Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
-
“I Never Saw a Shot on Anything Bigger Than a 5″ Monitor”: DP Michael McDonough on Leave No Trace
Cinematographer Michael McDonough met director Debra Granik in 1994, when they were both enrolled at the same NYU film studies class. Leave No Trace is their third collaboration, following Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone, and also marks Granik’s first narrative feature in the eight years following the latter. Leave No Trace follows father Will (Ben Foster) and 12-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), squatters secretly living in a forest in almost total isolation. When they’re spotted by a hiker, social workers get involved and Tom is torn from the woods, entering the social world and potential friendships for the first time. Prior to […]
-
Building a Monster in Two Months: On Frankenstein AI: a monster made by many‘s Race to Sundance
The lobby is packed. Within minutes of opening, a line has formed for Frankenstein AI: a monster made by many, and we’re completely booked for the day. Festival-goers curious about emergent forms of storytelling weave their way through the New Frontier section of the festival, a labyrinth of VR, AR and AI. Now in its 11th year, Sundance’s New Frontier is hosted in two venues and has expanded to over 30 exhibitions ranging from individual experiences to a social VR theater for close to 100 participants. The last few months have been a whirlwind. On November 13th I received an […]
-
The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Kailash Take the Top Awards at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival
The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Desiree Akhaven’s drama about teenage gay conversion therapy, and Kailash, Derek Doneen’s documentary about Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi took home the two top U.S. prizes, the U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prizes, at tonight’s 2018 Sundance Film Festival closing night ceremonies. Nearly 30 awards were given out throughout the evening, prompting emcee Jason Mantzoukas, star of Hannah Fidell’s The Long Dumb Road, to chant, “10 more days, 10 more awards!” at the end of an evening that saw much diversity in the juror selections: Four out of the five top U.S. awards […]
-
“I Had to Face My Phobia of Using Lights”: DP Hatuey Viveros Lavielle on Night Comes On
For her first directorial feature following three shorts, Night Comes On, actor Jordana Spiro reteamed with DP Hatuey Viveros Lavielle. The feature follows a young woman just released from juvenile prison (Dominique Fishback of The Deuce), whose plans are derailed when she’s unexpectedly reunited with her 10-year-old sister (newcomer Tatum Marilyn Hall), who’s been placed in foster care. Prior to the fest, Lavielle described her collaboration with Spiro and affinity for natural light as forces shaping Night Comes On. 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 for this […]
-
“Film is About Making Magic with These Kind of Challenges”: DP Diego García on Wildlife
For his directorial debut, Paul Dano adapted Richard Ford’s 1990 novel, telling the story of a marriage that falls apart between Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette Brinson (Carey Milligan), as seen through the eyes of their 14-year-old son Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould). Serving as Dano’s DP, Diego García’s prominent recent credits include Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour and Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull. Below, García discusses their mutual influences (including Kore-eda Hirokazu and The Master) and use of Panavision spherical primo lenses. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
-
“A Performance is Really About Digging Into the Footage”: Editor Andrew Hafitz on Beirut
Returning to Sundance long after his first appearances there with Next Stop, Wonderland and Happy Accidents, among others, Brad Anderson’s Beirut is a thriller made from a quarter-century-old script by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity). Jon Hamm stars as a former diplomat, Mason Skiles, who returns to Lebanon a decade after his former posting there, getting involved in a complex hostage situation involving a standoff with his former friend-turned-terrorist Karim (Idir Chender). Editor Andrew Hafitz (The Last Days of Disco, Bully, Keane) explains how his verite background helps inform his approach to cutting and which two directors taught him the most. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
-
Sundance 2018 Critic’s Notebook, Day 6: Madeline’s Madeline, Of Fathers and Sons, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, The Price of Everything
Context is everything — I’m writing this final Sundance dispatch at a remove of a day/continent from Park City, back in NYC, with a day’s pause between marathon-writing while reconsidering the chronological melange of what I saw and what, if any, narrative can be extrapolated about this year’s fest. My feeling, overall, is of a weak year, despite having (per usual) missed some of what appear to be the standout titles (Mandy, alas), which framed my response to Madeline’s Madeline, the last film I saw there. Is this a great movie? With a day to think about it, I’m not sure […]
-
Sundance 2018 Critic’s Notebook, Day 5: Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Skate Kitchen
During its many years of gestation, the only thing known about Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. was that it was a beyond-troubled production. In 2012, director Steve Loveridge wrote that he’d “rather die” than finish the profile of the musician/his friend since college; as of last March, M.I.A.’s official position was that she hadn’t spoken to Loveridge — a friend of hers since art school — “in years” and had no idea what, if anything, was happening with the film. Whatever was going on in the background of those statements, a finished film has emerged, both director and subject were there for its premiere, and the […]
-
Sundance 2018 Critic’s Notebook, Day 4: Eighth Grade, Shirkers, Piercing
I suppose I should lead with Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, one of the fest’s breakouts or something along those lines — it arrived as an A24 production with Scott Rudin as one of the producers, so clearly people were going to be curious. The title is basically the movie: in her last week of middle school hell, awkward Kayla (Elsie Fisher) — voted by her otherwise indifferent classmates as most quiet — fumbles through a cool kids’ pool party she shouldn’t be at. Kayla shadows a high school senior and is invited to hang out with her crew. That temporary boost […]
-
A Monster Unleashed at Sundance
I recall the first time I heard the word “Sundance” uttered. A friend had returned from the mythical mountains of Utah and, like a sage returning home from a quest, dropped a book in front of me. I scoured that festival program guide — studying every photo and accompanying film description — hoping that some filmmaking knowledge, and maybe even a little magic, would rub off on me. It was the early ’90s, and indie film was filled with starry-eyed promise. After all, those were the days of pre-sales, physical media and the elusive multi-picture deal. When I finally made […]
