Authors — Chris Ohlson
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“I’m a Make-it-Simple Shooter — My Doc Experience Informs My Narrative Work”: DP Matt Mitchell on Shooting Little Woods
Cinematographer Matt Mitchell lensed Little Woods, which world premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival where writer/director Nia DaCosta won the Tribeca Film Festival’s Nora Ephron Award. Shortly thereafter, the film was acquired by NEON and is currently in theaters. Little Woods is a modern Western about two women in rural America. Shot in Texas, but set in North Dakota, the film is a carefully composed drama, while also very much feeling like an emotionally-charged thriller. I sat down with Mitchell before last year’s festival premiere to talk about how he went about creating the look and feel of the […]
by Chris Ohlson on Apr 25, 2019 -
“It’s Black or White to Me, a Frame that I Like or Don’t Like”: Drew Xanthopoulos on Lensing Discreet
With three new films on the horizon, I sat down with cinematographer Drew Xanthopoulos in the week leading up to the Berlinale World Premiere of Discreet. As part of the producing team of Discreet, I know the film intimately, and knowing also that Xanthopoulos had lensed three wildly different, challenging films in the last year alone, I wanted to learn more about how he creatively approaches his craft and new projects. (In addition to Discreet, Travis Matthews’s stark, carefully composed and mysterious thriller, he has shot Kyle Henry’s upcoming drama Rogers Park, about couples struggling to keep their love alive. […]
by Chris Ohlson on Apr 6, 2017 -
“MELVIN” — A DESPERATE YOUNG MAN BECOMES A PARENT
Yup, it’s true. IFP’s Independent Film Week has come and gone. We are now navigating that outside-of-the-cocoon existence again, where our Melvin team is no longer in the safe environs of IFP’s Independent Film Week hug. Will a higher percentage of our emails and phonecalls be returned now that we’ve made some sort of personal connection with people from all walks of the industry’s life? That’s to be determined. I can only say, I really hope so… After all the speed dating, panels, cage matches, and impromptu conversations, I am left with a strange taste in my mouth. After navigating the production […]
by Chris Ohlson on Oct 1, 2010 -
“MELVIN” NEGOTIATES THE APOCALYPSE (PART 2 OF 3)
We are the survivors of the apocalypse. We have gathered to exchange filmmaking horror stories, to discuss escape strategies, to compete with each other for limited resources and opportunities. The atmosphere, through countless panels, parties and pitches, is cloaked in uncertainty. Still, we are here. New York City. Independent Film Week. And, honestly, I’ve never felt better. My film Melvin, a small American drama without movie stars, is—if the formula is to be believed—facing a daunting, dare I say, Sisyphean climb (the IFP logo is spot on) ahead into the world. Here’s how it has gone down: Industry Person: Tell […]
by Chris Ohlson on Sep 24, 2010 -
A SIMMERING BLOG POST FROM A DESPERATE YOUNG MAN (PART 1 OF 3)
So I’m writing in 3 parts about my experiences at IFP’s Independent Film Week. Of course I’m writing this first dispatch before I get there, if only to shed some light on my general mental state as I prepare for this event and on what the hell I think I’ll be doing during the week. Officially, I’m attending as part of the IFP’s Filmmaker Labs, where back in June, my feature film directorial debut, Melvin, was 1 of 10 works-in-progress selected to be workshopped and taken under the IFP’s loving wing for 12 months. That experience, in June, was STELLAR […]
by Chris Ohlson on Sep 17, 2010
