Another entry into the strong collection of documentaries at this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV Festival is MAKE IT LOOK REAL from filmmaker Kate Blackmore, which had a lot of buzz at the festival for the somewhat “touchy” (no pun intended) topic of intimacy co-ordinators on film and TV sets.
About: Claire Warden is a trailblazing intimacy coordinator, helping directors and actors craft convincing on screen intimacy while safeguarding personal boundaries. Hired for a new Australian film, Tightrope, Claire is unsure how the director, Kieran Darcy-Smith, will respond to her presence on set. As she choreographs scenes, designs modesty garments, and navigates the complexities of nudity riders, tensions rise when one of the actors grows uneasy about performing a proposed threesome. Claire and Kieran must collaborate to reimagine the scene balancing the actors’ comfort with the artistic demands of the story.
Reaction: Since the introduction of an intimacy coordinator on set due to the MeToo movement, I have had a lot of questions exactly on the process and how this can affect filmmaking. There was also a hint of this in my favourite SxSW 2024 movie GHOSTLIGHT by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson that had a scene where one of the players in an adaptation of ROMEO & JULIET had one of its leads do an intimacy sequence. MAKE IT LOOK REAL is a quietly fascinating doc that answered a lot of my questions on intimacy in movies and shows that this really IS needed for most movies that have any form of sexual or intimate content. Though the movie featured in this doc doesn’t feel all too real, I did like how it shows the movie along with the people behind the scenes on set and also the entire process. I also quite liked Claire Warden herself who is so kind and balanced when working with everyone and it truly appears to be a more difficult job than I could have ever imagined. Filmmaker Kate Blackmore and her team does answer a lot of questions on the people that you really need with you on film sets, especially when dealing with sexual content. MAKE IT LOOK REAL already had strong reactions on my time attending screenings here in Austin and I also had many comments agreeing with me that this is needed on film set. MAKE IT LOOK REAL is really worth a look at SxSW this year and I am hoping it has a strong release down the line at festivals and an eventual release.
This is one of the many movies playing in this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV Festival. For more information on the festival, point your browser to www.sxsw.com!