Sundance 2020
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“I Cried Many Times Watching Clare Dunne’s Powerful Performances”: Editor Rebecca Lloyd on Herself
In Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, single mother Sandra (Clare Dunne) struggles to support and accommodate her two daughters in Dublin after leaving her abusive husband. Realizing that the system in place is not designed to provide any meaningful support, Sandra reaches the conclusion that she is the only one who is able (and willing) to affect any real change in her own life. She decides to build a house—literally from the ground up—in order to ensure that she and her daughters have stability and security in the future. Editor Rebecca Lloyd shares insight into her roots as an editor, what it […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“Not Your Regular Scented Candles”: Natalie Erika James | Relic
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? One prop in Relic that’s not necessarily integral to the plot, but certainly tells the story of the film is the grandmother, Edna’s, candles. Not your regular scented candles, but these hefty candles that are carved intricately into blooming designs with layers of hand-dipped wax. We establish these candles quite early […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“It Serves as a Physical Manifestation of Climate Change and the Challenges to Rebuild”: Ron Howard | Rebuilding Paradise
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? The closest thing we had to a set was the town of Paradise as the film really celebrates the resilience and courage of the community. The Campfire is the most important visual in the film. Beyond the palpable impact on the film’s subjects and the residents of Paradise, it serves as […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“The Objects Then Unexpectedly Became Integral to a Brutal Murder Case”: Emma Sullivan | Into the Deep
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? When I first started filming at the space lab in Copenhagen, the objects symbolized dreams and positive ambitions; they were the tools used to create the crude inventions forged by the hands of excited young optimists, eager to be part of Peter Madsen’s quest to launch a rocket into space. The […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“Water Is the Source of Life, Cleansing Element, Purifier, Serene”: Jayro Bustamante | La Llorona
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? The water. It was important to have it in every set represented in different forms. Water is the source of life, cleansing element, purifier, serene. It has the power to infiltrate inside sets, inside characters themselves. For us, its use completely differs from the one in the original legend, an element […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“The Minox Miniature Camera That Penkovsky Uses to Photograph 50,000 Secret Soviet Military Documents”: Dominic Cooke | Ironbark
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? There is one object that is absolutely essential to Ironbark and that’s the Minox miniature camera that Penkovsky uses to photograph 50,000 secret Soviet military documents. Our hero Greville Wynne, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, passes these to the U.K. and U.S. governments, including essential information about the nuclear weapons that the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“Sitting in Front of That Whiteboard for Two Days, Joe Came Up With Some Hilarious and Strange Drawings”: Eugene Kotlyarenko | Spree
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? There’s a prop at the heart of Spree that wasn’t actually meant to be in the movie at all. Joe Keery and I met up a lot before production trying to get to the bottom of his character. If we were going to convey the reality of a failed influencer taking […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“They Amplify the Size of Her Eyes, Enhance Every Nervous Tic”: Adam Carter Rehmeier | Dinner in America
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? The eyeglasses Patty (Emily Skeggs) wears in the film are one of the more integral props in Dinner in America. They amplify the size of her eyes, enhance every nervous tic, really give the audience a clearer window into how she processes the world around her. On the happy accident side […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“A Metaphor for a Woman’s Rebuilding of Her Broken Life”: Phyllida Lloyd | Herself
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? There’s an object on screen that is the beating heart of the film. It’s not there at all in the beginning and it grows inch by inch. It’s a house! A self-build. A metaphor for a woman’s rebuilding of her broken life. It was impossible to work out how to shoot […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020 -
“No Object Is More Important Than People, Artists, Community and Love”: Catherine Gund | Aggie
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? One object dominates the narrative of my documentary film Aggie: a four-and-a-half foot square canvas painted by Roy Lichtenstein in 1962 called Masterpiece. Who knows exactly what this piece meant to my mother, Agnes Gund, when she bought it in 1976, but like thousands of other contemporary artworks she has collected […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2020
