Sundance Film Festival
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“At the Root of This Rivalry Is a Historical Conflict Between Mexican Nationals and Mexican-Americans”: Editor Luis Alvarez y Alvarez on La Guerra Civil
Julio César Chávez and Oscar de la Hoya were once two of the biggest names in boxing, and their 1996 bout dubbed “Ultimate Glory” was a flashpoint for the divide between Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals. Mixing archival footage with interviews of the boxers themselves, <i>La Guerra Civil</i> examines the bout, the rivalry and its cultural dimension. Editor Luis Alvarez y Alvarez discusses his memories of the fight and how the filmmakers were able to recapture and illuminate one of the defining sports moments of the 1990s. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2022 -
“We Wanted to Target an Audience Not Necessarily Interested in the Royal Family”: Editors Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira on The Princess
From the beginning, director Ed Perkins knew he wanted to tell Princess Diana’s story without any retrospective interviews and instead rely purely on archival material. That’s a rich archive, consisting of thousands of hours of footage, meaning the editors would need to choose among countless potential approaches or narrative threads. Below, editors Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira discuss what drew them to the film and how they managed to whittle thousands of hours of footage into a 104-minute feature film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2022 -
“The Pandemic Sparked a Deeper Contemplation Into Our Creative Process” | Sara Dosa, Fire of Love
The last two years have prompted much contemplation and reconsideration of the reasons why we make our films as well as the ways in which we make them. What aspect of your filmmaking—whether in your creative process, the way you finance your films, your production methodology or the way you relate to your audience—did you have to reinvent in order to make and complete the film you are bringing to the festival this year? Fire of Love is the first archival film I’ve ever directed—my previous two independent films I directed were primarily vérité. Fire of Love producer Shane Boris, assistant producer […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2022 -
“It Was Really Important That I Was Able to Lean Into the Intimacy of Interviewing My Subjects and Not Just Rely on Archival Footage” | Eva Longoria Bastón, La Guerra Civil
The last two years have prompted much contemplation and reconsideration of the reasons why we make our films as well as the ways in which we make them. What aspect of your filmmaking—whether in your creative process, the way you finance your films, your production methodology or the way you relate to your audience—did you have to reinvent in order to make and complete the film you are bringing to the festival this year? Given the nature of La Guerra Civil, it was really important that I was able to lean into the intimacy of interviewing my subjects and not […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2022 -
“I Came Out of This Process With a Refreshed Perspective on Mortality”: Editors Erin Casper & Jocelyne Chaput on Fire of Love
Two of the best known volcanologists, Katia and Maurice Krafft—are arguably as well known for having died in an expedition on Japan’s Mount Unzen, but Fire of Love, a documentary by Sara Dosa that makes use of the footage shot by the couple, turns away from the easy tragic narrative to instead shine a light on the love they shared for their work as well as for each other. Editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput explain how they put together a film from footage that was often difficult to parse and why they took inspiration from the French New Wave. […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2022 -
Sundance Cancels the In-Person Portion of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival Due to Omricon Surge
Sundance announced today that the in-person portion of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival has been cancelled. As in 2021, the festival will occur this year online, in a virtual edition on Sundance’s bespoke platform. When Sundance announced the return of its live edition back in August, 2021, Festival Director Tabitha Jackson announced a vaccination requirement, and, in recent days, Sundance reupped its protocols, requiring boosters for some attendees as well as offering on-site boosters in addition to the testing already planned. But Jackson also wrote, “Health and safety is paramount… We will continue to assess other elements of health and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 5, 2022 -
Sundance Announces 2022 Sundance Film Festival Shorts And New 40-Film From the Archive Selections
The Sundance Institute announced today the 59 shorts that will comprise the Short Film Program for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, this year there’s a new “From the Archive” section — 40 films that are online exclusives playing for all pass holders during the festival, January 20 – 30. Kim Yutani, the Festival’s Director of Programming, said in a press release, “Short films are such a vital part of the independent storytelling culture that Sundance Institute has consistently put its full support behind. We’re all happy for the opportunity this year’s hybrid in-person and online Festival model is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 10, 2021 -
Sundance Announces Feature, Indie Episodic and New Frontier Categories for Its In-Person and Virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Institute announced today the full Feature Film, Indie Episodic, and New Frontier categories for the upcoming 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Returning from last year’s purely virtual festival, this year’s Sundance will be a hybrid edition, with in-person events at Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah as well as on an enhanced online platform for remote attendees. Additionally there will be The Spaceship, a “bespoke immersive platform.” Continuing from last year’s experimentation, in-person screenings at seven Satellite Screens venues will occur across the country during the Festival’s second weekend. Films this year — […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2021 -
“Not Addressing the Core Exploitations of Capitalism is Essential to Capitalism’s Survival”: Theo Anthony on His Surveillance Doc, All Light, Everywhere
This interview with Theo Anthony about his documentary, All Light, Everywhere, was originally published alongside the film’s premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It is being reposted today as the film premieres in theaters, including, in New York, at the IFC Center, where Anthony will do Q&As moderated by Brenda Coughlin and Sierra Pettengill. In All Light, Everywhere’s opening shot, filmmaker Theo Anthony turns the camera lens on his optic nerve, as text narration explains that we’re blind at the point where the optic nerve and retina connect—there’s a fundamental hole in our ability to view the world that, Anthony […]
by A.E. Hunt on Jun 4, 2021 -
Virtual and Actual Realities: The Narrative VR and New Media Works in the Sundance 2021 New Frontier Section
A Remote Festival The Sundance Film Festival, which ended February 3, succeeded remarkably well despite the pandemic, and nowhere was that more obvious than in the New Frontier lineup of virtual/augmented reality and other new media. In fact, as has been commented throughout 2020, in many ways virtual reality was made for this moment. With VR headsets reaching ever further into the consumer population it was feasible for this year’s New Frontier lineup, including several 2D browser-based works, to be shown remotely with essentially no loss in quality, especially when compared with feature films being screened on a laptop or […]
by Randy Astle on Feb 18, 2021
