Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“We Had to Turn Everything Upside Down”: Producer Mads-August Hertz on Sauna
Sauna tells the story of a budding romance between a cis man and a transgender man in Copenhagen that forces both of them to consider how they conceive of themselves in relation to how society positions them. The film, the debut feature of writer-director Mathias Broe, is part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. It is also the first producer credit for Mads-August Hertz, who offers reflections and insights on his biggest job yet and the difficulties of adapting novels below. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: How did you connect […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“I Often Think of Doc Editing as Being Similar to Poetry”: Editors Kate Hackett & Andy McAllister on Sally
Sally Ride is well-known for being the first woman in space, but less recognized is her 27-year partnership with Tam O’Shaughnessy. Director Cristina Costantini gives both the professional and the personal equal treatment in the Sundance Premieres documentary Sally. Much of the film consists of footage shot by NASA during astronaut training. Editors Kate Hackett and Andy McAllister were tasked with combing through NASA’s enormous archive for Sally. Below, they talk about the challenges and excitement of being presented with so much footage and the importance of keeping the film close to Sally Ride’s story. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“Keep Working with the Psychology of the Characters”: Editor Linda Man on Sauna
Mathias Broe’s feature debut Sauna tells the story of a man thriving in Copenhagen’s queer community who falls for a transgender man, upending his conception of himself. The film is part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Linda Man (Psychosia, 3 Things) served as editor for Sauna. Below, Man talks about restructuring the first act in order to capture the audience and keeping character psychology at the forefront. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“Draw the Audience into Johan’s World”: DP Nicolai Lok on Sauna
In Sauna, the care-free Johan falls for a transgender man, forcing him to confront his societal position with regard to gender and love. The film is the feature debut of Mathias Broe and screens as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Nicolai Lok served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he explains his choice of camera and lenses and how Sauna‘s story provided room to explore visual ideas. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“More Than a Production, It Was a Communion” | Kahlil Joseph, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
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? We filmed in Accra, Ghana for Track 16. Reflection Eternal, which is about W.E.B Du Bois in his later years. It was late November when we arrived, and the humid air was thick with the season’s slow, deliberate pulse. We stayed through the turn of the year, marking the holidays in West Africa, far from […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“Look at This Not as Reportage of an Event, But as a Metaphor”: Editor Yousef Jubeh on Khartoum
Khartoum is a poetic documentary that retraces the stories of five Sudanese refugees during the coup and outbreak of the civil war. The film, directed by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Tomeea Mohamed Ahmed and Phil Cox, is part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. Editor Yousef Jubeh was tasked with compiling archival material, documentary footage from Sudan and green screen studio material. Below, he talks inspiringly of Sudanese culture and history and describes a sequence in the film that, in its description, evokes Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike. See all responses to our annual Sundance […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“Isaac Mizrahi in the Tub” | Douglas Keeve, Unzipped
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? Isaac Mizrahi in the tub, chatting with his mother on the phone as if the cameras weren’t there. No problem being filmed mid-soak. Nudity wasn’t a thing for him—or for me, really. When you’re around supermodels like Linda, Naomi, Kate and Cindy, modesty isn’t exactly part of the gig. Clothes came off as quickly […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“I’d Have Done This One on iMovie if They’d Asked Me To”: Editor Christopher Passig on Middletown
In the early 1990s, teenagers enrolled in Fred Isseks’ Electronic English would regularly report on the illegal dumping of toxic waste in their community, their investigation culminating in a student film at the end of the course. Now thirty years older, these former students and Isseks look back on their projects and reflect on their impact on the town’s legacy. Editor Christopher Passig delves into the process of cutting Middletown, including the insane amount of raw footage he worked with, the “extreme levels of candor” he tries to bring to every project and the sympathy he now feels for his […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“The Night We Filmed the Flash Mob” | Erin Brown Thomas, Chasers
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? One of my favorite memories from production was the night we filmed the flash mob. After four long days of rehearsing and three nights of filming, we needed a boost of adrenaline, and boy did choreographer Malia Baker deliver! I remember emerging from a production meeting and walking outside to the backyard to see […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025 -
“We Broke a Cardinal Rule of Documentary Filmmaking” | Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, Middletown
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? The one day that stands out, and will forever, from the production of our film Middletown, is the summer day when we travelled upstate to meet our subject Fred Isseks, for the first time, at his home in Middletown, New York. Fred is a former high school teacher. Our documentary is about a ground-breaking […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025
