Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“How Do You Make Sympathetic an Intentionally Enigmatic Character?”: Editor Mark Yoshikawa on The Catcher Was a Spy
Mark Yoshikawa worked as an assistant editor for a decade before he began editing films and TV series full time. This decade he’s edited three films by Terrence Malick, the first two installments of the Hunger Games franchise and three episodes of HBO’s Westworld. His latest film, The Catcher Was a Spy, tells the real-life story of Moe Berg, a professional baseball player who became a spy for a U.S. intelligence agency during World War II. The film stars Paul Rudd, in a rare dramatic, along with cast of heavy hitters: Jeff Daniels, Guy Pearce and Paul Giamatti. Below, Yoshikawa speaks with Filmmaker about […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2018 -
“You Can’t Just Slash and Burn through a Cut”: Editor Michael Taylor on A Kid Like Jake
Michael Taylor has been editing the work of America’s independent filmmakers since 2004. Taylor has cut films for Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange), Rick Alverson (Entertainment) and Julia Loktev (The Loneliest Planet), to name a few. In 2017, he edited two films to appear at the Sundance Film Festival: Elvis & Nixon and Deidra & Laney Rob a Train. He returns to the festival this year having edited A Kid Like Jake, a New York-set drama starring Claire Danes, Jim Parsons and Octavia Spencer. In the interview below, Taylor goes in depth on how he broke into editing, his love of New […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2018 -
“A Powerful Charge of Life in Front of the Lens”: Director Michael Pearce | Beast
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I love movies that are made with a compelling sense of design and meticulousness, when the eye of the filmmaker is laser-focused and every expressive element is working harmonically to achieve the maximum impact. When the filmmaker is in an embattled relationship with reality, protecting it from sabotaging their vision, shielding it from its inherent chaos. […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2018 -
“I Have No Idea How My Little Sony AS7 Camera Survived”: Director Cody Lucich | Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I was at the complete mercy of the story. There was no planning or control. I couldn’t go out and plan a shoot, or figure out when the story was over. I had absolutely no idea how long “production” was going to go for. While we battled a pipeline at camp, I shot for eight months […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2018 -
“I Always Had Two to Three Cameras Rigged”: DP John Behrens on The Game Changers
Louie Psihoyos, the Oscar-winning director of The Cove, returns to the Sundance Film Festival with The Game Changers, his new documentary on the health and environmental impacts of plant-based diets. Psihoyos premiered his previous doc, Racing Extinction, at the festival in 2015. John Behrens (The Mask You Live In) served as a cinematographer on that project, and he reunites with Psihoyos as the DP of The Game Changers. Below, Behrens speaks with Filmmaker about shooting in five different countries and the influence of Natural Born Killers (of all films) on the project. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“We Never Managed More than Three Takes on a Shot”: DP Benjamin Kracun on Beast
The debut feature from writer/director Michael Pearce, Beast arrives at the Sundance Film Festival after having screened at festivals in Toronto, London, Thessaloniki, Stockholm and elsewhere. The film takes place on a small island in the English Channel and chronicles an intense relationship between between two outcasts: Moll (Jessie Buckley) and Pascal (Johnny Flynn). Pearce hired his longtime friend from film school Benjamin Kracun to shoot Beast. Below, Kracun shares his thoughts on filming this romantic psychological thriller. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
DP Ashley Connor on Filming Sundance 2018’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Madeline’s Madeline
In 2017, cinematographer Ashley Connor had films she shot premiere at Tribeca, BAMcinemaFest and Sundance. She returns to the latter festival this year having shot two features. The first is The Miseducation of Cameron Post from director Desiree Akhavan, a ’90s-set teen movie starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane of American Honey. The film screens at the festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The second film, from the NEXT lineup, is Madeline’s Madeline from writer/director Josephine Decker. Connor spoke with Filmmaker about filming both titles prior to their premieres at Sundance. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“A Queer Punk at Heart”: Director Silas Howard | A Kid Like Jake
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I’ve been making films for a long time now – mostly with friends, mostly on a shoe-string and sometimes renegade, so I’m no stranger to filmmaking chaos and incredible teams that find ways to rise above! One of the amazing things about making A Kid Like Jake was that we were all well-supported, and we assembled […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“We Wanted Her to Symbolically Blend into Her Environment”: DP Chris Norr on Puzzle
Chris Norr edited his first Sundance movie in 1996 with the feature Timeless. He has since lensed films to screen at the festival in 1998 (Franchesca Page), 2004 (Second Best) and 2010 (Sympathy for Delicious). He returns to the festival this year with Puzzle from director Marc Turtletaub (producer of Little Miss Sunshine and Safety Not Guaranteed) and writer Oren Moverman (Love & Mercy). Below, Norr discusses the influence of French painter Pierre Bonnard on the project and his visual goal to have his lead character “blend into her background and mirror her feeling of being lost and insignificant.” Filmmaker: How and why […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“The World’s Most Dangerous Myth – that we Need Meat to Be Strong”: Director Louie Psihoyos | The Game Changers
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? We were making a film about how a plant-based diet might improve performance in elite athletes by improving blood flow, reducing inflammation and decreasing recovery time. It turns out that these advantages in athletic performance are caused by the same mechanisms that affect our overall health. In the middle of filming, our main subject’s father had […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018
