Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“The Language of the Film Slowly Emerges in the Editing Room”: Editor Michal Reich on DJ Ahmet
A fifteen-year-old boy navigates first love, familial pressure and his newfound love of music in DJ Ahmet, premiering in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film is the feature debut by Sundance Short Film Program alum Georgi M. Unkovski. Michal Reich (The Ballad of Piargy) served as his former university mate’s editor. Below, he talks about moving scenes around in the edit to provide the desired emotional arc and preserving the performances of non-professional actors. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“All of Us Cracked Up Hysterically” | Violet Du Feng, The Dating Game
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? To me, making films has been driven by the desire to express myself. But for filmmakers like me from more oppressive societies, for our films to reach audiences, we often learn to express ourselves indirectly, through metaphors, creating evocative atmospheres, or embedding subversion into narrative structures. In The Dating Game I was determined to express myself freely without […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“A Symbol of Hope and Inspiration for Future Generations”| Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Casting Elvira, the lead role in my debut feature, was a big challenge. As a fairy tale, the film demands actors capable of embracing absurdity and heightened emotions while remaining grounded in the humanity of their characters. Elvira, in particular, required a unique blend of physicality, emotional depth, innate humor, and stamina for long […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“It Was an Ambitious Project From the Get-go”: Editor Bryan Mason on Jimpa
Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), a non-binary teenager, falls in love with Amsterdam on a visit to her beloved grandpa (John Lithgow), who she affectionately calls Jimpa, in Sophie Hyde’s film of the same name. Deciding that she wants to stay with Jimpa for an entire year, her mother (Olivia Colman) wrestles with her parenting instincts and the idea of what’s best for her child. Editor Bryan Mason discusses cutting Jimpa, shedding insight on his recurrent collaboration with Hyde, the question he always asks himself before embarking on a project and his background as a skate video editor. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“I Always Love Rehearsals” | Sophie Hyde, Jimpa
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? I always love rehearsals, the urgency to shut everything away and tune into the characters and get to know the cast. On Jimpa I remember a striking rehearsal session where John Lithgow was meeting with the actors who make up his closest friends in the film, three wonderful Dutch actors (Hans Kesting, Frank Sanders […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“What Paul Was Saying Was Very Reflective of Who He Was”: Editor Damian Rodriguez on Pee-wee as Himself
Filmmaker Matt Wolf chronicles the life and career of Paul Reubens—best known as his alter ego Pee-wee Herman—via intimate interviews and a trove of archival footage in Pee-wee as Himself. Filmed before the artist’s recent death, the series premieres in Sundance’s Episodic section. Editor Damian Rodriguez discusses navigating Herman’s enormous personal archive, how the actor’s passing altered the film’s narrative and passing down his own affinity for Pee-wee’s Playhouse to his son. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“With Each Location We Embraced Its Essence:” DP Matthew Chuang on Jimpa
In director Sophie Hyde’s Jimpa, non-binary teen Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) travels to Amsterdam with her mother Hannah (Olivia Colman) to visit her grandfather (John Lithgow); Frances’ longtime nickname for him lends the film its title. Won over by her grandfather’s unabashed queerness and the community he calls home, Frances communicates her desire to stay in Holland for a year to live with Jimpa, which, naturally, complicates things for Hannah. Cinematographer Matthew Chuang delves into the difficulties of shooting between Adelaide and Amsterdam, the influence of Nan Goldin on the film and the “memorable experience” of riding a bike to set […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“A Feeling of Endless Night”: DP Arseni Khachaturan on April
In April, the sophomore feature from Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili, a small-town obstetrician (Ia Sukhitashvili) comes under scrutiny when a baby dies during delivery. The investigation, spearheaded by the father of the deceased infant, threatens to also expose the young woman’s clandestine abortion operation. Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan tells Filmmaker about shooting a live birth scene, her recurring collaboration with Kulumbegashvili and the team’s naturalistic approach to lighting. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“The First Time Paul Eased Into the Role of Subject” | Matt Wolf, Pee-wee as Himself
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? It was a long process to get Paul Reubens comfortable appearing in front of the camera for the documentary. Paul had been an avid home videomaker since the 1970s, and a huge amount of his own footage appears in the documentary. With that in mind, I bought Paul a new camcorder, and I asked […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025 -
“We Wanted a Visual Language That Was Both Filmic and Intimate”: DP Guy Mossman on Speak.
<i>Speak</i> follows five high school Speech & Debate students who dream of winning at the event’s annual national tournament, one of the world’s biggset public speaking competitions. Jennifer Tiexiera (Unveiled, Subject) teamed up with Guy Mossman (The Human Trial) to direct the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition premiere. Below, Mossman, who also served as the film’s director of photography, gets technical as he discusses the different equipment he used in <i>Speak.</i> He also recounts the difficulties of shooting the 2023 Nationals tournament in the blistering Phoenix heat and how it prepared him for the following year’s tournament. See all responses to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2025
