What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Chai: Fear is one of the central themes in Meru. Dread, trepidation, anxiety and misery plague the subjects of the film throughout both 2008 and 2011 climbs; their physical fears of falling, starvation, frostbite or dropping the camera and the more psychological dimensions of fear like failure, risk, and the unknown, often quite literally not being aware of what’s beyond the next pitch. In the film, Jimmy describes the […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? It’s heady air in the worlds of William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal, two esteemed public intellectuals of, mostly, the latter 20th century. Buckley died before we began this film but Gore was alive, if in his declining years. Cantankerous and mean in his prime, he’d commented on his own persona saying, “Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water.” Gore not only didn’t […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Cartel Land follows two modern-day vigilante groups fighting a shared enemy – the ruthless Mexican drug cartels. When I first heard about the Autodefensas movement in Michoacán, Mexico, and the American paramilitary group Arizona Border Recon, I was immediately drawn to know more about their worlds and their leaders, Dr. Jose Mireles (“El Doctor”) and Tim “Nailer” Foley. It took many months to gain their trust and the access I […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Fear is a constant companion when filmmaking, in my experience. I’ve learned to welcome it, as a sign that I‘m pushing my own boundaries a bit, not retreating into the easiest option. The absence of that nagging background anxiety is a sign I may have settled for less than I should have. With How To Change the World the biggest fear was about the narrative: whether the complex story […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? “Racing Extinction is like The Avengers but real, but you might want to bring Kleenex.” There’s an annoying film industry “truism” that a director’s second film after a successful first will be a bust. A well known and respected Hollywood director told me, “Don’t even try to make another movie after The Cove, you’ll never top that one.” We didn’t break any box office records with The Cove but […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? I have learned to be fearless in my career as an independent documentary producer in China. There is almost no public funding to support independent documentaries, there are very few theatrical permits issued to independent documentaries and there is virtually no distribution platform for independent documentary either. If these are the reasons to fear, it will be endless. Personally, fear for me is a mixed feeling of anxiety to […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Early in the development phase of this project, I was apprehensive about approaching former Black Panther Party members because the Party had so often been misportrayed by popular media. I had a great fear of being turned down and not having any former Party members be part of the film at all. At some point I decided this was a film that needed to be made and in order […]
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? When we first got to Florida Justice Transitions in 2010, we expected to make a film about the parallel society that we had read the sex offenders in this trailer park lived in. Very soon we met the people in the park, and by sitting with them in therapy, talking to them, and getting them to open up about their situation, we learned about sex offences and sex offenders […]
This year’s Art House Convergence (AHC), the organization’s 10th annual event, drew 500 delegates from art house cinemas, film festivals, and film distributors to Midway, UT to discuss the state of independent film exhibition in the United States. Over the course of the organization’s first decade, the AHC has grown from a small gathering of two dozen non-profit cinemas seeking new ways to support independent film while building sustainable business models for their theaters into something of a full-blown trade organization. Now it represents the interests of hundreds of theaters (and helps incubate the development of a similar organization for […]
Each year Filmmaker asks all the incoming feature directors at Sundance one question. This year, our question revolves around fear. Specifically, what fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? (To see past years’ questions and responses, click here.) We’ll upload the responses individually over the course of the festival. So, as the festival progresses, click the links below. The Sundance Film Festival is being held in Park City, Utah from January 22nd to February 1st. “The People Behind the Crimes”: Directors Frida […]