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Leave No Trace, Debra Granik book

Loved Leave No Trace?

Relive the highs and lows of Debra Granik’s remarkable coming-of-age story and discover how the filmmakers brought it to life with this book on Leave No Trace.

Get your copy now!

About the ebook Leave No Trace: A Special Issue

This book is a crucial roadmap to the inner-workings of Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace. If you loved the film, you won’t want to miss Elena Lazic’s interviews with director Debra Granik and cinematographer Michael McDonough, as well as Alex Heeney’s interview with editor Jane Rizzo, and her thorough interrogation of every facet of Ben Foster’s performance and oeuvre, based on a conversation with the actor himself.

Inside, you’ll also find Gillie Collins’ essay about Leave No Trace as a coming-of-age story; Orla Smith’s in-depth analysis of Thomasin McKensie’s role in the film; and Brett Pardy’s important meditation on Debra Granik’s representation of poverty.

Bursting with exclusive content and incisive analyses, this is an book to read and cherish if you are a Leave No Trace and Debra Granik fan. Make the ebook yours now.

Get your copy now!
Get your copy now!
Preview the book

Preview the ebook with our podcast on Leave No Trace

Preview the book with our podcast on Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace where we discuss the insights gleaned from writing and researching the book.

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Praise for our ebooks

I have re-read some of them more times than I care to admit

Seventh Row’s Special Issues are of such high standard that one would be excused to think they only belong in hardcover print. I have re-read some of them more times than I care to admit, and thanks to the ebooks, I do so on the bus to and from work, while waiting for a movie to start, of just on the bed at home.
Per M. Mjølkeråen
Film Critic

What we want more often from critical analysis but so rarely get

Seventh Row’s You Were Never Really Here: A Special Issue ebook allows for a deeper appreciation of a brilliant piece of art. It’s what we want more often from critical analysis — a conversation with the art and its creators — but so rarely get.
Brian Tallerico
Managing Editor, rogerebert.com

Contents of the ebook on Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace, Debra Granik book

Chapter One: Essay – Growing up and growing apart

An essay by Contributing Editor Gillie Collins on how Leave No Trace externalizes the process of an adolescent separating from a parent

An interview with director Debra Granik from the ebook on Leave No Trace

Chapter Two: An Interview with director Debra Granik

Debra Granik discusses what made her want to turn this story into a film, her non-judgmental outlook on her characters, her research process, and her collaboration with her director of photography and lead actors.

An essay on the films of Debra Granik from the ebook on Leave No Trace

Chapter Three: Debra Granik frames poverty as a systemic failure to empathize

An essay by Associate Editor Brett Pardy on how Debra Granik’s films — Down to the Bone, Stray Dog, and Leave No Trace — focus on individuals who struggle to navigate an unfriendly social support system in an attempt to get help.

Leave No Trace, Debra Granik book

Chapter Four: An Interview with cinematographer Michael McDonough

Cinematographer Michael McDonough discusses collaborating with Debra Granik and the actors on Leave No Trace, choosing lenses, reflecting how the characters feel about their environment, and applying his TV experience.

Chapter Five: An interview with Ben Foster on silence and trauma in Leave No Trace

An essay/interview hybrid by Alex Heeney analyzes Ben Foster’s Leave No Trace performance, including an interview with the actor on how he created the character.

Leave No Trace, Debra Granik book, Ben Foster

Chapter Six: Familiar Faces: Ben Foster’s subtle depictions of trauma

An essay by Alex Heeney examining Ben Foster’s career and his ongoing interest in portraying complicated men with some relationship to trauma, in as quiet and subtle way as possible.

Chapter Seven: An interview with editor Jane Rizzo

Editor Jane Rizzo discusses cutting Leave No Trace, developing the father-daughter relationship, building the soundscapes for different locations, and restructuring the story in the edit.

Chapter Eight: Thomasin McKenzie tracks every step toward independence

An essay by Executive Editor Orla Smith on Thomasin McKenzie’s remakrable lead performance in the film.

Get your copy now!

About the authors

Gillie Collins

Gillie Collins is Editor-at-Large at Seventh Row and has written for Bomb Magazine.

Alex Heeney

Alex founded Seventh Row several years ago, and has shaped it into a vital source of original film criticism.

Elena Lazic

Elena is a Contributing Editor at Seventh Row and works as a freelance writer for SciFi Now, Little White Lies, and The Guardian.

Brett Pardy

Brett Pardy is a Ph.D. Candidate at McGill University studying how people learn empathy through watching films.

Orla Smith

Orla is a filmmaker and film critic and has written several pieces analyzing specific film performances.

Purchase your copy of Leave No Trace: A Special Issue

The ebook is available as an ePub and PDF, which are readable on all tablets, smart phones, and eReaders.

Get your copy now!

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