Sundance
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“Sisyphean, but Ultimately Fortuitous” | James Sweeney, Twinless
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? Positive memories become idealized the more we retell them, and the negative ones vice versa—so I am hesitant to single out a most memorable day, because then it becomes canon… but I will answer the prompt! Being a director means making the tough decisions. My first instinct goes to the worst day, but I’m […]
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“Listening to Them Blew My Mind” | Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Sly Lives
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 are two days that stand out. The first one is located not in this movie, even, but in my last film, Summer of Soul, which featured a performance by Sly and the Family Stone at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969. The energy of that performance leapt past that film and stayed with […]
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“Amanda’s Approach is About Eclecticism”: Editor Benjamin Shearn on By Design
By Design is the latest feature film by Amanda Kramer, best known for Please Baby Please and Ladyworld. The film will premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival as part of the NEXT section. Benjamin Shearn, who has edited all of Kramer’s feature films, joined her once again in the cutting room for By Design. Below, he explains how his close friendship with Kramer helps him retain the magic in the edit. 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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“Merging Aesthetic Elements and Practical Considerations”: DP Patrick Jones on By Design
By Design, the latest film by Amanda Kramer (Please Baby Please, Ladyworld) has an instantly memorable logline: “A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.” The film will premiere as part of the NEXT section at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Collaborating for the seventh time with Kramer is cinematographer Patrick Jones. Below, Jones talks about how he attains the distinct aesthetics that mark Kramer’s films. 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 […]
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“We Kept the Space Very Intimate for Our Subjects”: DP Laura Goncalves on Sly Lives
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Summer of Soul will premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festiva’s Premieres section. The film combines archival footage with new interviews to examine the legacy and music of Sly and the Family Stone. Laura Goncalves, who served as director of photography, explains her personal connection to the project and how she used the Interrotron to help create private, intimate spaces for interviewees. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? Goncalves: I believe I was born to shoot this […]
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“We Filmed a Baby Being Born” | Dea Kulumbegashvili, April
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 most important day on set, not only while making April but also my previous films, is the day when we filmed a baby being born. We have prepared for this day for months, we thought we were ready. However when we actually witnessed and were able to grasp the moment of birth, it was […]
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“It Was the Movie I’d Been Waiting For”: DP Paul Meyers on Omaha
Sundance 2025 U.S. Dramatic Competition entry Omaha follows a father and his two young children on a cross-country journey that follows an unexpected family tragedy. The film is the feature debut of Cole Webley after a series of shorts and commercials. Making the leap to features alongside Webley is his frequent partner Paul Meyers, who served as DP on Omaha. Below, Meyers elaborates on the challenges of shooting a film with child actors and how it necessitated an ingenious solution to a day-for-night sequence. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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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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“Set is a Pretty Box That Holds Me” | Amanda Kramer, By Design
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’s a moment in the Cameron Crowe film We Bought A Zoo where the little girl who plays Matt Damon’s daughter says, “We bought a zoo!” and then Matt Damon confirms by saying, “Yes, we did. We did buy a zoo.” These are lines I’ve never forgotten. The plainness alone is too wild to […]
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“I Realized We Were Going to Make this Film No Matter What” | Georgi Unkovski, DJ Ahmet
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 night before principal photography began, I remember waking up at four in the morning, drenched in sweat, with only one though in my mind: “What am I doing?” That same morning, we started filming. I kept showing up for myself, my colleagues, and the film. I recall it so vividly because that moment felt like the […]
