Sundance Responses
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“I Was Exposed to Very Dangerous Situations”: Director José María Cabral | Woodpeckers
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Communication was the key for writing, shooting and making the movie, particularly this one. Woodpeckers explores communication and language on a very specific level. First of all, the writing process was about making contact and understanding the prisoners, getting to create relationships, not only for the script but also because I wanted them as actors too. It was also kind of a social experiment, where I was […]
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“The Moment I Knew We Had Something Special”: Director Joe Piscatella | Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? There are two distinct moments a director faces on every documentary production. One is when you sincerely believe that there is no possible way for this story to come together. The other is when you realize that you have something special. My moment of “how-the-hell-will-this-ever-work” on Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower hit during my first interview with Joshua Wong, the teenage hero of the film. I asked Joshua […]
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“A Historical Document for Hopefully Decades to Come”: Director Peter Bratt | Dolores
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? During the research phase of making the film, it became apparent that Dolores’ contributions as an activist and organizer were being deliberately left out of the historical record. So beyond wanting to communicate and tell a good story, we also wanted to help set the record straight about who she is and why her story matters. We decided that the use of archival material would be more […]
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“An Uplifting and Life-Affirming Experience”: Director Frankie Fenton | It’s Not Yet Dark
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? This question is, to say the least, spookily resonant with It’s Not Yet Dark. Our documentary is about a man who has lost the ability to speak. Much like every other part of his body except for his eyes, Simon Fitzmaurice, an Irish director, is unable to move. He suffers from Motor Neuron Disease or A.L.S. as it’s called in the US and communicates using a computer […]
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“Our Intent Was Never to Make Viewers Laugh”: Directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion | Bushwick
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? One challenge of communication we originally faced was when we started pitching the idea over seven years ago. We presented the idea of Texas seceding from the U.S. and starting a civil war. At the time it sounded like a ridiculous satire and some people thought we wanted to make a comedy. Our intent was never to make viewers laugh though. The seeds of political animosity have […]
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“As Crazy and Unpredictable as Real Life”: Director Matt Spicer | Ingrid Goes West
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? I think the biggest challenge of communicating nowadays is figuring out how to make your voice heard amidst all the noise. There is so much out there vying for people’s attention, and it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. This applies to indie filmmakers as well. We don’t have massive marketing budgets to buy ad space or air time, and oftentimes we’re lucky to even find […]
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“Directing in Stereo”: Directors Alicia Scherson and Cristian Jimenez | Family Life
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Since we were two directors on set, which is unusual, we had to deal with the challenge of communicating with the crew and actors as one single voice. We created a method. There were days when one of us had the director’s cap and the second director had to refrain from talking to the cast or crew directly and had to go through the first director. A bit like […]
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“The Deep Angst and Disenfranchisement that Many People Feel”: Director Kyoko Miyake | Tokyo Idols
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Tokyo Idols explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies. The idol singers are predominantly teenage girls, and their fans are mostly middle aged men. At the beginning, I was reluctant to talk to the fans as I struggled to empathize with them. For me, they were “on the other side” not only […]
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“We Really Wanted to Do His Story Justice”: Director Matt Ruskin | Crown Heights
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? I think the challenge with this film was how do you watch Colin Warner do 20 years in prison? How do you convey who this person is when he’s stripped of everything, and then how do you communicate the inner life he cultivated while in prison? I really respond to visual storytelling, so rather than plastering the film with voiceover we used a lot of imagery, whether it […]
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“The Story of Ferguson through the Eyes of the People Who Lived it”: Director Sabaah Folayan | Whose Streets
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? By the time we wrapped our last shooting day, we had collected over 300 hours of footage. Lungs shouted for justice and moments later filled with tear gas. A father baked cookies during a moment of peace. A police chief and a mayor cited lack of data. Our creative team quickly realized we had several possible movies on our hands, but our goal was singular; we wanted […]
