Los Angeles-based editor Helen Kearns has cuts seven documentary projects since 2013. She recently served as the editor on Netflix’s The Keepers, the tennis doc Serena and The Music of Strangers, a feature on Yo-Yo Ma’s the Silk Road Ensemble. Her most recent project as editor is Inventing Tomorrow, a doc on the students competing at the world’s largest high school science competition. The film, from director Laura Nix (The Yes Men Are Revolting), screened in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Kearns shares her thoughts below on what drew her to the project. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2018If you need any motivation to begin production on your first-ever documentary, here’s a tip: tell thousands of people you’re making a documentary. That’s what I did when I shared the news on Filmmaker and Facebook that I was going to make my first film, a short documentary, tentatively titled Sole Doctor. Of course, I loved the enthusiastic response. But hearing, “Can’t wait to see it!” from more than 100 people sure ratchets up the pressure to deliver. With my subject nailed down and a DP and sound mixer onboard, it was time to begin production. For the first shooting day, […]
by Paula Bernstein on Sep 26, 2016Months ago, I got the crazy idea to write, produce and direct my first documentary. I wasn’t completely unrealistic — I knew enough to start small with a short, micro-budgetfilm. I also knew I could count on a supportive network of documentary filmmakers — including pros such as Doug Block, Marshall Curry, Laura Nix, Tracy Droz Tragos, Robert Greene, and others — to help guide me through the process. Later in this piece, I’ll share some of their invaluable wisdom. But first, here’s a bit about my film and my process so far. I had been on the lookout for a subject that […]
by Paula Bernstein on Aug 25, 2016I walked out after the first 15 minutes of 50 Shades of Grey. Granted, I thought I was walking into a meeting, so this unexpected private screening caught me off guard. I was also thrown by the venue’s attempt to mirror the film’s billion-dollar company, “Grey Enterprises.” Christian Grey impersonators literally barked orders and insults at the arriving guests. This did not get me in the mood. Also, the film was dubbed in German (which is not to say that I would have preferred to suffer through it in English). Somewhere between the 15 minutes of 50 shades of folly […]
by Taylor Hess on Feb 20, 2015Five years after political superheroes the Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano) made everything all right in The Yes Men Fix the World, our planet seems pretty screwed up again. So, once more the two hit the airwaves, corporate board rooms and tabloid front pages in The Yes Men Are Revolting, directing their activist wit towards the issue of climate change. Along the way, they are joined by Laura Nix, who produced the previous film and this time directs alongside them both. Nix’s directing credits include The Politics of Fur and The Light in Her Eyes, and below she […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 5, 2014Are audiences ready to spend 85 minutes immersed in the lives of conservative Muslim women in Syria? That’s the big question this week. 17 meetings in, and a box of band-aids later and we think things are going well. So far we’ve met with POV, HBO, Impact partners, Sundance, SXSW, foreign co-producers, other funders, and a few sales agents. People seem interested, and often enthusiastic. Everyone wants to see the rough cut. And as soon as we think it’s ready to show them we will. We were hoping more broadcasters would have come from Europe, since we met with many […]
by Laura Nix on Sep 26, 2011The following post was written on my way to IFP Film Week, which ends today. Are audiences ready to spend 85 minutes immersed in the lives of conservative Muslim women in Syria? That’s the big question this week. Many delays at LAX today. But there’s no comparing our airport to the one in Damascus. Here, people are shuffling on board the airplane with Starbucks in one hand, Burger King in the other, arguing the finer points of how to get an upgrade. In Damascus, people are stuffing every last inch of their luggage with dates, nuts, and Syrian chocolate, hugging relatives […]
by Laura Nix on Sep 22, 2011