Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“Set is a Pretty Box That Holds Me” | Amanda Kramer, By Design
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? There’s a moment in the Cameron Crowe film We Bought A Zoo where the little girl who plays Matt Damon’s daughter says, “We bought a zoo!” and then Matt Damon confirms by saying, “Yes, we did. We did buy a zoo.” These are lines I’ve never forgotten. The plainness alone is too wild to […]
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“I Realized We Were Going to Make this Film No Matter What” | Georgi Unkovski, DJ Ahmet
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 principal photography began, I remember waking up at four in the morning, drenched in sweat, with only one though in my mind: “What am I doing?” That same morning, we started filming. I kept showing up for myself, my colleagues, and the film. I recall it so vividly because that moment felt like the […]
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“The Language of the Film Slowly Emerges in the Editing Room”: Editor Michal Reich on DJ Ahmet
A fifteen-year-old boy navigates first love, familial pressure and his newfound love of music in DJ Ahmet, premiering in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film is the feature debut by Sundance Short Film Program alum Georgi M. Unkovski. Michal Reich (The Ballad of Piargy) served as his former university mate’s editor. Below, he talks about moving scenes around in the edit to provide the desired emotional arc and preserving the performances of non-professional actors. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of […]
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“All of Us Cracked Up Hysterically” | Violet Du Feng, The Dating Game
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? To me, making films has been driven by the desire to express myself. But for filmmakers like me from more oppressive societies, for our films to reach audiences, we often learn to express ourselves indirectly, through metaphors, creating evocative atmospheres, or embedding subversion into narrative structures. In The Dating Game I was determined to express myself freely without […]
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“A Symbol of Hope and Inspiration for Future Generations”| Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister
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? Casting Elvira, the lead role in my debut feature, was a big challenge. As a fairy tale, the film demands actors capable of embracing absurdity and heightened emotions while remaining grounded in the humanity of their characters. Elvira, in particular, required a unique blend of physicality, emotional depth, innate humor, and stamina for long […]
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“I Always Love Rehearsals” | Sophie Hyde, Jimpa
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 always love rehearsals, the urgency to shut everything away and tune into the characters and get to know the cast. On Jimpa I remember a striking rehearsal session where John Lithgow was meeting with the actors who make up his closest friends in the film, three wonderful Dutch actors (Hans Kesting, Frank Sanders […]
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“The First Time Paul Eased Into the Role of Subject” | Matt Wolf, Pee-wee as Himself
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 was a long process to get Paul Reubens comfortable appearing in front of the camera for the documentary. Paul had been an avid home videomaker since the 1970s, and a huge amount of his own footage appears in the documentary. With that in mind, I bought Paul a new camcorder, and I asked […]
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“Paring the Story Down to Its Bare Essentials”: Editor Joshua L. Pearson on Sly Lives
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) examines the life and legacy of legendary funk act Sly & The Family Stone. Rather than biography, the film opts as an examination of legacy that combines archival footage with discussions among friends, family and other musicians. The film is Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s follow-up to the award-winning Summer of Soul. For the new film, he reteamed with editor Joshua L. Pearson, who explains how his background in music and long history with music videos prepared him for the job. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did […]
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“A Certain Moment Happened That Gave Me Goosebumps All Over” | Shoshannah Stern, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
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 day I will remember the most ten years into the future took place on the last day of my very first shoot for this film on location in Toronto. I had gotten the job only a few weeks before. On the plane there, I was still trying to figure out what the film […]
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“It Became My Therapy, My Hope in the World” | Jennifer Tiexiera, Speak.
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 remember switching off the news the night before and hoping for the best. Instead, I woke up to the news that Trump had won the election—again. One would think that I would be more prepared for this the second time around, but I wasn’t. I was anxious, sad, frustrated and really, really scared. […]
