Sundance
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“The Maltese Sun Was My First Lighting Tool”: DP Léo Lefèvre on Luzzu
Alex Camilleri’s Luzzu touts itself as one of the first 100% Maltese films. Starring fisherman Camilleri met during his time in Malta, the movie features non-actors in what could be mistaken for a documentary on Malta’s fishing industry and the ecological concerns therein. DP Léo Lefèvre tells us about his approach to filming inexperienced actors and what it was like filming on the water. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Lefèvre: First, I was approached by the […]
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“Fatal Violence Against Black Americans Made Pauli’s Story Relevant in Ways We Wish it Weren’t”: Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen | My Name is Pauli Murray
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? No question the events of 2020 changed the experience of making My Name is Pauli Murray in ways that will be familiar to other filmmakers: the rush to assemble makeshift home offices, the daily morning Zoom call, remote control shooting, and the unplanned budget line for COVID protocols. But beyond these complications, developments in 2020 have shifted and sharpened the way we’re thinking now about our documentary’s subject, Pauli Murray: a Black, gender nonconforming […]
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“I Promised I Wouldn’t Cut My Hair”: Director Amalia Ulman | El Planeta
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? In October 2019 Chen Zhou came over to Gijón to act but also help me shoot El Planeta. Back then I promised I wouldn’t cut my hair until I visited Shanghai again, because I was supposed to spend a month in China during March 2020. Of course, all those plans got cancelled. Now my hair is much longer than I expected and I truly miss my friend and collaborator Chen Zhou. But I also […]
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“The Studios Where We Edited Had to Close All of a Sudden”: Director Blerta Basholli | Hive
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? It mostly affected the post-production process. I was in Prague locking the film with editor Enis Saraci when the lockdown in March happened, so it was surreal. The studios where we edited had to close all of a sudden, we had to find a private studio which would not cost a lot and continue editing. My kids and my husband were in Kosova. I had 4 more days of editing to lock the picture […]
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“I Knew This Film Was Going to Be a Little Out There”: Editor James Crouch on The Blazing World
Carlson Young’s feature debut The Blazing World features the director as her own lead. Margaret has recurring nightmares hearkening back to the drowning of her sister when she was a child. On the brink of suicide, Margaret finds herself in an alternate world where her sister may yet live. Editor James Crouch discusses relying on simplicity on an otherwise complex movie and the editing choice that made Young cry. 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 this job? Crouch: I met […]
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Sundance 2021 Critic’s Notebook 2 (Vadim Rizov): The Sparks Brothers, Mother Schmuckers
Now entering their sixth decade of steady musical production, Sparks—brothers Ron and Russell Mael’s remarkably enduring musical project—has proved equally alienating to multiple generations of American listeners no matter what phase they were in. During the very first days of MTV, clips for their Moroder-produced “No. 1 Song in Heaven” and “Try-Outs for the Human Race” were in regular rotation (if only because there was so little else to show). But when not involuntarily exposed to them, American audiences rejected Sparks whether in their glam, disco, ’90s synth or 2002-and-onwards minimalist keyboard-loops periods—especially true of the latter, their longest-lasting mode to […]
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“There Is an Appropriate Numbness and Bareness to It”: DP Lauren Guiteras on Ma Belle, My Beauty
Marion Hill tackles uncharted territory with their polyamorous drama Ma Belle, My Beauty. After moving to rural France, Bertie (Idella Johnson) runs into her ex Lane (Hannah Pepper-Cunningham) who she was previously in a three person relationship with alongside Bertie’s husband Fred (Lucien Guignard). DP Lauren Guiteras walks us through how she captured naturalistic sensuality, the beauty of imperfect lighting, and how she grounded Ma Belle, My Beauty in the tangible world. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Guiteras: I had […]
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“Maintaining a Respectful Distance”: DPs Sushmit Ghosh and Karan Thapliyal on Writing With Fire
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s feature debut Writing With Fire painstakingly follows Khabar Lahariya, India’s only all-female news network, as they transition from print to digital and challenge the caste system every step of the way. Ghosh acts as co-DP alongside Karan Thlapliyal on the film. The two discuss maintaining a respectul distance from their subjects and the inclement climate conditions of their filming. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Ghosh: When my codirector Rintu and I decided […]
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“Film as a Prayer”: Editors Jeanne Applegate and Dustin Waldman on Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir’s feature debut Faya Dayi is all about khat, a plant native to Ethiopia harvested and known for its euphoric properties when chewed. On another level, the film is about khat’s cultural significance as a major cash crop, analyzing its role both economically, socially, and generationally. Editors Jeanne Applegate and Dustin Waldman share the fine line between crafting a visual drug trip and spiritual resonance, extracting meaning from beautiful images, and the liberatory aspect of editing a conceptual film. 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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“Dalit Women as Colleagues, Bosses, Leaders and Risktakers”: Editors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh on Writing With Fire
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s feature debut Writing With Fire painstakingly follows Khabar Lahariya, India’s only all-female news network, as they transition from print to digital and challenge the caste system every step of the way. As a director duo, Thomas and Ghosh also took the massive undertaking of editing and producing their film, with Ghosh also acting as one of two cinematographers. The duo share their editing process, what it was like to respectfully but intimately capture the lives of the women of Khabar Lahariya, and reframing the image of Dalit women through editing. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
