Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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“We Had Unknowingly Been Sheltered Inside the Circus”: Véronique N. Doumbé’s Documentary COVID Story
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor My name is Véronique N. Doumbé, and my COVID story starts early this year. I have been wearing a mask inside airports for a while now, a habit I have developed […]
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“How Much Risk is Involved with Even the Most Softcore Shoot?”: Stoya on Filming During Lockdown
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor I’m mainly a pornographer. Though COVID-19 is not a sexually transmittable infection, it can be sexually transmitted. So, I’m thinking a lot about risk. How much risk is involved with even […]
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The Pandemic Diaries: Filmmakers on Art, Life, Filmmaking and Politics in the Age of Coronavirus
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. “At Present, Many of Us are Living in the Conditions of My Speculative Fiction…”: Alison Nguyen on Her Isolated, Computer-Simulated Woman, “Andra8” “… Every Night I Dream That I am Shooting a Film”: DP Benoit Delhomme on Life […]
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“We Will Be Close Again Because Otherwise We Die”: Michel Reilhac Thinks about VR During Quarantine
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor It has almost become a cliché to discuss how the pandemic is VR’s big chance and accelerator. Yes, of course, we are all overdosing Zoom zombies, and the online parties feel […]
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“What Does It Mean To Be ‘Essential'”?: Tinx Chan on a Storyteller’s Obligation
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor One month into the New York lockdown, as anyone deemed “nonessential” was required to stay at home, I procrastinated another day away, as I had a long list of recommended films […]
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“I Keep Thinking about Who is the Most Vulnerable Right Now…”: Michelle Handelman on Isolation and Struggle
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor There’s so much political and psychological upheaval going on right now that it’s hard to narrow it down to a single statement. Where to begin? I was working on a new […]
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“What Happens When Making Cinema Stops?”: Kamau Bilal Thinks About Creative Futures
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor Based on where my people are, I feel like I’m, at best, one to two generations early in trying to be an indie filmmaker. I feel selfish. Wealth of money (and […]
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“This is More Than a Pause, a Waiting-Out Time”: David Barker on Humanity’s Challenges
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor I’m in Santiago, Chile, where I came to be with family when the film I was working on went on hiatus. These questions to people in the arts seem to focus […]
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“Lately It Has Been Difficult To Turn Away from Screens”: Micaela Durand and Daniel Chew on Violence, Racism and Complicity
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor Lately, it has been difficult to turn away from screens. Screens that show us the casual abuse of power. Screens that instill rage and dread. These screens are important in showing […]
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Risk Aware Filmmaking: Devising New Documentary Security Protocols for David France’s Welcome to Chechnya
Despite its ironically inviting title, Welcome to Chechnya, a new documentary by director David France, depicts a harrowing tale of escape. The film, which is being released by HBO on June 30, follows a group of Russian activists working to rescue LGBTQ people from a vicious anti-gay government campaign in Chechnya. Beginning in 2017, Chechen authorities detained, tortured and, in some cases, forcibly disappeared more than 100 (likely many more) members of the gay community, according to reports by journalists and human rights groups. Paced like a spy thriller, the documentary captures the Chechens’ perilous journey, aided by the Russian […]
