Sundance
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“It Was Important to Draw Out Tension and Let the Awkwardness Breathe”: Editor Sean Lahiff on Relic
Natalia Erika Jame adapts the real-world terror of degenerative disease into a supernatural horror film in Relic. Edna, an aging woman, is feared for by her daughter and granddaughter after she abruptly disappears, leaving in her wake the signs of someone struggling with dementia. One day, she inexplicably returns, and a dangerous entity may have come back with her. Editor Sean Lahiff talks about why he so enjoys editing the “darker side of genre films.” 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 […]
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“Feels as if Time Is Unspooling in Front of Our Eyes”: Editor Gabriel Rhodes on Time
Fox and Rob Rich are married, but they’ve been apart for 21 years—Rob is currently serving a 60-year sentence for a crime that they both committed. Fox has been diligently fighting for the release of her husband, while also filming home footage to share with Rob so he can watch his six children grow and observe the home life he cannot be a part of. Garrett Bradley’s documentary feature debut Time explores the violent oppression of African American people entrenched in America’s prison system and editor Gabriel Rhodes elaborates on the process of weaving archival, home and interview footage together […]
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“A Dream Refusing Deferment”: Garrett Bradley | Time
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? The telephone is a key object throughout the film. It’s the middle man. The conduit between problems and solutions, hope and disappointment. A dream refusing deferment. Sundance Responses 2020
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“When I Was a Kid, I Thought That Being a Psychiatrist Meant Getting to Sit in the Most Comfortable Chair in the World”: Kirsten Johnson | Dick Johnson is Dead
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Charles and Ray Eames apparently wanted their Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman to have the “warm receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt.” When I was a child, I simply knew their chair as “Dad’s chair.” He had one of them at his psychiatry office and one at home. Buying […]
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“When Used Well, Mirrors in Film Can Create Stunning and Confounding Images”: Bill Benz | The Nowhere Inn
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Mirrors are almost always a production headache. They (bear with me as I describe what a mirror does) reflect all the c-stands and lights and crew members that you were trying to hide from frame in your cramped indie film location that was never intended to be “a set”. However, when […]
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“Linus Has His Blanket. Radha Has Her Head Wrap”: Radha Blank | The 40-Year-Old Version
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Radha’s head wrap. It seems to be a nice fashion accessory. One that nods to Black and African culture and reflects identity and cultural pride. And in a time when women obsess over our looks and feel pressured to express ourselves through hair, a head wrap feels like an act of […]
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“Each of the Remembered Hoovers Made a Different Sound”: Jerry Rothwell | The Reason I Jump
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? My object(s) would be two vacuum cleaners (hoovers) vibrantly etched in the childhood memories of Joss, an autistic teenager in the film. The hoovers don’t appear in the film, and probably no longer exist, but they’re frequently present and talked about. Their colors—one red and one black—become a verbal game that’s […]
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“This Simple, Undeniable Math Represents the Profound Connectivity of All Things”: Tara Miele | Wander Darkly
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Something that is particularly integral to Wander Darkly is the golden spiral that Matteo has on his forearm. This pattern/ratio exists everywhere—in the arms of expanding galaxies, in the composition of paintings, on seashells, and in our own bodies. This simple, undeniable math represents the profound connectivity of all things. The […]
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“You Can Ride Poison to its Possibilities”: Josephine Decker | Shirley
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Mushrooms! In our film, mushrooms—deadly or benign—become this symbol of sexual freedom and creative liberation. You can eat your death. You can ride poison to its possibilities. Or you can just share a tasty treat with your witch. The relationship in our film between main characters Shirley and Rose also rides […]
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Impact Partners Executive Director Jenny Raskin on Financing, Fellowships, and Following the Filmmakers’ Lead
From 2018’s feature doc Oscar winner Icarus, to 2019’s Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary recipient Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, to the Sundance Grand Jury Prize nabbing Of Fathers and Sons and Dina (in 2018 and 2017, respectively), Impact Partners has been behind some of the most critically acclaimed nonfiction work of recent years. The company’s winning streak, however, actually goes back a decade, all the way to 2010’s Academy Award for Documentary Feature recipient The Cove. And Impact Partners itself goes back even further. Founded in 2007 by Dan Cogan and Geralyn Dreyfous with a mission to bring […]
