Sundance
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“Skate Videos Really Influenced My Sensibility as a Filmmaker”: Editor Bryan Mason on Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
In Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Emma Thompson plays a retired schoolteacher who is certain she has never had good sex. She decides to change that by checking into a hotel room and hiring a sex worker, but he quickly appears to take an interest in her that is more than professional. Much of the film consists of these two characters in a hotel room, and editor Bryan Mason discusses the importance of highlighting performances and chemistry to keep the audience’s attention. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“There Is Always Something to See, Something to Fear”: DP Jarkko T. Laine on Hatching
A lifestyle blog called “Lovely Everyday Life” run by the mother of a friendless tween sounds readymade for satire, and it is, but Hatching also takes it toward horror when the aforementioned tween nurtures and befriends the creature that emerges from a strange egg she finds in the woods. Cinematographer Jarkko T. Laine discusses shooting a horror film that takes place in well lit environs and the difficulties of working with animatronics. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“Acting Is Truly Not Just About the Language You Speak”: Editor Linda Jildmalm on Hatching
Hatching, a Finnish film that combines satire of modern “lifestyle” blogging with elements of coming-of-age films and body horror, follows a socially isolated pre-teen girl, Tinja, as she discovers and then nurtures the egg of a wounded bird. The egg eventually hatches, and Tinja christens her new best friend Alli. Editor Linda Jildmalm explained how she edited a film shot in a language she does not speak and worked to preserve the director’s vision. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“We Can’t Afford to Waste Half of the Talent in Our Industry” | Hanna Bergholm on Hatching
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? We shot Hatching in summer-autumn 2019, so luckily we avoided the pandemic during our shoot. The pandemic affected our post-production in a way; we had to do […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“It’s Easy to Get Tunnel Vision on a Project Without Seeking Out Other Forms of Art”: Editor Catrin Hedström on Sharp Stick
Sharp Stick, Lena Dunham’s return to feature filmmaking after 12 years, is an intimate, character-driven film focusing on Sarah Jo, a naïve, woman in her mid-twenties embarking on an affair with the father of the child for whom she is a caretaker. The film touches on ideas of self-image and sex positivity, but remains close to its protagonist. Editor Catrin Hedström discusses keeping that focus by cutting scenes down to the essentials and how she brought out the complexity of the script’s characters. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“You Have to Find a Balance Between the Eroticism and the Reality”: Ashley Connor on Sharp Stick
For Sharp Stick, her first feature film since 2010’s Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham relates the adventure of Sarah Jo, a 26-year-old virgin, as she woos the father of Zach, an intellectually disabled child for whom she cares. As the film unfolds, ideas about trauma, sex positivity and body image begin to emerge. Cinematographer Ashley Connor discusses shooting the film on an accelerated timeline and how she captured the feeling of infatuation in the visuals. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“I Think a Lot of People Are Going to Able to Find Parallels to Their Own Love Stories”: Editor Robert Martinez on Lucy and Desi
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are one of the most beloved couples in showbiz history, and for many, it isn’t clear where the real people end and the Ricardos of I Love Lucy begin. Amy Poehler illuminates how those boundaries manifested and moved in Lucy and Desi, her documentary on the two stars. Below, editor Robert Martinez explains why he fought the urge to include extended I Love Lucy clips and kept the focus on the love story. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“Capturing the Scale of the Amazon Rainforest Is an Impossible Task”: DP Alex Pritz on The Territory
The Territory takes viewers deep inside the Brazilian Amazon, allowing them to bear witness to the ongoing conflict that has pitted Indigenous inhabitants against settlers looking to capitalize on the land. The film captures a pair of young leaders and their mentor, who defend the land with their lives, as well as settlers hoping to establish their own homestead, including those who engage in clear-cutting on their own. Director-cinematographer Alex Pritz explains how the film’s visual style distinguishes the different perspectives, his collaboration with an Indigenous cinematographer, and how his crew unexpectedly found themselves recording a settler burning down the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
“COVID Helped Us Discover a New Way to Create This Film” | Alex Pritz, The Territory
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? The Territory is a film about land conflict on Indigenous territory in the Brazilian Amazon, which has been co-created with the Uru-eu-wau-wau community. With the arrival of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2022 -
Sundance 2022 Critic’s Notebook: Mija, Mars One, Emergency
When does a virtual film festival start? The types of film screenings, audience accommodations, parties, panels, social spaces, diversity and development programs, residencies, labs, medical procedures and contingency plans film festival organizers are responsible for keep spiraling. The International Film Festival Rotterdam warned all attendees in late December that its 2022 edition would be entirely virtual, while the Berlinale recently confirmed the festival’s focus on in-person screenings would proceed as planned next month, without exception for press, but with a slightly expanded, all-virtual European Film Market. In this climate, Sundance announced a scant two weeks before the festival’s opening night that […]
by Abby Sun on Jan 22, 2022
