Sundance Responses
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“Rules Are Perhaps the Most Useful Ally in Creativity”: Editor Meredith Perry on PLAN C
During a period of horrifying restrictions on women’s reproductive rights, Francine Coeytaux’s grassroots organization Plan C is actively fighting back by aiding individuals across the country gain access to vital abortion medication. Documentary filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos follows the plight of Coeytaux and her allies in the aptly titled PLAN C, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Editor Meredith Perry tells Filmmaker about how her experience working on PLAN C ultimately solidified her understanding of reproductive justice as a whole, and much more. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
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“Funnier Is Almost Always Better in My Book”: Editor Robert Nassau on Shortcomings
Ben (Justin H. Min) is a movie theater manager and struggling filmmaker whose life is thrown into tumult when his best friend Alice (Sherry Cola) relocates to New York City for an internship. Adapted from Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel of the same name, actor Randall Park makes his directorial debut with Shortcomings, a film about the complexity of Asian-American identity. Editor Robert Nassau talks about his love of Tomine’s original graphic novel, the religious childhood experience of watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind and how each project he works on teaches him something new. See all responses to our […]
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“Rendering American Urban Landscapes as a Character”: DP Derek Howard on PLAN C
When a marked increase in abortion restrictions and bans began unfolding across the country, Francine Coeytaux knew she had to step up and do something. As a result, she formed the grassroots organization Plan C, which lends its name to Tracy Droz Tragos’s documentary about Coeytaux’s fight for everyone’s right to abortion medication and broader reproductive health services. Cinematographer Derek Howard tells Filmmaker all about his experience shooting PLAN C. 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 […]
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“Intently Listening to ‘Mmmbop’ on Repeat”: Editor Reynolds Barney on Jamojaya
Writer-director Justin Chon returns to Sundance with Jamojaya, a film about a father-son relationship that’s made fraught by recent losses and financial difficulties. James (Brian Imanuel) is an up-and-coming Indonesian rapper who’s visiting Hawai‘i to cut his debut album, which is set to premiere on a major record label in the US. His travel companion is his dad and former manager (Yayu A.W. Unru), who can see that James is drowning in debt due to this major label acquisition. While he’s still mourning the loss of his other son, James’s father becomes his de facto assistant, micro-managing his every move—and […]
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“I Studied Experimental Filmmaking, Not Editing”: Editor Nico Leunen on The Eight Mountains
When Pietro’s (Lupo Barbiero) father passes away and leaves him a plot of land in the small Alpine village of Grana, he decides to return to the mountainous locale to build a house. Upon his return, he bonds anew with Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), who he first met when he visited with his mother as an 11-year-old boy many years ago. The winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, The Eight Mountains from directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch is an engrossing look at a friendship that transcends time and distance. Editor Nico Leunen tells Filmmaker […]
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“A Joyful Film About a Complicated, Well-Lived Life”: Editor Tal Ben-David on Judy Blume Forever
Directors Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok examine a YA literary icon in their documentary Judy Blume Forever. The author of coming-of-age touchstones like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Forever and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blume has amassed quite a legacy during a career than has spanned more than 60 years and 25 novels. Editor Tal Ben-David discusses the process of cutting Judy Blume Forever, touching on her appreciation for the author’s work and how she charted her life and career through the decades. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why […]
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“I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Cried So Much in the Edit”: Editor Michelle Mizner on 20 Days in Mariupol
War correspondent Mstyslav Chernov found himself and a team of fellow Ukrainian journalists under siege in the eastern port city of Mariupol, their most valuable weapon against the encroaching Russian forces being the camera they used to document the atrocities of the invasion. The resulting footage became 20 Days in Mariupol, Chernov’s feature debut that chronicles the strife of Ukrainian citizens and the journalists trying to ensure that their story is told. Editor Michelle Mizner shares with Filmmaker her insights on cutting Mstyslav Chernov footage from the frontline. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]
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“My Goal Is Always To Move People to Laughter or Tears”: Editor JoAnne Yarrow on The Persian Version
Leila (Layla Mohammadi), an Iranian-American girl, gathers with her family in New York City for her father’s heart transplant surgery in The Persian Version from writer-director Maryam Keshavarz. When a tightly-kept secret of hers is revealed, she grapples with the divided expectations from the two cultures she inhabits and comes to identify the parallels between her and her mother (Niousha Noor). Editor JoAnne Yarrow tells Filmmaker about inheriting the project after its initial assembly by Abolfazi Talooni, “softening” Leila’s character and the most difficult scene to cut. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why […]
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“Curiosity and Fear Are Strange Companions”: Editor Stella Heath Keir on Girl
Precocious 11-year-old Ama (Le’Shantey Bonsu) and her 24-year-old mother Grace (Déborah Lukumuena) have an intense (if somewhat co-dependent) bond in Girl, the feature debut from writer-director Adura Onashile. Living in a sprawling Glasgow apartment complex, Grace constantly fears that Ama is in danger when she leaves her home alone to work the night shift as a janitor. Perhaps this has to do with Grace’s own traumatic past—a facet of her life she will need to unpack and being to heal from if she wishes to foster a healthy relationship with her daughter, who is on the precipice of puberty and […]
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“These Same Street Corners Have Evolved Into Something Almost Unrecognizable”: DP Sara Kinney on The Stroll
The gentrification of New York’s Meatpacking District is told through the eyes of the trans women of color who lived and worked there in the nonfiction feature The Stroll. Once a go-to destination for sex workers to meet with clients, the neighborhood has become increasingly sanitized and corporate. In witnessing gentrification unfold due to increased policing and rampant development, directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker chart a neighborhood’s decline by way of its “up-and-coming” nature. DP Sara Kinney discusses first meeting The Stroll‘s co-director Drucker when they were teenagers, using a plethora of archival images and the enormous compliment of […]
