Sundance Responses
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Lilting | Director Hong Khaou
Attention, our audience’s and our own — it’s a valued commodity these days. We struggle to command our audience’s attention, for them to discover our work and then, once they’ve discovered it, to actually focus on it. Meanwhile, we struggle to focus our own attention, to fight our society’s weapons of mass distraction so we can not just see our work to completion but fully discover the meanings within it. What role does attention play in your work? Can you discuss an instance where you thought about some aspect of attention when it came to your film? Lilting is a […]
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The Green Prince | Director Nadav Schirman
Attention, our audience’s and our own — it’s a valued commodity these days. We struggle to command our audience’s attention, for them to discover our work and then, once they’ve discovered it, to actually focus on it. Meanwhile, we struggle to focus our own attention, to fight our society’s weapons of mass distraction so we can not just see our work to completion but fully discover the meanings within it. What role does attention play in your work? Can you discuss an instance where you thought about some aspect of attention when it came to your film? The Green Prince […]
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Whiplash | Director Damien Chazelle
Attention, our audience’s and our own — it’s a valued commodity these days. We struggle to command our audience’s attention, for them to discover our work and then, once they’ve discovered it, to actually focus on it. Meanwhile, we struggle to focus our own attention, to fight our society’s weapons of mass distraction so we can not just see our work to completion but fully discover the meanings within it. What role does attention play in your work? Can you discuss an instance where you thought about some aspect of attention when it came to your film? Making Whiplash was […]
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The Sundance Question: What Role Does Attention Play in Your Work?
Each year, Filmmaker asks the Sundance Film Festival feature directors a question about their filmmaking process. We then compile any and all of the directors’ feedback and bring it to our readers courtesy of our “Sundance Responses.” This year we asked: Attention, our audience’s and our own — it’s a valued commodity these days. We struggle to command our audience’s attention, for them to discover our work and then, once they’ve discovered it, to actually focus on it. Meanwhile, we struggle to focus our own attention, to fight our society’s weapons of mass distraction so we can not just see […]
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Muscle Shoals | Director Greg “Freddy” Camalier
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 26, 3:30pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] What I had to sacrifice to make Muscle Shoal was being there for my children. I am a single father of two awesome boys. They need me and I need them. They are my most precious blessing and they make my life rich. They miss me when I’m gone and I miss them. Gone for them isn’t just me being away on a shoot, it’s being at the office late at night trying to make a deadline or trying to press ahead hard when the inspiration is flowing. It’s having to […]
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Sweetwater | Directors Logan & Noah Miller
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Thursday, Jan. 24, 9:45pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] It all depends on who you ask. The producers would probably say they sacrificed an ungodly amount of money. Which is true. Good on them. The actors might say they sacrificed a larger paycheck on a bigger movie. To be sure. It’s an indie. The narcissist, which by definition every filmmaker qualifies, says EVERYTHING: grooming, pond-gazing, moonlight sonatas, vengeance against enemies, meditative bowel movements, a drastic reduction in sexual activity (if not a total loss), etc. But we’re twins. So we sacrificed each other. You see, we share everything. […]
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Big Sur | Director Michael Polish
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Wednesday, Jan. 23, 9:45pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] I believe with every independent movie the sacrifice is always time versus money. We never have enough of either. However, you find creative solutions when faced with these constraints. As for Big Sur, the location itself sacrificed our crew on a daily basis. It’s basically cliffs, canyons and sea shore. It’s heaven, so there’s some death involved…well, let’s say redemption. Overall it was a religious experience and the author of our bible was Jack Kerouac – a testament to survival.” Sundance Responses 2013
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A.C.O.D. | Director Stu Zicherman
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Wednesday, Jan. 23, 6:30pm — Eccles Theatre] In order to get A.C.O.D. made, I sacrificed a year of television work. I usually write at least one network or cable pilot per year, which is the one stream of income I can always rely on. But with A.C.O.D. close to getting made, I took a gamble and passed on pilot season in hopes of getting a green light. Then pilot season came and went without the film getting off the ground. Just as I began a phase of real self-loathing over my newfound unemployment, my producer called to say […]
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Very Good Girls | Director Naomi Foner
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6:15pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] Time is not on my side. I came late to directing, although I’ve been writing screenplays for most of my life, so I am in a hurry. In my case, it was, grandma directs a movie. And that meant literally, limiting the time I got to spend with my favorite people on earth, my grand daughter Ramona, and her new sister, Gloria who arrived weeks before we began to shoot. That was a big trade off, but I am hoping that they will get to see this film, and […]
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The Rambler | Director Calvin Lee Reeder
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 11:45pm — Library Center Theatre, Park City] I was really lucky and didn’t have to sacrifice too much creatively at all. However, for the first time in my career I was unable to shoot film! It was also the first time I found myself with enough money to have a real crew and pay actors and feed people and blah blah blah, but somehow when it was all run through the budget there was just no room for processing and transfer. I’m still a little baffled by this. I went ahead and shot on the […]
