Interviews
Interviews
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Five Questions with Golden Exits Director Alex Ross Perry
The worlds of Alex Ross Perry tend to thrive on confrontation. In 2014, the writer/director arrived at Sundance with Listen Up Philip, an acerbic comedy that showcased his knack for characters at once repellent and compelling. He followed that film with Queen of Earth, a feverish two-hander that pitted Elisabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston in a cage match of sniping and passive-aggression. For his fifth feature, Perry gave himself a challenge: To write a film with no outward hostility. That film is Golden Exits. Perry calls it his “mellow drama.” An NYC-set ensemble starring Emily Browning, Mary-Louise Parker and Jason Schwartzman, Golden Exits premieres this week in competition […]
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“Like Nothing Else I Have Shot”: DP Sean Price Williams on Marjorie Prime
Sean Price Williams has become an indomitable force in American independent cinema. Filming regularly on Super 16mm, Williams has served as DP on the films of Alex Ross Perry (Queen of Earth, Listen Up Philip), Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine), Albert Maysles (Iris) and the Safdie brothers (Heaven Knows What). Williams sought to shoot something unlike any of his previous work for his latest feature, Marjorie Prime. With a cast that includes Jon Hamm, Geena Davis and Tim Robbins, Marjorie Prime is the latest film from writer/director Michael Almereyda. The film will have its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why […]
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Five Questions with Crown Heights Director Matt Ruskin
Colin Warner spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. In 1980, police arrested Warner for the killing of a 16-year-old boy in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. His imprisonment, based solely on a mistaken eye witness, robbed him of his freedom from the years of Jimmy Carter all the way to George W. Bush. Warner’s story is the subject of Crown Heights, the second feature film from writer/director Matt Ruskin. The film stars Lakeith Stanfield (Short Term 12) as Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha (Hello, My Name Is Doris) as Carl King, Warner’s best friend who devotes years of his life […]
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“An Act of Resistance against the Flux of Capital”: Editor Yael Bitton on Machines
First-time director Rahul Jain made a strong impression in 2016 with Machines, his documentary portrait of a massive sweatshop in Sachin, India. The film premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and made its U.S. debut this week at Sundance. Praised for its visceral, experiential depiction of manual labor, the film provides a rare glimpse into the textile mills where many of our products originate. Jain hired the Paris-based Yael Bitton as one of multiple editors to give shape to his harrowing footage. Bitton spoke with Filmmaker before the film’s five Sundance screenings about Machines‘ unconventional narrative structure and […]
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DPs Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau on Big Game Hunting Doc Trophy
Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau are the cofounders of Reel Peak Media, a production company that prides itself on documentary work of both “journalistic integrity and cinematic quality.” Both filmmakers began as photojournalists before making the move to documentary cinema. On Trophy, Schwarz and Clusiau served as DPs with Schwarz acting as director. Their film explores the worlds of big game hunting, breeding, and wildlife conservation. Below, the two discuss these issues ahead of Trophy‘s premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? Schwarz and Clusiau: Since we are directors who started as photojournalists, […]
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“The Unconventional Structure We Wanted”: Editor Katie Flaxman on Killing Ground
Katie Flaxman has edited 35 shorts, TV series, fiction films and documentaries in the past 12 years. Her most recent feature, Killing Ground, made its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week. A violent thriller from director Damien Power, the film tells the story of a nightmarish camping trip in the Australian woods. Below, Flaxman discusses the film’s non-linear structure, her techniques for “storyboarding” a film in the editing suite and the importance of POV in thrillers. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that […]
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“A Traditionally Vérité Film but with a Contemporary Cinematic Lens”: DP Nadia Hallgren on Motherland
Nadia Hallgren’s career in documentary film began as a camera operator on Fahrenheit 9/11, still the highest grossing doc in America. In the 13 years since she has served as a camera operator on such films as Searching for Sugarman and as a DP on Citizen Koch and last year’s Trapped. Her latest feature as DP, Motherland, is a vérité portrait inside a maternity ward in the Philippines. The film, directed by Ramona Diaz, will premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Below, Hallgren talks about the emotional bond she formed with the women in the film, shooting in the summer heat of the […]
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“We Both Think Beauty Lies in the Imperfection”: DP Ante Cheng on Justin Chon’s Gook
Actor Justin Chon appeared in all five Twilight films and a number of TV shows before making his directorial debut in 2015 with Man Up. His second feature, the provocatively titled Gook, premiered in the NEXT lineup at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film was shot by Ante Cheng, a Los Angeles-based cinematographer from Taipei. Cheng had previously shot shorts and directed commercials and music videos before getting tapped by Chon for Gook. Prior to the film’s debut at Sundance, Cheng spoke with Filmmaker about shooting in black and white, his favorite Los Angeles-set films and finding inspiration in the words of cinematographer Harris Savides. […]
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DP Simon Chapman on Sundance-Bound Australian Thriller Killing Ground
Simon Chapman has has served as DP on nearly 50 features, shorts and TV series since 2001, including five shorts from director Damien Power. In 2016 Chapman shot Power’s debut feature, Killing Ground, which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival and is set to screen during the Midnight section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to his work with Power, Chapman has shot films for Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones, The Devil’s Candy) and Tony Ayres (Cut Snake). He speaks below about the naturalist thriller Killing Ground ahead of its screening at Sundance. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
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“On a Picture of this Size, Time and Money Are Your Enemy”: DP Armando Salas on Bitch
Writer/director/actor Marianna Palka has appeared at Sundance to present a feature (2008’s Good Dick), a documentary short (2014’s The Lion’s Mouth Opens) and to serve as a Sloan Juror. She returns to Park City in 2017 with Bitch, her surreal new film on the crumbling of a nuclear family. Palka hired DP Armando Salas to shoot the film, which stars Jason Ritter, Jaime King and Palka herself. Ahead of the film’s premiere, Salas spoke with Filmmaker about the film’s seriocomic tone, visual influences and its toughest scene to shoot. The film will screen four times at Sundance this year. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]
