Producers
Interviews - Producers
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“We Prioritized Story Over Logistics”: Producer Grant Ellison on Sunfish
Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) follows a group of characters as their paths begin to cross on Northern Michigan’s Green Lake. Besides being the debut feature of director Sierra Falconer, Sunfish is also Grant Ellison’s first credit as a producer. Below, Ellison talks about becoming a producer as someone whose day job is in policy research and how he was able to learn on the fly. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: How did you connect with this filmmaker and wind up producing the film? Ellison: Sierra and I are high school sweethearts. We […]
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“If You’re in the Room, Your Voice Matters”: Producer Shannon Moss on East of Wall
Screening in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section, East of Wall is a fictionalized version of the life of Tabatha Zamiga—who runs a ranch for wayward teenagers—and her family after the sudden death of her husband. The film stars its subjects as themselves and was written by debutant writer-director Kate Beecroft while she spent time with the family after a chance meeting on a road trip. Also debuting on East of Wall is producer Shannon Moss. Below, Moss talks about some of the challenges of shooting the film, the industry’s risk-averse nature and the mentors who helped her make […]
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“You Have to Create a Strong Duo”: Producer Dominique Barneaud on GEN_
Italian director Gianluca Matarrese centers his latest film on Dr. Bini, who oversees in vitro and gender-affirming care Milan’s Niguarda public hospital. Navigating complications put forth by the country’s conservative government as well as the commodification of healthcare, Dr. Bini never wavers in his mission to help his patients. First-time producer Dominique Barneaud discusses the difficulties of security Italian funding, his long-standing relationship with Matarrese and the importance of free speech among the film’s subjects. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: How did you connect with this filmmaker and wind up producing the film? Barneaud: […]
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“It Came Down to Me Not Wanting to Miss Out on the Trip”: Producer Asma Chiboub on Where the Wind Comes From
A competition in southern Tunisia becomes a road trip destination for young friends Alyssa(Eya Bellagha) and Mehdi (Slim Baccar) in Where the Wind Comes From, the feature debut from writer-director Amel Guellaty. First-time feature producer Asma Chiboub talks about her experience on Where the Wind Comes From, and the current state of the industry, below. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: How did you connect with this filmmaker and wind up producing the film? Chiboub: I met Amel Guellaty in 2014 around her first short film, Black Mamba, which I produced and which premiered in […]
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“Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up and Set the Tone”: Producer Pierre M. Coleman on Ricky
Ricky follows the travails of its title character (Stephan James), who has just been released from prison at age 30, as he tries to reintegrate into his community in Hartford, Conn. The film, directed by Rashad Frett, is an adaptation of Frett’s own short, itself a Sundance 2023 premiere. Ricky also marks Pierre M. Coleman’s first turn as a lead producer after handling the initial short. Below, he recounts the origin of his “little engine that could” and speaks to the importance of good partners. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: How did you connect […]
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“Budget a Worst-Case Scenario and Then Do Better”: Producers Ivan Unkovski and Ivana Shekutkoska on DJ Ahmet
A fifteen-year-old boy navigates first love, familial pressure and his newfound love of music in DJ Ahmet, premiering in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film is the feature debut by Sundance Short Film Program alum Georgi M. Unkovski. Below, first-time producers Ivan Unkovski and Ivana Shekutkoska discuss the challenges and surprises they had navigating European film financing to ensure DJ Ahmet could be made. They also reflect on the state of the industry and all the untapped talent in their region of the world. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer interviews here. Filmmaker: […]
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Sundance 2025 Interviews: First-Time Producers
This year, Filmmaker sent all first-time Sundance feature film producers a questionnaire to complete ahead of their film’s festival screening. We also sent out a single question for feature directors to answer as well as questionnaires for editors and cinematographers. Below, find links to individual first-time Sundance feature producer responses, which will be updated daily during the festival. “Budget a Worst-Case Scenario and Then Do Better”: Producers Ivan Unkovski and Ivana Shekutkoska on DJ Ahmet “Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up and Set the Tone”: Producer Pierre M. Coleman on Ricky “It Came Down to Me Not Wanting to Miss […]
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“I Believe Art Can Invent Hope”: Rashid Masharawi on From Ground Zero
For over a year, the images coming out of Gaza have been more chilling and disturbing than most horror films. Scenes of devastation and death became the norm, pain and suffering a recurring and unshakeable theme. But while Palestinians broadcast to the world what it was like to live—to survive—under Israel’s bombing of Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israeli citizens, Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi was also organizing, advising and funding filmmakers in Gaza to use the moving image to express themselves artistically, to create during a time of destruction. The result is From Ground Zero, […]
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TikTok, Building a Slate, and the Life of an Independent Producer: It Ends With Us Producer Alex Saks
If you’re a TikTok-using film producer, then the feed of Alex Saks has undoubtedly been delivered straight to your phone by that platform’s ruthless and unerring algorithm. Over the past year-and-a-half, and across nearly 200 clips, Saks, a former ICM financing agent and more recently a producer of such films as The Florida Project, Thoroughbreds, and Sometimes I Think About Dying, has been dispensing on the platform pithy, direct pieces of advice on topics such as securing book rights, defining the role of the line producer, imposter syndrome and the state of the industry. There’s the occasional stitch or commentary […]
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The Cold Realities: Producer Kurt Ravenwood on Hundreds of Beavers
Visit the website of Emmy-winning Milwaukee-based advertising and marketing company SRH, and you’ll be presented with a graphic extolling the firm’s concept of “empirical marketing.” In return for a mailing list signup, a free ebook download promises to teach you how to “burn fat & grow muscle” and to “trim flabby, underperforming campaigns.” And while many of the clients listed on its site hail from the health and wellness space, the lean, low-fat philosophy suggested by the company’s branding can extend to film as well, as Kurt Ravenwood—the “R” in SRH—has proven with the independent adventure comedy hit Hundreds of […]
