Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“It Was Such a Jiggle of Consciousness, Such a Beautiful Monstrosity…”: Salomé Jashi on Her Sundance-Debuting Taming the Garden
Salomé Jashi is not a name I was familiar with before catching her exquisitely crafted Taming the Garden, which made its Sundance debut on January 31 in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. That said, the Georgian director (and founder of not one but two production companies), whose 2016 doc The Dazzling Light of Sunset took top honors at Visions du Réel, is certainly a prolific filmmaker I’ll now be keeping an eye out for. With her latest, Taming the Garden, a “cinematic environmental parable,” Jashi weaves together a series of perfectly composed shots, containing the lush magical nature on the […]
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“It Was Not Really Possible to Use Any Safety Precautions or Protocols”: Hogir Hirori on his Sundance-debuting Sabaya
Hogir Hirori’s Sabaya is a harrowing tale of heroism from a filmmaker all too familiar with the wartime struggles of those he documents. With his latest, the final piece of a cinematic trilogy that includes The Deminer (which nabbed the Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary at IDFA 2017), the Swedish director, who fled his native Kurdistan in 1999, returns to the battle zone to spotlight the dedicated civil servants of the Yazidi Home Center. Putting their lives on the line 24/7, two brave men and a slew of extraordinary, anonymous female “infiltrators” fight, using phones more than guns, to save […]
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“We Believed It Would Generate More Liveliness and Freedom”: DP Alex Bloom on Hive
Blerta Basholli’s Hive explores macro gender dynamics in her home country of Kosovo. Among a league of women awaiting news of their husbands, fathers and sons’ fates in the Kosovo War, Fahrije practices self-reliance and encourages other women to seek independence despite the violent patriarchal expectations of their community. DP Alex Bloom tells us why he felt it best to allow the actresses to move about unencumbered. 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 job? Bloom: Valon Bajgora introduced […]
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“I Wanted Viewers to Meet People Before They Become News Stories”: Jessica Beshir on Faya Dayi
Filmed in the highlands of Harar, Ethiopia, Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi is a deeply personal project for the Mexican-Ethopian director. Having left her home city of Harar in tenth grade, the now-Brooklyn-based Beshir travelled back and forth between America and Ethiopia for a decade to spend time with family and gather material for the film, which now competes in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary section. The film provides an contemplative portrait of Harar and the people that live in and around it, using its focus on the harvest and trade of the “khat” plant—a chewable stimulant that has become the country’s […]
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“Forgiveness, Empathy and Healing Are Actions the World Needs Right Now”: Editor Yang-Hua Hu on Mass
Fran Kranz’s Mass is the rare film that explores the aftermath of a tragedy rather than the tragedy itself. Some years after the events of a school shooting, the parents of a victim (Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton) plan to meet the parents of the perpetrator (Reed Birney and Ann Dowd). Editor Yang-Hua Hu shares what it was like to practice restraint in the film’s edit but still maintain interest in a movie with a mostly static setting. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to […]
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“Toes the Line Between Dreams and Reality”: DP Tyler Davis on Strawberry Mansion
Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal sci-fi romantic comedy Strawberry Mansion reimagines the dystopia as something shockingly similar to our own world: a society where even our dreams are plagued with marketing and advertisement. DP Tyler Davis shares what the team took from music videos and fantasy films like The NeverEnding Story to capture their dreamy, fantastical vision. 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 job? Davis: In early 2019 I met Albert Birney (one of the directors, along with Kentucker Audley, […]
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“My Day Rate Was Cheap (Because It Didn’t Exist)”: DP Manuel Crosby on First Date
Hearkening back to coming-of-age movies like Superbad, Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp’s First Date feels comfortingly familiar as both a thriller and a comedy. After buying a questionable ’65 Chrysler, Mike’s (Tyson Brown) first date with Kelsey (Shelby Duclos) snowballs into an epic night of cop chases, criminals, and cat ladies. DP and co-director Manuel Crosby explains what it was like filming a late night thriller with an ’90s style on a budget. 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 job? […]
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“We Wanted to Be as Close to Jackson as We Possibly Could”: DP Adolpho Veloso on Jockey
Clint Bentley’s Jockey is a naturalistic look at horse racing, a sport that some might say is in an extended twilight period. The film stars Clifton Collins Jr. as Jackson, an experienced jockey who may be forced to retire as his health begins deteriorating. His life turns upside down when a young jockey (Moisés Arias) arrives to the scene claiming to be Jackson’s son. DP Adolpho Veloso explains how they shot the sport in a respectful but honest way and the benefit of shooting in the colorful landscape of Arizona. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]
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“You Learn a New Language From Scratch Each Time”: Editor Annukka Lilja on Ailey
Jamila Wignot’s Ailey explores the life of seminal choreographer Alvin Ailey in poetic manner. With a heartbeat as studied as Ailey’s jazz-dance that made him famous. Editor Annukka Lilja explores the seamless collaboration between herself and Wignot and her method of approaching documentary much the way she would a fictional film. 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 Lilja: The producer Lauren DeFilippo knew me through my longtime collaborators David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg, whose three feature documentary films I […]
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“Most of the Atmosphere Was Fully Created on Set”: DP PJ López on Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided Go For It
Rita Moreno stands as one of the rare few entertainers to attain EGOT status. Mariem Pérez Riera intimate documentary on the West Side Story star the racism Moreno faced as a Puerto Rican immigrant with aplomb, featuring interviews other iconic entertainers such as Gloria Estefan, Whoopi Goldberg and Eva Longoria. DP PJ López discusses how they captured the authentic essence of a beloved figure in movie history. 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 job? López: I had already worked with […]
