“Firework Explosions Went Off During So Many Sleepless Nights Just as They Do in Our Film”: Director Karen Cinorre | Mayday
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it?
As I worked remotely with editor Nick Ramirez and composers Colin Stetson and Caroline Shaw, so much erupted around us. When the horrible COVID surge overtook New York City, we heard endless ambulance sirens while banging pots and pans every night at 7 p.m. to honor our frontline and essential workers. We were simultaneously swept up in the mobilization of Black Lives Matter. We marched, masks on, proud of our own city’s electrifying reaction to events. We listened to the heartbreaking ambulance sirens wailing day and night as we crafted a story inspired by the Greek myth of deadly sirens. Firework explosions went off during so many sleepless nights just as they do in our film. It was a surreal moment in time.
(Check back daily during the festival — new answers are uploaded on the day of each film’s premiere. Read all the responses here.)