Sundance
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“The Enormity of This Historical Moment wasn’t Lost on Me” | Sam Feder, Heightened Scrutiny
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? On December 4, 2024, with three cameras our crew arrived outside the Supreme Court to film before, during, and after the case United States v. Skrmetti while attorney Chase Strangio was arguing inside. Starting at 9:00 AM, a rally of queer and trans children, adults and allies huddled together in the cold, giving speeches, […]
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“It Was All There, in One Afternoon” | Rachel Fleit, Sugar Babies
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? I could tell Autumn, the main subject of the film, was a little nervous when we met on the first day of filming. It was understandable—we’d only met through a Zoom call, and now we were there, cameras in hand. But by the second day, we found our rhythm. Autumn invited us to her […]
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“Snapshots of a Memory of Our Character”: DP Mia Cioffi Henry on Sorry, Baby
In Eva Victor’s debut feature, a professor, played by Victor herself works to come to terms with her past trauma over a five-year period, which unfolds nonlinearly. The film screens as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition. Mia Cioffi Henry, best known for The Surrogate and herself a professor, served as the film’s cinematographer. She explicates the challenges of shooting a scene when the director is in front of the camera and how she captured her protagonist’s isolation below. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“I Couldn’t Shake the Crew’s Faces” | Mark Anthony Green, Opus
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? I had this idea for a shot… I’ll spare you the details, but it was cool and complicated. Well, possibly cool. But DEFINITELY complicated. Plus it required like 10 people to move furniture and props mid-shot. We rehearsed the shot days before. My AD—who was my protector and guardian angel during production—saved it for […]
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“I Don’t Want to Worry About Camera Settings”: DP Diego Tenorio on The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake takes place in Buenos Aires, 2001, when three teenage girls all for the same guy. Laura Casabé (The Returned) directs the tense, socioeconomically attuned coming-of-age story from a Benjamin Naishtat (Rojo) script. The film screens as part of the World Dramatic Competition Below, Cinematographer Diego Tenorio (Tótem) talks about the detailed tests and planning that contributed to The Virgin of the Quarry Lake‘s look and adjusting to a shorter workday. 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 […]
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“I’d Waited My Whole Career for a Director To Ask Me To Do That”: Editor Shawn Paper, Love, Brooklyn
Rachael Holder, who has directed several episodes from shows including Dickinson and Everything’s Gonna be Okay, makes the jump to filmmaking with Love, Brooklyn. The film is an observational portrait of three Brooklynites navigating love, loss and life. The U.S. Dramatic Competition Sundance entry was edited by Shawn Paper (That Awkward Moment). Read on to hear about Steven Soderbergh pitch-perfect advice to Paper, as well as the difficulty of—and solutions to—editing the film’s beginning. 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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“What It Means to be a Human Straddling These Two Worlds”: Editor Nick Rondeau on Serious People
Serious People is co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson NEXT feature about a music video director who hires a lookalike to replace him at work while his wife is pregnant. The film is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood. Serious People is also the feature editorial debut of Nick Rondeau. Below, Rondeau talks about keeping the emotional core of the story central even while adapting a fly-on-the-wall observational approach. 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 […]
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“Moviemaking on a Hyper-Condensed Timeline”: Producer Laurel Thomson on Serious People
Co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson made a work of autofiction about the former’s expectant fatherhood and work-life balance in Serious People, about a music video director who hires a lookalike to take his place at work while his wife is pregnant. Serious People is also Laurel Thomson’s first feature film as a producer. She discusses what made this film so different to produce from other films she has worked on and the ensuing “baptism by fire” to get the film ready for Sundance, where it screens as part of the NEXT section. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer […]
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“Actualize a Dream We’ve Had Since Our Early Twenties” | Pasqual Guttierez and Ben Mullinkosson, Serious People
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? Pasqual Guttierez: To me, the most memorable aspect of this film was not one specific scene or shoot day. It was the collective experience as a whole. The film features my wife, my best friends and myself, and we play versions of ourselves. While the film was always set to be a comedy, I […]
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“Letting Brooklyn be a Constant but Subtle Presence”: DP Martim Vian on Love, Brooklyn
The U.S. Dramatic Competition entry Love, Brooklyn follows the lives of three Brooklynites as they navigate the trials and travails of everyday life. The film is the debut film by Rachael Handler, who has directed episodes for a number of streaming series. Serving as director of photography on Love, Brooklyn is Martim Vian. Below, Vian goes into detail about the film’s cinematographic principles and bringing its setting to life. 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? See all responses to […]
