Sundance
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“The Pandemic Meant There was Nothing to Do All Summer Except Sit at Home and Edit”: Directors Parker Hill & Isabel Bethancourt | Cusp
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? Making our first feature in 2020 was definitely a rollercoaster. In some ways the pandemic meant there was nothing to do all summer except sit at home and edit, which was a very intense process, but it was helpful to fully immerse ourselves in the footage day in and day out. We were definitely fortunate to have something to focus on at home. In post production, it was certainly challenging to work with so […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 31, 2021 -
Sundance 2021 Critic’s Notebook 2 (Vadim Rizov): The Sparks Brothers, Mother Schmuckers
Now entering their sixth decade of steady musical production, Sparks—brothers Ron and Russell Mael’s remarkably enduring musical project—has proved equally alienating to multiple generations of American listeners no matter what phase they were in. During the very first days of MTV, clips for their Moroder-produced “No. 1 Song in Heaven” and “Try-Outs for the Human Race” were in regular rotation (if only because there was so little else to show). But when not involuntarily exposed to them, American audiences rejected Sparks whether in their glam, disco, ’90s synth or 2002-and-onwards minimalist keyboard-loops periods—especially true of the latter, their longest-lasting mode to […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 30, 2021 -
“Cardboard Cutouts Don’t Grow Old, They Don’t Die”: Jan Oxenberg on Criterion’s Rerelease of Her “Docu-fantasy” Thank You and Good Night
Jan Oxenberg was a thorn in the nonfiction establishment’s side long before hybrid doc-making was a thing (or even a term). Case in point: Her feature-length (Sundance ’91) debut Thank You and Good Night, a restoration of which will hit the Criterion Channel this week (along with two of the queer pioneer’s earlier shorts, 1973’s Home Movie and 1975’s A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts, accompanied by a new director’s intro). Though Thank You and Good Night has been described as a “docu-fantasy” it’s also a very real time capsule of sorts. The film takes as its starting point the looming […]
by Lauren Wissot on Sep 24, 2020 -
Sundance 2020 Final Dispatch: Softie, Farewell Amor, A Machine for Viewing, Infinitely Yours
Previously, when attending a premiere heavy festival like Sundance, I was usually lucky enough to be present as part of a team of programmers. We divided the screenings between all of us to cover as many of the films as possible. (There are spreadsheets and rating systems involved.) Watching films as a freelancer, I realized over the first few days at Sundance that I was playing it safe by watching films by filmmakers I was already familiar with for the guarantee that at least the film would appear finished at the screening. For programmers working at festivals like Sundance, what […]
by Abby Sun on Feb 19, 2020 -
Sundance 2020 Dispatch 9: Dick Johnson is Dead, Tesla
I don’t have anything like Six Takeaways From This Year’s Sundance to structure my final dispatch: The most I can offer is my general peer group’s consensus that the fiction side was relatively quiet while nonfiction work was stronger and more attention-getting, including the four-film launch of Concordia Studio. They arrived with, among others, my personal best-of-fest Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets and Time, and ended their first Sundance with the (reported) $12 million sale of verité doc Boys State to Apple and A24. Also high on the nonfiction priorities list, via Netflix, was Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson is Dead, which premiered with the director […]
by Vadim Rizov on Feb 4, 2020 -
“We Learned to Lean into the More Lyrical Aspects of the Story and Let the Emotion Carry the Day”: Editors Michael Taylor and Jeff Betancourt on Nine Days
In an alternate reality, Will (Winston Duke) carries the burden of choosing which among nine candidates has what it takes to be born into the world as a full-fledged human being. Nine Days follows these souls through a series of trials designed to determine who among them will receive the gift of life and personhood, and who must resign from existence once the nine days are complete. Editors Michael Taylor and Jeff Betancourt delve into the many screenings, cuts and reworks that went into shaping director Edson Oda’s film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“I See How Prevalent Transphobia Was and Still Is All Over the Media We Consume”: Editor Stacy Goldate on Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen
Director Sam Feder grapples with the legacy and representation of transgender actors and characters onscreen in Hollywood. While these depictions have been overwhelmingly negative and lacking in a nuanced understanding of trans identity, the reality of American anxieties surrounding gender are explicitly conveyed through these depictions. Featuring interviews with Laverne Cox, Lily Wachowski and Yance Ford among other trans thinkers and creatives, Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen chronicles a difficult legacy of trans characters in the industry, while also pointing to a more fruitful future for trans actors and representation on screen. Editor Stacy Goldate speaks about the use of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“There Was So Much to Shoot in Such Little Time”: DP Matt Maio on La Leyenda Negra
In Compton, California, a teenage girl named Aleteia copes with being the new girl at school by immersing herself in underground activism. Aleteia grew up in the United States, but as an immigrant from El Salvador, she suddenly finds her protected status under attack. During this tumultuous time, Aleteia unexpectedly falls in favor with one of the most popular girls at school, Rosarito, and as their friendship blossoms, Aleteia finds it more important than ever to find a way to stay in her hometown. DP Matt Maio talks about the advantages of working with director Patricia Vidal Delgado and the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“Not Playing Any Moment Expressly for Laughs Without Emotion”: Editor Robert Grigsby Wilson on The 40-Year-Old Version
Radha Blank writes, directs and stars in The 40-Year-Old Version, about a woman named Radha who struggles with the stigma of being single and struggling with her art at the age of 40. After what seems like a barrage of rejections from theater companies, Radha finally feels reinvigorated when she revisits her long-forgotten love of rapping. She eventually feels torn when interest is finally shown for a play of hers when she is in the midst of working on a rap demo tape. Editor Robert Grigsby Wilson talks about his own love of hip-hop, his own professional trajectory as an […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“Pretty Much Everything in Life Influences My Shooting”: DP Reuben Aaronson on The Cost of Silence
On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit experienced a deadly explosion that would be the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Over the course of 87 days, 130 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, and deadly chemicals were used in the lengthy clean-up process that civilians and workers were not warned about, leading to the effective poisoning of those in close proximity of the disaster. The U.S. government and the petrol companies have not been held accountable for the misuse of this chemical nearly a decade after the incident occurred. DP Reuben Aaronson […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020
