2019 NEXT Section Sundance Trading Card Series: #7. Samantha Buck – Sister Aimee

Filmmaker Samantha Buck from Sister Aimee is among the voices, faces and creative folks that are a part of the ten films selected for our favourite section at the Sundance Film Festival. Added to the fest at the beginning of the decade, over time, the NEXT section (formerly referred to as “<=>”) has unearthed some of the best voices in micro American indie film projects with the likes of Sebastian Silva, Josh Mond, Rick Alverson, Anna Rose Holmer, Andrew Dosunmu, Craig Zobel, David Lowery and Janicza Bravo.We return with Sundance Trading Card Series focusing on the 2019 NEXT section selected films and personalities.

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2018 discoveries”.
Samantha Buck:
1. The Warmth of Other Suns (book)
2. Graham Reynolds (composer)
3. Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite

Lavallee: What characteristics, traits, mannerisms, were you looking for in your lead player? Could you detail that DNA and how they relate to the world around them?
Buck: The one consensus on the real Sister Aimee is that she was one hell of a performer – Old Hollywood meets Vaudeville meets Preacher. While our Aimee is her own character entirely, we wanted to fill her with that kind of performative power. That’s why we wrote the role for our lead, Anna Margaret Hollyman. She has all the dramatic subtleties as well as the Old Hollywood star quality – smart, witty, ballsy, and emotional. We think she’s our Carole Lombard.

Lavallee: How much did you research the backdrop and settings and how was this embedded within the pages of the screenplay?
Buck: We did research on Aimee and what was happening in 1926 in the US and Mexico. Once we felt comfortable walking in her shoes, we threw it all out and built a fictional world that wasn’t necessarily factually correct but had the essence of the real woman and time. That gave us the freedom to explore themes that are as relevant today as they were then: identify, controlling female narratives, and the power of good storytelling.

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