Interviews
Interviews
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“The Story was Unfolding in Real Time”: Editor Emelie Mahdavian on Heightened Scrutiny
Heightened Scrutiny documents ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio as he fights of transgender rights in the courtroom, as well as the battles waged outside the courtroom by those advocating for their rights. The film is director Sam Feder’s follow-up to 2020’s Disclosure and screens as part of the Sundance Premieres section. Emelie Mahdavian, whose previous credits include Midnight Traveler and Singing in the Wilderness, served as the film’s editor. Below, Mahdavian talks about the challenges of editing a film whose story is unfolding outside the editing room in real time. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]
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“Balancing the Cultural Context with the Story’s Essence”: DP Mohammadreza Eyni on Cutting Through Rocks
Sara Shahverdi was the first elected Iranian councilwoman in her village, Cutting Through Rocks documents how she uses her power and resources to empower and protect women and girls. The film is the debut feature documentary of co-directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni. Eyni also served as the World Documentary Competition entry’s director of photography. Below, explains how he earned the trust of his subjects and, alongside Khaki, was able to shoot in women-only spaces. 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 […]
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“The Feeling of Triumph was Palpable”: DP Martin DiCicco on Heightened Scrutiny
Director Sam Feder’s first film, Disclosure, tackled the influence of Hollywood on the perception of transgender people. Now, Heightened Scrutiny follows ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio as he fights for trans rights in the courtroom. Cinematographer Martin DiCicco (Union) also worked on the Sundance Premieres section entry. Below, DiCicco talks about creating the perfect look for the film’s interviews and shooting a contentious rally outside the Supreme Court on a cold day. 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 […]
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“Snapshots of a Memory of Our Character”: DP Mia Cioffi Henry on Sorry, Baby
In Eva Victor’s debut feature, a professor, played by Victor herself works to come to terms with her past trauma over a five-year period, which unfolds nonlinearly. The film screens as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition. Mia Cioffi Henry, best known for The Surrogate and herself a professor, served as the film’s cinematographer. She explicates the challenges of shooting a scene when the director is in front of the camera and how she captured her protagonist’s isolation below. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“I Don’t Want to Worry About Camera Settings”: DP Diego Tenorio on The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake takes place in Buenos Aires, 2001, when three teenage girls all for the same guy. Laura Casabé (The Returned) directs the tense, socioeconomically attuned coming-of-age story from a Benjamin Naishtat (Rojo) script. The film screens as part of the World Dramatic Competition Below, Cinematographer Diego Tenorio (Tótem) talks about the detailed tests and planning that contributed to The Virgin of the Quarry Lake‘s look and adjusting to a shorter workday. 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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“I’d Waited My Whole Career for a Director To Ask Me To Do That”: Editor Shawn Paper, Love, Brooklyn
Rachael Holder, who has directed several episodes from shows including Dickinson and Everything’s Gonna be Okay, makes the jump to filmmaking with Love, Brooklyn. The film is an observational portrait of three Brooklynites navigating love, loss and life. The U.S. Dramatic Competition Sundance entry was edited by Shawn Paper (That Awkward Moment). Read on to hear about Steven Soderbergh pitch-perfect advice to Paper, as well as the difficulty of—and solutions to—editing the film’s beginning. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led […]
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“What It Means to be a Human Straddling These Two Worlds”: Editor Nick Rondeau on Serious People
Serious People is co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson NEXT feature about a music video director who hires a lookalike to replace him at work while his wife is pregnant. The film is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood. Serious People is also the feature editorial debut of Nick Rondeau. Below, Rondeau talks about keeping the emotional core of the story central even while adapting a fly-on-the-wall observational approach. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
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“Moviemaking on a Hyper-Condensed Timeline”: Producer Laurel Thomson on Serious People
Co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson made a work of autofiction about the former’s expectant fatherhood and work-life balance in Serious People, about a music video director who hires a lookalike to take his place at work while his wife is pregnant. Serious People is also Laurel Thomson’s first feature film as a producer. She discusses what made this film so different to produce from other films she has worked on and the ensuing “baptism by fire” to get the film ready for Sundance, where it screens as part of the NEXT section. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer […]
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“Letting Brooklyn be a Constant but Subtle Presence”: DP Martim Vian on Love, Brooklyn
The U.S. Dramatic Competition entry Love, Brooklyn follows the lives of three Brooklynites as they navigate the trials and travails of everyday life. The film is the debut film by Rachael Handler, who has directed episodes for a number of streaming series. Serving as director of photography on Love, Brooklyn is Martim Vian. Below, Vian goes into detail about the film’s cinematographic principles and bringing its setting to life. 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? See all responses to […]
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“It Was More Pointedly a Satirical Look at …’The Peace-Building Industry'”: Amber Fares on her Sundance-Premiering Coexistence, My Ass!
Amber Fares’s Sundance-premiering Coexistence, My Ass! takes its fabulous title from a one-woman show of the same name, a piece developed (at Harvard of all places) by the doc’s star, “activist-comedian” Noam Shuster Eliassi. The daughter of an Iranian Jewish mother and a Romanian Jewish father, Shuster Eliassi grew up in “Oasis of Peace” (Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam), a utopian community purposely comprised equally of Jews and Palestinians, where she would become “the literal poster child for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” and eventually a co-director of the UN’s Interpeace organization by the time she was in her early 20s. But then […]
