Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? The most unexpected—or the most difficult—part of the film was the uncertainty of when to finish filming it. Of course, it’s always very difficult to end the recording of a documentary. But this was a film that when we started, we didn’t know when it would be [finished], and that was the main question. When the day came, and Augusto […]
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? The biggest challenge we faced came at the very beginning of our shoot. The cast and crew had all arrived at the camp, and we were smack in the middle of rehearsals, building sets, finalizing costumes, etc. Then our equipment partner pulled out of the project with no explanation. So here we are, in a remote community in the Republic […]
The following interview first ran as part of our Sundance 2023 coverage. The Starling Girl releases in theaters today in NYC and LA via Bleecker Street, with more cities to follow. — Editor Telling the story of Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen), a 17-year-old living in a Christian fundamentalist community in rural Kentucky, Laurel Parmet’s debut feature, The Starling Girl, has been years in the making, Parmet first began writing the screenplay in 2017, soon after the premiere of one of her shorts and the wrap of another. Like her previous work, The Starling Girl positions the viewer within the complex […]
Midnight Family, Luke Lorentzen’s debut feature, was adeptly shot in widescreen by the director/cinematographer/editor, as is follow-up A Still Small Voice, which represents the inverse of its predecessor in several ways. The Midnight Family were a clan of private ambulance drivers in Mexico City, filling in a public healthcare gap for profit, albeit not much of one—chasing patients for payment, eating junk food because that’s all they can afford to fuel shifts on the nocturnal streets of Mexico City, which are obviously more likely to produce memorable images than a hospital’s perpetual faux-daylight. And while Lorentzen’s main subject, Mati Engel, certainly experiences […]
Despite its recent formation during the fall of 2021, the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance has already put forth a comprehensive guideline of “best practices” DPs should advocate for and adhere to while working on any given nonfiction shoot. This document also serves as a rubric for directors and producers to measure the safety, sustainability and collaborative nature of their documentary project. The DCA also acts as a de facto community hub for DPs all around the country, with group chats and festival panels organized to connect these below-the-line workers—and, most importantly, provide a safe place for transparently sharing their wages, various […]
When family matriarch Cruz (Kiti Mánver) discovers porn during what began as an innocent Internet search, she is awakened to a passionate sensuality that she’s spent her entire life successfully repressing. Unsatisfied by her husband and consumed by newfound curiosity, she joins a women’s sex therapy group in order to better understand her body’s carnal needs. DP Fran Fernández-Pardo tells Filmmaker about shooting MAMACRUZ, the Spain-set film from Venezuelan director Patricia Ortega. 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 […]
A routine Internet search turned pornographic discovery is what prompts Cruz (Kiti Mánver), a devoutly religious grandmother, to experience a latent sexual awakening. Though she’s initially stricken with a classic case of God-fearing shame, Cruz embarks on a path of sensual self-discovery via a local women’s sex therapy group in MAMACRUZ, Patricia Ortega’s latest film. Editor Fàtima de los Santos discusses how she got the audience to connect with an “unusual” protagonist, how she aided in changing the MAMACRUZ‘s narrative structure and the difficulty of working on a film without background music. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor […]
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? The finale of our film takes place in a cemetery. Our plan was to shoot on location at a cemetery that was 15 minutes away from our primary mansion location (where the bulk of our film was shot). Days before the finale was to be filmed, we lost the cemetery location. It was run by the city and I think […]
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? The most unpredictable event I faced while making my very personal documentary is that I became unexpectedly pregnant! I immediately recognized this as an obstacle to the story I’d originally set out to tell, but equally felt strongly that it was a gift, both to me and the film. I allowed the pregnancy and becoming a parent to become an […]
To recap recent internet history: Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person” is about a first date between younger undergrad Margot and older man Robert that ends with them having bad sex. After, she—via a friend’s intervention—texts him that she’s not interested and, to her pleasant surprise, he leaves her alone. Later, after seeing Margot in a bar, he (presumably drunk-)texts her and the story ends with her being called a “whore.” Rouopenian presents two initially equally but differently flawed characters—Margot’s vanity is gratified by Robert’s desire for her, he’s a little pathetic—but their ethical imbalances are ultimately resolved in a […]