JOI MCMILLON WAS
THE CO-EDITOR ALONGSIDE
NAT SANDERS ON
BARRY JENKINS’ 2018 FILM
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALKZOLA DIRECTOR JANICZA
BRAVOLEFT: PHOTO BY TATUM MANGUS / ANNAPURNA PICTURES; RIGHT: PHOTO BY KATHY HUTCHINS / SHUTTERSTOCK
EPIC STORYTELLING
HAS A LONG HISTORY.
YOUR TURN.AUSTI N FILM FESTIVAL
202 0 CALL for ENTRIES
#AFF27
1.800.310.FEST
AUSTINFILMFESTIVAL.COMREGULAR DEADLINE
MAY 22MOVIEMAKER.COM SPRING 2020 23says I ask too many questions.
But when you’re working by
yourself, and you don’t have
anyone to bounce ideas off, you
basically have days and days
worth of questions and ideas
that you want to ask and try
out with the director. With a
co-editor you can say an idea
out loud and they’re immedi-
ately like, “That’s not a good
idea,” and you’re like, “Yeah,
that’s not a good idea.” But if
you don’t have that early on,
you just have to save it up, and
the director gets to experience
a lot more of that once they get
back into the cutting room.
When Janicza and I first
worked together on her short
film, “Man Rots from the
Head,” I was wrapping up on
Moonlight and came on towards
the end. Within the week of us
working together, it felt like
we’d known each other for quite
some time. We fell in step in
understanding the language of
a film and the certain risks that
she likes to take as someone
who definitely likes to stretch
out situations that make people
uncomfortable. I thought thework that she was doing was
very exciting and definitely
bold. A lot of people apply the
word “innovative” to certain
moviemakers, but sometimes
they’re really not that
innovative or groundbreaking.
But the type of moviemaking
Janicza makes definitely is—
she likes to push it. She likes
to see how far we can take a
situation, but in the same way,
she’s not pushing it just to
grab attention. She’s actually
pushing it in service of the film.
Janicza brings out the best in
anyone that she collaborates
with. She challenges you to do
the best job possible. I don’t
think you can say that about all
moviemakers working in the
industry right now. That sets
her apart from a lot of other
people, in that she wants to
make the best film possible and
wants you to be a part of that
with her. MMMovie release dates are in
flux lately, so please check
MovieMaker.com for updates
on when Zola will be released.