Authors — Danielle Lurie
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Women of Sundance: Appropriate Behavior
“So, is this exciting to you, or, like, totally normal by now?” director Desiree Akhavan asked her executive producer, Katie Mustard, when we three met over coffee just two weeks after their film, Appropriate Behavior, was accepted into Sundance’s NEXT section. While this is Akhavan and her London-based producer Cecilia Frugiuelle’s first time at Sundance, Mustard has had nine films there – seven features and two shorts. Mustard had been drawn to come on board Akhavan’s film because the script was “just so good” and so “fresh.” Akhavan, who stars in the film as an Iranian-American bisexual struggling to find […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with Cold in July Producer Linda Moran
When I walked in to photograph Linda Moran at her office at Belladona Productions in Chelsea, she was on the phone making magic happen. Her film Cold in July, which she produced, was speedily getting picture locked for Sundance and her office, that she runs with fellow producer René Bastian, was abuzz with activity and inclusiveness: it has what I call the “Google Effect” – which is to say that the office is so cool and fun to work in, employees love coming to work. Linda promptly introduced me to the office mascots: her dogs Zombie and Coco who insisted on […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with The Disobedient Director Mina Đukić
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Đukić: I wanted to stop asking myself “why” about things that were haunting me and instead start a journey of both finding answers and losing them on my way. I felt the urge to express my feelings about many ambiguous and tickling things. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Đukić: Less than 10. Hiring a main actress with attitude, sensibility and energy that I enjoyed was a consideration for me. Once that worked, we could unleash enough female energy to […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Land Ho!
When I went to meet Land Ho! co-director Martha Stephens and producers Mynette Louie and Sara Murphy in their color correction suite in Midtown NYC, they were in fuzzy sweaters with zigzag lines, and were laughing often – which makes sense as their film is a road trip comedy set in Iceland (about two older men who must contend with life after retirement). Just months earlier these sweaters had shielded their crew against the vibrant and freezingly unpredictable Icelandic elements during the production of their film (and kept them warm after getting out of dips in the hot springs – […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: The Foxy Merkins
“How elaborate is the camera?” The Foxy Merkins director Madeleine Olnek texted me as I was walking to photograph her with her female laden crew at Columbus Circle. “We would like to stage ourselves being hit by a cab,” she explained simply and obviously. As it happened, a few months prior to making The Foxy Merkins, a film about lesbian hookers, Olnek was in a taxi driven by a woman named Debbie. They got to talking and Debbie threw out the “If you ever need an [insert random gender, race, or career here]” phrase filmmakers always get. In Debbie’s case it […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with Low Down Writer Amy Albany
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Albany: The genesis of the movie was a memoir I wrote 10 years ago about growing up in 1970’s Hollywood with my dad who was a talented jazz pianist, and a diehard junkie. Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Productions came to my first ever book signing, at Book Soup. Albert said they thought Low Down should be a movie. I thought somebody had put them up to it – you know, as a joke. I checked them out, found out they were legit, to say the least! […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with The Skeleton Twins and War Story D.P. Reed Morano, ASC
When you meet cinematographer Reed Morano, ASC, you immediately start to think of cultivating ways you could maybe become a little cooler, because she seems to do life – in general – so well. For our photoshoot, Morano invited me over to her home in Brooklyn, which she shares with her husband and two young sons, who are five and three. Her apartment is cozy and magically extends outside into an unusually large Narnia-esque garden, replete with a swing set and slide for her kids to play on. Her kids are like calm, respectful, independent yet obedient unicorns: “We just […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 20, 2014 -
Interview with Imperial Dreams Producer Katherine Fairfax Wright
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Fairfax Wright: I guess the most apparent reason behind me producing Imperial Dreams was that the director Malik Vitthal is one of my closest friends and I was eager to help bring his vision through to fruition. When we first met a few years back at LAFF, he mentioned that he was working on a script set in the Imperial Courts housing project in Watts. It piqued my interest because it’s the same housing project that I had spent quite a bit of time at during elementary school. My […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 20, 2014 -
Interview with E-TEAM D.P. Rachel Beth Anderson
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Anderson: For me shooting for this film was a fast YES after learning about the E-Team concept, and knowing I would be working in Syria with Human Rights Watch. I had recently witnessed HRW in action while filming during the Egyptian and Libyan uprisings and respected the quality of their work. It had been difficult to watch the devastating situation in Syria unfold from affair, but with this film I knew I would be in safest hands possible smuggling across the border with an HRW team. Filmmaker: How much of your […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 20, 2014 -
Interview with Fed Up Director Stephanie Soechtig
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Soechtig: The original idea for the film was actually Katie’s (Couric). She liked the way my last film (Tapped) took the issue of bottled water and tied it to so many bigger issues (chemicals in plastic, plastic pollution, the global water crisis) and she thought the childhood obesity epidemic could use the same approach. I was a bit apprehensive at first — haven’t we heard all there is to know about childhood obesity? But as I dug in to the story I discovered we have really only scratched the surface. […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 20, 2014
