Cinematographer Denson Baker’s recent projects have included the award-winning New Zealand drama The Dark Horse, the Oliver Stone-produced documentary Ukraine on Fire and the 2009 India-set romance The Waiting City. That last film was directed by Claire McCarthy, Baker’s wife and the director of Ophelia. Ophelia, which screens at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, casts Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts and Clive Owen to reframe Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of the ill-fated Ophelia. Baker speaks with Filmmaker below about the key paintings that influenced the film, collaborating with his wife and capturing the film’s tricky opening shot. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]

From directors Sophie Sartain (Mimi and Dona) and Roberta Grossman (Above and Beyond) comes Seeing Allred, a documentary portrait of famed women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred. The film premieres at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and will reach Netflix on February 9. Sartain and Grossman tapped Alex Pollini, a DP on many shorts, including more than 30 for CollegeHumor, to shoot the film. Below, Pollini discusses his experiences capturing Allred in her private moments “outside of the press conferences and big public events.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the […]

Multidisciplinary artist Ava Porter was one of four people to serve as a cinematographer on Narcissister Organ Player. The film, which premieres at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, is the work of performance artist Narcissister, who has in recent years received profiles in the New York Times, Vice and Huffington Post for her provocative work. Below, Porter discusses her experience as one of the shooters on the genre-defying Narcissister Organ Player. 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? Porter: Narcissister needed someone […]

Danish cinematographer Nadim Carlsen has shot more than 20 music videos, commercials, shorts and features since 2009. In recent years he served as DP on the horror film Shelley, which screened at Berlin and CPH:PIX, and What Will People Say, which played at TIFF and IFFR. Carlsen went to film school with Isabella Eklöf, the director and cowriter of the provocative Holiday. Ahead of the film’s five screenings at Sundance, Carlsen spoke with Filmmaker about his use of static long takes and why he and Eklöf sought to create glossy images that “contradict the dark and dramatic content” of the […]

EU-based cinematographer Nanu Segal has shot more than 30 shorts and features since 2001. She’s also DP’d commercial spots for UNICEF, Playstation and a host of other clients. Her latest project is An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn starring Aubrey Plaza and Emile Hirsch. The film marks a return to Sundance for director Jim Hosking, who premiered his debut film The Greasy Strangler at the festival in 2016. Below, Segal discusses lighting the film’s key locations and the influence of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul on the film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and […]

Comedy writer/director David Wain returns to the Sundance Film Festival for a fourth time with A Futile and Stupid Gesture, his feature on the rise and fall of the National Lampoon empire. The film stars Will Forte as Lampoon co-founder Doug Kenney and is based on a 2006 book by Josh Karp. Wain tapped Kevin Atkinson to shoot the film after the two worked together on Wain’s Childrens Hospital and the prequel and sequel to Wet Hot American Summer. Below, Atkinson discusses his experiences as DP on the project with Filmmaker. A Futile and Stupid Gesture hits Netflix on January […]

Documentary DP Peter Alton has shot non-fiction pieces on El Chapo, Tupac Shakur and the history of violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Alton was hired by directors Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster to shoot Science Fair, which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. The film follows nine students as they arrive at the 2017 International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. Alton spoke with Filmmaker about his intimate, unobtrusive approach to filming documentary interviews and action. 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 her first directorial feature following three shorts, Night Comes On,  actor Jordana Spiro reteamed with DP Hatuey Viveros Lavielle. The feature follows a young woman just released from juvenile prison (Dominique Fishback of The Deuce), whose plans are derailed when she’s unexpectedly reunited with her 10-year-old sister (newcomer Tatum Marilyn Hall), who’s been placed in foster care. Prior to the fest, Lavielle described her collaboration with Spiro and affinity for natural light as forces shaping Night Comes On. 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 […]

NYC-based filmmaker Rudy Valdez began filming The Sentence more than 10 years ago. In those early years, he wasn’t making a documentary: He was filming moments to share with his sister Cindy, who was serving a draconian 15-year sentence in prison. The footage soon took shape into a feature doc on his family’s quest to fight for Cindy’s release during the final years of the Obama administration. Below, Valdez discusses mass incarceration, filming his own family and why looking at old documentary photographs reminds him “to be patient and capture moments.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]

Director and DP Don Argott is one of three co-founders of 9.14 Pictures, the production company behind such recent documentaries as Rock School, The Art of the Steal and Last Days Here. Their latest film, Believer, is a profile of Imagine Dragons’ vocalist Dan Reynolds. The film concerns Reynolds’ faith as he wrestles with homophobia within the Mormon church. Argott hired DP Anton Floquet to shoot the film, which covers a tumultuous year in Reynolds’ life. Floquet spoke with Filmmaker ahead of the film’s premiere at Sundance about how he got the job, the importance of a small field crew and the film’s […]