Sundance Film Festival 2023
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Sundance 2023: A Still Small Voice, La Pecera, Against the Tide
Midnight Family, Luke Lorentzen’s debut feature, was adeptly shot in widescreen by the director/cinematographer/editor, as is follow-up A Still Small Voice, which represents the inverse of its predecessor in several ways. The Midnight Family were a clan of private ambulance drivers in Mexico City, filling in a public healthcare gap for profit, albeit not much of one—chasing patients for payment, eating junk food because that’s all they can afford to fuel shifts on the nocturnal streets of Mexico City, which are obviously more likely to produce memorable images than a hospital’s perpetual faux-daylight. And while Lorentzen’s main subject, Mati Engel, certainly experiences […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 23, 2023 -
“A Progressive Set of Best Practices That Evolves With the Industry”: The Documentary Cinematographers Alliance
Despite its recent formation during the fall of 2021, the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance has already put forth a comprehensive guideline of “best practices” DPs should advocate for and adhere to while working on any given nonfiction shoot. This document also serves as a rubric for directors and producers to measure the safety, sustainability and collaborative nature of their documentary project. The DCA also acts as a de facto community hub for DPs all around the country, with group chats and festival panels organized to connect these below-the-line workers—and, most importantly, provide a safe place for transparently sharing their wages, various […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jan 23, 2023 -
“The Set Was Built Inside a Real House”: DP Fran Fernández-Pardo on MAMACRUZ
When family matriarch Cruz (Kiti Mánver) discovers porn during what began as an innocent Internet search, she is awakened to a passionate sensuality that she’s spent her entire life successfully repressing. Unsatisfied by her husband and consumed by newfound curiosity, she joins a women’s sex therapy group in order to better understand her body’s carnal needs. DP Fran Fernández-Pardo tells Filmmaker about shooting MAMACRUZ, the Spain-set film from Venezuelan director Patricia Ortega. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2023 -
“The Main Goal Was To Make the Audience Connect With an Unusual Protagonist”: Editor Fàtima de los Santos on MAMACRUZ
A routine Internet search turned pornographic discovery is what prompts Cruz (Kiti Mánver), a devoutly religious grandmother, to experience a latent sexual awakening. Though she’s initially stricken with a classic case of God-fearing shame, Cruz embarks on a path of sensual self-discovery via a local women’s sex therapy group in MAMACRUZ, Patricia Ortega’s latest film. Editor Fàtima de los Santos discusses how she got the audience to connect with an “unusual” protagonist, how she aided in changing the MAMACRUZ‘s narrative structure and the difficulty of working on a film without background music. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2023 -
“Losing That Location Was a Blessing in Disguise” | Andrew Bowser, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls
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? The finale of our film takes place in a cemetery. Our plan was to shoot on location at a cemetery that was 15 minutes away from our primary mansion location (where the bulk of our film was shot). Days before the finale was to be filmed, we lost the cemetery location. It was run by the city and I think […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2023 -
“I Became Unexpectedly Pregnant!” | Ella Glendining, Is There Anybody Out There?
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? The most unpredictable event I faced while making my very personal documentary is that I became unexpectedly pregnant! I immediately recognized this as an obstacle to the story I’d originally set out to tell, but equally felt strongly that it was a gift, both to me and the film. I allowed the pregnancy and becoming a parent to become an […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2023 -
Sundance 2023: Cat Person
To recap recent internet history: Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person” is about a first date between younger undergrad Margot and older man Robert that ends with them having bad sex. After, she—via a friend’s intervention—texts him that she’s not interested and, to her pleasant surprise, he leaves her alone. Later, after seeing Margot in a bar, he (presumably drunk-)texts her and the story ends with her being called a “whore.” Rouopenian presents two initially equally but differently flawed characters—Margot’s vanity is gratified by Robert’s desire for her, he’s a little pathetic—but their ethical imbalances are ultimately resolved in a […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 22, 2023 -
“Independent Media Can Strengthen Tribal Sovereignty”: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler on Bad Press
While freedom of the press has certainly been a newsworthy topic these past few years, those of us in the US can at least take comfort in (i.e., take for granted) the fact that our First Amendment firmly protects this inalienable right. That is, unless you happen to likewise be a citizen of one of the sovereign nations sprinkled throughout this occupied land—aka Indian Country—where only a handful of tribes have seen fit to enshrine such a guarantee into their constitutions. Which is a problem not just for the average, truth-seeking Native populace at large, but especially for a dogged […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 22, 2023 -
“Pregnancy Became Integrated as a Storyline” | Alison O’Daniel, The Tuba Thieves
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? I truly welcome the unexpected, the miscommunicated, the “obstruction” as a co-author of the film. When I started this project, I decided I would make a film as a listening project that is not tethered to the ears. I am d/Deaf/hard of hearing. I can hear, but constantly experience fallout from mishearing things and I second-guess what I hear, because […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2023 -
“We Had To Shoot the African Scenes in Greece” | Anthony Chen, Drift
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? For Drift, we had several key scenes in the film that were set in Liberia, Africa. I always imagined shooting those scenes on the African continent, possibly in Nigeria. But as we made the film during the pandemic, it became impossible for the scheduling and logistics to work, especially on our budget. There were too many unknown factors and risks that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2023
