Sundance
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“What is Our Responsibility to Survivors?”: Alexandria Bombach on her Sundance-Winner On Her Shoulders
Recently announced Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad, a survivor of the Yazidi genocide and a current human rights activist, is the star of On Her Shoulders, Alexandria Bombach’s Sundance-winning (both for Best Documentary and the U.S. Documentary Directing Award) portrait of Murad as she navigates a world that would be overwhelming and intimidating for any 23-year-old, let alone one who has experienced unspeakable crimes at the hands of ISIS. But speak Murad must — to the prying media, to the cold bureaucratic UN, to indistinguishable assorted government officials. And to the refugees at camps who look to her as […]
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“In Time, the Movie Always Reveals What It Wants to Be”: Editor Terel Gibson on Sorry to Bother You
One of the breakout hits of this year’s Sundance, purchased by A24 in the festival’s last days, Boots Riley’s ambitious directorial debut Sorry to Bother You takes place in a near-feature uncomfortably close to the present. Telemarketer Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield) makes his way up the corporate ladder when it’s discovered his “white voice” does wonders in selling product. His rise up the corporate ladder, bringing him to the attention of unsound company head Steven Link (Armie Hammer), worries his activist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). Editor Terel Gibson told Filmmaker about the challenges of assembling Riley’s satirical first film. Filmmaker: How and why did […]
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“Advocating For the Civil Rights of Women”: Editor Kate Hackett on Half the Picture
The title of Amy Adrion’s Half the Picture should be taken semi-literally: if women are half the population but severely underrepresented behind the camera, what’s being lost? Her documentary interviews a number of female directors (including Gina Prince-Blythewood, Catherine Hardwicke and Penelope Spheeris) on their experiences, good and bad, while (not) making movies. Editor Kate Hackett explained her work on the film and why she found it inspiring prior to the film’s premiere. 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? Hackett: I […]
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“No One Knows How Much Work Went Into Getting It Right”: Editor Neil Meiklejohn on Wild Wild Country
Led by one Rajneesh (also known as Bhogwan), a group of Indian believers arrived in 1981 at Wasco County, Oregon. The tensions between the new arrivals and the locals, leading (among other things) to the largest biochemical poisoning in US history on 1984, are examined and fleshed-out in the six-part Netflix series Wild Wild Country. Editor Neil Meiklejohn discussed his latest collaboration with Chapman and Maclain Way prior to Wild Wild West‘s premiere at Sundance. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of this series? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this […]
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“We Used Chaos to Clarify Our Senses and Capture True Harmony and Beauty”: Gabo Arora | Zikr: A Sufi Revival
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? There is always chaos at the heart of any creative endeavor, and when I left for Tunisia last year with a team of experiential visionaries to capture Sufi rituals, we needed to fully embrace it. We landed with only a rough idea of what we wanted to accomplish, along with a Tunisian fixer I randomly met […]
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“The First Assembly Had Two Major Editing Flaws”: Editors Greg Finton & Poppy Das on Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
Perhaps best known for her biographical documentaries (including two on Roman Polanski and one on Richard Pryor), Marina Zenovich’s latest film Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is an intimate look at the late comic and actor. Set to air later this year on HBO, the film draws upon a vast assembly of archival materials, many previously unknown to the public, to cover Williams’s extensive career. Editors Greg Finton and Poppy Das discuss the challenges of crafting a portrait that focused on the comedy rather than the tragedy of Williams’s life. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
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“As the World Around Me Fell Apart this Year… I Shifted My Focus Beyond Our Earth to the Darkest Edges of the Universe”: Eliza McNitt | SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? Both in life on Earth — and the birth of black holes from the violent death of supermassive stars — order appears out of chaos. SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime is an interactive VR experience where you dive into the heart of a black hole to uncover the hidden songs of the cosmos. Space is not silent. […]
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“The Solution Was to Re-edit the Scene Like a Hundred Times”: Editor Rikard Strømsodd on Lords of Chaos
Jonas Åkerlund (still possibly best known for his “Smack My Bitch Up” video, whose feature directorial debut was Spun) dives into the pioneering Norwegian black metal scene of the ’80s and ’90s. Anchored by Euronymous (Rory Culkin) and the infamous Varg Vikarnes (Emory Cohen), Åkerlund taps into a scene whose music resonates — even as Vikarnes is now known as a murderer who still produces music from prison. The story was well-told in Audrey Ewell and the late Aaron Aites’ documentary Until the Light Takes Us; here, editor Rikard Strømsodd discusses the challenges of taking on this dramatized version. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
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“Filming a Period Piece in London is Difficult”: DP John Conroy on Yardie
For Idris Elba’s feature directorial debut Yardie, cinematographer John Conroy was tasked with recreating a period environment in both England and Jamaica. Opening with a raucous party scene, Yardie travels through a world of Jamaican drug gangs over the ’70s and ’80s. DP John Conroy spoke with Filmmaker briefly about the challenges of filming this period piece. 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? Conroy: I had shot the last two series (3+4) of Luther with Idris and had developed a great working relationship […]
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“Getting Five Different Looks From One Room”: DP Yamit Shimonovitz on Half the Picture
Amy Adion’s documentary debut is on a topical subject: what’s to account for the grossly small percentage of female film directors? DP Yamit Shimonovitz was one of two DPs working to capture insights from figures including Penelope Spheeris, Brave co-director Brenda Chapman, Gina Prince-Blythewood and many others. Below, she discusses the challenges of balancing intimacy when entering subjects’ spaces with practical lighting considerations. 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? Shiminovitz: I was introduced to Amy Adrion through a mutual friend. […]
