Sundance
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“We All Have a Desire to Make Our Lives Make Sense”: DP Brandon Somerhalder on Come See Me in the Good Light
Come See Me in the Good Light follows Andrea, a poet in Colorado, as they face a cancer diagnosis. The film is an intimate verité documentary and marks director Ryan White’s return to Sundance after Assassins and Ask Dr. Ruth. Brandon Somerhalder (A Concerto is a Conversation, Live to 100) served as the film’s DP. Below, he explains why a verité approach was right for the project and the difficulties of maintaining that at a live poetry reading without jeopardizing the comfort of his ailing subject. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]
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“What I Perceived as the Truth Fundamentally Changed” | Bao Nguyen, The Stringer
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Reflecting on the journey of directing The Stringer, there is one day that particularly symbolizes a significant shift in my perception. It was the moment when my understanding of what I perceived as the truth fundamentally changed. Learning the undisclosed reality behind a well-known story was not only enlightening but also a stark reminder […]
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“Respect and Appreciate the Mundane Moments” | Brittany Shyne, Seeds
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The moments I treasure and relish the most were the days that I was able to spend with the elders, many of which passed away. Riding with Carlie as he gathered pecans from hundred year old orchard trees. Belle proudly showing me her varieties of citrus and grapefruit that populated her childhood home. During […]
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“We Were Forced to Evacuate Palestine” | Cherien Dabis, All That’s Left of You
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The day that I’ll never forget as long as I live is the day we were forced to evacuate Palestine. I had already spent nearly five months prepping with my local and key film crew on the ground. And many members of my foreign crew had just flown in from Germany. We had just […]
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“The Snow Was Deep and the Polar Night Was Underway” | Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, FOLKTALES
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Rachel Grady: Shot in the stunning Norwegian Arctic, FOLKTALES was a project that tested us daily. With long stretches of shooting while exposed to freezing temperatures, combined with the creative demands of filming, it was formidable. These challenges were matched by extraordinary moments of beauty and a deep connection to the sublime wilderness. If I had to choose […]
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“I Even Found Myself Taking Lines into My Personal Life”: Editor Berenice Chavez on Come See Me in the Good Light
In the latest documentary by Ryan White (Pamela, A Love Story; Ask Dr. Ruth), poets Andrea and Meg turn to their art to help them cope with Andrea’s cancer diagnosis. Come See Me in the Good Light will screen as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Premieres section. Editor Berenice Chavez, who also edited Pamela, A Love Story returns to the cutting room for Come See Me in the Good Light. Below, she talks about finding her way into Andrea and Meg’s life despite not, at least initially, being a fan of poetry. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. […]
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“The First Day We Got Our Four Leads in a Room Together” | James Griffiths, The Ballad of Wallis Island
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? There were so many memorable days making the film—from our first meeting with producer Rupert Majende, who got behind the project and shifted the momentum, to Carey Mulligan saying yes to playing Nell that really led to us getting the film greenlit—but I think the day I’ll remember will be day seven, SC 29, […]
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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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“I Grew Up Playing Nintendo”: Albert Birney on OBEX
Albert Birney has been busy since 2020. On top of releasing 2022’s Eyeballs in the Darkness, a second feature in his series about a pair of 8-bit inspired animated best friends, Tux and Fanny, in, after releasing a video game incarnation of those characters the year before, and premiering his second collaboration with Kentucker Audley, Strawberry Mansion, Birney has now completed his first live-action film as a solo director. OBEX started its humble, black-and-white production with resources Birney had on hand: his house, his bulldog-chihuahua-pug mix (what he calls a “Bullchug”) Dorothy and his affinity for the ‘80s technology of […]
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Sundance 2025: The Perfect Neighbor, Sly Lives
Stagnation (long-term) and change (imminent) hang over this year’s Sundance. In 2027, the festival will relocate to one of three finalist sites—potentially still a Salt Lake City/Park City split, with the balance of power now reversed between the latter and former, through the rumor vine says Cincinnati or Boulder are more likely. (Please, lord, deliver us unto the midwest or thereabouts.) A Variety article headlined “Sundance in Cincinnati? Hollywood Worries Film Festival Won’t Be the Same Without Park City” actually reports nothing of the sort; the voices regretting Sundance’s imminent departure to a less demanding altitude come from two Utah […]
