Authors — Danielle Lurie
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Interview with Hellion Director Kat Candler
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Candler: Hellion started as a short film that played Sundance in 2012. The original story for the short came from a story my Uncle Frank would tell at family gatherings. When Frank was little, he and my two other Uncles set fire to my grandfather’s jeep. What happened when my grandfather came home to discover the destruction was the nugget of a story I fictionalized into Hellion. When we wrapped the short over the summer of 2011, I wanted to continue to live with these characters … a single blue-collar […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Obvious Child
Gillian Robespierre, Elisabeth Holm and Jenny Slate are highly skilled comedians who are prone to self-deprecation and the bawdiest of humor that will make even the most sexually liberated feel prude. When I went to Robespierre’s apartment to take their photo, however, it was not a time for gag humor with kitschy props (condoms were, for example, off limits). Their film, Obvious Child, written and directed by Robespierre, produced by Holm and starring Slate, is both bold in its humor and also its intent: to make a comedy that talks about real issues that women face – something usually saved for […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Interview with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Director Ana Lily Amirpour
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Amirpour: Because I’m lonely, romantic, and love to dance. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Amirpour: Just our costume and makeup departments. The rest were a glorious and talented group of boys. Filmmaker: How did you go about raising funding for it? (I ask this because most female filmmakers says that being female makes it harder to raise funds, so thought your story could be inspiring — I know this topic can be touchy feely, so answer it in the way that […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Interview with My Prairie Home Director Chelsea McMullan
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? McMullan: Rae Spoon and I have been friends and collaborators for some time. The more they (Spoon prefers the use of the gender-neutral, third-person pronoun) told me about their life and their story, the more interested I was. I just found it fascinating, and I wanted to know more. That started triggering all these questions of my own, about Rae’s specific experience but also broader questions about the context of the world we’re all living in. It was becoming this big knotted ball of curiosity, and I think another […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Interview with Private Violence Director Cynthia Hill
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Hill: This is probably not a film I would have initiated on my own. It’s a subject matter that touches me personally, but one I’ve left behind. But six years ago, Kit Gruelle, an advocate for battered women, asked me to work on a project about the history of the battered women’s movement. It was intended to honor the women – and male allies – who have dedicated their lives to ending violence against women. So I started following Kit to work in shelters, court rooms, training sessions, wherever she would […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Interview with 52 Tuesdays Director Sophie Hyde
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Hyde: Many reasons. We had the opportunity to make something that was a genuine investigation of narrative – how it was made (shooting one day a week every week for one year and scripting as we went) as well as how it is viewed (every Tuesday is seen in the film). These rules or parameters helped us explore how we make films and how we construct our lives, so we were always working toward the finished film but we were also deep inside an experience ourselves. I wanted to […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 18, 2014 -
Interview with E-TEAM Director Katy Chevigny
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Chevigny: My co-director, Ross Kauffman, and I were intrigued by the fact that no one had ever been granted access to make an independent film about Human Rights Watch researchers in the field. We knew their work was fascinating and thought it was an interesting opportunity. And once we actually met the member of the E-Team in person, we knew there were some great characters there. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Chevigny: My co-director, Ross Kauffman, is a man. Our […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 18, 2014 -
Interview with Drunktown’s Finest Director Sydney Freeland
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Freeland: I grew up on the Navajo reservation and one thing that struck me growing up was that I never saw anybody that I recognized in the movies. I wanted to tell a story about the people and experiences I saw growing up and that’s what set me out to try and make this movie. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Freeland: I’m not sure, honestly. Our pre-production schedule was only 3 weeks and our shoot schedule was only 15 days. […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 18, 2014 -
Interview with Captivated: The Trials Of Pamela Smart Editor Keiko Deguchi
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Deguchi: I worked with Jeremiah Zagar, the director of this film before – on his first feature length documentary film called “In A Dream”. Even before I worked with him, by looking at a few scenes he put together, I could tell he was an extremely talented filmmaker. Not only that he is a delight to work with! We became good friends since and when he asked me to edit this film, I was thrilled. I would’ve dropped everything to work with him. Filmmaker: Do you think a male director might have […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 17, 2014 -
The Women of Sundance 2014
Women, this is our year. I don’t say this because I’ve got numbers to back me up (because I don’t), or because I’m generally an overly optimistic cheerleader of life (though I am). I say this because it’s our only choice. This has to be our year. As Sundance kicks off in Park City, a large handful of women are about to debut their new films and fresh voices to the world. And after interviewing almost all of them myself I can say, in my most eloquent terms, that this year’s slate of Sundance female filmmakers is absolutely badass. The […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 17, 2014
