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? A few weeks into filming Victim/Suspect, my father died suddenly. My entire world crashed around me, and it felt like my soul had left my body. Thirteen days after my father’s death, I flew to location and filmed a key interview with one of our incredible participants. Through intimate vérité, we captured the legal defense team working on her case […]
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? In the fall of 2021, we were about a year into our edit and preparing to submit Bad Press to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. We had been filming the battle for free press in the Muscogee Nation for two-and-a-half years at that point, and we felt that the story had all but wrapped up. Suddenly, about two weeks before […]
In Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, the hazy and intimate doc from Estonian director Anna Hints, a group of women bear body and soul for the camera as they engage in lengthy shvitzes and discuss their most personal thoughts and memories while worshiping the divine feminine connection they all share. Editors Tushar Prakash and Hendrik Mägar discuss how they each approached cutting the film, with Mägar coming on during post-production to do the final edit. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors […]
Women bear all in Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, the intimate documentary from Estonian filmmaker Anna Hints. While partaking in the ritualistic cleanse, a group of women divulge secrets, talk through past traumas and, above all, foster their feminine bond while sweating bullets in the nude. DP Ants Tammik tells Filmmaker about the complications of shooting in such a hot, stuffy environment with sensitive equipment —and a few injuries he sustained along the way. 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 […]
An aspiring chaplain must complete her yearlong residency at NYC’s Mount Sinai Hospital during a particularly dark period for public health in A Still Small Voice, the latest from doc filmmaker Luke Lorentzen. Between 2020 and 2021, Mati conducts visits as part of the hospital’s spiritual care department, navigating the grief, trauma and uncertainly that weighs heavily on these patients—and herself. Lorentzen, who acted as director, cinematographer and editor, discusses his experience cutting the film, which he describes as his “favorite part of the filmmaking process.” See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did […]
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? I must say that the Smoke Sauna Sisterhood journey has been a total roller-coster or as we call in Estonian “American hills.” So I am more than delighted that in the end of the journey we end up with the world premiere at Sundance in the middle of real American mountains. The first big obstacle was that my first producer […]
An aspiring chaplain named Mati navigates tragedy, grief and her own bandwidth for handling the incalculable loss of the pandemic in A Still Small Voice, the latest from documentary filmmaker Luke Lorentzen. Finishing her yearlong residency at the spiritual care department in New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, Lorentzen captures Mati and her supervisor Rev. David’s fight to maintain hope and warmth between 2020 and 2021, two of the deadliest years in U.S. history. Lorentzen, who directed, shot and edited the film, discusses how his one-person shoot allowed him to blend into the doc’s setting—and gain the trust of subjects—more […]
Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas wrote and star in the wonderful new comedy The Civil Dead, which Tatum also directed. On this episode, they discuss their long collaboration and friendship that goes back to Alabama at age 11, doing comedy events in Los Angeles with Power Violence, filming sketches, honing their craft, learning valuable lessons on the HBO/A24 production The Golden One, the importance of rhythm in comedy, the importance of trusting your own voice, and applying it all toward the modest indie film that won the audience award at Slamdance last year and is about to win audiences over […]
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? At the beginning of the film there is a big school fight between Ria, the main character, and the school bully. I had always imagined it being set in this grand, round school library, filled with rabid teen girl spectators, creating a bloodthirsty gladiatorial image, a feeling of epic spectacle. When it came to the reality of filming, we were […]