Interviews
Interviews
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“It’s Super Important to Me to Light Scenes, Not Shots”: DP Jih-E Peng on Girls Will Be Girls
While attending a boarding school nestled in the Himalayan mountains, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) finds herself confronted with newfound desires that she desperately wants to explore, a notion that horrifies her mother (Kani Kusruti), whose dedication to old-fashioned standards are likely a result of her own stunted coming-of-age. Cinematographer Jih-E Peng, who previously collaborated with first-time feature filmmaker Shuchi Talati on her short film A Period Piece, discusses his approach to tackling this project, which included browsing the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]
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“The Post-Pandemic Climate Has Been Especially Difficult”: Producers Richa Chadha and Claire Chassagne on Girls Will Be Girls
Attending boarding school in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) begins to embrace her emerging sexuality in Girls Will Be Girls, the feature debut from Indian writer-director Shuchi Talati. Mira’s exploration of desire is stunted by the middling presence of her mother (Kani Kusruti), whose disapproval likely stems from an inadequate coming-of-age process during her own youth. First-time producers Richa Chadha and Claire Chassagne—based, respectively, in India and France—share the challenges and rewards that came with working on Talati’s film. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here. Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you […]
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“In Some Mysterious Way, the Material Itself Begins To Speak to You”: Editor Amrita David on Girls Will Be Girls
Girls Will Be Girls, the feature debut from writer-director Shuchi Talati, follows a teenage girl named Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) as she navigates her sexual awakening while attending boarding school in the Himalayan mountains. Her domineering mother (Kani Kusruti), however, wishes to put a stop to Mira’s exploration of her autonomous desires. Editor Amrita David, who also cut Alice Diop’s excellent 2022 film Saint Omer, discusses how her Indian heritage and editing intuition proved to be enormous boons to the film’s final form. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“The Rhythms of the Film Mirror Their Artistic Spirit”: Editors Brendan Bellomo & Aniela Sidorska on Porcelain War
When Russia invaded Ukraine, artists Anya Stasenko, Slava Leontyev and Andrey Stefanov chose to stay behind and fight. Along with their friends Brendan Bellomo and Aniela Sidorska in the United States, they have made their feature filmmaking debut documenting their lives during wartime and their art. Below, Bellomo, who served as co-director and editor, and Sidorska, who also produced, explain how they came to shape the film’s narrative and built intimacy with the on-screen subjects while coordinating across three continents. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
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“We’re There To Solve Logistical Problems All Day Every Day”: DP Steve Yedlin on Winner
Based on the real-life whistleblower who leaked an intelligence report exposing Russian interference in the 2016 election, director Susanna Fogel’s Winner depicts the events leading up to Texas native Reality Winner’s eventual arrest and sentencing. Cinematographer Steve Yedlin describes his approach to shooting Fogel’s film, which included not getting caught up with references and “not being a slave to superstition” when it came to choosing a camera. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
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“The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: DP Christopher LaMarca on Sugarcane
Sugarcane, co-directed by journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an investigation into the abuse and missing persons cases at an indigenous residential school and the associated tumult on the nearby Reserve. It is the debut film by NoiseCat, a former policy with personal ties to the community, and the second, after A Girl Named C, for Kassie. Christopher LaMarca served as cinematographer, his second such credit, after Ry Russo-Young’s Nuclear Family. Below, he discusses some of the challenges peculiar to shooting verité films. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
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“Adapt and Let the Film Show You What It Wants to Show You”: DP Kristen Correll on My Old Ass
In My Old Ass, an incoming college freshman encounters an older version of herself during a mushroom trip, spurring a journey of self-discovery. The film is director Megan Park’s follow-up the 2021 SXSW premiere The Fallout and stars Maisy Stella (Nashville) alongside Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal). Kristen Correll (The Fallout, Parachute) served as director of photography. Below, she talks about going with the flow during shooting, the film’s nostalgic tone, and the ’90s favorites that provided influence. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were […]
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“The Audience Must Be Transported Here to Feel What It’s Like”: DP Andrey Stefanov on Porcelain War
Although artists by trade, Ukrainians Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov opted to help their countries fight off the Russian invasion. Their lives, their continued passion for their art and their country are now the subject of Porcelain War, co-directed by Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo, the latter of whom is based in the United States. Below, Stefanov, who also served as the film’s cinematographer, discusses making a film about war-torn Ukraine and the place of the filmmakers within it and how they managed to do it across two continents. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: […]
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“14 Inches From a Very Personal Form of Murder”: Steven Soderbergh on Camera as Character and His Sundance Horror Film, Presence
A heady, elegantly-constructed ghost story, Steven Soderbergh’s Presence has a bunch of half-buried threads, a couple of perfectly-timed scares, and a horrific close-up of an act of violence that mesmerizes the camera—just as horror films mesmerize their audience. The camera is the star here, and not merely because its sustained, floating movements, its sudden turns and retreats, its anxious hovering display the virtuosity of the operator who is also the film’s director, but because it is the titular character, the unseen presence whose half-life is disturbed and then engaged by a family of four that moves into a suburban house […]
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“The Experience of Being an Outsider Is a Universal One”: River Gallo and Esteban Arango on Ponyboi
On a dreary Valentine’s Day in New Jersey during the early aughts, intersex laundromat employee and sex worker Ponyboi (River Gallo) finds themselves embroiled in a bungled drug deal. Estranged from his family and afraid of coming clean to his best friend (Victoria Pedretti) and her husband (Dylan O’Brien)—also Ponyboi’s boss and clandestine sexual partner—he decides to go on the run and permanently escape the Garden State. Along the way, he crosses paths with a rugged kindly stranger who’s shrouded in mystery and en route to Las Vegas. Just when he’s ready to hitch a ride to the desert, however, […]
