Sundance Responses
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“The More I Embrace Chaos, the Better”: Director Narcissister | Narcissister Organ Player
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I have always employed and celebrated capital-C Chaos in my work, perhaps it’s a reflection of the world I find myself in, perhaps it’s a result of Chaos on many levels, both good and bad, being a constant in my family life. In specific terms, Chaos was my muse and my guide in the documenting of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2018 -
“It Must’ve Driven My Family Insane”: Reinaldo Marcus Green | Monsters and Men
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I’m a zero-inbox kind of guy. I can’t have widget notifications on my phone, they drive me insane. So, in general, I like to get ahead of things before they get ahead of me. As Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.” I’ve always attributed that quote to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2018 -
“Making a Film Is Always a Chaotic Experience”: Director Craig William Macneill | Lizzie
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? Making a film is always a chaotic experience; chaos is inherently just part of process. The key is to always think positively, staying focused on the finish line and receptive to change. Our film takes place in New England, but for financial reasons we had to shoot the film in Savannah, GA – which does not […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2018 -
“The Film of a Drunken Monkey”: Directors Nico Casavecchia and Martin Allais | BattleScar
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? Nico Casavecchia: In Drunken Master (Jackie Chan, 1978) young Wong Fei-Hung meets Beggar So, an old drunkard picking a fight in a bar. Beggar turns out to be the famous drunken master who uses fighting techniques resembling those of an intoxicated monkey that stole wine and drank it all. Wong reluctantly enters training with Beggar and in […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2018 -
“We Went Where the Story Took Us”: Director Derek Doneen | Kailash
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? Kailash is about a man who risks his life and the lives of his family and colleagues by breaking into factories to rescue children from slavery. Being that we chose to tell the story with vérité filmmaking — in realtime — the very nature of what we set out to shoot was inherently chaotic. We knew […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2018 -
“Anthologies Are All about Communication”: Director Roxanne Benjamin | XX
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? Anthologies are all about communication – you’re dealing with multiple productions in multiple states (if not countries) with quadruple the number of creatives and producers using different camera equipment, different lenses, with different visions, different styles. To that end, in my experience the biggest challenge for these types of productions usually lies in tying all of those disparate elements together into one cohesive whole that benefits and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2017 -
“A Survival Thriller Set in the Remote Bush”: Director Damien Power | Killing Ground
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? As a director, there are many ways to communicate your vision for the film to cast and crew. In the lead-up to shooting my first feature, Killing Ground, I used them all: screening and talking about films that resonated, mood boards, sketches, diagrams, notes, long conversations – whatever helped whoever I was talking to best understand the film we were making. During the shoot I discovered it […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2017 -
“We Reduce Entire Groups to Monoliths”: Screenwriter Damon Davis | 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? Perceptions and stereotypes about a certain demographic of people become barriers to character development. Meaning, after centuries of storytelling, people’s race, gender, age, orientation, whatever it might be, influences how we expect them to function in the story, and influences the depths to which we can relate to them on a human level. A major obstacle to telling unique stories is that people can’t see the uniqueness […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2017 -
“Elegant, Meaningful and Fun”: Director Kriv Stenders | Red Dog: True Blue
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? Since Red Dog: True Blue is a sequel, our main challenge in communication was telling our story in a fresh and unique way that wouldn’t disappoint audiences who loved the original, but that also spoke to and was relevant to new audiences. The solution came by way of the wonderful screenplay by Dan Taplitz and the clever concept on which it was based. Basically, by making the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2017 -
“To Self-Destruct as We Cannibalize All Resources”: Director Miguel Arteta | Beatriz at Dinner
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? Our film Beatriz At Dinner is about the two opposing world views that have increasingly been colliding and unable to communicate. Our future is in jeopardy and finding out a way for us to truly negotiate the outcome of our convictions seems more important than ever. To me it comes down to an argument about what nature intended by allowing one of the species to become so […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2017
