Women of Sundance
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Interview with Rich Hill Director Tracy Droz Tragos
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Tragos: I made my first documentary Be Good, Smile Pretty after discovering a picture of my father the day he was killed in Vietnam. The film was well received and won the Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2004. It was difficult to find another film project with such a deep connection – and then came motherhood. I wanted to give my daughters a different childhood than I had had – with a mom who was fully present. That was my choice then – but sometimes I wonder if I […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 22, 2014 -
Interview with Watchers of the Sky Director Edet Belzberg
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Belzberg: I read Samantha Power’s book A Problem From Hell when it came out and was just pulled towards the story of Raphael Lemkin in it. It didn’t feel like a choice — I had to tell his story. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Belzberg: Most of my crew on this film were women. It wasn’t intentional, but that is how it worked out. There are a few notable exceptions, but the vast majority of the people who worked on the […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 22, 2014 -
Interview with Love Child Director Valerie Veatch
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Veatch: I am drawn to stories or characters that I feel have been misrepresented and I like the task of creating a more challenging, complex, layered depiction of stories that causally circulate our media scape. Love Child is the story of an infant who died as a result of neglect due to “Internet Addiction” while her young parents were raising an online virtual child. Her name was Sarang, which means “love” in Korean. I heard the story on the Italian news media while staying in Rome. The ruling in the […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 22, 2014 -
Interview with Song One Director Kate Barker-Froyland
When I asked where the most film-related location for our photoshoot might be, director Kate Barker-Froyland suggested that we meet in Williamsburg. Her feature debut, Song One, starring Anne Hathaway, is a film about the love of music which weaves its story through Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, which are areas that Barker-Froyland herself frequents often. We met for breakfast at the Reynard Restaurant in the Wythe Hotel on an assaultingly cold winter’s morning. Still, Barker-Froyland was upbeat and ready to take to the city streets in just her sundress, wind chill notwithstanding, to get the right shot. While most filmmakers […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with The Sleepwalker Director/writer Mona Fastvold
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Fastvold: I’ve always been compelled tell a story about the complex relationship between sisters (I’m one of five). It’s a unique and naturally beautiful bond; the strange way siblings so easily regress into childhood patterns and the intense love and jealousy between them… All that instinctual competitiveness and care. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Fastvold: In fact, the crew was female by majority but that was just by chance! Filmmaker: How did you go about raising funding for it? Fastvold: I had made a […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with Mr leos caraX Director Tessa Louise Salomé
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Salomé: The movie picked me up. As I was working on Holy Motors, I started to collect bits and pieces, archives, anything that was part of Leos Carax’s universe. When I realized how much I had gathered, it became obvious that I couldn’t stop there. I dived right into his world… and without even noticing it, I started to make the film. It was exciting to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding him. Seeing all of his movies again was an extraordinary experience: they haven’t aged a bit. They may even be more […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Appropriate Behavior
“So, is this exciting to you, or, like, totally normal by now?” director Desiree Akhavan asked her executive producer, Katie Mustard, when we three met over coffee just two weeks after their film, Appropriate Behavior, was accepted into Sundance’s NEXT section. While this is Akhavan and her London-based producer Cecilia Frugiuelle’s first time at Sundance, Mustard has had nine films there – seven features and two shorts. Mustard had been drawn to come on board Akhavan’s film because the script was “just so good” and so “fresh.” Akhavan, who stars in the film as an Iranian-American bisexual struggling to find […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with Cold in July Producer Linda Moran
When I walked in to photograph Linda Moran at her office at Belladona Productions in Chelsea, she was on the phone making magic happen. Her film Cold in July, which she produced, was speedily getting picture locked for Sundance and her office, that she runs with fellow producer René Bastian, was abuzz with activity and inclusiveness: it has what I call the “Google Effect” – which is to say that the office is so cool and fun to work in, employees love coming to work. Linda promptly introduced me to the office mascots: her dogs Zombie and Coco who insisted on […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Interview with The Disobedient Director Mina Đukić
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Đukić: I wanted to stop asking myself “why” about things that were haunting me and instead start a journey of both finding answers and losing them on my way. I felt the urge to express my feelings about many ambiguous and tickling things. Filmmaker: How much of your crew was female? Was hiring women a consideration for you? Đukić: Less than 10. Hiring a main actress with attitude, sensibility and energy that I enjoyed was a consideration for me. Once that worked, we could unleash enough female energy to […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Land Ho!
When I went to meet Land Ho! co-director Martha Stephens and producers Mynette Louie and Sara Murphy in their color correction suite in Midtown NYC, they were in fuzzy sweaters with zigzag lines, and were laughing often – which makes sense as their film is a road trip comedy set in Iceland (about two older men who must contend with life after retirement). Just months earlier these sweaters had shielded their crew against the vibrant and freezingly unpredictable Icelandic elements during the production of their film (and kept them warm after getting out of dips in the hot springs – […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014
