Sundance Film Festival 2025

Sundance 2025: Predators, André is an Idiot, Marlee Matlin: I’m Not Alone

“Is it even possible for something designed as entertainment to be a public service?” Predators cinematographer-editor-director David Osit asks this question of ethnographer Mark de Rond about NBC TV show To Catch a Predator and its successors, but it also applies to this project’s of-the-moment anxieties about nonfiction practice. Documentaries seem to have entered a phase of self-reflexive fretting about their own impact; I think one reason No Other Land has become so popular is because it explicitly states this, having its subjects worry about their Facebook click rates and wonder out loud whether the film they’re making can possibly […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 26, 2025
“For the First Time, I Could See the Film in Front of Me” | Joel Alfonso Vargas, Mad Bills to Pay

Films 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? It would be hard to narrow it down to only one moment or day, as Mad Bills was a journey unlike any other. That we got through it was anything short of impressive considering the ambition of our story and our limited time and resources, however much a testament to the skill of the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“Connect Images in the Edit Based on an Analysis of Characters”: Editor Cooper Raiff on Hal & Harper

Director Cooper Raiff returns to Sundance after his prize-winning Cha Cha Real Smooth with the episodic series Hal & Harper, about a pair of codependent siblings and their father. The first four episodes of Hal & Harper will screen as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Episodics section. Besides directing, Raiff also served as editor on the series. Below, he talks about his approach to editing as a writer-director and why editing the series transformed his understanding of its characters. 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 26, 2025
“Something That Felt Unadorned and a Bit Raw”: DP Doug Emmett on Hal & Harper

Hal & Harper charts the development two codependent siblings with a lifetime of inside jokes and their father. The series is directed by Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth), who plays Hal; Lili Reinhart; and Mark Ruffalo. The first four episodes of Hal & Harper will screen as part of Sundance’s Episodics sidebar. Doug Emmett (The Edge of Seventeen, Sorry to Bother You) the series’ cinematographer, describes the show’s naturalistic and raw feel below. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“We Just Kept Bursting Out Laughing” | Cooper Raiff, Hal & Harper

Films 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 most memorable day was the day Mark, Lili, Betty, the whole crew—especially the camera operators—and I started laughing and couldn’t stop during a random scene. In the scene my character, Hal, tells everyone he got a job at J. Crew and they all are like “okay,” “interesting decision,” “why?” etc. And it just […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“Our Work is More Akin to Writing”: Editor Jeremy Stulberg on Move Ya Body: The Birth of House

The sounds from Chicago that would forever alter dance music get an overdue documentary treatment in Move Ya Body: The Birth of House. The film is directed by Elegance Bratton (The Inspection) and screens in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Premieres section. Jeremy Stulberg (Growing Up Coy) served as editor for Move Ya Body. Below, he discusses the process of finding the personal story within the raw material and explains why documentary editing is like writing, which necessitates a new way of thinking about the work. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“There was Time to Know, Already, I’ll Remember This.” | Max Walker-Silverman, Rebuilding

Films 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? Rebuilding was shot in the San Luis Valley, the oldest part of Colorado. It is a great desert plain cut through by the high Rio Grande. The San Juan Mountains mark it to the west. They are old, eroded, and gentle. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains line the Valley to the east. They are […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“The Day We Became a Family” | Elegance Bratton, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House

Films 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 most significant day was the day our production coordinator’s apartment caught on fire. That morning, we drove to set and noticed a smoking apartment tower. We went about the day as normal. At a point, we hear all of these sirens. Our production coordinator gets a call to inform her that her apartment […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“There Was an Interesting Opportunity to Mix Formats”: DP Ethan Palmer on Plainclothes

The 2025 Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition feature Plainclothes, the feature debut of writer-director Carmen Emmi, mixes a paranoid, anxious police thriller with a coming out narrative. It follows a police officer, Lucas (Tom Blyth), tasked with arresting gay men whose job gets complicated when he falls for one. Plainclothes mixes lo-fi surveillance footage with a contemporary digital aesthetic. The film’s cinematographer, Ethan Palmer (Ted K, Goat) discusses mixing formats and using cinematography to highlight the protagonist’s journey. 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 […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025
“The Intense, Emotional Journey of Navigating One’s Queerness”: Editor Erik Vogt-Nilsen on Plainclothes

Lucas is a young undercover police officer tasked with cracking down on gay communities whose job gets complicated when he falls in love with one of his targets in Plainclothes. The film is the feature debut of writer-director Carmen Emmi and is part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition. Erik Vogt-Nilsen (Big Boys) served as the editor on Plainclothes. Below, he explains how his own coming out, as well as his background in both dance and commercials, helped him shape the narrative and striking a balance between observing Lucas and inhabiting his point of view. See all responses […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2025

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