Sundance Film Festival 2018
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“Film is About Making Magic with These Kind of Challenges”: DP Diego García on Wildlife
For his directorial debut, Paul Dano adapted Richard Ford’s 1990 novel, telling the story of a marriage that falls apart between Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette Brinson (Carey Milligan), as seen through the eyes of their 14-year-old son Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould). Serving as Dano’s DP, Diego García’s prominent recent credits include Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour and Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull. Below, García discusses their mutual influences (including Kore-eda Hirokazu and The Master) and use of Panavision spherical primo lenses. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“A Performance is Really About Digging Into the Footage”: Editor Andrew Hafitz on Beirut
Returning to Sundance long after his first appearances there with Next Stop, Wonderland and Happy Accidents, among others, Brad Anderson’s Beirut is a thriller made from a quarter-century-old script by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity). Jon Hamm stars as a former diplomat, Mason Skiles, who returns to Lebanon a decade after his former posting there, getting involved in a complex hostage situation involving a standoff with his former friend-turned-terrorist Karim (Idir Chender). Editor Andrew Hafitz (The Last Days of Disco, Bully, Keane) explains how his verite background helps inform his approach to cutting and which two directors taught him the most. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“A Film that Tries to Understand Why Peace Failed”: Director Mor Loushy | The Oslo Diaries
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? To edit The Oslo Diaries in this crazy political period was not easy. In a period during which peace is so out of reach, that only to say the word “peace” makes you sound naive and out of touch with reality, a period in which a new war happens every two years, it felt very subversive […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“The Chaos of the Race Track Was a Constant Challenge”: DP Gregory Kershaw on The Last Race
The documentary debut from fine art photographer Michael Dweck, The Last Race screens five times in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of Riverhead Raceway, a decades-old race track on Long Island. At one time Long Island hosted roughly 40 such tracks; today, Riverhead is the only one that remains. Filmmaker Gregory Kershaw served as both cinematographer and co-producer on the film. Below, he spoke with Filmmaker about the physical toll of filming at a loud and fume-filled race track, the influence of Errol Morris’ early films and the logistical madness of having “10 cameras mounted on […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 26, 2018 -
“In Argentina We’re Always Under Some Kind of Crisis”: Director Valeria Bertuccelli | Queen of Fear
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? Order works as a placebo for me. I often try to establish it to remain calm and aware. But I am certain that things that turn out OK have usually little to do with order or plans. I’d say it’s closer to a state of mind we all need to eventually submit to. Speaking of shooting, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“I Wanted the Film to Have the Tactile Feel of the Vinyl Sound”: DP Eric Lin ON Hearts Beat Loud
Director Brett Haley arrives at Sundance for a second year with a new dramatic feature. In 2017 Haley premiered The Hero, which went on to earn more than $4 million in the U.S. box office. He returns to Park City this year with Heart Beat Loud, a music-driven drama set in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The film stars Nick Offerman as a single dad who bonds with his daughter (Kiersey Clemons) through their shared love of playing music. DP Eric Lin (I Smile Back, Equity) shot the feature. Lin spoke with Filmmaker before the film’s screenings at Sundance about filming musical performances […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“I Had Never Done a Movie Like this Before, But Who Really Has?” DP Juan Sebastian Baron on Search
How do you film a movie like Search? Taking place entirely on computer screens, the film follows in the footsteps of the 2014 horror film Unfriended, which similarly placed viewers in front of a computer and left them there for 90 minutes. Director Aneesh Chaganty hired his fellow USC alum Juan Sebastian Baron to shoot the project. To mimic the many video formats one encounters in modern digital life, Sebastian Baron shot the film using GoPros, iPhones, MiniDV cameras and the Canon 6D, to name a few of the cameras required to pull off this project. Search premieres in the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“Editing Is a Process of Rewriting”: Editor and Director Jérémy Comte on Sundance Short Fauve
Montreal-based filmmaker Jérémy Comte makes his Sundance debut with Fauve, a French-language drama in the Shorts program of the festival. Comte’s previous short, Ce qu’il reste, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2016. Comte served as writer, director and editor on both films. Below, he discusses the art of increasing tension without music, avoiding the “overdramatic” and the invisible role of VFX in the film. 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? Comte: Being the director of the film, I had the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“The Time Spent Rigging Was a Challenge”: DP Andrew Droz Palermo on Filming Hannah Fidell’s Road Movie The Long Dumb Road
How do you reinvent the look of the road movie? That was the key question for Andrew Droz Palermo while filming The Long Dumb Road, the third feature film from director Hannah Fidell. Palermo’s recent credits as DP include last year’s A Ghost Story, the 2014 horror film You’re Next and Fidell’s two previous features (A Teacher and 6 Years). Palermo spoke with Filmmaker ahead of The Long Dumb Road‘s premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Below he discusses the logistics of filming moving cars and his aim to “live up to our influences, and […] take them into a new […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018 -
“Balancing the Tone Between Quiet Subtlety and Flourishes of Style”: Editor Taylor Levy on Night Comes On
Jordana Spiro has appeared as an actor on Ozark, The Good Wife, Dexter and a number of other TV series. She makes her debut as a feature film director with Night Comes On, a film she also co-wrote with Angelica Nwandu, the founder of the Instagram-based company The Shade Room. The film tells the story of two troubled sisters: Angel (Dominique Fishback) and Abby (Tatum Marilyn Hall). Spiro hired Taylor Levy, an additional editor on the 2017 Sundance title Brigsby Bear, to edit the film. Before its five screenings at Sundance 2018, Levy spoke with Filmmaker about what drew him to the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018
