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“The Audience Must Be Transported Here to Feel What It’s Like”: DP Andrey Stefanov on Porcelain War
Although artists by trade, Ukrainians Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov opted to help their countries fight off the Russian invasion. Their lives, their continued passion for their art and their country are now the subject of Porcelain War, co-directed by Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo, the latter of whom is based in the United States. Below, Stefanov, who also served as the film’s cinematographer, discusses making a film about war-torn Ukraine and the place of the filmmakers within it and how they managed to do it across two continents. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2024 -
“14 Inches From a Very Personal Form of Murder”: Steven Soderbergh on Camera as Character and His Sundance Horror Film, Presence
A heady, elegantly-constructed ghost story, Steven Soderbergh’s Presence has a bunch of half-buried threads, a couple of perfectly-timed scares, and a horrific close-up of an act of violence that mesmerizes the camera—just as horror films mesmerize their audience. The camera is the star here, and not merely because its sustained, floating movements, its sudden turns and retreats, its anxious hovering display the virtuosity of the operator who is also the film’s director, but because it is the titular character, the unseen presence whose half-life is disturbed and then engaged by a family of four that moves into a suburban house […]
by Amy Taubin on Jan 20, 2024 -
“The Experience of Being an Outsider Is a Universal One”: River Gallo and Esteban Arango on Ponyboi
On a dreary Valentine’s Day in New Jersey during the early aughts, intersex laundromat employee and sex worker Ponyboi (River Gallo) finds themselves embroiled in a bungled drug deal. Estranged from his family and afraid of coming clean to his best friend (Victoria Pedretti) and her husband (Dylan O’Brien)—also Ponyboi’s boss and clandestine sexual partner—he decides to go on the run and permanently escape the Garden State. Along the way, he crosses paths with a rugged kindly stranger who’s shrouded in mystery and en route to Las Vegas. Just when he’s ready to hitch a ride to the desert, however, […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jan 20, 2024 -
“The Millennial Decline That’s Taking Place in the Present Moment”: Theda Hammel on Stress Positions
Premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Stress Positions—the feature debut from writer, director and star Theda Hammel—takes place during the not-so-distant summer of 2020. While this setting immediately evokes recollections of quarantine, protest movements and rapidly-changing health and safety standards, Hammel isn’t striving to present a time capsule. Instead, the filmmaker opts for a satirical take on how the pandemic shaped generational notions of social justice, artistry and personal identity, particularly among New York’s well-to-do queer fringe. Hammel plays Karla, a trans woman whose relationship with Vanessa (Amy Zimmer), her cis lesbian girlfriend, has […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jan 19, 2024 -
“The Biggest Inspiration for Me Making This Film at All Was Maria’s Blog” | Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, A New Kind of Wilderness
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? The biggest inspiration for me making this film at all was Maria’s blog, where she was telling the story of her family’s journey towards being wild and free. She inspired me so much both when it comes to storytelling, and visually with […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024 -
“Me Being There by Myself Led to More Authentic and Intimate Situations”: DP Silje Evensmo Jacobsen on A New Kind of Wilderness
Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen also served as the primary cinematographer on her documentary A New Kind of Wilderness, premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the World Documentary Competition. The film follows the Payne family, who’ve been happily residing in a remote Norwegian forest until a death in the family forces them to move back into populated society. Below, Evensmo Jacobsen describes her approach to shooting A New Kind of Wilderness, which she did alongside directing in order to foster a more genuine intimacy with the film’s subjects. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024 -
“Stay True to Your Gut”: Producer Mari Bakke Riise on A New Kind of Wilderness
When the Payne family experiences a personal tragedy, they must leave the home they love in the remote Norwegian wilderness and enmesh themselves in the society they once felt so strongly opposed to in A New Kind of Wilderness, the latest documentary from filmmaker Silje Evensmo Jacobsen. First-time producer Mari Bakke Riise, who also served as the film’s editor, discusses how her long-time collaboration with Evensmo Jacobsen led to her multi-pronged involvement on this project. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here. Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you to produce this film, your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024 -
“I Still Find Myself Getting Moved by the Film, Despite Having Watched It Hundreds of Times”: Editor Mari Bakke Riise on A New Kind of Wilderness
Premiering in the World Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, A New Kind of Wilderness is a portrait of the Payne family, who reside in the remote Norwegian wilderness in an attempt to disconnect from the modern world. When a tragic event befalls the family, however, the remaining members are forced to reintegrate into a society they once rejected. Editor Mari Bakke Riise, who previously worked with director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen on an episodic project, explains how she navigated the lack of a specific family member on-screen while cutting the film. See all responses to our annual Sundance […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024 -
“A Section of the LA River Which Is Often Overlooked” | Jack Begert, Little Death
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? I have spent the last decade shooting all over Los Angeles, and wanted to use my first film as an opportunity to show different sides of the city—ones that don’t always get the spotlight in movies. In particular, we had a very important […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024 -
“There’s a Gritty Reality That is Undeniable”: DP David Timoner on Dig! XX
Dig!, Ondi Timoner’s 2004 documentary on The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, remains an illuminating look at the turn-of-the-century indie rock scene in the United States. The film has been newly edited and restored and will play the 2024 Sundance Film Festival as Dig! XX to celebrate the festival’s 40th anniversary. Below, David Timoner, who shared cinematography duties with his sister Ondi and Vasco Tunes on the original Dig! walks down memory lane as he relates their ingenuity in capturing such intimate footage and how the quality of the cameras improved alongside the bands’ popularity. See all responses to our annual […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2024
