Sundance
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“The Post-Pandemic Climate Has Been Especially Difficult”: Producers Richa Chadha and Claire Chassagne on Girls Will Be Girls
Attending boarding school in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) begins to embrace her emerging sexuality in Girls Will Be Girls, the feature debut from Indian writer-director Shuchi Talati. Mira’s exploration of desire is stunted by the middling presence of her mother (Kani Kusruti), whose disapproval likely stems from an inadequate coming-of-age process during her own youth. First-time producers Richa Chadha and Claire Chassagne—based, respectively, in India and France—share the challenges and rewards that came with working on Talati’s film. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here. Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you […]
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“The NJ Turnpike as a Symbol of Autonomy” | River Gallo, Ponyboi
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? The landscape of New Jersey—both the physical and psychic landscape, in all its gritty, fragile, and transient majesty—was my muse in creating Ponyboi. Blue-collar homes, the billowing smoke of oil refineries, neon lit diners and strip clubs, all populate my mind when […]
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“In Some Mysterious Way, the Material Itself Begins To Speak to You”: Editor Amrita David on Girls Will Be Girls
Girls Will Be Girls, the feature debut from writer-director Shuchi Talati, follows a teenage girl named Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) as she navigates her sexual awakening while attending boarding school in the Himalayan mountains. Her domineering mother (Kani Kusruti), however, wishes to put a stop to Mira’s exploration of her autonomous desires. Editor Amrita David, who also cut Alice Diop’s excellent 2022 film Saint Omer, discusses how her Indian heritage and editing intuition proved to be enormous boons to the film’s final form. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“The Rhythms of the Film Mirror Their Artistic Spirit”: Editors Brendan Bellomo & Aniela Sidorska on Porcelain War
When Russia invaded Ukraine, artists Anya Stasenko, Slava Leontyev and Andrey Stefanov chose to stay behind and fight. Along with their friends Brendan Bellomo and Aniela Sidorska in the United States, they have made their feature filmmaking debut documenting their lives during wartime and their art. Below, Bellomo, who served as co-director and editor, and Sidorska, who also produced, explain how they came to shape the film’s narrative and built intimacy with the on-screen subjects while coordinating across three continents. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
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“The Dichotomy of Worlds Held in This One Place” | Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie, Sugarcane
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Williams Lake, named after the Secwépemc Chief William, stretches five miles across the Cariboo in the rugged interior of British Columbia, Canada. On the southside of the lake there’s the Sugarcane Indian Reserve, home to William’s people. On the other, there’s the city […]
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“My Imagination Was Intimately Connected to the Countryside of My Birth” | Christopher Jenkins, 10 Lives
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? I’m from the U.K., but have lived in the States for 30-something years. And while I’m thoroughly glued into my life in Los Angeles, I’ve yet to go completely native. Still, to this day when writing, I unconsciously lean into the values I […]
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“We’re There To Solve Logistical Problems All Day Every Day”: DP Steve Yedlin on Winner
Based on the real-life whistleblower who leaked an intelligence report exposing Russian interference in the 2016 election, director Susanna Fogel’s Winner depicts the events leading up to Texas native Reality Winner’s eventual arrest and sentencing. Cinematographer Steve Yedlin describes his approach to shooting Fogel’s film, which included not getting caught up with references and “not being a slave to superstition” when it came to choosing a camera. 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 attributes that led to your […]
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“The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: DP Christopher LaMarca on Sugarcane
Sugarcane, co-directed by journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an investigation into the abuse and missing persons cases at an indigenous residential school and the associated tumult on the nearby Reserve. It is the debut film by NoiseCat, a former policy with personal ties to the community, and the second, after A Girl Named C, for Kassie. Christopher LaMarca served as cinematographer, his second such credit, after Ry Russo-Young’s Nuclear Family. Below, he discusses some of the challenges peculiar to shooting verité films. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
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“Adapt and Let the Film Show You What It Wants to Show You”: DP Kristen Correll on My Old Ass
In My Old Ass, an incoming college freshman encounters an older version of herself during a mushroom trip, spurring a journey of self-discovery. The film is director Megan Park’s follow-up the 2021 SXSW premiere The Fallout and stars Maisy Stella (Nashville) alongside Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal). Kristen Correll (The Fallout, Parachute) served as director of photography. Below, she talks about going with the flow during shooting, the film’s nostalgic tone, and the ’90s favorites that provided influence. 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 Attribute Our Ingenuity to Collective Organizing Principles” | Jazmin Jones, Seeking Mavis Beacon
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Given the investigative nature of Seeking Mavis Beacon, I knew I wanted to play with elements of noir and true crime. It’s worth mentioning that I have a contentious relationship with these film genres but, aesthetically speaking, they’re rife with visual motifs that […]
