First Time Go

Making a film called G.S.W (2025) (gun shot wound in medical jargon) in a country with very little gun shot wounds is a choice by British director Jonny Durgan, and I'd argue it's an excellent one. The film works for all sorts of reasons -- Jonny's advertising background; a great script; a fantastic acting performance by Genevieve O'Reilly -- or ten other ones. We explore all the reasons in the pod.

In this episode, Jonny and I discuss:

It's hard for me to conjure up another word for Joecar Hanna's award-winning short films, DELIVER ME (2003) and TALK ME (2025), other than: masterpiece. They push the boundaries of cost, intimacy, and what the medium itself can deliver. If you're able to see them -- maybe reach out to Joecar on social media and be nice, it might work -- do so. Near the end of the episode, he gets to an important point: intimacy content still hasn't been taken over by AI.

What a unique filmmaker here today for the podcast; director/writer/actor, even willing to...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: BUNNY (2025)

Director: Ben Jacobson

Writers: Mo Stark; Ben Jacobson; Stefan Marolachakis

Cast: Mo Stark; Ben Jacobson; Liza Colby

SYNOPSIS

Over one wild summer day and night in their East Village tenement, streetwise hustler Bunny and his friend Dino scheme with a crew of eccentric neighbors to cover up a dead body. Chaos reigns as the clock ticks and the...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Considering most of the episodes now from the previous three seasons are under paywall, the first episode of the New Year simply has to be excellent. It's what listeners throughout the year probably will listen to first, and thankfully, I found a guest that absolutely exceeds any expectation a listener might have when they click play: director Robert Kolodny of THE FEATHERWEIGHT (2023).

If you google Criterion Collection, Robert's name, and Reddit, you'll get the comment I reference here about how he's going to be a "GOAT filmmaker in a couple...

Happy New Year! The perfect way to end the year is with director John-Michael, or JM, Powell, and his genre thriller, VIOLENT ENDS (2025). In this episode, JM and I discuss the astonishingly moody cinematography -- the deer scene and a shootout will stay with you way after the film; his journey through film school and a grant that made this film possible, and his steady and sure approach to indie filmmaking.

And let me add: VIOLENT ENDS is a perfect New Year's Eve film. Let the shootouts remain on the screen, grab a bottle of Champagne, and...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GRAND TOUR (2024)

Director: Miguel Gomes

Writers: Telmo Churro; Maureen Fazendeiro; Miguel Gomes

Cast: Gonçalo Waddington; Crista Alfaiate; Cláudio da Silva

SYNOPSIS

Edward, civil servant, flees fiancée Molly on their wedding day in Rangoon, 1917. His travels replace panic with melancholy. Molly, set on marriage, amused by his escape, trails him across Asia.

Subscribe to our You...

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from the new classic (if that's a thing) CHRISTMAS, AGAIN (2014) and director Charles Poekel. He's hosting screenings ten years on for the film, saying it's found a new audience, and it's easy to see why. The film captures Christmas in New York City -- or at least what it looks like in reality versus postcards -- and starred talent that exploded in the indie film scene in the last decade.

It's the perfect time to catch up with its director.

In this episode, Charles and I discuss:

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER'S POINT (2024)

Director: Tyler Taormina

Writers: Eric Berger; Tyler Taormina; Kevin Anton

Cast: Matilda Fleming; Francesca Scorsese; Maria Dizzia

SYNOPSIS

A family gathers on Christmas Eve for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim...

Watch the film FLATHEAD, currently streaming on IndiePix Unlimited, and let me know what you think. It took home awards from the International Film Festival Rotterdam, among others, because it's like nothing you've seen before. It tells the intimate tale of Cass and Andrew making their way in working class Australia.

In my discussion with director Jaydon Martin, we delve into what is truly fiction in a documentary; his work at moving furniture to support his vision; and his advice for indie filmmakers embarking on their first feature.

It's astonishing filmmaking from the Australian, and...

I'm so happy to return to the roots of the podcast by talking REQUIEM FOR A SOLDIER with filmmaker Jeremy Musher, currently crowdfunding on Seed & Spark. It is the story of a "Vietnam veteran who in his last weeks of service, found a Vietnamese soldier's diary, and 56 years later returned it to the soldier's family." We talk war films, fatherhood and filmmaking, and his sweeping vision for a topic that doesn't get as much love as it should: Vietnam veterans. And this film has the added pleasure of showing the Vietnamese perspective.

Let's get REQUIEM over the...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN (1995)

Director: Edward Burns

Writer: Edward Burns

Cast: Jack Mulcahy; Michael McGlone; Edward Burns

SYNOPSIS

Three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island struggle to deal with love, marriage, and infidelity.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow...

Surely he didn't know it then, but his work in media in China made my guest, filmmaker David Borenstein, the perfect person to direct MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN (2025). It's a fantastic film following a Russian teacher "secretly documenting his school becoming a war recruitment center during the Ukraine invasion."

What David and especially his co-director, Pasha Talankin did was make a film at great personal risk because it's so cutting towards the Russian authoritarian regime. And astonishingly, as David shares in the podcast, he wants to do more of these stories in repressed societies.

Thank...

There's no hyperbole in this statement: my guest, native New Yorker and founder and managing principal at East End Capital, Jonathon Yormak, influences independent filmmaking more than any other guest I've had on the podcast. East End will have over 2.5 million square feet of studio space under management at the opening of his fifth studio in Los Angeles.

So not only does that space support a number of studio-level productions, the talent that works there is your next audio engineer, gaffer, cinematographer, or director...if New York and California remain friendly to U.S.-based production.

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: CHRISTMAS, AGAIN (2014)

Director: Charles Poekel

Writers: Charles Poekel

Cast: Kentucker Audley

SYNOPSIS

A heartbroken Christmas tree salesman returns to New York hoping to put his past behind him. He spends the season living in a trailer and working the night shift until a mysterious woman and some colourful customers rescue him from self-destruction.

Subscribe to our YouTube...

When I went back and edited this episode with my guest, filmmaker Tom Koch, I realized: he's doing a color series of films! To put that much thought into his work as well as have the creative control to name his films is the perfect way to describe Tom: extraordinarily thoughtful, humble, and a guy capable of doing anything in his films: acting, writing, directing, accents, ballet even!

His latest film, OLIVE (2025) is an absolute treat -- the logline "while caring for grandma, Sam, the character played by Tom -- begins to question the nature of their...

I don't know if I've met a more accomplished yet depreciatively humble filmmaker than my guest, Conor McCormick. Here are the facts, though: he was admitted as one of the few to the Square Peg Social, a program set up by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen "break down the walls and barriers that too often exist within the film industry." (There's a bunch of Reddit threads that speak to how hard this was). His films, most recently BUNKER BABY (2024) and FOR THE CURE (2025), speak to the current state of masculinity in a way that is sorely needed in today's...

I don't know if I've met a more accomplished yet depreciatively humble filmmaker than my guest, Conor McCormick. Here are the facts, though: he was admitted as one of the few to the Square Peg Social, a program set up by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen "break down the walls and barriers that too often exist within the film industry." (There's a bunch of Reddit threads that speak to how hard this was). His films, most recently BUNKER BABY (2024) and FOR THE CURE (2025), speak to the current state of masculinity in a way that is sorely needed in today's...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE FEATHERWEIGHT (2023)

Director: Robert Kolodny

Writers: Tyler Taormina; Eric Berger

Cast: James Madio; Ruby Wolf; Keir Gilchrist

SYNOPSIS

In 1964, a camera crew follows retired featherweight boxing champion Willie Pep. Down and out in Hartford, Conn., married to a woman half his age and facing mounting debts, Pep decides to return to the ring.

Subscribe to our YouTube...

The pod's annual thank you edition episode.

Thank you to the guests. There wouldn't be a show without you. I am grateful you are willing to take the time to talk about your career. I hope through my preparation I show my appreciation for you.

Thank you to the listeners. The podcast started as a way to get a documentary made and has grown almost every month. I spend a lot of time editing so every second is hopefully something worthwhile for you. Let me know how I can improve.

Thank you to...

I am very much aware of the fact that I make the occasional podcast about films that listeners can't just stream, even though I wish so badly you could. The short film, MERCY, by my guest, director Hedda Mjøen, is a film like that -- it shows the moral dilemma of a woman who has to choose whether she stands by a friend accused of rape. I endeavor that the essence of the film comes through on the podcast, so if I can't show it to you, I can paint a picture about what you're seeing.

B...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: HAM ON RYE (2019)

Director: Tyler Taormina

Writers: Tyler Taormina; Eric Berger

Cast: Haley Bodell; Audrey Boos; Gabriella Herrera

SYNOPSIS

A bizarre rite of passage at the local deli determines the fate of a generation of teenagers, leading some to escape their suburban town and dooming others to remain.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us...

If I told you just five words, it is a spy film, your mind would go to either action packed or maybe campy. Would you really think about a psychological thriller? And if I told you the film won a prestigious French award for best first film, how does it sound when the director says he made a foreign film? Contradictions abound with my guest Jonathan Millet's film, GHOST TRAIL (2024). One thing it is in any description is a cinematic gem. Currently streaming on Mubi, it expands the genre in ways you won't see coming. And the absolute best...

By the standards of twenty years ago, it is easy to have a film look "gorgeous." So indie filmmakers can't rely on equipment alone to set their films apart. It takes the work of true craftspeople, one of which is my guest, filmmaker Taylor Lee. In October, Taylor was the recipient of the NYU 2025 Grad Film Volker Bahnemann Award for Outstanding Cinematography.

His story is an extraordinary one -- majoring in computer science at UCLA in 2020 to some of the most prestigious student awards and fellowships in filmmaking. How did he get there? Let's find out.

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GHOST TRAIL

Director: Jonathan Millet

Writers: Jonathan Millet; Florence Rochat; Sara Wikler

Cast: Adam Bessa; Tawfeek Barhom; Julia Franz Richter

SYNOPSIS

Hamid is a member of a secret organisation pursuing Syrian regime's fugitive leaders in Europe. He ends up in Strasbourg while searching for his former torturer. What happens when they finally meet?

Subscribe to our YouTube...

If your documentary films were entered into the Criterion Collection, you barely need an introduction, but let me give one to my guest, filmmaker Brett Story, by saying this: her films expand what's possible through visual styling and extensive preparation work. What I mean by that is if you take a look at her work, the story that she is telling can only be said through film. So Brett gives us both something to appreciate and something to strive for. What a thrill it was to talk with her for the podcast.

In this episode, Brett and I...

Happy Veterans Day! For this special episode, I talk with filmmaker Geoff Ryan about his 2012 film, FRAY. For me, FRAY is one of the more authentic "return from war" stories in a usually bad genre of overwrought films. I wanted to find out more about the making of the film, how the lead actor was cast, and what made Geoff the best person -- a non-veteran -- to tell this story.

I'm looking to support more veteran actors, producers, directors...filmmakers. And we need more filmmakers like Geoff telling these kinds of deeply researched stories.

...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE HOTTEST AUGUST (2019)

Director: Brett Story

SYNOPSIS

A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants dealing with climate change, disguised as a portrait of collective anxiety.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on TikTok

Follow us on LinkedIn<...

In so many films like WALUD (2025), which depicts the life of an ISIS fighter and his relationship with his two wives, the women are given very little agency. They have things happen to them and deal with the consequences rather than decide their own story. WALUD isn't that type of film.

It's the work of co-directors Louise Zenker and Daood Alabdulaa, film students who made a visually stunning and culturally relevant film about unexplored lives. If there's justice in the world, we'll see it nominated for an Academy Award. Streaming soon in Germany, the rest of us...

What's it like being accepted into Mexican film school and later direct a film that the country chooses to represent its filmmaking at the Academy Awards? My guest, Pierre Saint-Martin, can speak to that as well as a love for sound design and film noir cinematography.

The podcast begins its highlighting of international films nominated for the 98th Academy Awards with WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED (2024), Mexico's selection. The film was directed by an artist who is by turns thoughtful and proud of his work.

It can be seen in November at the Portland Latin...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: JIMMY AND CAROLYN (2022)

Director: James Andrew Walsh

Writer: James Andrew Walsh

Cast: Alberto Bonilla; Mark H Dold; Gregory Harrison

SYNOPSIS

An emotional crisis threatens to destroy James and William's 20-year relationship.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on X

Follow...

Is there a better titled film in the history of the medium than DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT (2025)? I'd argue no. It gives you an idea of what it's about -- remembering a cat. The title suggests comedy (it's a mix of comedy, drama, and horror). And it's something you'll never forget as a film title. Perfection.

That's the kind of thought process my guest, filmmaker Daniel Foster, has put into all of his films, and he has such fantastic advice on filmmaking, festivals, crowdfunding, making short films, and more.

Happy Halloween. I can't think...

Occasionally, I'll watch a film so stunning -- visually, musically -- and so important, in terms of cultural relevancy and the issues that it raises, I'll know within a few minutes that I'd love for the director to be on the podcast. It's a blessing that my guest today, filmmaker Contessa Gayles, is here to talk about her journey from CNN to making groundbreaking documentaries.

It's not to say that the topics are easy. Making a documentary visual album about an incarcerated musician is an unbelievably daunting task. But Contessa is more than up for it. Go...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE (2023)

Director: Chris Cottam

Writer: Wally Marzano-Lesnevich

Cast: Paul Reiser; Colm Meaney; Jane Levy

SYNOPSIS

Things don't go as planned when two distant cousins -- one from New York City, the other from Ireland -- come together to finally put an end to a generations-long family feud.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

...

I wouldn’t be surprised if people thought this was a director-only podcast; it’s usually who I host. My guest today, Rachel Noll James, has directed films, of course, but she didn’t direct her last one, INHERITANCE (2024), which is the subject of a lot of discussion in this episode. 

What I’m really getting at is finding guests who make films happen, whose force of personality in a variety of different disciplines — acting, producing, writing, directing — brought the images at your theater or on your screen to life. Rachel is doing all those things, for her own proje...

Some documentaries are too urgent to wait for normal distribution. BIG ROCK BURNING (2025), David Goldblum’s directorial debut, certainly qualifies. The film covers the aftermath of the California wildfires this year in Big Rock from a man who lost his home in the fires.

The film is still embarking on a festival run but because of the immediacy of the story, it is now available for streaming on Vimeo. Alongside this film, David has tackled some of the most pressing topics facing our country today, and he’s been able to do it by making the title exec...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: FRAY (2012)

Director: Geoff Ryan

Writer: Geoff Ryan

Cast: Bryan Kaplan; Marisa Costa; Catherine Johnson

SYNOPSIS

Just back from combat, a young Marine veteran faces a new battle to find purpose in the mundane existence of civilian life while struggling through a shattered economy while burdened by the physical and emotional scars of war.

Subscribe to our YouTube...

It takes a brilliant insight to get a question added to the podcast, but my guest, South African filmmaker Tristan Holmes, achieved that. Do you actually like your movie? It stunned me when he said he wonders if his debut feature was better off as an idea and we got to the real truth of it in the podcast.

What exists on screen of THE FRAGILE KING (2023) is award-winning — it tells the story of a 15 year old sent to live with his grandfather who he doesn’t know after his mom dies — but what Tristan knows is what w...

If you could highlight one person standing at the intersection of journalism and filmmaking, it would be my guest today, Diana Schemo. 11 years ago, she founded the Double Exposure Film Festival as a way to reach people, alongside journalism, and it’s been extraordinarily successful, in both the quality of films and its importance in the larger filmmaking and journalistic communities.

This year’s edition takes place October 30th - November 2nd, in Washington, DC, and it not only includes films but fantastic panels and a matchmaking platform for you to find funding and for funders to find...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: INHERITANCE (2024).

Director: Emily Moss Wilson

Writer: Rachel Noll James; Austin Highsmith Garces

Cast: Austin Highsmith Garces; Rachel Noll James; Wes Brown

SYNOPSIS

Estranged sisters Lucy and Paige reunite to bury their father, becoming entangled in the complicated web of their past as they realize that they have inherited more from their father than just money.

Subscribe to...

My guest, writer, director, and actor Guillaume Campanacci made a film, THE SILENT SINNER (2025), for $2000 and then released it at his favorite film festival, the Oldenburg Film Festival. That topic alone would make for a great podcast. But then add in his rich sense of humor and ability to critique everything -- including himself -- and you've got an all-time episode.

It'll help if you read this Hollywood Reporter article before listening.

In this episode, Guillaume and I talk about:

Watch This Episode On YouTube

At the end of each episode, I ask my guest if they’d like to highlight someone else, given how hard indie filmmaking is. It’s called the indie film highlight. And of course they do. My guest today, Ömer Sami, is the only person who was nominated on two separate occasions and that speaks to both how well respected he is amongst his peers but how groundbreaking his filmmaking is. 

In this conversation, I get to find out why that is, and I think it’s partially due to his inte...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: BLACKBIRD (2020).

Director: Roger Michell

Writer: Christian Torpe

Cast: Sam Neill; Susan Sarandon; Anson Boon

SYNOPSIS

A terminally ill mother arranges to bring her family together one last time before she dies. A remake of the 2014 Danish film 'Silent Heart'.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

You expect a first feature to show its stripes a bit. And be a little bit excusable. As in, well, this is my guest, Zoe Eisenberg’s first feature, so give her a little credit for just getting it done. Zoe said hell no — let’s just jump to fantastic filmmaking. The best way I’d describe CHAPERONE (2024) is a slow burn that builds into a bonfire. The film’s logline: “Alienated by friends and family for her lack of ambition, 29 year old Misha finds a dangerous acceptance in a bright 18 year old athlete who mistakes her for a fellow stude...

My guest today, Peter Callahan, made such a fun film called OUT AND ABOUT (2022) that explores the life of a middle age suburban white guy walking around his neighborhood. That’s the film. I watched half of it before going out on my birthday a few weeks ago, and came home, buzzed, ready to watch more of a guy walking around filmmaking. 

And through meeting his neighbors and other characters, we get a deeper understanding of his life. 

And today, we do that with the director Peter Callahan. His personal story is crazy — dropping out of hig...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE FRAGILE KING (2022).

Director: Tristan Holmes

Writer: Tristan Holmes

Cast: Andrew Buckland; Alex de la Rey; Deon Lotz

SYNOPSIS

After his mother's death, 15-year-old Michael is sent to his ageing grandfather. During a road trip, the two develop a relationship they never had.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

In the atmosphere we live in in the United States, putting up a title card for your film's first shot that says "in solidarity with Planned Parenthood" and then screening it in red states is brave. That's just the reality. But when you hear from my guest, Lauren Melinda, about her film BEFORE YOU (2025), she tells you this was not her intent. She was not trying to make a political film or send a message on the issue of abortion. In some ways, that would be the easier thing to do...pick...

“Criminally underrated” is what one Letterboxd critic called Irving Franco’s second feature, ADAM THE FIRST (2024). The film stunned me. The logline: “after finding a list of names and addresses, 14-year-old Adam sets out across the country to meet a series of men who could be his father.” It’s a hero’s journey, well-acted, and the last few scenes will crush you. Irving also scored the film, which you don’t see very often. 

So why is it misunderstood? We talk about it in this episode with this two time feature writer-director-composer, Irving Franco. 

In this episode, I...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: BACK TO BURGUNDY (2017).

Director: Cédric Klapisch

Writers: Cédric Klapisch; Santiago Amigorena; Jean-Marc Roulot

Cast: Pio Marmaï; Ana Girardot; François Civil

SYNOPSIS

After a ten year absence, Jean returns to his hometown when his father falls ill. Reuniting with his sister Juliette and his brother Jérémie, they have to rebuild their relationship and trust as a fami...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

They say "write what you know" to start your filmmaking career. In this episode, my guest, Jake Ringsell, makes the case to create films about subjects you don't know. If it works, that's great, but if it doesn't, he concludes, then you've learned something.

This is advanced, gutsy filmmaking, and I'm here for it with director-editor-musician Jake Ringsell. His new film, now streaming on YouTube, is called THE RALLY (2024). The tagline for the film is, "mortality is brought to the fore when a terminally ill woman goes on a camping...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

This conversation could have gone on for another few hours. I felt so blessed to chat with a kindred spirit about raising the profile of independent filmmakers, Hope Lawson. Hope founded Takeout LA after finding herself in the filmmaking business. She also works for Gersh so this episode opens up discussions I’ve been dying to have on the podcast. 

Takeout LA is a film screening series and it’s also a party, which come to think of it, is what this episode is like. 

In this episode, Hope a...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: ADAM THE FIRST (2024).

Director: Irving Franco

Writer: Irving Franco

Cast: Oakes Fegley; David Duchovny; T.R. Knight

SYNOPSIS

After finding a list of names and addresses, 14-year-old Adam sets out across the country to meet a series of men who could be his father.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow...

My guest, Lee Knight, won Best Director at 2025's HollyShorts for his stunning film, A FRIEND OF DOROTHY (2025), but you wouldn't know it because as you just heard, his thoughts are with the indie filmmakers still out there struggling. That sounds exactly like my type of filmmaker to host on the podcast.

A FRIEND OF DOROTHY could be described as "a lonely widow's quiet life is upended when a teenage boy accidentally kicks his football into her garden", but that doesn't do justice to the casting, the lighting, the cinematography, and the music of this short. It's...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Watch SHANTI RIDES SHOTGUN Now, a Vimeo Staff Pick

His feature film, SOMEWHERE WITH NO BRIDGES (2020)? Too short, he was told. His award winning short film, SHANTI RIDES SHOTGUN (2025)? Also -- too short! What the world is telling my guest, filmmaker Charles Frank, is that we need to see more of his lyrical vision of the world in the documentary space. His awards and credits in the indie space -- an incredible 10 Vimeo Staff picks, New York Times and New Yorker films, he runs his own production company called Voyager...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GOODBYE, HELLO (2024).

Director: Jack Cooper Stimpson

Writers: Jeremy Ford; Bec Pittard

Cast: Steve Guttenberg; Nancy Linari; Hollie Bahar

SYNOPSIS

Nate Ryan returns home to Bundy Canyon to visit his dying father; Nate opens old wounds in an attempt to make peace with his incredibly unpeaceful father.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd<...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

That’s my guest, Alex Salam, with one of the most riveting reasons to become a filmmaker I’ve ever heard. Given their significant training, it’s practically impossible to do, but I wish we had more doctor/filmmakers in the world. From those that I’ve seen, they’ve produced work that is equal parts precision and creativity, the perfect combination of soul and mind. 

Alex’s film, TWENTY TWENTY (2025) certainly does that — it’s “set over one brutal night shift at the height of the COVID pandemic and shows a very season...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

The tagline of the podcast is “the future of filmmaking.” I don’t think you can earn that without hosting my guest, Elliott Hasler, who began his filmmaking journey at the age of 10.

Fifteen years later, he’s two features in, the latest being VINDICATION SWIM (2022), a biopic around Mercedes Gleitze and her attempt to become the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Big period pieces aren’t what you’d expect him to take on, but that boldness is partially, he acknowledges, why he’s been successful. He also has a...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE GRAND SEDUCTION (2013).

Director: Daniel Andre

Screenplay: Daniel Andre

Cast: Brendan Gleeson; Taylor Kitsch; Liane Balaban

SYNOPSIS

Residents of a small fishing community in Newfoundland charm a doctor into becoming the town's full-time physician, in order to secure a vital factory contract.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

I haven’t done a how much I love New York City episode in a couple weeks, so the indie smash, OR SOMETHING (2024), and the film’s director, Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder, makes for the absolute perfect guest. Why is the film being extended at Quad Cinemas? What does it say for indie filmmakers that the Substack crowd got so behind this film? Is it repeatable? Let’s hope so. And if you haven’t seen it at the time this airs, go see it through September 4th. Or later, if we keep talking...

Brilliant in acting. Brilliant in producing. Brilliant in executive producing. Brilliant in...directing? Let's hope so. Given her extraordinarily body of work, most recently in front of the camera in Gil Henry's PAS VRAIMENT ORDINAIRE (2025), we can only hope my guest, Floriane Andersen, will be in the director's chair soon.

She certainly has made the opportunity for herself; the production company she co-founded, Artak Pictures, has six projects in the works, two of which she is slated to direct. She is not only forging ahead, but creating a path for others to follow.

In this...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: RUNNING ON EMPTY (2024).

Director: Daniel Andre

Screenplay: Daniel Andre

Cast: Lucy Hale; Keir Gilchrist

SYNOPSIS

Mort discovers he has less than a year to live. After his fiancé leaves him, he meets Kate on a dating service that matches people by their death dates, all while being stalked by a crazy pimp.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel Duration: 00:02:04

Watch This Episode On YouTube

When you prepare, special filmmaking tends to happen. That’s the case with my guest, Jordan Murphy Doidge, and his new film, CLOUT, which premiered at HollyShorts. It tells the story of a lonely teenage boy who risks everything to prove himself in a bid for online fame. In the wake of Netflix’s hit ADOLESCENCE (2025), CLOUT has resonated with nonprofits and theaters in the United Kingdom. And as the reviews have shown after its world premiere, that’s likely to spread. It’s phenomenal filmmaking that was made possible by being prepared...

Most people choose (relatively) comfortable and safe topics for their first films. A bank robbery over here, a meet cute over there. My guest, Kristen Gerweck Diaz has chosen Ramadi, Iraq, a phone booth on an ocean cliffside, and her newest, MILK BABY (2025), about a woman’s entry into a maternity home and the sheer enormity of breastfeeding. These are not what you’d call easy topics. But for this lawyer turned filmmaker, she’d never sign up for the easy path, anyway.

In this episode, Kristen and I discuss:

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: HELLO I MUST BE GOING (2012).

Director: Todd Louiso

Writer: Sarah Koskoff

Cast: Melanie Lynskey; Christopher Abbott; Blythe Danner

SYNOPSIS

A divorcee (Melanie Lynskey) moves back in with her parents and begins a clandestine affair with a 19-year-old suitor (Christopher Abbott).

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram<...

Watch BONNIE (2022) Now

Watch This Episode On YouTube

There’s so few people involved in the film industry that can be referred to by just their first name, but in the case of my guest, Bonnie Timmermann, she is one who achieved that honor. If I asked you to pick 20 films out of the last 25 years, I would bet around 5 would have been cast by Bonnie. The documentary, now available for streaming, BONNIE (2022), is a must-watch.

We go beyond the doc to talk about what she wish was covered, representation in casting, how di...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Let’s put it down right now: Brook Linder has the branded content hit of the year, with his weekly promos for Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney. Vimeo put it out as its own thing, and once you turn on the compilation of promos, you can’t turn it off. It’ll be running on repeat in your head. I warned you.

We go deep in this episode in getting banned from Springfield, Missouri high schools, not just for his film crew but every film crew afterwards, early Kickstarter, what it’...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: KAJAKI (2014).

Director: Paul Katis

Writer: Tom Williams

Cast: David Elliot; Mark Stanley; Scott Kyle; Ali Cook

SYNOPSIS

Helmand Province in Afghanistan, 2006. A company of young British soldiers encounter an unexpected, terrifying enemy: a dried-out river bed, and with every step the possibility of an anti-personnel mine that could kill.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow u...

You’d expect comedy out of a comedian turned actor and then director, right? Think again. My guest, filmmaker Ali Cook, turns what you’d expect upside down. So far, he’s written two short films, directed one, and is working now on his first few features. He acted in a truly phenomenal Afghanistan war film, KAJAKI (2014), sometimes known as Kilo Two Bravo, and he’s got more insight than we could possibly cover in 30 minutes. 

I tried to keep my laughter to a minimum, but come on. Go watch his films. Ali is talented and funny. 

In th...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

I feel like this would be a good plotline for a gonzo Mission Impossible movie: make romcoms and comedy dramas relevant again. In one sentence, my guest, director and podcaster Charles Hood, declared “comedies and comedy dramas are dead, sadly” but also came back in the next few sentences with the announcement, I’m releasing a romcom feature later this year. 

This sounds exactly like a challenge, if you choose to accept it, for one of the co-hosts of the official Mission Impossible podcast. And here’s to thinking he’ll be succe...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: PEOPLE PLACES THINGS (2015).

Director: James C. Strouse

Screenplay: James C. Strouse

Cast: Jermaine Clement; Regina Hall; Stephanie Allynne

SYNOPSIS

A graphic novelist /professor (Jemaine Clement) tries to navigate the unfamiliar waters of single fatherhood and dating.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on X

Follow us on F...

This is still an indie film podcast, don’t misunderstand, but if I had to do one conversation with somebody who made a studio film, it would be with my guest Ebs Burnough. I’d argue no other person understands the indie film market like he does, especially now with the release of KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION (2025). The film examines how Jack Kerouac’s iconic novel “On the Road” resonates in contemporary America. 

Ebs has a career that hardly seems repeatable — working for the White House to chairing the Sundance Institute — but those kind of unique sto...

I don’t know if we’ve ever had such fire practical advice from a film festival programmer who — I know this is shocking — actually cares about indie filmmakers than the pod does today with my guest, Imani Davis. From how the PROOF Film Festival got started to the advice she gives directors to take notes and cut your short films, this is absolutely the pod for you if you want to make it in indie film today. I’m so excited for you to hear from such an innovative voice in the industry. 

Imani and I talk about...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: COME AS YOU ARE (2019).

Director: Richard Wong

Screenplay: Erik Linthorst

Cast: Grant Rosenmeyer; Hayden Szeto; Ravi Patel

SYNOPSIS

A travelling nurse takes three disabled men on a road trip to Montreal so they can lose their virginity at a brothel.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram Duration: 00:01:28

“Creative director, curator, publisher, collector” and founder of Sixteen World Xavier Encinas joins me on the podcast for this episode. I’d argue you could also add great podcast guest because he pushes back against this idea that France is a great haven for independent film. 

As part of his Sixteen artistic venture, he curates the Sixteen Film Institute, with a new film weekly, mostly from around the world, not France. Let’s not misstate his argument — he has nothing against French cinema, he lives there. He’s planning film events in Paris for this Fall. He’s saying, the w...

There’s no more exciting place to be in independent film than the intersection of France and the United States, or as a filmmaker in either of these locations. In France, cinemas are packed and the Cannes Film Festival often sets the tone for what’s considered the best films of the year. 

So if the goal is understanding France’s role in global cinema, there is no better person than my guest, Amanda Sthers, who has released three feature films that star globally known actors and help explain, in each of their ways, what is attractive about f...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: I LIKE MOVIES (2022).

Director: Chandler Levack

Screenplay: Chandler Levack

Cast: Isaiah Lehtinen; Percy Hynes White; Veronika Slowikowska

SYNOPSIS

Socially awkward 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence Kweller takes a part-time job at Sequels video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older store manager, Alana. Lawrence hopes to earn enough money to achieve his dream of attending film school at NYU.

Subscribe to our YouTube c...

Bottle films, films made predominately in one location, are like playing with fire. There’s not a lot of room to make a good film if you don’t cast well, for instance, or if the location of your bottle isn’t fantastic. My guest, director Nicolai Schumann, understood all this….because he watched a bunch of the previous bottle films…and went ahead with THE LONELY MUSKETEER (2024) anyway. And I’m so glad that he did. 

The film tells the story of “the psychological downfall of a man who is highly traumatized by life.” Along the way, it’s earned...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

This is way easier said than done but when you’re making a short film, you need a couple things to exceptionally stand out. Whether it’s the writing, cinematography, subject…something. Otherwise, you’re lost in a sea of submissions. The money is almost irrelevant if you don’t have the goods. 

For my guest Jennie Butler and her film, GEORGIE (2024), it’s piecing out a theme of his life from an interview and then making an extraordinary film from that thread. 

Jennie calls GEORGIE a “melancholic but humorous pro...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: NIGHT OWLS (2015).

Director: Charles Hood

Screenplay: Charles Hood; Seth Goldsmith

Cast: Rosa Salazar; Adam Pally; Peter Krause

SYNOPSIS

Kevin goes home with Madeline for a drunken one-night stand and is horrified to learn she is his boss's ex-mistress. After he catches her taking a box of sleeping pills, they slowly start to fall in love as he keeps her...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Watch SOVEREIGN Now

SOVEREIGN (2025) is a filmmakers’ thriller and the story behind its director, my guest, Christian Swegal, is one of the best in independent film this year. The reason that so many investors are reluctant to back a new director for their first feature is one of skepticism — they think the director won’t be able to handle the responsibility. And when you add in powerhouse actors like Nick Offerman and Dennis Quaid, it’s fair to expect a watered-down mush of a film which critics and audiences would chalk up...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: MARJORIE PRIME (2017). 

Director: Michael Almereyda

Writers: Michael Almereyda; Jordan Harrison

Cast: Geena Davis; Hannah Gross; Jon Hamm

SYNOPSIS

Eighty-six-year-old Marjorie spends her final, ailing days with a computerized version of her deceased husband. With the intent to recount their life together, Marjorie's Prime relies on the information from her and her kin to develop a more complex understanding of his hi...

Happy 2nd anniversary to the pod, and I can’t think of a more vital filmmaker for our time and for this episode than Nathaniel Lezra. His film ROADS OF FIRE (2025), winner of the Best Feature Documentary at the 2025 ‪@officialSBIFF‬ interweaves the lives of a human smuggler navigating the treacherous Darién Gap (the only land bridge between North and South America), an asylum seeker rebuilding her life in New York City, and volunteers working on the frontlines of a growing humanitarian emergency.

It found distribution from ‪@NewMountainFilms‬ with a theatrical release in September 2025, with event screenings in markets...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000).

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan

Cast: Laura Linney; Kenneth Lonergan; Mark Ruffalo; Matthew Broderick

SYNOPSIS

Sammy is a single mother who is extremely protective of her 8-year old son. She is satisfied with living in the small town she grew up in and working in a local bank. When her brother Terry visits he fits the void in the life o...

Watch FORWARD THINKING (2025) Now

I’m not sure if the pod has ever gotten a bigger honor than what Antonio Harper & Abby Burton gave it in this episode — sure, they said, listeners can watch our short, currently on its festival run. FORWARD THINKING (2025) is a “surreal short film about a young black man who is attempting to trademark his likeness in the event that he's murdered by the police.” And to me, that sells it short. It’s a film about race that goes further than any other film I’ve seen in a way that makes you think ab...

An upcoming wedding, a film that made it into Tribeca -- filmmaker Blake Jarvis is having himself a summer. 

IN JEFF WE TRUST (2025)'s logline is "two mentally ill girls regret joining a cult...but is it too late?" It is a hilarious short film produced and starring comedy duo Sydney Heller and Olivia DeLaurentis. 

Other than finding out if he has a band or a DJ, we go pretty deep into this guy's amazing summer for this episode.

Blake and I talk about:

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: HOW TO MAKE MILLIONS BEFORE GRANDMA DIES (2024)

Director: Pat Boonnitipat

Writers: Pat Boonnitipat; Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn

Cast: Putthipong Assaratanakul; Usha Seamkhum; Sanya Kunakorn

SYNOPSIS

A man, driven by his desire for a multi-million dollar inheritance, begins to care for his terminally ill grandmother. However, winning her favor will not be an easy task and he is not the only one w...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Joining me today is…he is going to hate that I write it this way, as you’ll hear in the conversation…but the director with the most nominated film at Raindance, Max Morgan, talking about his film BREAKWATER (2025).

The ability to make your first feature, your first film, carry the weight of, and I’ll quote Max here, “people never mean what they say, and there is a lot of that in BREAKWATER” is simply breathtaking. I’ve posted the trailer in the YouTube conversation, go watch it and you see what y...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

If you watch IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT (2023), you might get an idea about the director, and guess he has a cinematographer's eye for visuals and a humanist's approach to connecting with people. This episode proves that assessment right about director Stephen Gerard Kelly.

IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT is described as "a portrait of modern-day Lebanon as seen through the eyes of four families living in the backdrop of an infamous massacre in 1982." It's visually stunning and Stephen calls it a "bit of an emotional juggernaut."

It...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: 29,000 WISHES. 1 REGRET (2012)

Director: Oliver Robins

Writers: Oliver Robins

Cast: Justus Zimmerman; Casey Ruggieri

SYNOPSIS

After losing their jobs, a husband (Justus Zimmerman) and wife (Casey Ruggieri) decide to max out their credit cards and have some fun, then commit suicide.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram Duration: 00:01:44

Watch This Episode On YouTube

The film, SPECTRUM (2024), directed by my guest, Rick Stanton, is a true triumph for art and sticking to one's own vision. As he said, “it’s a very honest take on what life is like as an adult with autism.” 

Rick's path into filmmaking is unconventional and instead of paying endless amount of festival fees, he's forging a different path.

In this episode, Rick and I talk about:

DC/DOX is about to celebrate its third year, and I chat with co-founder Sky Sitney about its origin story, celebrity documentary, AI in docs, the financial plight of doc filmmakers, and more.

Befitting a powerhouse in the doc filmmaking world, Sky took on the most challenging questions and gave thought-provoking answers. It's no surprise with her leadership DC/DOX has become an international stop in the world of documentary in three quick years.

In this episode, Sky and I discuss:

Watch The Video On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GOD'S POCKET (2014)

Director: John Slattery

Writers: Peter Dexter; Alex Metcalf; John Slattery

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Richad Jenkins; Christina Hendricks; John Turturro

SYNOPSIS

A boozy lowlife (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist (Richard Jenkins) and the young man's mother complicate matters.

Subscribe to our Y...

Go See WELCOME HOME FRECKLES at DC/DOX on June 14th, 12pm

Watch This Episode On YouTube

What do you do when people question your style of filmmaking? If you know that the story is in your heart, as my guest Huiju Park did with her film WELCOME HOME FRECKLES (2025), you make your film your way. In a deeply personal tale about her return home to Korea for the first time in four years, that's what she did. We talk about that and so much more with this UK-based filmmaker, whose authenticity will astound you.<...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

With the baritones of Bono and U2 as the soundtrack, the globe-trotting world of Mary Robinson requires an epic film to depict her life, and thankfully, they found the director that can deliver just that in Irish filmmaker Aoife Kelleher.

Aoife gave us the brilliant film MRS ROBINSON (2024), still on its festival run. MRS ROBINSON tells the inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders.

An...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: BEFORE/DURING/AFTER (2020)

Director: Stephen Kunken; Jack Lewars

Screenplay: Finnerty Steeves

Cast: Finnerty Steeves; Jeremy Davidson; John Pankow; John Ellison Conlee

SYNOPSIS

This sharp-witted dramedy studies a middle-aged NYC theatre actress suddenly forced to figure out the kind of person she wants to portray in real life when her marriage comes to an end after she catches her husband...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

As soon as RIVER OF GRASS (2025) starts, the viewer is given an astonishing sense of place, and according to my guest, director Sasha Wortzel, this is most certainly by design. The film -- "an ode to the Florida Everglades past and present" -- is an amazing piece of artwork that elevates its subject to a character all of its own. Wherever you watch the film -- perhaps at DC/DOX on June 14th, 2025 -- you are going to feel like you are in Florida.

I’m not sure you’re tran...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: UNTOGETHER (2018).

Director: Emma Forrest

Written By: Emma Forrest

Cast: Jamie Dornan; Ben Mendelsohn; Jemima Kirke; Lola Kirke; Billy Crystal

SYNOPSIS

Once considered a teen prodigy, a recovering addict sobers up and tries to get her writing career back on track. She begins a relationship with a rising author known for his wartime memoirs.

Watch This Episode On...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

As we move further away from the conventional wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, colloquially known as the Global War on Terror, the need for films like AMERICAN SONS (2025) is greater; it informs us, through powerful filmmaking, what we've lost.

AMERICAN SONS follows a brotherhood of Marines a decade after their deployment to Afghanistan, as they struggle to overcome the trauma of combat and the loss of their best friend, Corporal JV Villarreal.

I am joined today by director Andrew James Gonzales and producer Laura Valera for an important...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Natalie Halla, the award winning Austrian filmmaker of THE LAST AMBASSADOR (2025), among other films, found that her way of making the world a better place is making insightful and incisive films. In her latest, she tells the story of Manizha Bakhtari, who is "risking everything in her fight for the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan."

It had its North American premiere at Hot Docs to a standing ovation, and Natalie is here to talk about her journey and her powerful filmmaking.

In this episode, Natalie and...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: 12 MONTHS (2022).

Director: Clinton Cornwell

Written By: Clinton Cornwell; Elizabeth Hirsch-Tauber; Michael James Kelly

Cast: Elizabeth Hirsch-Tauber; Michael James Kelly; Christopher Mychael Watson

SYNOPSIS

A hyper-realistic diversion from the usual rom-com, 12 Months candidly portrays moments that are commonly experienced but rarely shown as it follows the story of Ellie and Clark, a millennial couple, navigating the peaks and valleys of...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Writer, filmmaker, actor...and activist Ben Steinberg joins me to talk about his campaign to save the Cinerama Dome and his filmmaking, most recently HIKIKOMORI, a surreal short film you have to see to believe.

In this episode, Ben and I talk about: