Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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In Conversation with Julia Loktev About the Nuts and Bolts of Making Part 1 (5 1/2 hours) of her Monumental Vérité Documentary, My Undesirable Friends — Frederick Wiseman Weighs In, Too
Watching the world premiere of My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow last September in the Main Slate of the 62nd New York Film Festival, I knew I was experiencing a milestone in vérité documentary filmmaking. Not because My Undesirable Friends was filmed using an iPhone per se. Filming with iPhones is a commonplace now, from this summer’s Danny Boyle hit, 28 Years Later, to Aardman’s latest Wallace & Gromit animation. Last April’s NAB show delivered booths full of iPhone cages, gimbals, adapters, and power banks. Apple’s popular “Shot on iPhone” campaign has been running since 2015. […]
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The 63 Best Experimental Films of the 21st Century (So Far)
This poll was conducted in response to the recent New York Times Best Movies of the 21st Century poll and as a follow up to the Film Comment Best of the Decade list (conducted in 2020). I reached out to international artists, critics, curators, filmmakers scholars, writers, etc. committed to “experimental cinema,” loosely defined. Participants were asked to submit unranked lists of 15 titles. The poll received 109 ballots, featuring 940 films from 550 artists. Given the number of individual submissions, the published results suggest consensus where there is none. My hope is these lists will be a resource for […]
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“You Go to L.A. and Then You Start Working with Roger Corman”: DP Paul Elliott on Duster, Ken Russell and Roger Deakins
In Duster, an impossibly cool wheelman (Josh Holloway) and a rookie FBI agent (Rachel Hilson) join forces to take down a crime boss (Keith David) in 1970s Phoenix. If any of the creative forces behind the HBO series ever wondered if they were properly capturing the vibe of 1970s pulp, all they had to do was turn to cinematographer Paul Elliott for confirmation. Though born and raised in London, Elliott arrived in the States at the end of the 1970s and began working at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures as a camera assistant. He crossed paths with cult B-movie figures […]
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LED Walls: Working with the LED Volume for Cinematographers
Origin of Image-Based Lighting The LED Volume is derived from the concept of Image-Based Lighting (IBL) invented by Paul Debevec in 1998, which refers to mapping an HDR image onto a photosphere enveloped around a subject to serve as primary light source in CGI. The Light Stage 3 (2002) was the first physical set to use an array of RGB LED lights surrounding an actor to create an omnidirectional source. Although its 156 LED bulbs did not have enough density for close-ups or reflective elements, Light Stage 3 laid the foundation for how an LED stage could become an omnidirectional […]
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“The Film Remains a Mystery to Me — Why is That?”: Nicholas Rombes on the Timecodes Series and Walking with Gus Van Sant’s Gerry
As the pandemic rumbled on, in early ’22, and with my annual winter sojourn to the Sundance Film Festival cancelled, I took an online course in boredom. With so many customary diversions having been put on hold, I had reason to be bored, I suppose, but in taking the course I was more interested in boredom as an intellectual topic. You see, I have vivid memories of being bored as a kid — the books at the library I wanted to read were checked out, my elementary school’s summer activities were lame, there was not much on TV — but, […]
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“A Medieval Period Piece for Under $200,000”: Caroline Golum on FIDMarseille 2025 Premiere Revelations of Divine Love, Prayer and Process
Since watching Revelations of Divine Love—which is making its world premiere at FIDMarseille today—I’ve found myself thinking about its construction, restraint, devotion to form and alarming sincerity. Brimming with the mystery of manifestation, it is a work of sheer will, equal parts spiritual inquiry and cinematic lament. Masterfully lensed by cinematographer Gabe Elder, the light surrounding our heroine, Julian of Norwich (Tessa Strain), is diffused and precise, its textures tangible. I reached out to Caroline Golum because I found myself curious: not just about the film itself, but about her process, commitment, and rigor that shaped it. The film draws […]
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25 Years After the “Battle of Seattle,” The Same Tactics Are Seen in LA
We’re the filmmaking team behind the new documentary, WTO/99, a film that examines—purely through archival footage—four days of protests in Seattle during 1999 against the World Trade Organization (WTO). We’ve spent over two years living in the footage of the largest US demonstrations since the Vietnam War captured by protesters on the ground, the Seattle Police Department and local and national new crews. We’ve reviewed roughly one thousand hours of footage that followed protesters, police and governmental officials as they participated in what would later become known as the “Battle of Seattle”—the week in 1999 when over 40,000 people took […]
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Sundance Institute Directors Lab 2025: Chheangkea
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Chheangkea, who traveled to the Lab with Little Phnom Penh. Here’s the description: “Spanning two ever-changing decades, from post–Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California, a Cambodian woman grapples with her deep personal desires, untimely love, and shifting family roles amid profound cultural and historical upheavals.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor All I wanted when I arrived at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park for the Directors Lab was […]
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Sundance Institute Directors Lab 2025: Diffan Sina Norman
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Diffan Sina Norman, who traveled to the Lab with Sitora. Here’s the description: “A young doctor arrives in a Malay village to establish its first health clinic, jeopardizing the community’s allegiance to a racketeering shaman and his unlikely accomplice: an elusive half-man, half-tiger.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor It’s two days after my return from the lab. My memory of the last two weeks are a little hazy and scrunched […]
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Sundance Institute Directors Lab 2025: Alexandra Qin
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Alexandra Qin, who traveled to the Lab with Thirstygirl. Here’s the description: “When Charlie is forced to drive her estranged younger sister cross-country to rehab, her own secret addiction comes to the surface in the most devastating and hilarious ways.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor What they don’t tell you about the Sundance Directors Lab. You’ll feel like a big shot when you land at the Denver airport. You’ll float […]
