“This Isn’t Just Any AI”: Director Pete Sillen on Bina48 and His Sundance Documentary, Love Machina
Love Machina (Photo by Peter Sillen) By the time in 2010 Martine Rothblatt completed the first iteration of Bina48, the “social robot” modeled after her real-life partner, Bina Aspen (now Bina Rothblatt), she had already trailblazed an extraordinary career across…
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“To Get Soaked Into the Story and Not Be Aware of the Camera”: DPs Tom Bergmann and Konrad Waldmann on Eternal You
Eternal You, courtesy of Sundance Institute The advent of AI now offers the bereaved an opportunity to connect with deceased loved ones via avatars, a creation that captured the interest of filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck. Their documentary Eternally…
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J.K. Simmons Talks Edward Hopper and Maintaining a Marriage of Artists
God bless PBS. The Public Broadcasting Service has been airing free, informative, and entertaining documentaries, educational programs for children, news, and international television series for more than half a century. Their American Masters series of biographical documentaries debuted back in…
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“It Was a Lot of Experimentation Along the Way”: Editor Jennifer Vecchiarello on My Old Ass
My Old Ass, courtesy of Sundance Institute. While tripping on mushrooms during the summer before her first semester of college, Elliott (Maisy Stella) encounters a future version of herself (Aubrey Plaza) in My Old Ass, the sophomore feature from writer,…
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Sunrise Director Andrew Baird Explores Vampires and Racism
In Sunrise, a former cop (Alex Pettyfer) is transformed into a bloodthirsty vampire after a savage attack. Soon, he finds himself defending an Asian widower and her children from Reynolds (Guy Pearce), a brutal white supremacist. Sunrise director Andrew Baird…
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“Retain the Depth and the Breadth of This Community”: Editor Nathan Punwar on Sugarcane
Still from Sugarcane. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. | Photo by Emily Kassie Tackling a timely but under-discussed contemporary issue in both the United States and Canada, journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie (A Girl Named C) investigate a string…
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Jake Johnson’s Feature Directorial Debut Was Inspired by A Japanese Reality Show
[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Self Reliance.] The Big Picture Actor Jake Johnson reflects on the cancellation of 'Minx' and the importance of finding an audience. Johnson was inspired by a Japanese reality show to create the film…
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“Stay True to Your Gut”: Producer Mari Bakke Riise on A New Kind of Wilderness
A New Kind of Wilderness Photo by Maria Gros Vatne. When the Payne family experiences a personal tragedy, they must leave the home they love in the remote Norwegian wilderness and enmesh themselves in the society they once felt so…
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“The Millennial Decline That’s Taking Place in the Present Moment”: Theda Hammel on Stress Positions
John Early in Stress Positions Premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Stress Positions—the feature debut from writer, director and star Theda Hammel—takes place during the not-so-distant summer of 2020. While this setting immediately evokes…
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The ‘Destroy All Neighbors’ Team Calls the Film a “Stupid Thing Taken Seriously”
The Big Picture The film Destroy All Neighbors is a splatterfest made more enjoyable by its real and tangible visuals. The film's small but mighty team including director Josh Forbes and stars Jonah Ray Rodrigues and Alex Winter make it…
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Lucy Hale and Nat Wolff Put Real Relationship Woes Into New Film, Which Brings Me to You
Love hurts. Love is kind. Love is (insert Paul's epistles here). In a new film titled Which Brings Me to You, love is certainly complicated. It's a tale led by two young Hollywood talents, the striking Lucy Hale and the…
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“Me Being There by Myself Led to More Authentic and Intimate Situations”: DP Silje Evensmo Jacobsen on A New Kind of Wilderness
A New Kind of Wilderness Photo by Maria Gros Vatne. Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen also served as the primary cinematographer on her documentary A New Kind of Wilderness, premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the World Documentary Competition.…
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