Sundance 2024
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“An Opportunity To Show Another Story of Los Angeles” | Sally Aitken, EVERY LITTLE THING
Films 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? EVERY LITTLE THING is set in Los Angeles, California, and tells the story of a woman who rescues injured hummingbirds amid the glamour of Hollywood. As she tends her fragile charges the film transforms into a visually magical tale of love, and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“Make Friends with the Other Indie Producers Around You”: Producer Gabriel Mayers on A Different Man
Premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, A Different Man depicts a man who has a drastic surgery to alter his appearance, only to find out another actor is playing the person he used to be in a stage production. The film is director Aaron Schimberg’s follow up to the acclaimed Chained for Life and is produced by first-time producer Gabriel Mayers. Below, Mayers recounts some of the challenges in casting and makeup and sings the praises of her mentors and collaborators. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here. Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“I Was So Moved to Have Had the Privilege of Capturing This Historic Moment”: DP Karen Gómez on Igualada
Francia Márquez is the current Vice President of Colombia, and Juan Mejía Botero was fortunate to have documented the campaign exclusively and from the beginning. That footage, alongside archival footage of a younger Márquez, makes up the Sundance 2024 documentary Igualada. Ahead of the film’s premiere, cinematographer Gómez Karen Gómez (Sous le silence et la terre) talked about what it was like documenting a campaign that was constantly in motion. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you end up being the director of photography for your film? What were the factors and attributes […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“It Doesn’t Need to Make Sense as Long as You Pay a Lot of Money to Film It in NYC” | Aaron Schimberg, A Different Man
Films 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? New York City may be slightly overused as a film location, but it’s a very narratively convenient city because, like a movie, you can float through it like a dream. You don’t have to think about how someone gets from Point A to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“Shooting in the Woods Can Be Really Exciting”: DP Wilson Cameron on Good One
On a trip to the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam’s father is so preoccupied looking out for his oldest friend that she begins to feel suffocated. Such is the premise of Good One, the debut feature by the Los-Angeles based India Donaldson. Also debuting on Good One is cinematographer Wilson Cameron (Glass Note). Below, Cameron discusses the film’s natural development toward longer takes, the fun and difficulty of shooting in the woods and the various films that served as reference. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“Feedback Helped Shape a More Comprehensive Narrative”: Editor Stephania Dulowski on Tendaberry
When her boyfriend travels to Ukraine in order to care for his sick father, 23-year-old Daokta (Kota Johan) finds herself roaming around New York City, finding both community and adversity in Tendaberry, the feature debut from writer-director Haley Elizabeth Anderson. Tendaberry is also editor Stephania Dulowski’s first feature-length project. Below, she describes how she approached cutting Anderson’s film, which premieres during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT program. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“I Was Keen to Challenge Myself with Film Language That I Hadn’t Tried”: Editor Arttu Salmi on Sebastian
Seven years after the premiere of A Moment in the Reeds, Finnish-British director Mikko Mäkelä has followed up with the Sundance World Dramatic Competition Sebastian. For his second film, Mikko Mäkelä plunges the viewer into the life of a novelist who, first as research for his own novel and then for the thrills the double life grants him, enters the world of sex work. Editor Arttu Salmi, whose previous work includes the TIFF 2023 premiere The End We Start From and both the New Man and Degeneration installments of Dau, discusses the unique circumstances of editing Sebastian on two Avids and how he found the film in the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“I Prepared Myself by Digesting a Lot of Close-Ups and Portraits”: DP Iikka Salminen on Sebastian
In Sebastian, Finnish-British writer-director Mikko Mäkelä’s follow-up to 2017’s A Moment in the Reeds, 25-year-old Max enters the world of sex work as research for his debut novel. These experiences alter Max’s sense of self as Max moves from hesitant to exhilarated as he throws himself deeper into his “double life.” Cinematographer Iikka Salminen, who also worked with Mäkelä on A Moment in the Reeds, discusses how he complemented the observational nature of the film by shooting it like a “moving portrait.” See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“The Feeling of Dealing with Death in a Place That is So Full of Life” | Laura Chinn, Suncoast
Films 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? Suncoast is set in the gulf coast of Florida, a state known for beaches, spring break and sunburns; the place you go when you want to let loose and have a good time. It might not be the first location you think […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2024 -
“Retain the Depth and the Breadth of This Community”: Editor Nathan Punwar on Sugarcane
Tackling a timely but under-discussed contemporary issue in both the United States and Canada, journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie investigate a string of abuses and missing persons cases at an indigenous residential school in Sugarcane. The film, naturally, spends a great deal of time with indigenous peoples, and the filmmakers sought to maintain evidence of the deep culture and community of their subjects. Below, editor Nathan Punwar explains how they reconciled that goal with the need to keep the film moving. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2024
