How diminished is the Sundance Film Festival now? John Wildman’s Wild Thoughts on Film #3
How diminished in the Sundance Film Festival now? John Wildman’s Wild Thoughts on Film #3
SUNDANCE 2023 Interviews: AIRHOSTESS-737 director Thanasis Neofotistos
Let me begin by applauding lead actress Lena Papaligoura, who was awarded Vimeo’s Special Jury Prize for Acting at Sundance. Now, regarding the film – I always have great admiration for someone who makes a well-crafted short film that can lead us down a path, entertain us, and manage to have a legit beginning, middle, and end within its brief runtime. And if you can pull that off by having your camera focused on a single person for the most part, literally a head and shoulders shot for the majority of the short film and STILL keep us on the hook? Well, hat’s off to you.
SUNDANCE 2023 Interviews: SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD director Anna Hints, producer Marianne Ostrat
My personal thoughts: I say this during the interview, but it bears repeating an emphasis: As a man watching this incredible documentary, I felt privileged to hear what I was hearing form these women, to be present in their midst as they were going through such an intimate, emotionally revealing process.
Sundance 2023 Interviews: FANTASTIC MACHINE directors Axel Danielson and Maxmilien Van Aertryck
My personal thoughts on FANTASTIC MACHINE: This thing is so comprehensive and bombards you with photos and video since the first images were recorded to seemingly selfies and Tik Tok videos that were shot and recorded right before you watched the film. That’s what it feels like. And the effect is an overwhelming one, revealing how we are being influenced and manipulated by the photographic image and how we enthusiastically feed the beast ourselves. Like parakeets pecking at our reflection in a mirror, we can not deny the power it has over us and FANTASTIC MACHINE does an amazing job boiling it all down and focusing that conversation about what we have wrought upon ourselves with our cameras.
Sundance 2023 interviews: MAMACRUZ director Patricia Ortega
My personal thoughts on MAMACRUZ: A film – and subject – that could so easily have gone into a clownish or overtly provocative direction actually has a loving restraint, while still not shying away from its story of an elderly woman having a sexual reawakening while still honoring her devout faith. It is funny, but sweet, and deals with sexuality in a direct, yet entertaining way that films made in the states still haven’t figured out. I was completely charmed by the film.
Steven Soderbergh Announced Miguel Faus as First Winner of $100k Andrews/Bernard Financing Awards on Decentralized Pictures
News at Sundance: During FILM3 on the Mountain Director/producer Steven Soderbergh announced the first winner of three financing awards that his production company Extension 765 launched in partnership with blockchain-powered non-profit Decentralized Pictures (DCP). Spanish filmmaker Miguel Faus will receive $100,000 in finishing funds for his feature-length fiction film CALLADITA.
Interview with Tracy Droz Tragos (PLAN C) from Sundance 2023
My personal thought on PLAN C: I want each and every one of my film festivals to screen this film. I haven’t felt an urgency after watching a documentary on the crisis with female health care and the medical providers trying to provide that care since AFTER TILLER. Of course, I live in Texas which has literally put a bounty on women’s heads if they find themselves in a bad situation with an unwanted pregnancy and don’t want to wear a red cloak and be breeding chattel. Find it, watch it, and GET THE WORD OUT.
Sundance/Slamdance Diary #1
The last time I was in Park City for Sundance and Slamdance was 2020. Of course, all shit broke loose a couple months later in March when the zombie apocalypse began (checks notes), COVID pandemic, I mean. Now, I frequently rail against and tense up at the idea of regional fests being a kumbaya experience for filmmakers because the Eric Kohn/Indiewires of the world use that to dismiss the importance or viability of them and the films that screen there business-wise (because, if it doesn’t happen in Europe or Asia or the island of Manhattan then it’s just not important, right?).
What the Film?! Podcast #2 – “The One Where We Talk Tik Tok”
“The One Where We Talk Tik Tok” On our second podcast, Justina and I talk
SHORTS AND TO THE POINT: Emily Wilson’s DANNY’S GIRL amps up the WTF as an online couple meet for the first time
“Since the world of the film is heightened and the premise is a bit wacky, we needed to make sure that the character’s motivations and behaviors were rooted in sincere emotion. So we rehearsed a lot before shooting in order to make sure that we understood their decisions, cared deeply for them, and ultimately were rooting for them. Since that was the foundation, it freed us up to embrace and experiment with the darker, zanier stuff.”