Sundance
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“It Took an Additional 14 Months of Editing” | Joe Peeler, Bad Press
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? In the fall of 2021, we were about a year into our edit and preparing to submit Bad Press to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. We had been filming the battle for free press in the Muscogee Nation for two-and-a-half years at that point, and we felt that the story had all but wrapped up. Suddenly, about two weeks before […]
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“Creative Storytelling Needs Rather Simple Tools”: Editors Tushar Prakash and Hendrik Mägar on Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
In Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, the hazy and intimate doc from Estonian director Anna Hints, a group of women bear body and soul for the camera as they engage in lengthy shvitzes and discuss their most personal thoughts and memories while worshiping the divine feminine connection they all share. Editors Tushar Prakash and Hendrik Mägar discuss how they each approached cutting the film, with Mägar coming on during post-production to do the final 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 […]
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“My Own Sweat Would Drip Onto the Camera”: DP Ants Tammik on Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Women bear all in Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, the intimate documentary from Estonian filmmaker Anna Hints. While partaking in the ritualistic cleanse, a group of women divulge secrets, talk through past traumas and, above all, foster their feminine bond while sweating bullets in the nude. DP Ants Tammik tells Filmmaker about the complications of shooting in such a hot, stuffy environment with sensitive equipment —and a few injuries he sustained along the way. 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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“Each Film I Make Will Require New and Different Ways of Thinking”: Editor Luke Lorentzen on A Still Small Voice
An aspiring chaplain must complete her yearlong residency at NYC’s Mount Sinai Hospital during a particularly dark period for public health in A Still Small Voice, the latest from doc filmmaker Luke Lorentzen. Between 2020 and 2021, Mati conducts visits as part of the hospital’s spiritual care department, navigating the grief, trauma and uncertainly that weighs heavily on these patients—and herself. Lorentzen, who acted as director, cinematographer and editor, discusses his experience cutting the film, which he describes as his “favorite part of the filmmaking process.” See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did […]
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“Two Lenses and a Monitor Did Not Survive” | Anna Hints, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? I must say that the Smoke Sauna Sisterhood journey has been a total roller-coster or as we call in Estonian “American hills.” So I am more than delighted that in the end of the journey we end up with the world premiere at Sundance in the middle of real American mountains. The first big obstacle was that my first producer […]
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“I Had To Shoot This Film as a One-Person Crew”: DP Luke Lorentzen on A Still Small Voice
An aspiring chaplain named Mati navigates tragedy, grief and her own bandwidth for handling the incalculable loss of the pandemic in A Still Small Voice, the latest from documentary filmmaker Luke Lorentzen. Finishing her yearlong residency at the spiritual care department in New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, Lorentzen captures Mati and her supervisor Rev. David’s fight to maintain hope and warmth between 2020 and 2021, two of the deadliest years in U.S. history. Lorentzen, who directed, shot and edited the film, discusses how his one-person shoot allowed him to blend into the doc’s setting—and gain the trust of subjects—more […]
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“All of My Supporting Artists Were Testing Positive” | Nida Manzoor, Polite Society
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? At the beginning of the film there is a big school fight between Ria, the main character, and the school bully. I had always imagined it being set in this grand, round school library, filled with rabid teen girl spectators, creating a bloodthirsty gladiatorial image, a feeling of epic spectacle. When it came to the reality of filming, we were […]
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“Control of Women’s Sexuality Is What Makes Patriarchy Possible” | Nicole Newnham, The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Our first shoot on The Disappearance of Shere Hite was in the fall of 2021, when we filmed a requiem on the anniversary of Shere Hite’s cremation, held in Paris by her friend and artistic collaborator, the German fashion photographer Iris Brosch. At that time, it was of course already very clear to us that the backlash against feminism that […]
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“I Like to Channel Musicality Into the Act of Editing”: Editor Adam Dicterow on Mutt
Feña (Lío Mehiel) is a 20-something trans guy living in Brooklyn in Mutt, the feature debut from writer-director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. His life is instantly thrown into tumult when a series of people reenter his life unexpectedly, leading to the opening of old wounds. Editor Adam Dicterow talks about the process of cutting Mutt, also offering insight on how lucky he felt to work on the film in the first place. 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 […]
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“The Best Tool for Capturing Human Behavior”: Editors Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck on Fantastic Machine
Co-directors, cinematographers, producers and editors Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck embark on a meticulous dissection of “image-making and a mapping of its movement through society” in Fantastic Machine, the duo’s documentary that utilizes a large catalogue of archival footage to make its point. Danielson and Aretryck discuss the intricate editing process they undertook for the film along with another co-editor Mikel Cee Karlsson. 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 to your being hired for […]
