Sundance
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“Poetry Sometimes Obscures the Narrative Arc”: Editor Keiko Deguchi on We The Animals
Though Jeremiah Zagar has been directing shorts and documentaries since 2004, We The Animals marks his first feature narrative film. Adapted from Justin Torres’s novel, Animals gives a name to the source text’s unnamed narrator: Jonah (Evan Rosado), a young boy growing up in ’80s upstate NYC against the background of his parents’ unstable marriage and growing awareness of his own queerness. Editor Keiko Deguchi spoke to Filmmaker about her work on the film, which split the NEXT Innovator Award (chosen by a single juror, RuPaul) with Jordana Spiro’s Night Comes On. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
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“As a Young Filmmaker You Discover Editing Only by Accident”: Editor Yannis Chalkiadakis on Pity
Yannis Chalkiadakis has been an editor of advertisements, shorts and feature films since 1993. His recent credits include Interruption (2015, Venice), A Woman’s Way (2009, Berlin) and L (2012, Sundance). He edited that last film for Babis Makridis, who returned to Sundance this year for his dark comedy Pity. Chalkiadakis speaks with Filmmaker below on the parallels between editing and sculpture, the influence of Hitchcock on his work and why, when it comes to editing, “it’s not the software that counts.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and […]
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“I Shot This Film Under Dangerous Circumstances”: DP Bernadett Tuza-Ritter on A Woman Captured
To capture the story of a Hungarian woman acting as an unpaid servant in cruel captivity for over a decade, Bernadett Tuza-Ritter simply had no choice but to act as her own DP. A Woman Captured, which premiered at IDFA before making its international premiere at Sundance. Tuza-Ritter explains her approach to lighting and story construction under difficult circumstances. 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? Tuza-Ritter: I shot this film under dangerous circumstances. My access was built on trust, so […]
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“Do I Believe What I Am Being Shown?” Editor Justine Wright on Yardie
Adapted from Victor Headley’s 1992 novel, Yardie marks Idris Elba’s feature directorial debut. Beginning in 1968, when young D (Aml Ameen) witnesses the killing of his brother, the film’s action begins a few years later, when he’s now part of the trade that claimed his sibling’s life. Not only is D in deep, he starts seeing his brother’s ghost, and thoughts of vengeance aren’t far behind. Editor Justine Wright explains the difficulties of cutting together some of the film’s sprawling scenes and whittling down an initial assembly cut of two and a half hours. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“Comedy is Fast, and So Was Our Edit”: Editor Courtney Ware on Never Goin’ Back
Editor Augustine Frizzell makes her feature directorial comedy with the loose comedy Never Goin’ Back, starring Maia Mitchell and Cami Morrone as two best friends whose planned week off at the beach will not be canceled despite being burgled, behind on rent and the fact that they might lose their jobs. DP Greta Zozula already spoke to some of the challenges of production here; editor Courtney Ware offers more insight on cutting a comedy alongside the shoot. 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 […]
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“Lighting for Three Different Angles at the Same Time”: DP Jasper J. Spanning on The Guilty
Winner of this year’s World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award, Gustav Möller’s The Guilty is a one-set thriller tracking a police emergency dispatcher (Jakob Cedergren) as he attempts to thwart a kidnapping in real time. A phone call from a woman being abducted by her husband sets the dispatcher on a quest to save her. Möller’s DP Jasper J. Spanning discussed the challenges of filming a one-set movie with three cameras in just 13 days. 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? […]
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“Living in a Culture of Heroin Production”: DP Matt Porwoll on The Trade
Expanding on the subject of his first feature, the both-sides-of-the-border drug wars documentary Cartel Land, director Matthew Heineman’s latest project is a five-part documentary series for Showtime. The first two hours premiered at Sundance. Prior to the screening, DP Matt Porwoll explained the difficulties of working on a project following both drug cartels in Mexico and stories of addiction and counter-law enforcement in the States in multiple cities. 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? Porwoll: When Matthew Heineman first […]
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“Editing is the Only Way I’ve Ever Paid My Rent”: Editor Zach Clark on The Long Dumb Road
Zach Clark is a familiar name on this site for his work as a director; he’s also a full-time editor. In this brief Q&A, Clark discusses his work on Hannah Fiddell’s The Long Dumb Road, a road movie and buddy comedy that winds from Texas to Los Angeles. Click here for more from DP Andrew Droz Palermo on the film’s production. 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? Clark: Hannah and I have been pals for years. She asked me if […]
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“The Relationship Between Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres”: Editor Kimberley Hassett on Shirkers
We’ve already written about Sandi Tan‘s Shirkers, her debut feature documentary named after the long-lost footage from her 1992 would-be feature debut of the same names. Under the mentorship of the mysterious Georges Cardona, the college-age Tan and friends embarked on making a rare Singaporean independent film; this documentary revisits that film and tells the story of Tan’s life to date while on the trail of the elusive Cardona. We’ve also already posted an interview with early project editor Lucas Celler; here, we pass on the baton to editor Kimberley Hassett, who brought the film to final cut. Filmmaker: How and why […]
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“I Never Saw a Shot on Anything Bigger Than a 5″ Monitor”: DP Michael McDonough on Leave No Trace
Cinematographer Michael McDonough met director Debra Granik in 1994, when they were both enrolled at the same NYU film studies class. Leave No Trace is their third collaboration, following Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone, and also marks Granik’s first narrative feature in the eight years following the latter. Leave No Trace follows father Will (Ben Foster) and 12-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), squatters secretly living in a forest in almost total isolation. When they’re spotted by a hiker, social workers get involved and Tom is torn from the woods, entering the social world and potential friendships for the first time. Prior to […]
