In the Sundance 2024 Midnight premiere It’s What’s Inside, the feature debut of writer-director Greg Jardin, an uninvited guest with a mysterious suitcase derails a pre-wedding party. Below, Jardin discusses what led him to edit his own film, the balance between long shots and flutter cuts, and more. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Jardin: I started out directing low-budget music videos, which I more or less […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 31, 2024Films 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? Ninety percent of our film takes place in one location, which makes that the default answer – a giant house in the middle of nowhere. The whole impetus behind the film’s premise was coming up with something that could unfold in a single […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 31, 2024Though I’ve not read Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s New York Times bestseller Stamped From the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, I’m guessing the National Book Award-winner might not be the most obvious material for the big screen. Which is why I was a bit surprised when I finally watched the TIFF-debuting Netflix doc Stamped From the Beginning, Roger Ross Williams’ cinematic and often playful take on the professor-author’s quite heavy subject matter. Indeed, any film that opens with its (Black) director ambushing his (Black) talking heads with the query/salvo, “What is wrong with Black people?” is […]
by Lauren Wissot on Nov 10, 2023The first trailer has arrived for David Fincher’s The Killer ahead of its imminent Venice Film Festival premiere. Based on Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel series, the film stars Michael Fassbender as a professional assassin embarking on an international manhunt and also features Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O’Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Sala Baker, Emiliano Pernía and Gabriel Polanco. Fincher’s follow-up to Mank has the director reuniting with Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. Ahead of the film’s Venice debut, read Fincher’s director’s statement from the Biennale website: The Killer is my attempt to reconcile notions I’ve had for years about cinematic […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 29, 2023Five years after his directorial debut A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper returns to direct Maestro, a biopic about Leonard Bernstein that stars Cooper as the renowned composer and conductor. The film, co-written by Cooper and Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer, specifically follows the relationship between Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan). Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, and Sarah Silverman also star. Maestro will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the coming weeks. It will hit select theaters stateside on November 22 before exclusively streaming on Netflix on December 20. Watch the first teaser […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 15, 2023Selling to Netflix for $20 million after an intense bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, a trailer now arrives for Fair Play, the feature debut from writer-director Chloe Domont. Starring Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich, the film follows “an unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund [that] pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.” The film was produced by Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson through their production company T-Street. Fair Play will hit select theaters on September 29 before streaming on Netflix on October 13. Watch the trailer […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 8, 2023You’ve seen his work in such films as Interstellar and Cloud Atlas, and television series like Containment and Carnival Row, now David Gyasi plays Austin Dennison in Debora Cahn’s new hit Netflix limited series The Diplomat. On this episode, he talks about the rare collaboration he had with Cahn in developing Dennison, the part of the job he finds “sacred,” loving re-HEARsal, the real reason why he is so picky with the roles he takes on, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. And if you’re […]
by Peter Rinaldi on May 9, 2023After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, a trailer and release date have dropped for Nancy Schwartzman’s latest doc Victim/Suspect. As with her previous effort Roll Red Roll, the subject of sexual assault—and the gross mishandling of these cases by police and the judicial system at large—is central to the film. Per the film’s official synopsis: Victim/Suspect chronicles journalist Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: young women report sexual assault to the police but instead of the perpetrators being brought to justice, the women are arrested for filing a false report. Working for The Center for Investigative Reporting, de […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 27, 2023Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced their latest initiative, teaming up with Netflix on a $450,000 fund to support women and non-binary documentary filmmakers who have previously made at least two feature films and are currently working toward their next project. As many as 30 filmmaking teams will receive a $10,000 grant for research or a $20,000 grant for development. In addition to the grant, recipients will be provided with “peer support, mentorship opportunities and deeper connections in the documentary film industry.” The Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant is accepting applications through 12 p.m. ET on Monday, April […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 21, 2023War is young men dying and old men talking. The former lies at the heart of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the German writer’s experiences in the trenches of World War I. In Netflix’s new adaptation, the latter half of that axiom is also represented with the addition of a subplot centered on the armistice negotiations that ultimately ended fighting on the Western Front. As in Remarque’s novel, the story is principally told through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, a teenager who—propelled by patriotic fervor—enlists alongside his schoolmates only to be disillusioned […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Mar 4, 2023