sean baker

Here’s what you didn’t see in some of the best picture Oscar contenders

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Directors, and their editors, must be brutal in their final cuts. Scenes that were conceived, written and often even already shot sometimes must be sliced and diced out — for a variety of reasons: to keep the tension cranked up, to create a little mystery, to keep down the running time. Well, sometimes that’s an … Read more

Director Sean Baker doesn’t know he’s the front-runner with ‘Anora’

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Upstairs at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Sean Baker is talking shop with veteran projectionist Ivan Rothberg as he’s threading the fifth reel of “Anora,” Baker’s Oscar-nominated crowd-pleaser that won top honors from the directors and producers guilds over the weekend. Looking out the booth’s window onto the sold-out theater’s screen, we see that … Read more