Editorials

Free Chol Soo Lee and short film Long Line of Ladies: The Sundance Interviews (2021/2022) – Take Two…or three

By John Wildman 4 years ago

Here is the second round of Sundance interviews on Films Gone Wild that we have had over the last couple years. These interviews include my good friends Angela Tabora and Erin Lim from the incredibly fun and informative Bitch Talk podcast out of San Francisco continuing the next generation of the Daily Buzz show created by the legendary Irene Cho. The spirit of those interviews combining our three points-of-view would make Irene happy, and this very diverse trio of films speaks to one of the hallmarks of what the show has always been in terms of introducing audiences to a wide range of films – and not just chasing after celebrity.

Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, James P. Gannon’s Deerwoods Deathtraop, Margaret Brown’s Descendant and more! Catching up to Sundance 2022, 2021

By John Wildman 4 years ago

We have a tremendous backlog of Films Gone Wild interviews that we are going to try and catch up on during the next month or so. We’ll start off with three films that we spoke to during the Sundance Film Festival – both the 2022 edition and even going back to a 2021 highlight. A couple of these interviews include my good friends Angela Tabora and Erin Lim from the incredibly fun and informative Bitch Talk podcast out of San Francisco. We have been teaming up on the next generation of what was the Daily Buzz show created by the legendary Irene Cho for a couple of years now. The spirit of those interviews combining our three points-of-view would make Irene happy, I think, as it remains true to her mission to not just talk to celebrities, but to discover new filmmakers as well as some cool veterans and occasional famous person and talk about the films that fascinate us and dig into their work in a fun way.

Brace yourselves, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER might just surprise and entertain the doubters

By Sarah Hornstein 4 years ago

Before you stamp your large Hobbit feet or pound your Dwarvish axe on the ground, perhaps wait until you’ve seen the series. Have they dissuaded all of this particular Tolkien fan’s fears? No. Have they set up a show that could be wildly successful and well received by even the most critical hardcore Tolkien enthusiast? Definitely

Nicola Rose talks about creating an unusual romance hybrid film in GOODBYE, PETRUSHKA

By Luke Y. Thompson 4 years ago

In the Russian ballet Petrushka, a Punch-like figure pines for a ballerina who rejects him, and gets killed in a duel. The combination of longing and presumed-crazy ambition imbues Nicola Rose’s Goodbye Petrushka, in which impulsive, puppet-making film student Claire (Lizzie Kehoe) impulsively quits school to go to France, where she longs to study more serious puppetry…and the handsome, recently retired figure skater Thibaut (Thomas Vieljeux) she ran into in New York before they both left.

As Claire attempts to navigate a new life as an au pair, she tries to coax Thibaut into making a skating puppet ballet with her. But her culture shock and his girlfriend just might stand in the way.

Producers Tamra Raven and Aaron Steinberg shine a light on Chicago’s Educare with TOMORROW’S HOPE

By Luke Y. Thompson 4 years ago

Part of what we understand the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation is looking to do is to use filmmaking to get people to think more and care more overall about how access to education (specifically early education) is essential to the concept of caring for kids everywhere. As one of the parents in the film points out, kids “are our future.” It’s vexing how this seems like something that everyone wants to make happen – and yet, as a country we keep dropping the ball.

Nino Memanishvili’s I HAVE NO WINGS: Lake Travis FF 2021 Interview

By John Wildman 5 years ago

In the interview, which also includes producer Ketevan Nozadze, we talk about the approach to the film and in this case a particular person chosen as the film’s subject to build a film around. We also discuss the conflict of emotions as a filmmaker to resist the urge to “assist” the subject when they are struggling with money or aid or other kinds of help, as that could damage the integrity of the film itself. We also talk about the parallels between that conflict and the dynamic between producer and director, in terms of knowing when and when not to “intervene”.

Kaye Cleave and James Daggett CATHERINE’S KINDERGARTEN’s — Lake Travis FF 2021 Interview: personal tragedies without it being a therapy session

By John Wildman 5 years ago

In the interview, we talk about the measures both directors took (in concert and separately) to make sure they were making a film and not “filming a therapy session”. They also discuss what it took to figure out what the film was actually about over the course of the filming and editing process. James also discusses a documentary that he keeps coming back to because it still mesmerizes him to this day.