Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“Two Lenses and a Monitor Did Not Survive” | Anna Hints, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? I must say that the Smoke Sauna Sisterhood journey has been a total roller-coster or as we call in Estonian “American hills.” So I am more than delighted that in the end of the journey we end up with the world premiere at Sundance in the middle of real American mountains. The first big obstacle was that my first producer […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 31, 2023 -
“I Had To Shoot This Film as a One-Person Crew”: DP Luke Lorentzen on A Still Small Voice
An aspiring chaplain named Mati navigates tragedy, grief and her own bandwidth for handling the incalculable loss of the pandemic in A Still Small Voice, the latest from documentary filmmaker Luke Lorentzen. Finishing her yearlong residency at the spiritual care department in New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, Lorentzen captures Mati and her supervisor Rev. David’s fight to maintain hope and warmth between 2020 and 2021, two of the deadliest years in U.S. history. Lorentzen, who directed, shot and edited the film, discusses how his one-person shoot allowed him to blend into the doc’s setting—and gain the trust of subjects—more […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 31, 2023 -
“All of My Supporting Artists Were Testing Positive” | Nida Manzoor, Polite Society
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? At the beginning of the film there is a big school fight between Ria, the main character, and the school bully. I had always imagined it being set in this grand, round school library, filled with rabid teen girl spectators, creating a bloodthirsty gladiatorial image, a feeling of epic spectacle. When it came to the reality of filming, we were […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“Control of Women’s Sexuality Is What Makes Patriarchy Possible” | Nicole Newnham, The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Our first shoot on The Disappearance of Shere Hite was in the fall of 2021, when we filmed a requiem on the anniversary of Shere Hite’s cremation, held in Paris by her friend and artistic collaborator, the German fashion photographer Iris Brosch. At that time, it was of course already very clear to us that the backlash against feminism that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“I Like to Channel Musicality Into the Act of Editing”: Editor Adam Dicterow on Mutt
Feña (Lío Mehiel) is a 20-something trans guy living in Brooklyn in Mutt, the feature debut from writer-director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. His life is instantly thrown into tumult when a series of people reenter his life unexpectedly, leading to the opening of old wounds. Editor Adam Dicterow talks about the process of cutting Mutt, also offering insight on how lucky he felt to work on the film in the first place. 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 attributes that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“The Best Tool for Capturing Human Behavior”: Editors Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck on Fantastic Machine
Co-directors, cinematographers, producers and editors Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck embark on a meticulous dissection of “image-making and a mapping of its movement through society” in Fantastic Machine, the duo’s documentary that utilizes a large catalogue of archival footage to make its point. Danielson and Aretryck discuss the intricate editing process they undertook for the film along with another co-editor Mikel Cee Karlsson. 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 attributes that led to your being hired for […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“I Consider Myself a Sensitive Person”: Editor Carolina Siraqyan on The Eternal Memory
The Eternal Memory, the latest from Chilean documentary filmmaker Maite Alberdi, follows a couple on a difficult journey after husband Augusto is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. They have been married for 25 years, and August has lived with the disease for eight years at this point. As his memory fades, wife Paulina takes care of him and ensures that above all, Augusto is cognizant of how much he is loved—even if he eventually forgets the woman who provides it for him. Editor Carolina Siraqyan talks about cutting the film and the process of working with Alberdi. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“…Feminist Thought and Knowledge of Bodies With a Vulva Have Been Suppressed Over and Over Again”: Editor Eileen Meyer on The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Still one of the bestselling books of all time since its publication in 1976, The Hite Report offered a groundbreaking look at women’s sexual desires through anonymous survey responses. Despite its success at demystifying vulvas and those who possess them, the book’s author Shere Hite has remained a relatively obscure figure in popular culture. Filmmaker Nicole Newnham’s latest, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, attempts to bring this woman back into relevancy while investigating why her legacy has gone unspoken for so long. Editor Eileen Meyer tells Filmmaker about her experience cutting this project, also offering insight on she came to work […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“I Like To Edit Ideas, Not Sequences”: Editor Geraldine Mangenot on Other People’s Children
In Other People’s Children, the latest from director Rebecca Zlowtowski, a woman in her 40s named Rachel (Virginie Efira) grapples with the idea of being a mother—as well as the idea of going down a child-free path. Editor Geraldine Mangenot, who’s worked with Zlowtowski since her 2019 film An Easy Girl, discusses how being a mother herself influenced the film’s edit. 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 attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Mangenot: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“We Would Light a Candle and Some Impepho at the Start of the Work Day”: Editor Hankyeol Lee on Milisuthando
Milisuthando, the five-part personal essay film from first-time director Milisuthando Bongela, utilizes a trove of unseen archival images of South Africa during apartheid, particularly the all-Black Transkei community that Bongela grew up in. As such, editor Hankyeol Lee had a lot of material to sift through while remaining attentive to the intimate and oft-sensitive details of Bongela’s—and an entire nation’s—traumatic reckoning. Lee tells Filmmaker about how they went about editing the film, including a ritual she and the director would practice in the cutting room. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023
