Sundance Responses
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“The Film Conjured Up Many Forgotten Memories”: Director Babak Anvari | Under the Shadow
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? I don’t think there is a secret story. The main plot, and the subplots and the themes […]
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“The Secret Ingredient Was Institutionalized Love and Compassion”: Director James Redford | Resilience
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? Our core concern in making Resilience was to popularize the dangers of chronic stress on the developing child. […]
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“I Never Expected to Be Attacked by Screaming Mobs”: Director Nanfu Wang | Hooligan Sparrow
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? This is a not a film that I planned to make. When I started this film, I […]
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The Sundance Question: What Is Your Film’s Secret Story?
Each year Filmmaker asks all the incoming feature directors at Sundance one question. This year, our question regards the secret story behind each film. (To see past years’ questions and responses, click here.) This year’s question: In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story […]
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“Something Fun and Totally Indulgent”: Director Jim Hosking | The Greasy Strangler
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? After I had spent a long time labouring over a couple of other scripts, I decided to […]
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“Ideas Just Disappeared”: Cloro | Director Lamberto Sanfelice
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? The day before the first day of shooting I went with part of the crew to the location were we would start shooting the following day. It was in a rather desolated area with just a few big old trees, which in normal circumstances I would find fascinating. But on that day as I was looking around all of a sudden I could find nothing interesting to shoot there. […]
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“Intimacy: I Do Everything I Can to Avoid It in my Personal Life”: Sleeping with Other People | Director Leslye Headland
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? My fear of intimacy. I do everything I can to avoid it in my personal life and here I was making a movie that required intense intimacy. Not just intimacy between characters who fall in love onscreen but between myself and the actors, the crew, the audience and the rest of the world. I was terrified of being that vulnerable and it got messy at times. But the end […]
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“Pressure’s a Choice”: I’ll See You In My Dreams | Director Brett Haley
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? Making a film – especially an independent film – is full of constant fear: the fear that you won’t have all the money you need, the fear that something beyond your control will go wrong, the fear of making wrong decisions. And once you’ve made what you hope is a good film, you then have to wait to see what other people think of it. What will critics say? […]
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“We Were Going to Climb on Top of a 300-Foot, High Voltage Pylon”: The Summer of Sangaile | Director Alanté Kavaïté
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? I was waiting with apprehension for the day we were going to climb on top of a 300-foot, high voltage pylon. With the actress, the DP and a stunt specialist, I did not feel very brave when we were approaching the top. From there, I was watching some painters working on a much higher power plant chimney and I thought that I was not tailored for that. But once […]
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“Big Names Add Value. I Can Dig That”: Fresh Dressed | Director Sasha Jenkins
What fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? With Fresh Dressed, I had the opportunity to talk to a wide cross section of folks who are, or have been involved with, hip hop culture in one way or another. We were able to strike a serious balance between talking to the folks who are known by the masses and the lesser known folks who had a heavy hand when it comes to the development of hip hop […]
