Authors — Alexandra Byer
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Is Sundance Worth It for Film Crew Members? Veteran Festival Goers Offer their Advice
Over the next ten days, the Sundance Film Festival will screen 113 feature films, and tens of thousands of people descend on the small town of Park City, Utah. Included in those crowds are the crewmembers from all over the world that made those 113 movies possible. While directors with projects premiering at Sundance are flown out to Utah by distributors or financiers, many crewmembers who worked tirelessly and often for very little money wind up paying their own way to the festival in order to support their own films. It’s an expensive trip, and they may wind up without […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 20, 2017 -
10 Tips for Surviving the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Survival Guides are a tradition here at Filmmaker. Producer and Contributing Editor Alicia Van Couvering wrote one in 2009 and again in 2012, and producer Mynette Louie offered her advice in ’15. This year, producer Alexandra Byer (Dark Night) remembers her own rituals for making it safely through the Park City gauntlet. Ignore these at your own peril. — Editor 1. Dress warmly, leave the heels at home. You are headed to the snowy mountains of Utah! Most people traveling to Park City in the winter months are headed to ski or snowboard, but you are just planning to […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 18, 2017 -
IFP & Vimeo Celebrate Filmmakers and Storytellers at 2014 Sundance Film Festival
On Sunday night, IFP and Vimeo held a party to celebrate the thirteen films screening at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival that had first been developed at the IFP Labs, Project Forum or other IFP programs. IFP supported films included Appropriate Behavior, CAPTIVATED: The Trials of Pamela Smart, Cesar’s Last Fast, Dinosaur 13, Hellion, Little Accidents, Marmato, Memphis, Obvious Child, The Overnighters, Ping Pong Summer, Rich Hill and The Skeleton Twins. The Park City celebration also included many of the 45+ IFP alumni from previous years that were launching new work at the Sundance Film Festival. Joana Vicente, IFP and Made […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 24, 2014 -
Sundance Days Four and Five: Reflection
I think I incorrectly titled my last post. Compared to the rate I am moving at now, my pace on Day Three seems utterly turbo. I am combining the last two days because there is a bit less to report. A good number of our crew members had flights cancelled due to a snow storm in New York City, which allowed for a bit more time to reflect all together. Memphis screened at the Sundance Resort on Tuesday evening. While the movie played for a different audience than we had interacted with over last four days, our crew sat in […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 23, 2014 -
Sundance Day Three: Slowing Down
While the days moved just as quickly as earlier in the festival, and really it was only Day 3, Sunday felt slower, calmer. Maybe I felt more confident having two super successful screenings under our belt, maybe I was more in the rhythm of working on little sleep and running between events and interviews, but things seemed to be moving a tad slower. That does not necessarily mean energy was low, very much the opposite. The Memphis crew was buzzing around parties and screenings and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Willis Earl Beal, our lead, was even having a good time – and he […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 21, 2014 -
Editing & Music: An Interview with Three Editors at the Sundance Film Festival
Music in cinema continually captivates audiences. Scores and soundtracks can become as renowned as a film itself and play a large part in an audience’s emotional engagement with a movie. Awards are distributed honoring Best Original Song, Best Original Music Score, Best Film Music, and Best Music Direction at multiple film festivals and award ceremonies. But music has also always been a fascinating subject for movies as well. Struggling musicians to sensational bands, and everyone in between, have been captured in film. The Sundance Film Festival is often the first venue at which these movies premiere, and this year is […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 20, 2014 -
Sundance Day Two: Keep Going
Is anyone else already exhausted? Day Two was about keeping energy up. Despite a late Friday night, a less than peaceful rest over at the crew condo, and once again forgetting to drink enough water, on Saturday we had to keep moving. It’s pretty incredible how quickly the hours disappear. Waking up at 7A to realize it is quickly 6P and you have no idea how that could have happened. Where did the day go? Day Two went to supporting fellow filmmakers, an extremely successful radio show, pouring over press breaks, and a long drive back and forth to Salt […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 20, 2014 -
Creating Memphis and Ping Pong Summer: An Interview with Production Designer Bart Mangrum
This is not production designer Bart Mangrum’s first movie at the Sundance Film Festival. He designed Septien (2011, directed by Michael Tully) and I Used To Be Darker (2013, directed by Matt Porterfield), and was both an on-set dresser and extra in Stoker (2012, directed by Chan-wook Park). But this is the first time Mangrum has been at Sundance as the production designer of two feature films screening in the same category. Mangrum was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and still lives there. His father ignited his enthusiasm for art by teaching him how to draw during church around […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 20, 2014 -
Sundance Day One: Premiere Your Film
This is my fourth year attending the Sundance Film Festival, but my first as a producer with a film playing. In the last few years I have come as a spectator, volunteer, fan, and writer, but yesterday I premiered a film as a co-producer. Our film, Memphis, premiered Friday morning in the NEXT section to a sold-out audience. Last year I chronicled my experience at the festival through a barrage of photos of films I went to, meetings I took, and parties I enjoyed as I tried hard to hustle and find traction with some projects — one of which […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 18, 2014 -
Producing Shorts into Features: Three Producers and Their Films at Sundance
Curious about the physical process of turning a short into a feature, Filmmaker magazine interviewed the producers of three separate films about their experiences. Each film was originally a short that previously premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is now a feature making its World Premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section. Last year director Damien Chazelle’s short won the Jury Prize at Sundance. This year, his feature of the same name, Whiplash, is the festival’s Opening Night feature. Transformed from an intense 15-minute short into a 105-minute full-length film, Whiplash maintained the same producing team but had to […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 16, 2014
