Sundance Responses
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“The Deep Angst and Disenfranchisement that Many People Feel”: Director Kyoko Miyake | Tokyo Idols
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Tokyo Idols explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies. The idol singers are predominantly teenage girls, and their fans are mostly middle aged men. At the beginning, I was reluctant to talk to the fans as I struggled to empathize with them. For me, they were “on the other side” not only […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2017 -
“We Really Wanted to Do His Story Justice”: Director Matt Ruskin | Crown Heights
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? I think the challenge with this film was how do you watch Colin Warner do 20 years in prison? How do you convey who this person is when he’s stripped of everything, and then how do you communicate the inner life he cultivated while in prison? I really respond to visual storytelling, so rather than plastering the film with voiceover we used a lot of imagery, whether it […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2017 -
“The Story of Ferguson through the Eyes of the People Who Lived it”: Director Sabaah Folayan | Whose Streets
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? By the time we wrapped our last shooting day, we had collected over 300 hours of footage. Lungs shouted for justice and moments later filled with tear gas. A father baked cookies during a moment of peace. A police chief and a mayor cited lack of data. Our creative team quickly realized we had several possible movies on our hands, but our goal was singular; we wanted […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“Communication Is Where a Film Lives and Dies”: Director Zoe Lister-Jones | Band Aid
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Communication is where a film lives and dies. It is essential for efficacy, for performance, and ultimately for translating a director’s vision to the screen. To me communication is less about the art of talking than it is about the art of listening. I hired an all-female crew on Band Aid, which was deliberate on many fronts, one of which was rooted in this very issue. At […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“Profound Communication Only Happens When There Is Persistence”: Director Pamela Yates | 500 YEARS
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? I often ask myself, how does each of us weave our own responsibilities into the pattern of history? How can I tell stories about human rights and the quest for justice yet engage people who are uninterested or apathetic? And the answer has always brought me back to this idea of the persistence of vision. Just as in cinema, believing that we will create a new art, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“A Huge Historical Project”: Editor Kim Miille on Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
MacArthur Fellow Stanley Nelson has devoted his career to documentary explorations of the African American experience. The 65-year-old director/producer has made films on Marcus Garvey, the Freedom Riders and the Black Panthers. His most recent film is Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, which premiered this week at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Nelson hired editor Kim Miille to cut the film. Below, Miille shares her thoughts on historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), making archival photos and letters cinematic and her origins as an editor. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“The Challenge Is Balancing Tone”: Director Mark Pellington | The Last Word
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? The communication challenge in executing The Last Word was thematic. With issues of aging or mortality, the challenge is balancing tone. That is achieved by communicating to everyone (cast, crew and, in turn, the audience) the specific tone. We tried keeping the story human and offbeat, making it emotionally inclusive, and earning the emotional payoff via narrative investment in character. Thus you are letting the audience grow […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“We Are Living through a Very Divisive Time”: Director Barbara Kopple | This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Obviously we are living through a very divisive time, and transgender issues are among the most controversial of what people call “the culture wars.” That was something I was aware of while making this movie, and it’s something we are aware of as we release it. That said, every film I make involves going as deeply as I can inside the lives of the people whose stories […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“I Stopped Talking and Started Making the Film”: Director Pascale Lamche | Winnie
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? The first time I mentioned I was making a film about Winnie Mandela, it happened to be to a novelist in a bar in Amsterdam. He screwed up his face and said: “What? That murderer!” His response was echoed on numerous occasions around the world. Nelson Mandela was still perceived as a saint and his wife as the fallen woman, or worse. At the time, we were […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2017 -
“We Don’t Use Words to Tell a Story”: Directors Lily Baldwin and Saschka Unseld | Through You
During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? We don’t use words to tell a story. We use bodies, gestures, dance, color, music and sound as tools. Inherently with this, there is room for interpretation about what the work IS ABOUT. This is the beauty and of course the challenge around non-traditional narratives. Meaning its fluid. VR is perfect for this. In Through You we worked hard to anchor the viewer in a couple key […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2017
