gaye "Trouble Man Soundtrack." The Minutemen, Lennon, Neil Young, Charles Ives, Coltrane, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beatles, Lovett, Simon and Garfunkel, Django Rinehart, Public Enemy. Lately I've been listening to Midlake and My Morning Jacket.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
What an amazing honor, to share festival slots with so many amazing filmmakers. I am a little speechless. All of my life I’ve wanted to be a part of the conversation each year at Sundance. I am really excited about the conversation, the dialogue with other filmmakers. I’m excited to meet other filmmakers and artists of the day and gauge the current mental environment. These are some of the greatest storytellers of our time. This is the beginning of the 21st century and I want to know where everybody’s head is at, and what is driving their work.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
By the time my allotted time to purchase tickets came up — everything was sold out. I managed to get tickets to Fay Grim. I love Hal Hartley movies. Trust changed the way watch movies. I'm going to sneak in to Chicago 10. I made an official looking "All Access" pass and I figure if I carry a big black flashlight (the kind that could be used for bludgeoning) no one will stop me.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
Make sure you believe in your story. The story is the most important thing. Your first loyalty has to be to the story -- above even yourself. I imagine making a movie is a lot like raising a child, because you will sacrifice years of your life and you will have to be ready to sacrifice everything else too. And be prepared to fight every step of the way for your story. Not for your ego -- for your story. That's your only real job.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
This one. Just kidding. I don't know. I guess any questions that only serve to magnify and glorify the director.

DAVID BRUCKNER

Can you say a little bit about your background?
My father is the Chief Investigator and was once a homicide detective in Miami in late ’70s. My mother has been an ER nurse for something like 20 years. So I grew up with some idea of the ills of society (plus a healthy dose of Nintendo, action news and The Terminator). Raised in a suburb of Atlanta, I’m now 29 years old, I started making movies in high school with my neighborhood friends. Focused on sci-fi, horror and comedy, I took my habit to college in Athens, GA thinking I would wise up and go into one of the sciences, but it only got worse. Basically, the technology was available for my generation, so I took advantage and never stopping making things. The farther out I got the better the response. There I met Jacob Gentry, Alex Motlagh and several other key players of the POP organism and we took it to Atlanta. The last six years in the ATL have been a creatively nutritional whirlwind. We’ve collaborated with theaters, visual artists, and drunk reclusive poets. I’ve had the opportunity to write, direct, shoot, edit, act, produce, design, engineer, and invent. I was even a puppeteer for a brief moment. With PUSH PUSH THEATER (a workshop theater focused on development) and a gnarly group of film kids we formed the DAILIES Project, a beacon for our filmmaker community to explore, incite, and intrigue. So we made more stuff. There I began to work with Dan Bush as well as many of the actors from The Signal.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
The Signal came from one of THE DAILIES PROJECTS called Exquisite Corpse where each filmmaker tells one portion of a larger story and then hands it off to someone else in chronological order. The idea for the movie grew from that both functionally and thematically. The overall arc of The Signal deals with communication, perception and individual, but each of three chapters have their own point I think. I wrote and directed Act 1: Crazy in Love. I think a lot of that is inspired by childhood fantasies about the end of the world. There’s a certain freedom that takes place when everything is reduced to survival. I always wondered who would be the strongest. Would you get to be the person you always wanted to be? Could you love whoever you wanted to love?

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
They’re all Atlanta crop. We have had the opportunity to build creative relationships and friendships prior to this project. I found this helped us to have a common language before going into production. I mean, just a far as the other directors, there no way I would have been able to do this with two strangers. We know each other well enough to push and pull with some sense of the larger picture. I think that’s also the case with the actors, Alex (the producer), the sound guys, the composer, etc. We all go way back.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
I would be too quick to say that we had to compromise having three directors and three different stories making one story. Sure, none of us got every scene we wanted into the movie, but overall I think having to compromise with other creative heads helped balance us out. It kept everything in check. In fact, the largest compromises I had to make by far, were more the result of our tight production schedule. We shot most of this movie in 13 days. That meant we had to turn scenes out super fast each day. So there were a lot of moments where I had big ideas about coverage, performance, and nuance that I had to sacrifice just to make sure I made sense of the story. That’s hard to swallow on your first feature when you want everything to realize your imagination, but that’s filmmaking, I suppose.

Any film influences?
The big one for the The Signal was Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. It reinvigorated the genre for me. Other big influences were Irreversible, High Tension, Spike Jonze, Tobe Hooper, David Fincher, Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright, Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, George Romero, Guillermo del Toro, Spielberg (Munich, Saving Private Ryan, War of the Worlds), Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Michael Andrews, The Walking Dead, and Grand Theft Auto.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I want our movie to affect people. I hope they feel it’s worth a repeat viewing. There’s a lot of stuff in the film that I can chew on; I’d love to see people chewing on it in reply. I’m also really looking forward to being among other filmmakers. It’ll be great to have dialog with others who have the same addiction. I can’t wait to make more movies.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
I really want to catch Black Snake Moan. Hustle & Flow destroyed me. I’m a big fan of the folks that made Ten. Also, The Protagonist, We are the Strange, Fay Grim, and Interview.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
“Have something to say,” an older friend of mine simply said once on the topic of ego. “If you’re telling stories because you want to be a filmmaker, you’ll eat yourself alive with self consciouness and criticism. There must be something, no matter how small, that you want to communicate outside your own personal gain.” At least that’s how I remember it going. I seem to come back to that idea a lot. It moves me forward no matter how difficult this job can be.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
In pretty much any context, my favorite question is “Why?”

JACOB GENTRY

Can you say a little bit about your background?
I’m from the hot and humid Dirty South. Born in Nashville 29 years ago and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta. I studied theater and drinking at the University of Georgia in the infamous Athens. I dropped out with one semester left to start the POPfilms Collective in Atlanta. For about three years I made shorts and longs with the other two Signal directors Dave and Dan, The Signal producer Alex Motlagh, as well as Ben Lovett the composer, and several of The Signal actors like Scott Poythress, A.J. Bowen and Justin Wellborn. Then I was given the opportunity to direct a feature film. It was called Last Goodbye and starred David Carradine and Faye Dunaway. It cost $250,000 from local investors, and I made it with my friends in Atlanta. I was 26 years old and still wet behind the ears.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
Well, we had been working on this experimental film project called Exquisite Corpse where one filmmaker makes a short then hands it to the next guy to complete the next bit then another and so on. It comes from the idea of an artist drawing a line and then handing it to another artist to add to that line. Dave and Dan filmed their segments down and dirty on DV and I was to be third. I wrote my script and thought about filming it when I suddenly realized that some of these ideas would make a great feature. The original ideas were sort of this Lynchian pre-apocalyptic think piece about the breakdown of communication and a shifting societal need for connection. So I said, let’s make a horror movie! What is our monster? Media! The TV causes people to go insane and kill each other! Being a good businessman and responsible producer means taking high-minded ideas that stem from avant-garde art projects and boiling them down into sellable products. We want to get that Saw money! Signal, the T-Shirt! No, but really the genesis of our horror movie can be found in those Exquisite Corpse lines we drew.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
Is there such a thing as making a film without compromises? That’s the job really. You get an idea and then when you decide to make it, there is where you make your first compromise. You go to film it and you make a hundred compromises a day and try to limit the casualties as much as possible. So knowing that I try to not have any regrets and use all the lessons on the next movie. The only thing I’d do differently is to not always allow me the producer to limit me the writer. We actually have a guy on fire in the movie. I wrote it almost as a joke knowing that it would be something I’d probably have to compromise on, but Alex my producing partner made up his mind that we weren’t compromising that one thing. He vowed that we would have a guy running around on fire in our movie. And we do. So next time, I won’t try and make compromises before I have to. Next time I’m going to have TEN guys on fire. And they’re going to be riding flaming steeds through vast wastelands while Metallica plays on the soundtrack.

Any film influences?
For me on The Signal: Lou Reed, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, H.R. Giger, Stanley Kubrick, Clint Mansell, Michel Gondry, Gasper Noe, Steven Spielberg, Brian Depalma, Howard Hawks, Geoff Darrow, Frank Miller, Peter Sellers, Andre Rieu, David Lynch, Luis Bunuel, and many more...

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I want to hot tub with hot famous actresses. And I want people to enjoy our movie. I’m hoping the high altitude will make them lucid enough to understand the latent symbolism and political iconography interwoven subconsciously within our film. I also hope they shit their pants from fear of The Signal.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
I’m a big fan of Adrienne Shelley from her work with Hal Hartley. Her passing was really sad to me. So I might show reverence and check out her movie, Waitress. It also stars Nathan Fillion who is one of my favorite actors right now. The other midnight movies seem really cool. I feel honored to be in the same company as Greg Araki and David Wain. Also, Crispin Glover has a movie which I’m sure will be the opposite of boring. He did the commentary on Werner Herzog’s movie Even Dwarves Started Small which is definitely one of the most...unique...films I’ve ever seen. I love movies unconditionally so I’ll basically see anything I can get into.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
“Shoot low boys, they’re riding Shetland ponies.” It’s not necessarily advice as much as it is the name of a Lewis Grizzard book. But I always associate it with filmmaking for some reason. It’s like we’re filming the big stampede scene in the desert, and right before we roll I’m informed that we couldn’t afford full size horses. So we keep filming, but lower the Camera cranes to make the ponies look like real horses. We make this split second decision to adapt and carry on because the play is the thing. We shoot any way we can. I haven’t made a western yet, but if I do I hope I get real horses. If not, I’ll shoot low.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
My favorite question is “What is your next project?” because I always want to know.

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/24/2007 11:30:00 AM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Anocha Suwichakornpong, known by her friends as Mai, is at home on a film set. Case in point: while most filmmakers would kill to watch their film screen in front of a Sundance audience, Mai is on the other side of the world, shooting her next short film, Days and Days and Days and Days.

But then, can you blame her? Graceland, Suwichakornpong’s film about an Elvis impersonator who travels from Bangkok into the countryside with a mysterious stranger, boasts much of the top talent in Thailand, including editor Lee Chatametikool (Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady) — and was the first official short film selection from Thailand to the Cannes Film Festival (Cinefondation).

Anocha Suwichakornpong is developing her first feature-film, The Sparrow. Graceland screens at Sundance in Shorts Program II.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film?
I'm from Thailand. I studied in England and got my BA and MA there. Five years ago, I finally decided to make my dream a reality, so I came to Columbia to study filmmaking. Since then, I've made six short films and am working on my latest project: a trilogy of short films on the theme of love.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
I wanted to make a film in which the story can be told in one night. It was partially inspired by The Wizard of Oz.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
I've always worked with my trusted DP, Ming Kai Leung, who was my classmate at Columbia. For Graceland, he was the only non-Thai person on the shoot and had coped very well, not to mention making the film look as beautiful as it does. The main character is played by a well-known actor in Thailand, whose name is Sarawut Martthong. My editor, who did a wonderful job, is Lee Chatametikool. He has edited many Thai films, including those of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. My producers, Soros Sukhum and Jetnipith Teerakulchanyut, did a tremendous job for putting the film together, as this was a rather big production for a student film.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
Yes! We were shooting mainly in the forest at night in the rainy season. And in Thailand, when it rains, it REALLY rains. What can you do? I had to leave out a few scenes from the script. However, in retrospect, I don't think those scenes were very important, or even needed. It's funny how you think you have a locked, solid script, but when you're on location shooting, you can just cross out scenes that you've spent hours and hours writing and re-writing.

Any film influences? (this could also include literature, art, music, etc.)
My favourite films are Close-Up by Kiarostami, Mirror by Tarkovsky, Contempt by Godard. YiYi by Edward Yang, the list goes on... But what really inspires me to write is music, especially ’60s and ’70s music. I also love Beckett plays, although I'm not sure he's been an influence in my work -- in the way I see life, perhaps.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
"It's not the character's action that drives the story, but the character's dream." My screenwriting professor, Milena Jelinek, told me that in my second year at Columbia.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
My least favorite: What's your film about? My favorite: Any major changes from the script to the finished film?

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/24/2007 10:40:00 AM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Certain films arrive at Sundance with a special type of anticipation, whether it’s due to star presence, subject matter, timeliness, or some ineffable quality that is the stuff of buzz. At Sundance 2007, Grace is Gone is one of those films. The directorial debut of James C. Strouse, who wrote Lonesome Jim (the Steve Buscemi-directed film screened at Sundance in 2005), the film tells the heart-wrenching story of a father, played by John Cusack, who must find a way to tell his children that their mother has been killed in Iraq. A film about the psychic repercussions of violence and the toll taken on the families of soldiers, Grace is Gone is not a war film — it’s a film about parents and children searching for peace and stability in a time of war.

When he isn’t premiering his feature films at Sundance, James C. Strouse is an MFA student at Columbia University — for fiction writing. – James Ponsoldt

Grace is Gone screens at Sundance in Dramatic Competition.

Can you say a little bit about your background? I’m from Northern Indiana, specifically, Goshen. I’m 29. I wrote Lonesome Jim which was directed by Steve Buscemi.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
Inspiration for this idea came from a lot of places. It’s hard to pinpoint one source. I let the idea kind of brew in my head for a while before writing anything, but once I did start writing, it came flowing out.

Who are some of the people you collaborated with?
My d.p. was Jean-Louis Bompoint. Jean-Louis is a very inspired French Man. We had a little bit of a language barrier between us so we communicated through movies. We took turns showing each other our favorite films every night of pre-production. My films were almost all American (Badlands, Paper Moon), and his were all French (Lola, Hiroshima, Mon Amour). In the end I think our aesthetics blended very nicely and we created a unique look for the film out of it.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
I’d say I more or less was able to shoot the script I wrote. Of course, there are things I wish I could go back and do over but I tried to turn my mistakes into virtues.

Any film influences?
The fiction writers Richard Yates, Grace Paley, Barry Hannah and Tobias Wolff, to name a few. The filmmakers Elaine May, Hal Ashby, Sidney Lumet and Robert Altman. Also, Steve Buscemi has been a big influence and inspiration. I’ve always admired his work as an actor and director. And I can say after working with him on Lonseome Jim that he is just a first rate man in every respect. He really inspired me to give directing a try.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I hope the movie is received well and that audiences feel moved in an honest way. Also, I hope the film gets a good distribution deal that allows for the film to get seen.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
Great Wall of Sound, The Savages, Dedication, Padre Nuestro, The Ten, Delirious, Interview.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?
I’ve come across a lot of great advice while preparing for the film. Practically every work in Sidney Lumet’s book Making Movies was helpful to me. But the thing that comes to mind right now is a quote from Steven Spielberg... I read somewhere that he tells all first-time directors to work out before production because sometimes the body just can’t keep up with a film schedule. So I started running a couple of months before production, and I’m really glad I did.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
My favorite is “What were your biggest mistakes?” because I think an honest answer to this question can be very valuable for someone trying to make films himself. I’m not sure I have a least favorite... maybe, “What was the budget of your film?”

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/20/2007 01:48:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Supported by numerous prestigious grants — including the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant, the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant, and National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant — Itmanna (Make a Wish), the most recent short film by writer/director, Cherien Dabis, will quickly follow its Sundance bow with screenings at Berlin and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.

A former media activist and public relations specialist in Washington D.C., Dabis is the daughter of Palestinian/Jordanian immigrants, and in addition to working on seasons three and four of Showtime’s The L Word, she is currently in development on her debut feature, Amreeka (called one of “Ten Arab Films to Watch” in 2007 by “Screen International”).

Make a Wish screens at Sundance before the documentary feature, Enemies of Happiness.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film?
My parents are Palestinian/Jordanian immigrants who came to the U.S. just before I was born. So I was the first-born American in my family. I grew up in Ohio and Jordan, which was kind of a schizophrenic upbringing. I think it was this constant shuttling back and forth that made me want to become a storyteller. It was feeling misunderstood and misrepresented nearly everywhere I went because I didn’t quite fit in anywhere. Storytelling was my way of bridging the gap between these two vastly different worlds. I studied media and creative writing at the University of Cincinnati where I did my undergrad. Then went on to do an M.F.A in film at Columbia University. I made several shorts while I was there. One that I wrote even screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It was called Little Black Boot.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
My film is ultimately inspired by one of my earliest memories as a kid. It was one of the first times in my life that I realized what it meant to be Palestinian. I was sitting at the dinner table with my family in small town Celina, Ohio. And the evening news was on in the background as it always was in our house. On came a report of the political assassination of high-ranking PLO representative Naim Khader in Brussels. My father’s fork dropped onto his plate and his face went pale. When I looked at the TV screen, I saw the photograph of a man who looked very much like my father. I later found out that Naim was my father’s cousin. He was killed at the age of 41. That experience stuck with me. And later, when I was brainstorming ideas for a short film, I kept going back to it. There are so many Palestinian men absent from their families. I wanted to explore that absence and tell a story about the aftermath of political tragedy, and the people who are left behind.

Who were some of the people you collaborated with?
I worked with a good friend of mine Alison Kelly who is an amazing cinematographer. She shot a previous short of mine so we already had a rapport. We were partners in crime for the two weeks that she was in the West Bank with me. She did things that most DPs should never have to do, like go props shopping with me, decide on actor wardrobe, kill baby scorpions and pull focus while operating the camera. And somehow she made it all look easy. I also worked with two very talented young actresses, Mayar Rantisse and Lone Khilleh from Ramallah. I found them through Ashtar, a local theater group that trains kids for the stage. The theater’s Artistic Director Iman Aoun ended up being my casting director. She also plays the role of the girls’ mother in the film. It was like one stop shopping. I found all my lead actors in the same place. In that regard, the casting was remarkable easy. At least something was!

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently?
Because I shot the film in the occupied West Bank, I had to make a lot of compromises. For example, I chose to shoot mini-DV rather than film because I’d heard horror stories of fellow Palestinian filmmakers who had their film cans confiscated by Israeli security, or worse, exposed and ruined. To avoid that possibility, I chose to shoot 24- frame mini-DV with 35 mm film lenses, then transfer to 35 mm later. It’s unfortunate to be forced to make format decisions based on location, but in the end, it was a good look for the film so not too much was compromised. Unfortunately, the film suffers from some minor focus issues though. We couldn’t find a Palestinian focus puller (Israelis weren’t allowed in the occupied territory.) so we had to train a cameraman to pull focus. Luckily, the film’s style is rather soft. And the few shots that aren’t really supposed to be soft hopefully add some charm. (One can hope!) At the end of the day, even with such compromises, I wouldn’t change a thing. There was something about the challenges of putting this film together that made it onto the screen in the form of real, frenetic energy.

Any film influences?
I’m influenced largely by neo-realist cinema – Italian, Iranian and French New Wave. So I love directors like Francis Truffaut, Vittorio De Sica, Jafar Panahi and Abbas Kiarostami.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I really only expect to have fun and meet a lot of people. I guess I also expect to feel lost and freeze my ass off. Good times.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance?
Definitely! I’m excited to see Red Road. I’ve heard such great things about it. I’m also excited to see Enemies of Happiness, the documentary that my short is screening before. It sounds intense. I’m also really looking forward to seeing the Tunisian film VHS–Kahloucha. It won Best Documentary at the Dubai International Film Festival, and I meant to see it there. I was so happy to see that it’ll be at Sundance.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking?

That’s a tough one. I’ve gotten a lot of great advice. But I guess the first thing that comes to mind is: Don’t wait for someone to tell you that you can make your movie. That day may never come. Go out and make it happen on your own.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
What are your film influences? It’s both my favorite and least favorite question. I love hearing what other director’s influences are. But I find it to be a difficult question to answer for myself. I have so many influences! How to whittle it down?

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/20/2007 11:57:00 AM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Salt Kiss, the second short film by writer/director Fellipe Barbosa to screen at Sundance (following last year’s La Muerte Es Pequena), has none of the tropes commonly associated—by Americans—with “Latin American” cinema. That means no knife-fights, gambling, gang violence, or overt poverty. Yet Salt Kiss is absolutely a Latin American film—Brazilian, to be exact—because its creator told a film straight from his heart, and yes, he happens to be from Brazil.

In truth, Salt Kiss shares much more with two fine American independent films released in recent years—Sideways and Old Joy. While one could argue that the characters in those films possess radically different value systems, both movies explore male intimacy, and the pain of growing away from a friend from your salad days

Barbosa has an uncommon gift for creating what seems—quite deceptively—like effortless films, where the characters drift into each other’s lives, casually shatter hearts, and then sober up, unsure if their relationships are too far gone to possibly recover. But here’s the kicker: Salt Kiss is an absolute pleasure to watch, and creates that rarest of all film sensations—it feels like life.

Salt Kiss screens at Sundance in Shorts Program V.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film? Background. From Rio, Brazil. Went to an all-boys school, the only all-boys school in Brazil. Benedictine monks wearing black under the 90 degree-sun. Lots of men all around me. Insanely conservative education. But a great school. Everybody thought I was nuts because I wanted to study film. My peers were all going into engineering or med school or law. The fact that I wanted to study film at a time when Brazilian cinema barely existed (the 90's, after collor shut down Embrafilme) was seen as a joke. I think that made me go into film more than anything else, more than even my love for film—the fact that people didn't believe in it. When I realized it was too late, I was already in it. Then I had to love it. I believe this is the way the film process works for me to this day. That's the logic behind it: I love what I do because I’m doing it.

Education is really learning your limitations, what you cannot do--and, by elimination--what you can do. And finding your voice means finding what you can do well. That's what you're gonna love-- what you can do well. There are lots of types of cinema that I love but I can't do, and I learned that. Therefore, I don't like doing them. And that's essentially what Columbia meant to me-- finding out those things, my limitations-- a very humbling process -- PLUS living day-by-day with people who breathed cinema and love it and knew it so much more than I did and, because of that, made me want to learn more and make more mistakes and fall in love with what I was doing.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film? Inspiration for this film: Rogerio Trindade-- the film's main character and main actor. His magnetism, his charisma, his gift: to ENTERTAIN. How this man who seemed to have everybody and everything was yet so lonely.

As an exercise, I try to find one word that defines what a movie is about. I got a much better sense of which way I was going with “Salt Kiss” when I understood it was about ENTITLEMENT. A man who has everything and everyone, and yet is so lonely.

Everything started from him, Rogerio-- the real guy. He's both the actor and the character. Someone I find truly inspiring, fascinating, magnetic, a force of nature who's out there. It started with him, and with a specific mood-- one of abandonment, decadence maybe. From a group of people I know very well, with whom I have a huge intimacy. Intimacy was key, working with people I feel close to; more important than surrounding myself with complete professionals.

I did everything I could to get these people in the set: the same group of people that inspired me, starting with Rogerio. But it wasn’t until I found out the word-- entitlement-that I could start thinking more precisely about story and how to dramatize Rogerio's problem. It seemed natural to bring into the film his best friend with a fiancé--his best friend being outside his circle of influence now, having outgrown his scene-- and study how Rogerio progressively loses control by NOT HAVING his friend, whom he feels entitled to.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with? (actors, producers, DP, editor, composer, etc.)
Collaborators=friends. Bottom line. They were my friends before being my crew members. People whom I trusted. Very small crew. Would much rather haves friends around me who know just enough of what they're doing than great professionals who totally know what they're doing. The latter really scares me. On my set, nobody should know A LOT.

Relationship with Chris -- my d.p. -- is very special. He is a director before being a DP. So I remember our first and only location scout (the day after he arrived in Brazil I took him to the island!) The location is beautiful and, as we were talking about the shots, I would get these wild ideas and then Chris would stop me, and say: this would be a great shot but i don't think it has much to do with you film. That's when I realized WHY I flew him there, instead of finding a Brazilian DP from the advertising world, who would be all about the cool shots. Chris knew what the film was about, what the process was about; as a director, he understands and appreciates the narrative choices rather than stylistic ones. And at the end of the day, he knows the film will mean nothing for his reel if -- as a film-it doesn't work. The film has to be good before people start talking about its cinematography.

Then, the apparatus; as my good friend and filmmaker Kirill Mykhanovsky says -- reality resists the camera, ALWAYS. So I want to reduce the apparatus as much as I can in order to have less between me and the reality I want to capture. Working with non-actors also helps to make the apparatus invisible. So Chris and I said we were not going to light it-- it would be minimun light for the interior night stuff and absolutely nothing for daytime. When I said that to the grip and the gaffer, they didn't believe it, naturally. So they brought a bunch of their personal gear. Of course they didn't use it, so they were initially kind of disappointed and bored in the set. Then they started paying attention to the scenes, and to Rogerio... this is what mattered -- this is the only thing that matters: who's in front of the camera. If you have someone magnetic and truly charismatic, half of
the job is taken care of. And we had that-- and I can say that bluntly because it has nothing to do with me, but with him, Rogério, only. At the end, the gaffer and the grip, they had a blast. It's like Cassavettes used to say: “Everybody in my set has to care about what's happening in front of the camera, period.” If they're hanging out by the truck doing nothing, it’s bad. Well, I had no truck because we were on an island in the middle of nowhere.

The ISLAND: a character: way of getting away from everything. A place where characters don't have jobs, don't have financial problems, don't have bills to pay, don't have to worry. So i could discuss things that Brazilian cinema usually doesn't have the time/chance to discuss. Because once you have somebody who's hungry or can't pay the bills, it's almost vulgar, and definitely unfair, to discuss his solitude, or why his best friend isn't with him anymore.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently? My biggest regret, or compromise, was not having had more time on the island before the shoot. Not necessarily rehearsal time because I don't think this film would have benefited from rehearsal. The first takes, without rehearsal, were generally the better ones, which is sometimes the case when you work w non-actors who have incredible instincts but no technique to sustain whatever they did first. I wanted more time to simply develop more intimacy between Rogério and the actor who plays Paulo--Domingos. They literally met the night before shoot day one. While Rogerio's entourage was mainly made of people whom he already knew and was very close to-- he had never met Paulo. And since Rogerio came from a different state (Minas Gerais, where he had just had a daughter!), I never had the chance to put the two together in a room until the night before. One week in the island with the two with no cameras would have created a tighter bond.

Any film influences? (this could also include literature, art, music, etc.)
Influences: Lucrecia, Lucrecia. Not formally because her style is way more rigid and controlled than mine. But the patient build-up, the effortless experience, the feeling that this might not be a movie and then, bang, that explosion of dramatic ironies that have slowly been constructed that suddenly justify the whole thing, and I dare say, legitimize it as CINEMA. The Dardennes Brothers: formally -- holding the tension without cutting, the feeling that anything can happen within the frame precisely because of the lack of cutting. La Dolce Vita: the wanderer, the beautiful wanderer-- who's so sad and you don't know why. Sergio Sant’Anna: Brazilian writer (of La Muerte, actually). Embracing the perversion of his characters, and loving them the same, or even more because of that.

My most important influence: Kirill Mikhanovsky, the director of the great Sonhos de Peixe. He was the one who taught me to fight reality in order to print it on film. He also taught me to observe, to sit and look and listen to the things that are interesting.

What are your expectations for Sundance? That the audience is not looking for the "Brazil" in the film...that instead, they're paying attention to these characters, these people, these human beings, whom I happen to know so well. And understand that this is a Brazilian film simply and precisely because it comes from a personal place -- not because it has a cockfight in it.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance? The docs. I had a great time last year watching some of the docs, and I'm looking forward to some of them. Especially Manda Bala and Accidente. the first was made by a Brazilian/Argentinean/American director (if I'm not mistaken) and promises a hot political scandal on screen, so I'm dying of curiosity. Accidente is a Brazilian documentary from a group of filmmakers from Minas Gerais (same state where Rogerio comes from) called TEIA. They make very sensorial, incredibly poetic, work-- I'm a fan of their shorts and I still haven't seen Acidente. Among the features, the David Gordon Green film. I have a soft spot for All the Real Girls, I must admit. I can never wait to watch the films from Malick's disciple! I’m also very very excited about Chicago 10. I really like Brett's The Kid Stays in the Picture, and one of my best friends did the animation for C10! Then, finally, THE SHORTS! They're the most fun part of any festival, as my buddy James Ponsoldt would say.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking? “Follow your instincts,” from Tom Kalin.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors? Least favorite question: "Why did you make this film?". Nobody should ask that. Favorite question: influences...I love to know where each filmmaker is coming from.

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/19/2007 02:08:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker's Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Conversion, the ambitious second short film by Nanobah Becker, clocks in at only nine minutes, and is described simply tantalizingly as: “Christian missionaries make a catastrophic visit to a Navajo family.” Becker’s first short, Flat, has screened in festivals internationally, and she is a recipient of a 2005 Sundance Institute Ford Fellowship and a 2006 Media Arts Fellowship for her feature screenplay, Full.

Conversion will play in Shorts Program V at Sundance.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film? Nanobah Becker, 32, member of the Navajo Nation (mom's Navajo, dad's German-American); from Albuquerque, NM; BA in Anthropology from Brown in 1997, MFA in directing from Columbia Univesity in 2006; had done one other short (Flat) before this and worked on several student productions...I also did research on the feature doc Miss Navajo which is screening this year at Sundance.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film? The proliferation of Mormons, Christian Reform, and other fundamentalist Christian missionaries on the rez. The events in the story are based on an incident my mom told me once between a Navajo medicine man and missionaries on the rez in the ’50s.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with? Producer Courtney Schmidt — I think this was her first job as producer. She came from NYC to shoot. It was a very difficult production that involved a great deal of sensitivity to cultural and linguistic differences, and she did an amazing job. Smokey Nelson, D.P., CU classmate, all around great human. We also worked together on my first short. He works professionally in NYC, mostly as a gaffer at this point. I found Courtney through him. Neel Scott, another CU classmate, edited. He also worked production.

My cast was entirely Navajo and the film is entirely in the Navajo language (no easy feat to cast!). Charmaine Jackson-John is a friend and did a great job. Little girl, Simone Frazier, had never acted before. Deidra Castillo, teenager, is from the area we shot in. All were fantastic.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you'd do differently? I had to make some changes in my script in regards to cultural sensitivity surrounding death and Navajo beliefs.

Any influences? The Piano. Lumumba. Miklós Jancsó (The Red and the White). Some other ones I can't remember.

What are your expectations for Sundance? I just want to go and enjoy it. It makes me so happy that cast and crew are able to join in the celebration.

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance? Miss Navajo. Four Sheets to the Wind. Eagle v. Shark. La Misma Luna.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking? It's a life-long learning process.

What's your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors? Least favorite: What was the budget?

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/19/2007 01:15:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker's Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Hope Dickson Leach’s short film, The Dawn Chorus, tells the story of two siblings who annually reenact—with other survivors—the plane crash that killed their parents. An MFA thesis film for Columbia University’s Film program (where Hope graduated with honors), The Dawn Chorus explores the process of grieving and, hopefully healing. A former assistant to Todd Solondz, Hope’s short films have played at festivals around the world, from London and Edinburgh to Boston and Austin.

The Dawn Chorus screens in Shorts Program 1, and the film’s path to Sundance can be read about at: www.the-dawn-chorus.blogspot.com

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you're from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film? I grew up in Hong Kong, was educated at boarding school in England and then read philosophy at Edinburgh. I turn 31 during Sundance. This is the third short film I've made — the first shot on 35mm, and the longest (at 15 minutes) yet.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film? It was a “what if?” idea. I'd read somewhere that people who experience traumas stay in touch for years. I thought, “Why? What would they talk about?” And obviously the answer is their shared experiences, during and after it. But I started wondering, “What if they never got that far? What if they got stuck on the event, so hung up about how it happened that they never moved on?” I did a massive re-write on the story just after the 2004 elections when I was struck by how Americans (those who live in the large White House anyway) were obsessed with repeating the past, and how the elections seemed to have fallen to the same mistakes that were made in 2000. It helped me articulate the premise of the movie, which is that without change there is no future.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with? 'd worked with Valerie Shusterov (Bonnie) on a previous short film, and seen Henry Glovinsky (Lloyd) in action on another. I actually wrote these parts for them, as I thought they'd make such good siblings. They proved I was right in rehearsals, where they were quickly bickering like real brothers and sisters. I also wrote parts for Julie Kessler (First Flight Attendant) and John Gemberling (Paramedic) whose work I admire so much as they are so committed in their performances that they can be funny and terrifying/heartbreaking at the same time.

My producer Jennifer Westin and I worked together from very early on in the project. It was wonderful to have her on the journey with me. I would never have done it without her.

My editor Jeremy Holloway had been helping me in one way or another with the story and the shooting all the way through, so having him as editor was a gift. He managed to make the movie what I had imagined it to be, which was something I kept ruining when I took over the editing space. He also insisted, quite rightly, that the movie should have a brain AND a heart.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Just about a million. I wanted lots of extras running around in the background, and for a while I considered shooting it all in one take so we could have the perfect dawn light. But ultimately it came down to what was necessary to tell the story, so that's what we did.

Anything you'd do differently? I'd have another day of shooting. Does everyone say that? I wouldn't get lye in my eye two weeks before shooting. That was stupid.

Any influences? I've been reading a lot of Iris Murdoch. I love how she's so driven by finding the transcendent in the every day. Peter Weir, Mike Leigh, Terry Gilliam, Jane Campion. This is the first thing I've done with a happy ending, and I struggled with that for a while, but re-watching The Fisher King helped me lose the fear. Finding the Neil Diamond song was a stroke of luck — it was the perfect tone for my ending, sad but triumphant. I can never get sick of it. Also I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits and The Band while making this movie.

What are your expectations for Sundance? I'm looking forward to hearing when the audience first laughs. It's a dark comedy, and everywhere we've been it's been a different line/moment that gets the first laugh. The most nerve-wracking thing with this film is whether people will get it or not. It's just a great opportunity for people to see your film, and hopefully that leads to being able to make more films that people will see....

Any films you're excited to see at Sundance? I'm very excited about The Savages, Year of the Dog and Snow Angels. I've also been missing How Is Your Fish Today? Everywhere I go, I've heard such great things about it, that I'm making it a priority. And Zidane, of course.

What's the best piece of advice you've read or received about filmmaking? My friend and the brilliant filmmaker Demane Davis (Lift; Black & White & Red All Over) sent me 10 commandments for the first shoot I did. My favorite was “Don't run away from the actors - they're just as scared as you are.” I also like the Elia Kazan story which goes something like “If you don't know where to put the camera next, just tell them to put it anywhere, then go into a corner and work it out, and go back five minutes later and tell them to move it.”

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/19/2007 12:21:00 PM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

It isn’t easy to glean a sense of Ian Olds’ identity from his films — they’re too diverse, too global. From Occupation: Dreamland (short-listed for an Academy Award), a breathtaking documentary that avoids simple political interpretation by opting to tell the story of the Iraq War from the perspective of the entire city of Fallujah — including both native Iraqis and U.S. troops — to Bomb, his most recent film, which explores teenage heartache against the backdrop of a decrepit bombing range and junkie malaise, Olds seems to be imbued with an unusual sense of humanism and empathy for individuals stuck in agonizing situations. Yet, as a storyteller, Ian doesn’t seem concerned with why these hapless characters wound up in dire straits so much as how they cope with the everyday details of their damaged lives.

Ian is currently working on a new documentary that takes place in Afghanistan (aided by a 2006 National Video Resources fellowship). Bomb screens at Sundance in Shorts Program III.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you’re from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film?
I’m 32 and grew up in a small town in Northern California. Before moving out to New York to go to the graduate film program at Columbia I was working in San Francisco as a video editor doing documentaries and some really bad corporate video. I’m not one of those people who always knew they were going to be a filmmaker. I was actually convinced for a long time that I was going to be a professional sailor. I worked on Tall Ships, got my captains license for 100-ton boats and then basically sank the first boat I ever skippered. I was captain of a 60-foot sailboat in Guatemala that some friends of mine bought off a couple of bank robbers. I’m actually not making this up! The FBI showed up and it turned out this couple had made off with a mere $500 and were running from the law in Central America. Anyway, the boat basically sunk, and I decided maybe I shouldn’t be a captain after all.

In terms of film experience prior to Bomb, I did another short that played a few festivals and also directed the feature Iraq documentary, Occupation: Dreamland with the late Garrett Scott. We spent two months in Fallujah, Iraq making that film, so it was a very different experience than making narrative work in upstate New York! But I love doing both doc and fiction work and for me each informs the other. I think making docs keeps me honest and engaged in the world, but fiction work gives me a chance to really explore the full potential of cinematic language.

Sadly Garrett passed away two days before we won a 2006 Independent Spirit Award for the film.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
There were several distinct sources of inspiration for the film, but one of the keys was a story that my actor friend Michelle Maxson told me. Many years ago her mother had passed out on the floor of a strange house where someone proceeded to steal all of her turquoise and pewter jewelry. But the thing was is that she was still semi-conscious. Although she couldn’t move she could see them taking all her stuff as she lay immobile and helpless on the floor. This image haunted me and ultimately inspired one of the central scenes in the film. To top it off, Michelle Maxson, who I always love working with, ended up playing the role of her mother, giving the scene an extra layer of tension.

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
I can’t say enough about the cast and crew. It always amazes me to see people working so hard and often for free in order to bring my little film to life! Working with Melissa Leo was simply wonderful, and the two young leads, John Magaro and Naomi Aborn, where amazing. The whole cast worked incredibly unselfishly. It’s such a relief when you know you have great actors in every role.

Another pleasure was working with my d.p., Jarin Blaschke. All three of the short films he shot last year are playing at Sundance this year, and that’s no coincidence. I’ve never used a video tap when I shoot film, so it’s super important that I can trust my d.p. It makes it tricky, especially because I have such specific ideas about shot design. But Jarin was great and I found out very quickly that I could trust him to make my ideas better.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you’d do differently?
I think there are always compromises you make. Too much stuff is out of your control, and that, in a way, is the beauty of it. I try not to overwrite my scripts in order to leave room for a kind of magic or life to infuse the thing in the shooting. If all you do is render the script than ultimately you end up with a dead, lifeless thing. So hopefully those accidents or compromises surprise you and become the real life of the film.

Any film influences? (This could also include literature, art, music, etc.)
I am definitely inspired by the writing of Denis Johnson. One of my first short films was an adaptation of one of his short stories. He has such deep compassion for his misguided characters and somehow manages to infuse his dark worlds with a truly warm sense of humor.

Also I’ve been thinking a lot about Elem Klimov’s Come and See recently. When I first saw that film I couldn’t believe that something like that existed. Unbelievable. It is both this raw, almost out of control experience and simultaneously an incredibly stylized and operatic piece of filmmaking. I’m glad I saw it for the first time before I went to Iraq and not after. I think if I had seen it right after I got back it would have freaked the hell out of me! You see that film and you know that transcendent work is truly possible.

What are your expectations for Sundance?
I’m trying not to get too carried away worrying about what Sundance will or won’t mean. I’d love to see some great movies and meet fellow filmmakers. Somehow I’m not expecting people to see my short and suddenly hire me to direct Spiderman IV.

Any films you’re excited to see at Sundance?
I always love docs, so I’m looking forward to checking some of those out. I’m also excited about the new Hal Hartley and David Gordon Green movies.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve read or received about filmmaking?
Take great risks. Only through great risk can you make great work.

What’s your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
Shit, I’m drawing a blank on this one... This may not be exactly to your question, but whenever people start throwing the word "auteur" around, I know it’s time to check out.

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/19/2007 11:28:00 AM Comments (0)

This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage.

Bitch, the kinetic, black-and-white, Harold Lloyd-meets-Jello Biafra love story, is one of the most visually sophisticated and stylized films to emerge from that Sundance short film-factory, Columbia University’s MFA Film Program (eight shorts screening at the festival this year!). The film’s director, Lilah Vanderburgh, is obsessed with skater culture, punk-rock, underground comics, and displays the hip film literacy of another director with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture. (Is it taboo to compare a young director to Tarantino? Who cares — in this case, it’s deserved). This film will kick your ass.

Bitch screens at Sundance in Shorts Program III.

Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you’re from? Age? Education? Film experience prior to this film?
I was born in Northern California but grew up in Long Beach. I moved to Texas for junior high and finished high school in Dallas. My mother is a professional Irish folk fiddle player and my father is a college professor. I’m 28. I got a BS in Film from Boston University and a MFA in Film from Columbia. I’ve directed a bunch of shorts, nothing major, done musical theater and run a theater troupe and done a tiny bit of film acting.

Can you briefly describe what inspired your film?
I’m always on that search for the perfect comedic short. I’m not saying I achieved it, but I was certainly aiming for it -- something that wasn’t just based on a gimmick. Something that could perhaps be watched multiple times.) I love physical comedy and comedic dialog and wanted to try something that had both, even harkening back to early silent film. I love the idea of an ID character, someone that breaks social norms and acts purely on impulse. I also wanted to just try some fun stuff, a bunch of styles and shots that I thought would be funny or cool, and how many chances do you get to do that?

Can you talk about some of the people you collaborated with?
My producer was S.J. Main. [She is] also a Columbia MFA grad and another young, female writer/director. I think that helped because, not to totally over generalize, but she didn’t assume I knew nothing about film just because I was a girl. Like me, she’s a visual director herself and also really up on lenses, shots and processing, not just acting and script (which I think is the sort of stereotype of a female director -- good at storytelling, but weak visually). My d.p., Jarin Blaschke (who, by the way, has three films in Sundance this year), is a mad genius. We had a great time collaborating on the shot list, and goofing off. We acted out quite a few scenes in the film to get the right angles and we were always trying to one up each other in coming up with something that was impossible to shoot with no money or equipment (and then shoot it).

My composer was Tim Den, and he composed an original soundtrack of punk songs for me (which I think is a bit of an unusual request for a composer). A hilarious guy also. He has a fast mind and doesn’t need to write anything down and retains hundreds of melody ideas in his head. We wrote and recorded the album together in five days. The sound engineer, Lance Reynolds, and I were the "producers," and we both ended up singing on the soundtrack for want of backup vocalists.

Were there any compromises you had to make on this film? Anything you’d do differently?
I had to make a lot of compromises, almost exclusively because of money and time (money). I don’t know if I would do things differently, because it was an important learning experience, and in the end I still made the film I wanted to make. I’m very happy with the final results (because I think it represents me honestly), although it’s not perfect and there are mistakes I’m determined not to make again. You can always do better the next time.

Any film influences?
Too many to list them all. On this film: Dick Lester (A Hard Days Night, The Knack). Also a bit of Alex Cox (Repo Man) and Buster Keaton. I watched a lot Our Gang (Little Rascals), Blow Up. Listened to X, Minor Threat, The Hives, The Specials, The Streets. Read a lot of skateboard magazines and MoJo. Did newspaper and magazine collage, including things with dried flowers. Read a ton of underground comics. Always really influenced by Anime. What? Too geeky?

What are your expectations for Sundance?
Well, this is my first festival and the first for Bitch, so I don’t plan on selling it or anything. I’d love to meet a lot of cool filmmakers. And hang with some I already know. I’m excited about meeting people who are starting out like me. I feel sort of pumped to be part of this Columbia Mafia we got going at the festival this year. I think it’s best not to have too many job expectations. I’ll sandbag myself a little there.

Any films you’re excited to see at Sundance?
I’m excited about seeing a lot of docs. Autism Today, Hear and Now and Zoo are a few I’m looking forward to. Also curious to see The Signal. I’m really psyched to see the animation shorts, especially Don Hertzfeldt’s latest, Everything will be OK.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve read or received about filmmaking?
I think the single best piece of advice is, "Don’t settle, EVER!" That little voice in the back of your head that says "not good enough," always listen to that. It’s not wrong.

What’s your favorite/least favorite question to read in interviews with directors?
What’s your favorite director/movie of all time? I don’t fuckin’ know. It changes with the wind. I’m better at spotting what I don’t like.

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 1/19/2007 10:35:00 AM Comments (0)