Peter Nicks
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“I Became More Interested Than Ever in Trying to Understand My Daughter’s Story”: Director Peter Nicks | Homeroom
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? The filmmaker often begins with a vision: maybe the inspiration of a song, a book, or a hot social issue. Or perhaps it is simply an extraordinary person whose story must be told. This process begins with inspiration and often yields to obsession as we go deeper into turning our inspiration into reality. And along this path it is not uncommon to meet up with that sly artist rigidity, a doppelgänger of our most […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2021 -
Dispatches from San Francisco, Visions du Réel and Big Ears
San Francisco International Film Festival Celebrating its 60th edition, the San Francisco International Film Festival — now rebranded as the hashtag-friendly SFFILM Festival — impressed this first-timer not as a hoary institution, recumbent upon its laureled legacy, but as a festival keen to stake out vibrant new tangents, mindful of its city’s history (cinematic and otherwise) and full of surprises. Both those qualities were abundant in the closing night spectacle: The Green Fog, which celebrated San Francisco’s indelible place in a century of movies in an appropriately twisted manner. The festival commission brought filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 16, 2017 -
“The Notion of Truth Is Being Challenged”: Director Peter Nicks | The Force
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? This year, perhaps more than any other year I can remember, the notion of truth is being challenged. We are creating fences around ourselves – virtual fences built from social media circles that reinforce increasingly segregated belief systems that have led to great division in America. In this environment, artistic expression is more important than ever, especially when tackling themes and subjects that audiences approach with their […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2017 -
Sundance Dispatch 4: Marjorie Prime, The Force, 78/52
One of my least favorite ways to describe a movie is as a “meditation on” love/time/memory/death/etc. (It’s always some heavy abstract thing, never, say, “a meditation on Doritos.”) I guess Michael Almereyda is on the same page, per his introduction to this morning’s screening of Marjorie Prime. “It’s been described as a meditation,” he cracked. “I hope it’s not. It’s a movie.” Specifically, it’s a heavily modified adaptation of Jordan Harrison’s play, customized to fit the ever-adventurous Almereyda’s tastes and frames of reference. The premise is both simple and tricky: in the future, your deceased loved ones can be brought back […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 24, 2017 -
Peter Nicks, The Waiting Room
If you’ve ever endured an hours-long wait at the emergency room of a city hospital— sick, injured, frustrated — or accompanied someone on an infuriating quest to find urgent medical help, then you’ve probably wondered aloud, why is it taking so long? In his enthralling new documentary The Waiting Room, winner of the Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award at the 2012 Full Frame Film Festival, Bay Area filmmaker Peter Nicks wheels us into the chaotic emergency room of a teeming public hospital in Oakland, CA, serving a mostly uninsured patient population. Adopting an immersive, all-in approach that owes a strong debt […]
by Damon Smith on Sep 26, 2012
