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 […]
Carla Gutierrez began her career as a documentary editor in 2006 on Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. She has since edited the Oscar-nominated short La Corona, the Emmy-nominated feature Reportero and When Worlds Collide, which won the Special Jury Prize for Best Debut Feature at Sundance in 2016. She returns to the festival having edited RBG, a documentary on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Gutierrez speaks with Filmmaker below about blending new and archival interviews and how RBG is a “love story of a woman who strived to accomplish great things and the man who […]
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 […]
In 2017, Viridiana Lieberman had two documentaries premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival: I Am Evidence, a feature on police departments’ handling of sexual assault cases, and Love the Sinner, a short on the Orlando nightclub shooting of 2016. She begins 2018 having edited The Sentence, which premieres in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The Sentence tells the story of director Rudy Valdez’s sister Cindy, a woman who received a draconian 15-year prison sentence for crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend. Below, Lieberman speaks with Filmmaker about why editing “this film has become one of the most powerful experiences of my life.” Filmmaker: […]
Alex Kopit served as an assistant editor on past Sundance premieres Be Kind Rewind (2008) and The Messenger (2009). He returns to the festival in 2018 as the editor of Dead Pigs, the debut feature from writer/director Cathy Yan. The film is a mosaic of stories in modern-day Shanghai connected by a mysterious occurrence: a stream of floating pig carcasses. Below, Kopit discusses editing the film so that “the various stories could interweave and support each other.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
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 […]
Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based performance artist who appeared on America’s Got Talent to, as her bio puts it, “trouble the popular entertainment and experimental art divide.” Her feature film debut, Narcissister Organ Player, is a hybrid of performance art film and personal documentary on her relationship with her family. Narcissister tapped filmmaker Taryn Gould to edit the film. Below, Gould discusses the importance of in-progress screenings, how editing the film has impacted how she thinks about her mother and the question of whether or not to show Narcissister’s face in the film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]
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 […]