Go backBack to selection

“I Had to Start From Scratch and Find the Financing in Europe” | Sophie Barthes, The Pod Generation

A young couple sits in a retro-futuristic room with pink-hued underlights. An egg-shaped object, perhaps really an egg, sits on a small wooden table in front of them. Behind them, a woman with shoulder-length blond hair looks over their shoulders.The Pod Generation. Photo credit: Andrij Parekh, courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film?

Well, the pandemic! We were supposed to shoot this film in New York in July 2019. The pandemic made this impossible. I tried to set up the film in Australia for a while, but that didn’t work out. Finally, I had to start from scratch and find the financing in Europe—and shoot New York in Europe! We brought a New York-based production designer, Clement Price Thomas, so he could infuse the New York feeling into the set design. Luckily, it is a science-fiction film, so we were able to adapt visually and I’m extremely happy with the result on screen.

See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.

© 2024 Filmmaker Magazine. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of The Gotham