Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“THE CONVINCER” | co-writer-director, Jill Sprecher
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 6:15 pm — Eccles Theatre] I was surprised at how often life imitated art on The Convincer. Starting with my own behavior, which mimicked that of the main character, who is a salesman who uses any tactic he can to get others to do what he wants them to do. I had to convince people to work on a low-budget movie in the middle of winter. I’m from the Midwest; I know what it’s like. We had actors on a frozen lake at 3 a.m. in street clothes, and doing their own stunt driving on […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2011 -
“A FEW DAYS OF RESPITE” | writer-director, Amor Hakkar
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 6:00 pm — Egyptian Theatre] We had decided to shoot in a small town located in the Jura (a mountainous area), which would generate lodging problems for the technical team and for actors. The town hall and the inhabitants were really eager to welcome this shooting and had done everything to make our arrival possible. We found ourselves lodged in the former premises of a prestigious French bank, disused but yet sumptuous. We had at our disposal a significant place which allowed the technical and arts teams to live together during the four-week shoot. Villagers […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2011 -
“GRANITO” | co-writer-director, Pamela Yates
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 12:00 pm — Temple Theatre] Destiny never fails to astonish me. In this case, a story told long ago comes back and speaks to us in a surprising way in the present. When I went to Guatemala in 1982, the sole genocide of the 20th century in the Americas was unfolding and I was shooting my first feature-length documentary there called When the Mountains Tremble. More than 25 years later that film and all the filmic outtakes are being used as forensic evidence in a genocide case against two of the generals in my original […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2011 -
“CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME” | co-writer-director, Madeleine Olnek
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 11:30 pm — Library Center Theatre] My biggest surprise was the miracle of locations we were able to shoot in for free in our “no budget” New York City movie. They were of course all simultaneously open for business, and part of shooting in this vein means that you have to be willing to work in a stop-and-start fashion. First we had asked if we could shoot a day in the stationery store. Then that day turned into two, three, five, seven days… They always said yes, and it always surprised me. Especially after some […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
“THE DETAILS” | writer-director, Jacob Aaron Estes
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 6:15 pm — Eccles Theatre] The surprises began during the initial writing process. I started typing the script not knowing where it was going — not at all in fact. I was just following impulses. Characters emerged from the ether that I did not expect, and a plot emerged without forethought — at least not the kind of structured forethought of an outline or the weeks of pondering and planning that I so often engage in before I begin to write scenes. Truthfully, I had no idea that the keys I was hitting would turn […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
“MAD BASTARDS” | co-writer-director, Brendan Fletcher
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 6:00 pm — Egyptian Theatre] The biggest surprise for me in making this movie is the emotional power of the finished product. As someone with a strong documentary background, making this movie opened my eyes to how powerful the dramatic narrative arc can be when you get it right. We took so many risks on so many levels that I guess I’m still amazed that all the pieces have come together and that the end result gels so beautifully with the music. The performances are a big part of this too — they’re really raw […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
“GUN HILL ROAD” | writer-director, Rashaad Ernesto Green
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 5:30 pm — Library Center Theatre] The biggest surprise for me was how hard it was to cast the role of Michael. During the months of writing and toiling over every beat, I never imagined that the success of our film would come down to finding a miracle child who would wow audiences the world over. Gun Hill Road is the story of a Latino father who returns home after three years in prison to discover his teenage child Michael exploring sexual identity and an alternative lifestyle in ways he can’t possibly comprehend. Casting the other two […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
“KINYARWANDA” | writer-director, Alrick Brown
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Egyptian Theatre] One of the biggest surprises while shooting Kinyarwanda on location in Rwanda is something that we may have just taken for granted. Frankly, it could have been a surprise in the U.S., in a community not familiar with low-budget or independent filmmaking. The community, many of our crew, and local officials seemed to have a really strong grasp of the work of big budget films — situations where, as a solution, money is often thrown at a problem. Many were also very familiar with the other extreme: people picking up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
“TAKE SHELTER” | writer-director, Jeff Nichols
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 3:00 pm — Eccles Theatre] The biggest surprise associated with the making of Take Shelter was, without question, Jessica Chastain. When traveling the festival circuit with my first film, Shotgun Stories, I was fairly outspoken about the fact that Michael Shannon is one of the greatest actors working today. When casting Take Shelter, a film that is anchored by the relationship of a married couple, the biggest question I had was: “What actress could go toe-to-toe with Michael Shannon?” Then the universe delivered me Jessica Chastain. When thinking about this role my executive producer, Sarah […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011 -
SPY CAMERA
For Dana Adam Shapiro’s eerie and erotic relationship drama Monogamy, cinematographer Doug Emmett creates a voyeuristic visual style in line with the film’s conflicted protagonist. Here D.P. Eric Lin chats with Emmett about crafting the film’s unique look.
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011
