Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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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 -
“My Goal Was to Make More than Just Pretty Pictures or Just Cover Scenes”: DP Denson Baker on Ophelia
Cinematographer Denson Baker’s recent projects have included the award-winning New Zealand drama The Dark Horse, the Oliver Stone-produced documentary Ukraine on Fire and the 2009 India-set romance The Waiting City. That last film was directed by Claire McCarthy, Baker’s wife and the director of Ophelia. Ophelia, which screens at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, casts Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts and Clive Owen to reframe Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of the ill-fated Ophelia. Baker speaks with Filmmaker below about the key paintings that influenced the film, collaborating with his wife and capturing the film’s tricky opening shot. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“I Would Receive a Call Hours Before a Potential Shoot”: DP Alex Pollini on Filming Seeing Allred
From directors Sophie Sartain (Mimi and Dona) and Roberta Grossman (Above and Beyond) comes Seeing Allred, a documentary portrait of famed women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred. The film premieres at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and will reach Netflix on February 9. Sartain and Grossman tapped Alex Pollini, a DP on many shorts, including more than 30 for CollegeHumor, to shoot the film. Below, Pollini discusses his experiences capturing Allred in her private moments “outside of the press conferences and big public events.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“A Fresh, Intimate Glimpse of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life”: Editor Carla Gutierrez on RBG
Carla Gutierrez began her career as a documentary editor in 2006 on Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. She has since edited the Oscar-nominated short La Corona, the Emmy-nominated feature Reportero and When Worlds Collide, which won the Special Jury Prize for Best Debut Feature at Sundance in 2016. She returns to the festival having edited RBG, a documentary on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Gutierrez speaks with Filmmaker below about blending new and archival interviews and how RBG is a “love story of a woman who strived to accomplish great things and the man who […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“A Tsunami of #metoo Accusations Ensued”: Directors Sophie Sartain and Roberta Grossman | Seeing Allred
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? Seeing Allred is a film with two threads: one biographical and the second a vérité unfolding of contemporary events, including the Cosby story and the Trump election. The biographical story, although complex and fascinating, was well behaved and stayed put. The contemporary thread was more chaotic and not neatly resolved. We thought we would be following […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“I Am Very Sensitive to the Needs of the Performance Artist”: DP Ava Porter on Narcissister Organ Player
Multidisciplinary artist Ava Porter was one of four people to serve as a cinematographer on Narcissister Organ Player. The film, which premieres at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, is the work of performance artist Narcissister, who has in recent years received profiles in the New York Times, Vice and Huffington Post for her provocative work. Below, Porter discusses her experience as one of the shooters on the genre-defying Narcissister Organ Player. 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 hired for this job? Porter: Narcissister needed someone […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
“We Tried to Avoid Making an Emotional and Psychologically Engaging Film”: DP Nadim Carlsen on Holiday
Danish cinematographer Nadim Carlsen has shot more than 20 music videos, commercials, shorts and features since 2009. In recent years he served as DP on the horror film Shelley, which screened at Berlin and CPH:PIX, and What Will People Say, which played at TIFF and IFFR. Carlsen went to film school with Isabella Eklöf, the director and cowriter of the provocative Holiday. Ahead of the film’s five screenings at Sundance, Carlsen spoke with Filmmaker about his use of static long takes and why he and Eklöf sought to create glossy images that “contradict the dark and dramatic content” of the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018
