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Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: SHOT CALLER (2017) Director: Ric Roman Waugh Written By: Ric Roman Waugh Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; Omari Hardwick; Lake Bell; Jon Bernthal SYNOPSIS A California stockbroker is arrested and charged for a fatal DUI accident, and on his lawyer's advice, takes a plea deal...

Director Zoe Zhou's film, WE ARE HAPPY FISH (2025) , is described as "a nihilistic girl escapes from her family with a robot boy to revive a dead fish", which by itself is interesting and accurate. But it only nibbles at how wild, zany, carefree the film is . Zoe also pushes back at the idea that film school would ever take the edges off her work. In this film, she does an amazing job...

Watch This Episode On YouTube Director Will Niava's film, JAZZ INFERNAL (2025) , is showing on July 23rd at the Future of Film Showcase in Toronto . If you're reading this before the date and can go, what are you waiting for? Buy tickets! It's that incredible, one of the best films I've seen all year. It won a Short Film Jury Award at Sundance last year and very deservedly so. Will...

My guest, Hazel McKibbin, directs films that make top festivals . She edits films that make top festivals. And she makes commercials for brands at the Met Gala . And yet: Here's Hazel taking on a project about masculinity called LAST MAN UP (2026) . Last episode, I praised writer and actor Robert R. Palmer for offering Hazel the opportunity to direct his project, so she deserves equal credit f...

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: LEFT-HANDED GIRL (2025) Director: Shih-Ching Tsou Writers: Shih-Ching Tsou; Sean Baker Stars: Janel Tsai; Shih-Yuan Ma; Nina Ye SYNOPSIS After a single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei to start anew, their fragile family dynamic is t...

This is a director's podcast, but the truth is I don't talk with enough actors on here about the struggle they face in indie film. It offers a different lens on how difficult it is to get things made. That's why I'm so happy to be joined by Robert R. Palmer, actor/writer in the film LAST MAN UP (2026) , which premiered at the Palm Springs International ShortFest. When we talked abo...

Director Daniel Bogran made a film that could be spoiled with just a few words and it would change the entire dynamic of how you watch it. So I'm not going to do that. But the "how" behind him filming THE KILLING MOON ("A wealthy couple's lake vacation takes a sinister, seductive turn when an attractive stranger shows up wounded at their door") is definitely worth a convers...

How many Gen Z filmmakers say, nah, the story I'm feeling is a middle aged undocumented Chinese immigrant cook worried about survival in America. And it's 23 minutes long. You'll hear in almost every professional film course or, ahem, podcast, short films are hard to make or make your film shorter for festivals. And that advice is right, of course. It's great advice. But it doesn&#...

Watch This Episode On YouTube Happy third anniversary to the pod and I'm so happy to be spending it with Irish filmmaker -- and award-winning ad maker -- Gar O'Rourke. When people ask about the podcast, the usual first question is, what are your favorite episodes? And I respond with, well, they are all my favorites. It's true. I wouldn't publish something if I wasn't proud of i...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: PAYING FOR IT (2024) Director: Sook-Yin Lee Story by: Chester Brown Stars: Emily Lê ; Andrea Werhun; Dan Beirne SYNOPSIS When an introverted cartoonist's girlfriend wants to redefine their relationship, he begins sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intim...

I love Minnesota; in fact, on June 29th, there I'll be, beside one of its 10,000 lakes, ready for America's 250th birthday. (It's the best place to spend the Fourth.) It's also a great place for filmmaking so I talk about that with deputy director of Explore Minnesota Film, Nell Lawrenz-Wareham. This was recorded at the beginning of the month so apologies about any confusion about...

I conclude Tribeca special coverage with one of my favorite films at the festival, CAITY (2026) . To say Lindsay Calleran has been through some things to get her debut feature made is underselling it by a lot. Please read this First Person IndieWire article that Lindsay wrote ; it gives a lot of important background to her story and how CAITY came to be. I'm so impressed by so many different t...

The Tribeca Film Festival helped organize this tremendous in-person panel with two New York filmmakers: Lily Weisberg, dir of RARE BIRDS (2026) and Maria Sofia Hernandez, dir of LA LUCHA DE LUCÍA (2026). Recorded on June 9th at Spring Studios, we talk about their incredible films; the challenges of writing different types of characters; what BACKROOMS (2026) and OBSESSION (2025) mean for independe...

If you're going to make a film about surfing in Senegal, I assume the viewer expects beautiful shots of surfing and the landscape of Dakar, Senegal's capital city. And man, does my guest, filmmaker and director, David Clancy, of NIO KO BOKK or THIS BELONGS TO ALL OF US (2026) deliver. The film is a valentine to so many things: refugees, Senegal, surfing, and documentary filmmaking itself....

Watch This Episode On YouTube Watch STRAIGHT TO HELL On Criterion Channel Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: STRAIGHT TO HELL (1987) Director: Alex Cox Writers: Dick Rude; Alex Cox Stars: Joe Strummer; Dick Rude; Courtney Love SYNOPSIS Three bank robbers (Sy Richardson, Joe Strummer, Dick Rude) and a pregnant...

What a last month or so for Haiti and director Elisee Junior St. Preux's debut feature. Upon its release at the Tribeca Film Festival, THE TROPIC SUN AND HIS EYES (2026) received the Special Jury Mention for Best New Narrative Director alongside rave reviews. It is truly stunning filmmaking, offering both a realistic glimpse of Haiti and an expansive view of fatherhood. Let's count the way...

Watch This Episode On YouTube VIA NEGATIVA resonated with me on so many different levels -- as a Catholic; as someone who uses firearms; as a veteran (there's a moment in there, if you've seen it); and most importantly, a lover of truly astonishing filmmaking. Director Hannah Peterson achieved something extraordinary with this film by bringing a novel to life in the best possible way and m...

It's one thing to say you're going to create the "Chinese lesbian version of BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) "; it's another thing to actually pull it off. In EPHEMERA (2026) , the debut feature for filmmaker Shan Jiang which premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, it appears she has done just that. It took global producers, a fantastic team, and a truly extraordinary story in how s...

MON TAXI (2026) , which premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, is a "love letter to the filmmaker's dad." Architect + filmmaker Meriem Sakrouhi created a film that is part New York, part Moroccan, and altogether touching cinema, and we talk about how she did it for the podcast. Along with directing, she edited and produced the first Moroccan entry at Tribeca in 20 years. Given th...

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: LURKER (2025) Director: Alex Russell Writer: Alex Russell Stars: Théodore Pellerin; Archie Madekwe; Havana Rose Liu; SYNOPSIS A retail employee infiltrates the inner circle of an artist on the verge of stardom. As he gets closer to the budding mu...

The career path -- M.S. in Neuroscience to filmmaking -- is a wholly original one and so is his filmmaking. His second feature, PONDEROSA (2026) , is a comedy-horror film that looks at American masculinity in a way I've never seen before. It is a gift to watch -- beginning to end -- not because I understood everything going on, but because I didn't. The best type of filmmaking should chall...

Very rarely, you'll watch a documentary, and think...how did he get that all on film? That was the case for me and the film MOUTH FULL OF GOLDS (2026) premiering this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's about "grillz" -- the teeth attachments/implants and their cultural connection in New York City, Miami, Atlanta, and Paris. If that description sounds incredible, that's bec...

The journey from Yugoslavia to New York City is a wild one, and filmmaker Branislav Jankic has been a keen observer along the way. Coming off a debut feature that was released at the height of COVID, Branislav is now at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival with a story about his wife called WHITE BELT (2026) . The film traces the journey of supermodel Monika "Jac" Jagaciak from the runway to Bra...

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: OUT OF LOVE (2025) Director: Nathan Ambrosioni Writer: Nathan Ambrosioni Stars: Camille Cottin; Monia Chokri; Juliette Armanet SYNOPSIS A woman is forced to take care of her niece and nephew after their mother voluntarily disappears. Subscribe to...

The podcast concludes this unreal Cannes Film Festival series with Lightdox founder and CEO, Anne Berthollet. Lightdox has consistently championed stunning documentaries, like GABIN (2026) ; FLOPHOUSE (2025) and so much more. How is the company able to find such amazing documentaries? What happens when Lightdox grows -- will they be able to maintain their quality offerings? And what is her advice...