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I don't know if it's fair or not, but if you're going to launch a service made up of Oscar nominated films, you have to have a background in making great films yourself to make it work. My guest today, director Alejandro Vilpa, is pushing forward with both: a streaming service called Vilpa Max that is now available in the Middle East/North Africa region and the UK for award-winning sho...

Director and filmmaker Miguel Angel Ferrer did something truly remarkable and breathtaking in his film, THE SHADOW OF THE SUN (2023) . Not simply that it's Venezuela's entry into the Oscars or he shot the film in his home country of Venezuela, although that's fantastic in its own right. When you hear the story of how the film came to be, through the radiant cinematography or the work o...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: MADELEINE COLLINS (2021) Director: Antoine Barraud Writers: Boris Lojkine; Delphine Agut Cast: Abou Sangare; Alpha Oumar Sow; Nina Meurisse SYNOPSIS Judith leads a double life: two lovers, two sons in France and one daughter in Switzerland. Entangled in secrets and lies, her...

Most of the time, I'm hoping my guest will be a great one to have on the podcast, but with director + editor Sara Barger, I knew. She was an instructor as part of my documentary certificate program -- COVID killed the program -- but I got so much out of her thought process on how to make films. So when I saw her name listed prominently on the poster as the editor for her new film, DAD GENES ,...

It shouldn't surprise you that somebody who is out looking for "weird stories that connect and resonate" would direct DAD GENES (2026) , the film about a sperm donor meeting his biological children. Craig Downing has been around the world looking for great stories and when he finds one, he sticks to it, no matter the time it takes to tell. DAD GENES took almost 7 years from idea to fes...

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: SOULEYMANE'S STORY (2024) Director: Boris Lojkine Writer: Boris Lojkine; Delphine Agut Cast: Abou Sangare; Alpha Oumar Sow; Nina Meurisse SYNOPSIS Souleymane, an asylum-seeking cyclist who delivers meals in Paris, has only two days to prepare...

Filmmaker Jeffrey Roth has never shied away from intriguing topics, looking to find the humanity behind some of the world's most influential stories: the Apollo astronauts, vice presidents of the United States, or a famed Egyptologist like he does in THE MAN WITH THE HAT (2026) . He brings an eye for the story, not the politics, and that's what makes him an amazing filmmaker . In this epis...

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: TO THE WONDER (2012) Director: Terrence Malick Writer: Terrence Malick Cast: Ben Affleck; Olga Kurylenko; Javier Bardem SYNOPSIS After falling in love in Paris, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Their church's Spanish-bo...

My guest today, director Robert Ham, has lived a life of service -- to his country, to art, to his family -- and it moved me deeply to host him for the podcast. We talk about his military service in the Army as a combat cameraman; losing his wife to cancer and making a documentary about her beautiful life, of honoring a 9/11 family with his latest film, ZZASLOW K-427, which is screening in New Yor...

Every once in awhile, I talk with someone who completely changes how I view independent filmmaking and those creating the most inventive films. Lately, that was writer/director/dancer Sam Mandich, whose work was influenced by her beginnings in dance. When you watch her films, it all makes sense -- the spare movement and the focused direction -- it comes from her amazingly unique background. An exp...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE END OF THE TOUR (2015) Director: James Ponsoldt Screenplay: Donald Margulies Cast: Jason Segal; Jesse Eisenberg SYNOPSIS David Lipsky, a reporter with the Rolling Stone magazine, interviews acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace for five days, during which they form a un...

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 r...

Watch This Episode On YouTube 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 en...

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...

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 TH...

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 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: 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 ho...

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 trul...

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 swe...

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...

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...

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 Writer: 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 work...

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...

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...

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 extraordi...