Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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The Lost Daughter Wins Best Feature at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter was the big winner today at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards, taking Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Among the other top awards, Zola‘s Taylour Paige and Red Rocket‘s Simon Rex won Best Female Lead and Best Male Lead, respectively. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) won Best Documentary, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car won Best International Film, and Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby won the John Cassavetes Award (given to a film budgeted at under $500,000). The complete list of winners follows. BEST FEATURE The Lost Daughter […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 6, 2022 -
True/False Film Fest Announces 2022 Lineup
After last year’s largely virtual film festival, True/False Film Fest returns for its 19th edition. This year’s festival— scheduled to take place on the ground in Columbia, Missouri from March 3 to 6—boasts four world premieres in its lineup (After Sherman, It Runs in the Family, Gods of Mexico and Let the Little Light Shine). The full lineup of features and short films is below; click here to read the full press release, including full demographic breakdowns of this year’s directors. 2nd Chance | Dir. Ramin Bahrani; 2022; 89 min. Director Ramin Bahrani tackles the bizarre life of body-armor inventor Richard […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 9, 2022 -
Sound and Visionaries ’22: Our Picks for Awards Season’s Most Exciting Below-the-Line Artists
Filmmaker‘s current print edition contains our annual section devoted to the below-the-line artists that excited us through this Fall’s awards season. Read below profiles by Abby Bender, Scott Macaulay, Matt Mulcahey, Vikram Murthri and Vadim Rizov, and, if you haven’t checked out these films, we recommend you do! Cinematography: Passing‘s Edu Grau, by Matt Mulcahey. Costume Design: Belfast‘s Charlotte Walter. Editing: Licorice Pizza‘s Andy Jorgenson, by Vikram Murthri. Original Score: The Power of the Dog‘s Jonny Greenwood, by Scott Macaulay Production Design: The Tragedy of Macbeth‘s Stefan Dechant, by Erik Luers Sound: The Memoria Sound Team of Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Richard […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 30, 2022 -
“The Biggest Challenge Facing Producers and the Film Industry at Large Is an Unhealthy Relationship to Labor”: Producer Jesse Hope on A Love Song
Max Walker-Silverman’s A Love Song pits a pair of reconnected childhood sweethearts—both now widowed—against the backdrop of an intimate American West. Shot in rural Colorado in the midst of the COVID pandemic, the film required precautions in excess of what was stipulated in then-new union guidelines, necessitating everyone involved to enter and form a “bubble” for the duration of production. First-time producer Jesse Hope discusses the difficulties and rewards of such an approach and how his experience working on sets with directors like Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers prepared him to take the reins. Filmmaker: Tell me about the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2022 -
“There Are Sequences That Still Make Me Shudder”: Editor David Pelegrín on Piggy
Piggy‘s protagonist, Sara, is a victim of intense bullying who one day watches as an unknown man kidnaps her tormenters. When the police begin to investigate, Sara remains silent, and as the film continues her relationship to the unknown man, equally repelled and thankful, complicates. Editor David Pelegrín remarks on the importance of keeping the film close to Sara’s perspective and of the potential follies of relying on test screenings. 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? Pelegrín: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022 -
“Be as Sincere About the Complexity and the Ambiguity of Our Emotions as Possible” | Carlota Pereda, Piggy
The last two years have prompted much contemplation and reconsideration of the reasons why we make our films as well as the ways in which we make them. What aspect of your filmmaking—whether in your creative process, the way you finance your films, your production methodology or the way you relate to your audience—did you have to reinvent in order to make and complete the film you are bringing to the festival this year? I felt the need to be more honest, more truthful to the nature of my characters, to dig deeper into the theme of my movies. It […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022 -
“We Wanted to Avoid the Usual Thriller Look”: Rita Noriega on Piggy
Piggy follows a heavily bullied teen living in a small Spanish Town sees her tormenters kidnapped. Feeling grateful for the perpetrator who saved her, she refuses to tell police what she saw. Horror and social commentary are inseparable in Piggy, which tackles questions of justice and small-town morality. Below, cinematographer Rita Noriega emphasizes how she avoided aesthetics more commonly associated with thrillers and how the film has changed since its first incarnation as a short film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022 -
“The ‘COVID Coordinator’ Became an Essential Team Member” | Kathleen Hughes & Abigail Disney, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
The last two years have prompted much contemplation and reconsideration of the reasons why we make our films as well as the ways in which we make them. What aspect of your filmmaking—whether in your creative process, the way you finance your films, your production methodology or the way you relate to your audience—did you have to reinvent in order to make and complete the film you are bringing to the festival this year? Disney: Early in the pandemic, I descended pretty quickly into an identity crisis as a filmmaker. I wondered what would happen to film when it can […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022 -
“The Problem Is Getting More and More Urgent”: Editor David Cohen on The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
Abigail E. Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy O. Disney, has spoken out against the treatment of Disney employees and the compensation of Disney executives in the past; with The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, she and co-director Kathleen Hughes investigate the poor working conditions and hand-to-mouth living of Disneyland workers and the riches of Disney CEO Bob Iger. Editor David Cohen explains how he shaped the footage into a narrative and the constant evolution of Abigail Disney’s role in front of the camera. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022 -
“I Was Just Desperate to Bottle up My Wonderful Dad Somehow”: DP Ondi Timoner on Last Flight Home
After a patient in California makes a Death With Dignity request, there is a 15-day wait until that request can be filled. Ondi Timoner’s Last Flight Home was filmed during that period, when Timoner’s father said his final goodbyes to his family. As Timoner, who also served as the director of photography, describes, she attempted to be as unobtrusive as possible while filming, but her footage captures the pain of losing a loved one, as well as the solace a family finds in itself in such moments. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2022
