Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“She Has Endured So Many Tough Situations”: Director Heather Lenz | Kusama – Infinity
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 work? In my experience, there will always be unexpected situations that arise and create chaos. That said, some people enjoy creating chaotic situations. Personally, I prefer to avoid such people. I see the job of a producer as being a job of clearing obstacles and making it as easy as possible to focus on the work that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2018 -
“How Are We Not Going Insane?”: Director Sandi Tan | Shirkers
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? It’s been my fortune to have been submerged in the sticky, sometimes pungent, always time-warping swamp of personal documentary filmmaking these past three years. My own narcissism (often in the form of horror at seeing/hearing myself on camera) has helped to blot out much of the real-life cataclysms the world has been experiencing since November 8, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2018 -
“I Literally Shot the Whole Movie with Dolls on a Miniature Set”: Director Nicolas Pesce | Piercing
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’m too neurotic for chaos. But there’s always going to be some element of chaos in the process of making any movie. To me, it’s a matter of making sure you encounter as little chaos as possible. As such, I’m a voracious planner in an attempt to try to avoid that inevitable chaos. On my first […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
“I Am Not There to Call Attention to My Lighting:” DP Tom Hurwitz on Shooting Studio 54
Veteran cinematographer Tom Hurwitz has shot more than 100 documentary features and TV series since 1974, when he helped shoot The Grateful Dead, a concert film of the eponymous band live in San Francisco. Hurwitz has worked on such seminal series as Nova, Frontline and American Masters, while his feature doc work includes Wild Man Blues, The Queen of Versailles and last year’s Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold. Having worked on Valentino: The Last Emperor in 2008, Hurwitz again teams up with director Matt Tyrnauer for Studio 54, a doc on the legendary New York nightclub. Studio 54 makes its debut […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
“More Used to Filming Drug Busts than Nerd Conventions”: Directors Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster | Science Fair
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? Before making our first feature film, we were both investigative reporters. We’ve spent a dozen-plus combined years hanging out with drug dealers, pimps, warlords and cartel kingpins in some sketchy places, so we were pretty used to working in hard-to-predict environments. We naively thought that making a light hearted documentary about the science fair would be […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
DP Zak Mulligan on Shooting Sundance Drama We the Animals on Super 16mm
Cinematographer Zak Mulligan has worked on roughly 30 shorts, features, documentaries and TV series over the past decade. Mulligan served as DP on We the Animals, which premieres at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival as part of the NEXT lineup. The film marks the first narrative feature from Jeremiah Zagar, a documentary filmmaker whose 2008 In a Dream was shortlisted for an Academy Award and whose 2014 Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart screened in competition at Sundance. Below, Mulligan speaks with Filmmaker about blending digital and 16mm footage, stretching the number of shoot days and twisting his ankle on the set […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
“You Cannot Control Everything in Film”: Director Jim Hosking | An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn
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 work? As far as last year being an increasingly chaotic backdrop, that didn’t directly affect me or the making of my film. My film is not especially attuned to the zeitgeist. But as far as chaos is concerned – and chaos might be too strong a word for it – I think it informs my work on […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
“You Have to Give Up Control to Find the Story”: Director Alexandra Shiva | This Is Home
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? Making a cinema vérité-style documentary is inherently chaotic; you are immersing yourself in the lives of others and life never follows a script. You have to give up control to find the story. This film was especially chaotic though. We were following a group of Syrian refugees during their first eight months in America. We met […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
Zoë White on Filming Christina Choe’s Feature Debut NANCY Starring Andrea Riseborough
Zoë White has DP’d more than 30 features and shorts since 2004, including Stephen Cone’s Princess Cyd and Onur Tukel’s Catfight. Her latest work, NANCY, marks the feature debut of Christina Choe, a writer/director whose shorts have screened at Telluride and SXSW. NANCY tells the story of a struggling writer (Andrea Riseborough) who tells elaborate lies on the Internet to compensate for her creative failures. The film co-stars Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd and John Leguizamo. Below, White discusses how she and Choe arrived at the film’s visual design. NANCY screens in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018 -
“Cats are Totally Un-Directable, Even with Food” Christina Choe | NANCY
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 work? I think directing on set is all about managing the balance between chaos and order. You’re constantly navigating between what you can control and what you cannot — perhaps because it’s the only art form in which there’s a ticking time bomb and a lot of money on the line, all happening while you are in […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018
