Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“This Was Our One Shot To Capture Something Lasting”: DP Ethan Indorf on André is an Idiot
When André Ricciardi received the cancer diagnosis that would eventually kill him, he decided he wanted to make a movie documenting how he faced death with humor. The result, André is an Idiot, will screen as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The film is the directorial debut of Tony Benna and was shot by Ethan Indorf, both friends with Ricciardi. Below, Indorf discusses what it was like to be tasked with documenting the death of his friend. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of […]
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“Finally Allowing Myself to Grieve” | Tony Benna, André is an Idiot
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 night before the Sundance deadline, I found myself laying on the floor of my edit suite at 3am with a freshly self-inflicted broken hand and a waterfall of tears running down my face. To say that I had lost my mind a bit would’ve been an understatement. The post-production process had been an […]
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“Something Dangerous is Always Lurking Just Beneath the Surface” | Geeta Gandbhir, The Perfect Neighbor
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? Our film is set in Ocala, Florida, just a 40-minute drive from Orlando—a place where beauty and stark contradictions are in constant tension. On one side, you have sprawling, wealthy horse farms and ranches; on the other, economically vulnerable communities living in close proximity to these affluent areas. The neighborhood at the heart of […]
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“A Journey of Nearly Two Decades Had Reached a Natural Conclusion” | Evan Twohy, Bubble & Squeak
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? I started working on Bubble & Squeak nearly twenty years ago, so there are many significant days to choose from. If I had to single out just one, I would choose our final day of production. That afternoon, we moved our company to an abandoned limestone quarry outside Tallinn, Estonia. On its shores, families […]
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“Turn Her Trauma into Art” | Kate Beecroft, East of Wall
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? Our film is centered around the lives of Tabatha Zimiga and her family as they reconcile their unresolved grief after the sudden death of her husband. This film took five years to make. It’s a docu-fiction film, so I lived in this specific area of South Dakota for years—embedding myself for the purpose of […]
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“A Continuous Swing Between Memories and the Present.”: DP Clarissa Cappellani on Brides
In Brides, UK teenagers Doe and Muna (Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar) take an ill-advised trip to Syria to escape the constant feeling of being othered that follows them at home. The film, the debut feature by Young Vic Theatre artistic director Nadia Fall, examines teenage girlhood through a distinct sociopolitical lens. The film was shot in three different locations, meaning the production had new crews every two weeks. Director of photography Clarissa Cappellani (Misericordia, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams) discusses working through those challenges and the films and photographs that she and Fall used as references. See all responses to our […]
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“For Me, Less is More”: DP Anna Smoronova on Bubble & Squeak
Bubble & Squeak, about a married couple accused of smuggling cabbages in a country where cabbage is illegal, marks the feature film debut of Evan Twohy. The film will premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Anna Smoronova (The Killing of a Journalist), served as the film’s director of photography. Below, she explains how the film’s similarity to some of her favorite filmmakers hooked on her first read of the script and elaborates on the visual aesthetic, including the influence of Henri Rousseau. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]
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“I Had Succeeded in Bringing My Imagination to the Screen” | Amel Guellaty, Where the Wind Comes From
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? It’s such a tough question. Perhaps the shooting days in Djerba were the most significant. During those three days, we filmed very important scenes—difficult to perform—that we had rehearsed extensively. I was stressed because I knew that if I didn’t get them right, the film would lack emotion. But I was so happy and […]
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“I Am Always Mining for Gold in the Rushes”: Editor Fiona DeSouza on Brides
Premiering in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Brides follows two UK teens who travel to Syria in an attempt to escape the othering they face at home. The film is the debut feature of Nadia Fall, the artistic director of London’s Young Vic Theatre and director of productions of Three Sisters and King Hedley II, among others. The film is edited by Fiona DeSouza, whose credits include 2020’s Kindred and episodes of numerous TV series, including Great Expectations and Hanna. Below, she shares a trick for making a small number of setups go a long way and how a good cup of tea […]
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“Dance With Me, Ben” | Grace Glowicki, Dead Lover
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? I have been trying to pinpoint a single day of Dead Lover to answer this question…but the truth is, specific days are almost impossible for me to remember. It’s just a smattering of random memorable moments! The days from which they came are lost in my memory….probably due to the lack of sleep. So, […]
