Sundance Film Festival
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“A Dream Refusing Deferment”: Garrett Bradley | Time
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? The telephone is a key object throughout the film. It’s the middle man. The conduit between problems and solutions, hope and disappointment. A dream refusing deferment. Sundance Responses 2020
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“When I Was a Kid, I Thought That Being a Psychiatrist Meant Getting to Sit in the Most Comfortable Chair in the World”: Kirsten Johnson | Dick Johnson is Dead
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Charles and Ray Eames apparently wanted their Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman to have the “warm receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt.” When I was a child, I simply knew their chair as “Dad’s chair.” He had one of them at his psychiatry office and one at home. Buying […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“When Used Well, Mirrors in Film Can Create Stunning and Confounding Images”: Bill Benz | The Nowhere Inn
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Mirrors are almost always a production headache. They (bear with me as I describe what a mirror does) reflect all the c-stands and lights and crew members that you were trying to hide from frame in your cramped indie film location that was never intended to be “a set”. However, when […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“Linus Has His Blanket. Radha Has Her Head Wrap”: Radha Blank | The 40-Year-Old Version
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Radha’s head wrap. It seems to be a nice fashion accessory. One that nods to Black and African culture and reflects identity and cultural pride. And in a time when women obsess over our looks and feel pressured to express ourselves through hair, a head wrap feels like an act of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“Each of the Remembered Hoovers Made a Different Sound”: Jerry Rothwell | The Reason I Jump
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? My object(s) would be two vacuum cleaners (hoovers) vibrantly etched in the childhood memories of Joss, an autistic teenager in the film. The hoovers don’t appear in the film, and probably no longer exist, but they’re frequently present and talked about. Their colors—one red and one black—become a verbal game that’s […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“This Simple, Undeniable Math Represents the Profound Connectivity of All Things”: Tara Miele | Wander Darkly
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Something that is particularly integral to Wander Darkly is the golden spiral that Matteo has on his forearm. This pattern/ratio exists everywhere—in the arms of expanding galaxies, in the composition of paintings, on seashells, and in our own bodies. This simple, undeniable math represents the profound connectivity of all things. The […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“You Can Ride Poison to its Possibilities”: Josephine Decker | Shirley
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Mushrooms! In our film, mushrooms—deadly or benign—become this symbol of sexual freedom and creative liberation. You can eat your death. You can ride poison to its possibilities. Or you can just share a tasty treat with your witch. The relationship in our film between main characters Shirley and Rose also rides […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“The Walking Stick Is the Object That Ties Their Fates Together”: Cedric Cheung-Lau | The Mountains Are a Dream That Call to Me
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? In a film shot in so many wide landscapes, where our characters are sometimes just dots in the space, I think it’s a culmination of tiny details, some which may not even be seen, that gives the film its character and emotion. More overtly and specifically however, the walking stick Tukten […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“A Celebration of the Pure-Hearted Passion of Amateurs”: Euros Lyn | Dream Horse
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? These are highly prized plates, awarded to the fastest bird in a pigeon race. Jan Vokes, the heroine of Dream Horse, bred several winning racing pigeons, a skill she transferred to breed a champion racehorse in her backyard. “Pigeon fancying,” as it’s known colloquially, is open to all and is a […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020 -
“We Took an Airboat to the Middle of That Truly Unique Geographic Expanse of Subtropical Wilderness”: Kim A. Snyder | Us Kids
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? There is a scene towards the end of the film we shot in the Everglades, a place that Emma Gonzalez explained to me which represents a nostalgic and calming sense of security for her from childhood (the Everglades are the “backyard” of Parkland, Florida). David Hogg, after having received death threats, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2020
