Archival footage and previously unseen home movies lend a new perspective of Christopher Reeve’s rise to stardom in Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. Editor Otto Burnham shares his approach to cutting Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s doc, which makes it Sundance 2024 debut in the festival’s Premieres section. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. 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 for this job?  Burnham: I was rollerblading badly in East London on a bright, chilly January […]

Mel Eslyn, the head of Duplass Brothers Productions and the director of TIFF 2022 premiere Biosphere, makes her first directorial foray into episodic television with Penelope. Penelope tells the story of an alienated 16-year-old girl who venture into the wilderness to escape from society. Nathan M. Miller, who served as cinematographer on Eslyn’s Biosphere and has worked on several other Duplass Brothers productions, took on the job again for Penelope. Below, he emphasizes the series’ naturalist aesthetic and no-frills approach to lighting. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]

Conbody VS Everybody sees Debra Granik (Stray Dog) returning to documentary after 2018’s Leave No Trace and also breaking into the world of episodic series. The film follows Coss Marte as he creates a gym inspired by his own prison work outs in hopes of breaking the cycle of recidivism. Two episodes of Conbody VS Everybody will premiere at Sundance 2024. Below, series cinematographers Sean Hanley, Kefentse Johnson and Eric Phillips-Horst share how they all got involved in the film, how their personal styles blended with Granik’s and the challenges of shooting a series over many years. See all responses to […]

Tendaberry, the feature debut from writer-director Haley Elizabeth Anderson, follows 23-year-old protagonist Dakota (first-time actor Kota Johan) throughout an entire calendar year as she experiences day-to-day life in New York City. Specifically, Dakota and her boyfriend Yuri (model Yuri Pleskun, who previously appeared in the Safdie Brothers’s Heaven Knows What) reside in the South Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach, which is alight with sunbathers and Coney Island-bound tourists in the summertime, but otherwise very quiet—save for the constant hum of ocean wave and gulls—during the off-season. A permanent air of loneliness engulfs Dakota when Yuri travels back to Ukraine to […]

Premiering in the NEXT section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Desire Lines presents the time-traveling journey of an Iranian-American trans man, utilizing a vast archive of queer images in order to transport him between time and space. Filmmaker and queer scholar Jules Rosskam also served as the film’s co-writer, producer and editor. Below, he describes why he always opts to edit his own work, the various artists that inspire him and a reoccurring motif the film contains that revealed itself during the edit. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]

Born and raised in the Bronx, rapper Kemba guides viewers through some of the largest issues involving rap lyrics, freedom of speech and the First Amendment in As We Speak, the directorial debut of J.M. Harper. Looking at cases both in the U.S. and internationally, Harper’s documentary poses insightful questions about who is protected, or perhaps left vulnerable, by these legislative battles. Emma Backman, who previously collaborated with Harper on a series of commercials, discusses her experience cutting the film, which served as one of her first major feature-length projects as an editor. See all responses to our annual Sundance […]

Issues concerning freedom of speech and the First Amendment intersect with the world of rap music in As We Speak, the directorial debut from J.M. Harper. The documentary follows Bronx-based rapper Kemba as he unpacks how legal battles involving rap lyrics, both in the U.S. and abroad, might shape the the future of his craft. Married cinematographer duo Logan Triplett and Allison Anderson Triplett discuss the challenges and rewards of collaborating on this project as a unit—the first time they’ve done so on a feature film—with Logan penning answers for both parties. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer […]

As We Speak, the directorial debut from J.M. Harper, follows the growing phenomenon of rap lyrics being used during legal battles both in the U.S. and abroad. Rapper Kemba acts as a guide through the murky waters of the First Amendment, investigating who it protects—or doesn’t—when musicians and their art stand trial. First-time producer Sam Widdoes, who currently works as an attorney and was formerly a journalist, chronicles how he came aboard As We Speak and the myriad ways that his career background acted as a boon during the development of this documentary. See all responses to our questionnaire for […]

A French co-production shot entirely in Iran, In the Land of Brothers follows three Afghan refugees who struggle for decades to make Iran feel like a real home. The film is the debut feature of Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi, who previously co-directed the short Solar Eclipse together. The film was produced by first-time producer Adrien Barrouillet, who discusses how he came up in the industry and recalls the moment he knew the film was in a good position. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here.  Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you to produce […]

In the Summers follows two sisters who, during their formative years, spend the summers visiting their caring but volatile father in New Mexico. The film is the feature debut of Alessandra Lacorazza and also the first producing credit for Daniel Tantalean. Below, Tantalean details the long journey in getting the film made, extols his mentors and community, and shares what he learned. See all responses to our questionnaire for first-time Sundance producers here. Filmmaker: Tell us about the professional path that led you to produce this film, your first? What jobs within and outside of the film industry did you do, […]

In the midst of the chaotic Alberto Fujimori dictatorship, two girls and their mother plan to leave Lima for the United States, but they first attempt to reconnect with the estranged father. Such is the premise of Reinas, the third feature film by Klaudia Reynicke (Love Me Tender, The Nest). A proper emulation of 1992 Lima was of particular importance to the filmmakers. Below, cinematographer Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos dives deep into the lighting schemes the filmmakers used to pull it off. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer […]

When writer-director Nora Fingscheidt first encountered Amy Liptrot’s 2016 memoir, The Outrun, and read the story of Liptrot’s journey through alcoholism and her eventual healing on a remote Scottish island, she was living in Los Angeles and feeling somewhat disoriented. “I was a bit lost in this gargantuan city,” she tells Filmmaker recently in Park City, where her film, The Outrun, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. “I missed Europe a lot. Reading this brutally honest story taking place at the edge of the world, on this tiny remote island, created a big longing in me to go and film […]

Debra Granik, whose most recent work was the 2018 Sundance premiere Leave No Trace, returns to documentary with Conbody VS Everybody, an episodic series that marks her first entry in the medium. The series follows Coss Marte, an ex-convict who starts a gym with the aim of breaking the cycle of recidivism and fending off gentrification in New York City’s Lower East Side. Editing the series is Tory Stewart, editor of Stray Dog, Granik’s 2014 documentary, and also a contributor on Leave No Trace and Winter’s Bone. Below, she talks about how the edit and the series evolved over many years and the time capsule […]

Director Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers follows two sisters who, over several formative summers, visit their caring but tempestuous father in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The cast includes Lio Mehiel, who won an acting prize at last year’s Sundance for Mutt, as well as Sasha Calle and René Pérez Joglar (also known as Residente, co-founder of the rap outfit Calle 13). Adam Dicterow, whose previous credits include the aforementioned Mutt, as well as Dear Evan Hansen, and HBO’s Succession, served as editor. Below, he talks about why the film moves through different styles and recalls the editing room deliberations about the film’s ending. […]

After Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte’s term comes to an end, the promise of democracy and threat of increased authoritarianism sends droves of citizens into the street to campaign for Liberal Party candidate Leni Robredo. Filmmaker Ramona S. Díaz captures the lead-up and aftermath of this critical election in her film And So It Begins, a companion to her 2020 doc A Thousand Cuts, about journalist Maria Ressa, who risks her life in order to vocally criticize Duterte’s involvement in the war on drugs. Below, editor Aaron Soffin discusses how he came onto the project only five months ago, trained under […]

With Penelope, Mel Eslyn, director of last year’s Biosphere and a producer who has worked with the Duplass brothers and Lynn Shelton, enters the world of episodic series. The series follows a 16-year-old girl who, feeling out of place in the world, ventures into the wilderness. Penelope will screen as part of Sundance’s Episodic Pilot Showcase. Below, editor Celia Beasley discusses the importance of Washington state’s indie film community and how the series reignited her love of the outdoors. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? […]

Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi first co-directed the short Solar Eclipse, and they have teamed up again for In the Land of Brothers, a feature debut for each. The film tells the story of three members of an Afghan family who flee to Iran as refugees and struggle to find acceptance and security. In The Land of Brothers‘ editor is Hayedeh Safiyari (A Separation, The Salesman), who has edited many of contemporary Iran’s best-known filmmakers. Below, she discusses the novel challenges of editing a film with sharply delineated chapters and the importance of an editor connecting emotionally to the script. See […]