Patients seeking gender-affirming care and in vitro treatments in Italy flock to Niguarda public hospital, where Dr. Maurizio Bini is considered one of the preeminent experts in the field. This is the subject of director and cinematographer Gianluca Matarrese’s film GEN_, premiering in the World Cinema: Documentary Competition at Sundance this year. Amid an increasingly hostile conservative climate, Dr. Bini and his patients navigate social stigma alongside much-needed medical intervention. Below, Matarrese discusses the decision to film most scenes from behind a book shelf, being inspired by Frederick Wiseman and relying on natural lighting. See all responses to our annual […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025When André Ricciardi received the cancer diagnosis that would eventually kill him, he decided he wanted to make a movie documenting how he faced death with humor. The result, André is an Idiot, will screen as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The film is the directorial debut of Tony Benna and was shot by Ethan Indorf, both friends with Ricciardi. Below, Indorf discusses what it was like to be tasked with documenting the death of his friend. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The night before the Sundance deadline, I found myself laying on the floor of my edit suite at 3am with a freshly self-inflicted broken hand and a waterfall of tears running down my face. To say that I had lost my mind a bit would’ve been an understatement. The post-production process had been an […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Our film is set in Ocala, Florida, just a 40-minute drive from Orlando—a place where beauty and stark contradictions are in constant tension. On one side, you have sprawling, wealthy horse farms and ranches; on the other, economically vulnerable communities living in close proximity to these affluent areas. The neighborhood at the heart of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? I started working on Bubble & Squeak nearly twenty years ago, so there are many significant days to choose from. If I had to single out just one, I would choose our final day of production. That afternoon, we moved our company to an abandoned limestone quarry outside Tallinn, Estonia. On its shores, families […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025In The Librarians, director Kim A. Snyder’s documentary chronicles the efforts of these educators in states like Texas and Florida in the face of sweeping book bans, which largely censor stories that center on LGBTQ and racial identities. Editors Austin Reedy and Mark Becker tell Filmmaker about working with archive, creating through lines in the edit and how this film “helps us build a more empathetic conversation about such an important institution.” 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Our film is centered around the lives of Tabatha Zimiga and her family as they reconcile their unresolved grief after the sudden death of her husband. This film took five years to make. It’s a docu-fiction film, so I lived in this specific area of South Dakota for years—embedding myself for the purpose of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025Premiering in the festival’s NEXT section, this hybrid film from filmmaker Kate Beecroft follows Tabitha Zimiga, a horse trainer who houses wayward women in her remote Badlands ranch. As she provides shelter and guidance for her oft-teenage house guests, Tabitha also grapples with the recent death of her husband and mounting financial peril. Editor Jennifer Vecchiarello answers our questions about her collaboration on East of Wall below. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025In Brides, UK teenagers Doe and Muna (Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar) take an ill-advised trip to Syria to escape the constant feeling of being othered that follows them at home. The film, the debut feature by Young Vic Theatre artistic director Nadia Fall, examines teenage girlhood through a distinct sociopolitical lens. The film was shot in three different locations, meaning the production had new crews every two weeks. Director of photography Clarissa Cappellani (Misericordia, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams) discusses working through those challenges and the films and photographs that she and Fall used as references. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2025