Sundance
-
“It Felt Important to Not Shy Away from the Stories that Scare Us”: The Diary of a Teenage Girl | Director Mari Heller
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? I felt drawn to the graphic novel The Diary of a Teenage Girl because it at once resonated for me and terrified me. It was such a brutally honest depiction of female sexuality and such a brave characterization of a teenage mind, that it shook me to the core a little bit. I was inspired and in awe of Phoebe Gloeckner’s work, by her bravery. Which is why I […]
-
“I Will Work Through Some Issues I’m Having While Dreaming”: Reversal | Director J.M. Cravioto
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? As a director, there are stages when it comes to what your fears are while making a film. In Reversal I experienced the same fears I had previously dealt with in prior features. I think fear can be easily defined as insecurity and every person — in this case every director — experiences it in a different manner. Yet, we all share a common denominator in that we’re all […]
-
“My First Feature Film was Shot in Seven Days”: Glassland | Director Gerard Barrett
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Fear is an interesting word. I wouldn’t say I had to overcome any fear in the whole process of bringing Glassland to life, but I guess what I had to overcome was going into a “traditional” production – the unknown to me. Pilgrim Hill, my first feature film, was shot in seven days with a three-person crew and one actor. It was intense, intimate and all consuming. I wrote, […]
-
“I Have a Fear of Long Hours”: Hellions | Director Bruce McDonald
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? I have a fear of Long Hours. The crew gets angry, bored, sick and tired. They don’t see any friends, lovers, families, or pets. People feel ground down and taken advantage of. The set becomes isolated from life. And the film suffers for it. To overcome this on Hellions we did all we could to prevent Long Hours from occurring. We prepped like motherfuckers. Sharpened the script. Pushed for […]
-
“The Film Just Won’t Be Good Enough”: Brooklyn | Director John Crowley
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? At first the familiar gnawing fear that the film just won’t be good enough. But nothing ever is, so I negotiated my way past that one. But then arose a far more specific concern in this instance – that the finished film would not do justice to the experiences of the countless thousands of emigrants that crossed the Atlantic to find a new life in the US. Brooklyn is […]
-
“I Worked Diligently and Kept At It”: Cronies | Producer/Editor/Writer/Director Michael J. Larnell
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? The biggest fear I had to conquer while making this project was the decision to take on many roles for the film. I am the producer, editor, writer and director for Cronies. The most difficult part was the pre-production jobs of producer and director. There were many items needed to be completed for both producer and director, but most of the time went to the producer role. There were […]
-
“My Confidence was in the Dumps”: Bob and the Trees | Writer/Director Diego Ongaro
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? My biggest fear happened with the writing of the script. It came down to lacking confidence. It was very hard to come up with a good story that has enough life in it — real life in it — but also a strong narrative. With my wife and co-writer, Courtney Maum, we kept going back and forth. She’s a novelist so she was pushing for a more scripted story, […]
-
“I Might Actually Be Documenting Larry’s Passing”: Larry Kramer in Love & Anger | Producer/Director Jean Carlomusto
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? The biggest fear I had while making the film was that I might actually be documenting Larry’s passing. Just as we started the final push on the documentary, Larry became critically ill and ended up in intensive care. The grave nature of his illness brought back terrible memories of witnessing my friends die of AIDS in the 1980’s and 90’s. Also, my father had recently died. Being part of […]
-
“We Sold Our Film!” The Director of The 414s: The Original Teenage Hackers Blogs from Sundance
My filmmaking partner, Chris James Thompson and I are more than halfway through our time here at Sundance and it’s been pretty incredible. So far we’ve had two screenings of our short doc The 414s: The Original Teenage Hackers, and the audience response has been extremely positive. Some of the other highlights include spotting Kristen Wiig hanging out on Main Street, getting a bunch of legit full-sized posters printed courtesy of the pros at the HP center and taking the trek out to the Sundance Mountain Resort for the Directors brunch, where Robert Redford was in attendance. But nothing can […]
-
Online Hoax: Sophie Deraspe Discusses Her Sundance Doc The Amina Profile
Girl meets girl online. They fall in love from afar — Sandra in Montreal, Amina in Syria. The Arab uprising occurs and soon Amina, star blogger and creator of “A Gay Girl in Damascus” gets swept up in the chaos, then kidnapped, and then disappears. Her frantic paramour goes on a global quest to find her — only to discover that the game-changing World Wide Web is also a web of intrigue and deceit. Fortunately, Sophie Deraspe’s doc The Amina Profile is more than the sum of this now infamous hoax. By smartly training her lens on the unwitting victim […]
