Sundance Film Festival 2023
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“When a Place Is Transformed and Scrubbed, so Are the Original Memories”: Editor Mel Mel Sukekawa-Mooring on The Stroll
In The Stroll, the gentrification of New York City’s Meatpacking District is told through the history of the trans sex workers who long worked and resided in the neighborhood. Through extensive archival materials and intimate interviews, co-directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker explore how police violence factored into the downfall of “The Stroll” where this community would congregate. Editor Mel Mel Sukekawa-Mooring discusses cutting the film, also touching on the “roundabout journey” that brought them to the industry. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“I Never Realized How Gifted He Is With Comic Timing”: Editor Michael Harte on STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie
The life and career of Michael J. Fox is told through recreations of his most iconic acting roles in STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Editor Michael Harte tells Filmmaker about working on the latest film from Davis Guggenheim. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews 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? Harte: I grew up in the 80s so like a lot of people my age I loved Michael’s movies as a kid. They […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“The World Just Sounded Different 50 Years Ago”: Editors Peter Hagan and Lawrence Klein on Fairyland
Based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir of the same name, Fairyland chronicles Alysia’s (Emilia Jones’s) coming of age in the ’70s and ’80s. After her mother dies, her father moves to San Francisco with the then-5-year-old Alysia and begins openly dating men. The film follows Alysia’s ever-evolving relationship with her father as she relocates to New York for college, travels to France for a study abroad program and eventually returns home to San Francisco. Co-editors Peter Hagan and Lawrence Klein discuss how they worked together to cut Andrew Durham’s debut feature. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“Even the Biggest Fight Scene Was Ultimately About Character”: Editor Robbie Morrison on Polite Society
When Ria’s (Priya Kansara) big sister Lena (Ritu Arya) announces that she’s dropping out of art school and getting married, she immediately knows that something’s not right. As such, the London schoolgirl and aspiring martial artist recruits a couple of friends to save Lena from her own wedding before she moves to Singapore with her new beau. Robbie Morrison tells Filmmaker about cutting Polite Society, writer-director Nida Manzoor’s debut feature. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“Develop a Workflow to Effectively ‘Play Ping-pong'”: Editors Roman Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko on Iron Butterflies
Ukrainian director Roman Liubyi’s Iron Butterflies examines the ramifications of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russian forces as it passed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. With an intricate nonfiction narrative laid out by Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko, Iron Butterflies confronts the political aftermath of this atrocity. Liubyi and Zhluktenko discuss the process of cutting Iron Butterflies, as well as their involvement in the Babylon’13 film collective. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“It’s Been a Mad Dash to the Finish Line” | Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, Mutt
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? “Miracles in real time.” I don’t know when in the production process we started saying that, but it’s kind of been our motto ever since. The biggest unforeseen obstacle for us was our lack of time. Mutt is having its world premiere only four months after wrapping principal photography. My editor and I had two weeks to put together a […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023 -
“We Were Forbidden to Film in the Archive” | Roman Liubyi, Iron Butterflies
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? COVID, and, after that, the expansion of Russian aggression against Ukraine, were pretty strong obstacles. It is a paradox, but we have never felt broken. I remember an expression that art is the material of resistance. This whole project is a search for creative solutions and remaining possibilities against these obstacles. An example is the scene that we shot in […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023 -
“The Unexpected Was To Discover That I, Myself, Was Expecting” | Rebecca Zlotowski, Other People’s Children
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Any director can tell you that obstacles and crises to overcome are their daily basis on set. I wrote Other People’s Children with a desire to address a solidarity letter to child-free women, and as a child-free woman myself. While prepping the film, the unexpected was to discover that I, myself, was expecting, and the entire shoot was seen through […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023 -
“The Feeling of Interconnectedness We Share as Humans”: Editor Chris McNabb on Invisible Beauty
The impressive life and career of model and activist Bethann Hardison is the focus of Invisible Beauty, co-directed by Frédéric Tcheng and Hardison herself. From Hardison’s experience as a Black runway model in the ’70s to her vocal advocacy for more diversity in the fashion world in the 2000s, her decades-spanning commitment to fighting racism in the field is front and center in this documentary. Editor Chris McNabb details their experience cutting the film, which included incorporating Hardison’s memoir-writing journey. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023 -
“The Role of an Editor Is Similar in Many Ways to a Good Translator”: Editor Simon Price on Bad Behavior
In Bad Behavior, the feature debut from writer-director Alice Englert, Lucy (Jennifer Connelly) travels to a high-profile silent retreat with her guru (Ben Wishaw). During her search for spiritual enlightenment, however, Lucy can’t seem to let go of her self-centeredness. As the title suggest, Lucy can’t seem to stop engaging in bad behavior—and the worst of it is still to come. Editor Simon Price tells Filmmaker about his experience working on the project, including how he came up in the industry. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023
