Interviews

Christopher Zalla, Padre Nuestro

PADRE NUESTRO. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Padre Nuestro exemplifies the modern, international face of American independent cinema: the first-time director, Christopher Zalla, was born in Kenya, raised overseas (and is fluent in Spanish), schooled at Columbia, and created a stylish thriller that begins in Mexico and winds up in New York City. A smart film that — one could argue — uses its border-hopping protagonist’s stolen identity as a metaphor for globalization, Padre Nuestro will certainly spark debate at Sundance. Padre Nuestro screens at Sundance in dramatic competition. Can you say a little bit […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 25, 2007 Directors
David Kaplan, Year of the Fish

YEAR OF THE FISH. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. A veteran of Sundance with his short films — including the cryptic, menacing fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood (starring Christina Ricci and Quentin Crisp!), Little Suck-A-Thumb, and The Frog King — which are regularly shown to film students as examples of exemplary short-form filmmaking, David Kaplan returns to the festival with his first feature, Year of the Fish. At once a singular New York immigrant story, as well as a re-imagining of the fairy tale (Kaplan’s real-world, adult conception of children’s stories can bring to […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2007 Directing
Dan Bush, David Bruckner, and Jacob Gentry, The Signal

THE SIGNAL. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Making a feature film, independent or otherwise, isn’t easy (understatement of the century). The seemingly impossible hurdle of gaining financing — not to mention the tiny details of actually executing the film and then seeking distribution — seem Herculean enough to scare off most would-be filmmakers. Now imagine directing a feature film with two other directors. Suicidal, right? Well, that’s exactly what three of Atlanta’s finest — Dan Bush, David Bruckner, and Jacob Gentry — did. The ballsy trio arrives at Sundance with their terrifying horror film, The […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2007 Directors
James C. Strouse, Grace is Gone

GRACE IS GONE. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Certain films arrive at Sundance with a special type of anticipation, whether it’s due to star presence, subject matter, timeliness, or some ineffable quality that is the stuff of buzz. At Sundance 2007, Grace is Gone is one of those films. The directorial debut of James C. Strouse, who wrote Lonesome Jim (the Steve Buscemi-directed film screened at Sundance in 2005), the film tells the heart-wrenching story of a father, played by John Cusack, who must find a way to tell his children that their mother has […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 20, 2007 Directors
Cherien Dabis, Make a Wish

MAKE A WISH. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Supported by numerous prestigious grants — including the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant, the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant, and National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant — Itmanna (Make a Wish), the most recent short film by writer/director, Cherien Dabis, will quickly follow its Sundance bow with screenings at Berlin and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. A former media activist and public relations specialist in Washington D.C., Dabis is the daughter of Palestinian/Jordanian immigrants, […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 20, 2007 Directors
Fellipe Barbosa, Salt Kiss

SALT KISS. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Salt Kiss, the second short film by writer/director Fellipe Barbosa to screen at Sundance (following last year’s La Muerte Es Pequena), has none of the tropes commonly associated—by Americans—with “Latin American” cinema. That means no knife-fights, gambling, gang violence, or overt poverty. Yet Salt Kiss is absolutely a Latin American film—Brazilian, to be exact—because its creator told a film straight from his heart, and yes, he happens to be from Brazil. In truth, Salt Kiss shares much more with two fine American independent films released in recent years—Sideways […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2007 Directors
Hope Dickson Leach, The Dawn Chorus

THE DAWN CHORUS. This article is part of Filmmaker‘s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Hope Dickson Leach’s short film, The Dawn Chorus, tells the story of two siblings who annually reenact—with other survivors—the plane crash that killed their parents. An MFA thesis film for Columbia University’s Film program (where Hope graduated with honors), The Dawn Chorus explores the process of grieving and, hopefully healing. A former assistant to Todd Solondz, Hope’s short films have played at festivals around the world, from London and Edinburgh to Boston and Austin. The Dawn Chorus screens in Shorts Program 1, and the film’s path to […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2007 Directors
Nanobah Becker, Conversion

CONVERSION. This article is part of Filmmaker‘s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Conversion, the ambitious second short film by Nanobah Becker, clocks in at only nine minutes, and is described simply tantalizingly as: “Christian missionaries make a catastrophic visit to a Navajo family.” Becker’s first short, Flat, has screened in festivals internationally, and she is a recipient of a 2005 Sundance Institute Ford Fellowship and a 2006 Media Arts Fellowship for her feature screenplay, Full. Conversion will play in Shorts Program V at Sundance. Can you say a little bit about your background? Where you’re from? Age? Education? Film experience prior […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2007 Directors
Ian Olds, Bomb

BOMB. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. It isn’t easy to glean a sense of Ian Olds’ identity from his films — they’re too diverse, too global. From Occupation: Dreamland (short-listed for an Academy Award), a breathtaking documentary that avoids simple political interpretation by opting to tell the story of the Iraq War from the perspective of the entire city of Fallujah — including both native Iraqis and U.S. troops — to Bomb, his most recent film, which explores teenage heartache against the backdrop of a decrepit bombing range and junkie malaise, Olds seems to be […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2007 Directors
Lilah Vanderburgh, Bitch

BITCH. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Bitch, the kinetic, black-and-white, Harold Lloyd-meets-Jello Biafra love story, is one of the most visually sophisticated and stylized films to emerge from that Sundance short film-factory, Columbia University’s MFA Film Program (eight shorts screening at the festival this year!). The film’s director, Lilah Vanderburgh, is obsessed with skater culture, punk-rock, underground comics, and displays the hip film literacy of another director with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture. (Is it taboo to compare a young director to Tarantino? Who cares — in this case, it’s deserved). This film will […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2007 Directors

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