Discover Indie Film

Writer/Director Ryan Larkin at the DIF mic Fresh out of Loyola Marymount University’s graduate film program, award-winning filmmaker Ryan Larkin manages to be extremely productive while managing to make each film better than the one before. If you want to see his latest film STUCK, click right here! Ryan came in for a podcast interview and, of course, we added on the Discover Indie Film four...

Ryan Larkin & Jeff Howard… recording a podcast. The short film STUCK didn’t just win a Programmer’s Prize at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival, it also won the prestigious IBM Watson Award at the AT&T Createathon 2018 competition.  And the filmmaker behind  STUCK  is writer, director and producer Ryan Larkin. I mention this during the interview, but Ryan is the only filmmake...

Welcome to the second annual  Discover Indie Film  “Oscar Predictions Podcast”!  Sure, we mainly do this to entertain ourselves.  But if you’re the kind of person who wants to listen to four film lovers discuss and predict this year’s Oscar winners, then THIS podcast is for YOU. This year we had: Heather Hillstrom (The King In The Ring) Caroline O’Brien (Soapy Medium,...

Lorenzo Sterzi of Montreal, Quebec, wrote, produced and directed the fantastic short film The Blogger.  In fact, he even acts in it as an angry Italian businessman.  You should watch his film RIGHT HERE as well as listen to his interview. In addition to his interview, Lorenzo answered the  Discover Indie Film Four Questions . What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) N...

Lorenzo Sterzi lives in Montreal, so no picture of him with Jeff at the mic Lorenzo Sterzi’s film  The Blogger played at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018.  One of my personal favorites for its originality and vision, I must confess that I was disappointed when at the last minute work kept him from flying from Montreal to Los Angeles for the festival.  These are the moments I log it in my he...

Matt K. Turner at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018. Matt K. Turner wrote, produced and directed  RFLKTR .  This sci-fi masterpiece starring Breeda Wool took home a Grand Jury Prize at  Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018. RFLKTR  is a visually stunning film with an airtight, world-building screenplay and a brilliant acting performance.  If you manage to watch it with a great audio system you’ll...

Anna Baumgarten & Laura Holliday came by to answer the Four Questions. Director Laura Holliday and writer/producer Anna Baumgarten collaborated to make  Disfluency,  a brilliant film ( watch it now! ) that cleaned up the awards a  Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018.   After the interview about their backgrounds and their film, they took the time to answer the Discover Indie Film Four Questions . W...

Anna Baumgarten & Laura Holliday at DIF HQ. Disfluency .  There is so much to say about this short film.  From writer/producer Anna Baumgarten and director Laura Holliday,  Disfluency tackles sexual assault and the aftermath with the perfect mix of realism, understanding, and maturity.  But the filmmaking here is so good that I jumped on a soapbox at  Film Invasion Los Angeles  and insisted th...

Natasha Babenko at Film Invasion Los Angeles, June 7, 2018. Filmmaker Natasha Babenko answers the Four Questions in this episode.  Born in Ukraine, educated in France, and now getting an MFA at NYU in filmmaking, this global citizen has some movie recommendations you don’t want to miss! What is DIF4Q?  It’s the Discover Indie Film Four Questions . Name your favorite film of all time (l...

Natasha Babenko & Jeff Howard at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018 One of the most unforgetable films at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018 was Girl Eating Banana: Audition.   One part art film, one part comedy, one part drama, and completely original, filmmaker Natasha Babenko wowed the crowd with both her film and her amazing energy during her Q&A. I knew even before meeting her that I would...

This DIF4Q is with Sarah Prikryl.  Sarah’s documentary short film  Family: A Love Story took home a Grand Jury Prize at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018. It is without a doubt one of the most wonderfully documentaries you could have caught on the festival circuit, and now it is available online.  ( Watch it right now! ) What is DIF4Q?  It’s the Discover Indie Film Four Questions . Nam...

Jeff Howard, Jesse Mackey & Sarah Prikryl at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018 The documentary Family: A Love Story took home a Grand Jury Prize at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018.  It is without a doubt one of the most wonderfully documentaries you could have caught on the festival circuit, and now it is available online at IndieBoom . When you hear this interview with director Sarah Prikryl y...

Heather Hillstrom with her lead actor Jason Eftimoski at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018 Heather Hillstrom took home the Grand Jury Prize at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2018 for her short film The King In The Ring .  Anytime I see a film that great at the festival I immediately start thinking about interviewing them for the podcast and finding out their favorites and not-so favorites when they answer...

At Film Invasion Los Angeles in June, 2018, Heather Hillstrom’s short film The King In The Ring took home a Grand Jury Prize. This is one of those films that people will never forget.  I’m certain that in five or ten years, I can refer to this film and anyone who saw it will know what I am talking about.  It is that good and that memorable. Heather sat for a great Q&A at the festiv...

Joe Petricca at SOFF 2017. When I interviewed Joe Petricca on this podcast about his career and his short film A Meditation, I found out exactly why his film won awards.  Joe has spent 25 years in academia at the American Film Institute while working as a professional screenwriter on the side, always with an eye on filmmaking again.  It would have been shocking had  A Meditation not turned out so...

Joe Petricca’s short film  A Meditation took home the Audience Award at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2017.  Winning this award was no surprise, as  A Meditation is one of those short films that completely engages its audience from start to finish. Joe gave a great Q&A at the festival but, just like his film, it left me wanting more and that is exactly why I do this podcast.  Joe too...

Kevin Nielsen wrote and directed the award winning film See Yourself Out, which is a film you watch on this here website !  Kevin’s film has so much to it.  The filmmaking is spot-on, the acting is wonderful, and the short film he wrote is poignant, funny, and tragic all at the same time.  Needless to say I was very curious to hear his answers to the DIF4Q. What is DIF4Q?  It’s the Dis...

Kevin Nielsen wrote and directed the award winning film See Yourself Out .  As you can see from the laurels on the video embed below, this film cleaned up on the festival circuit.  And part of that great festival run includes getting a Grand Jury Prize at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2017. When you watch  See Yourself Out  you will understand why this film took home so many awards.  It’...

Varun Raman & Tom Hancock made the brilliant short film Transmission .  It was a standout at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2017.  Even though they live in the UK, we hopped on Skype for a few hours to record an interview and a DIF4Q. What is DIF4Q?  It’s the Discover Indie Film Four Questions . Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a f...

Transmission.   Transmission  is a film that you MUST SEE.  This film is a brilliant work of art from Varun Raman & Tom Hancock; a young team out of Manchester, England (though they’ve moved since) who studied film on their own, wrote a pile of scripts and then managed to put together a team and a cast to make something special. They weren’t able to attend the Sherman Oaks Film Fes...

Jonah Mazer, Ethan Howard, & Jeff Howard at the Sherman Oaks Street Fair Jonah Mazer is a director and cinematographer whose filmography keeps growing and growing… and he’s in High School.  His excellent short film  Life After screened at Film Invasion Los Angeles in June 2018 and he approached me at that festival to ask if he could do some work for the next fest.  I took him up on...

What is DIF4Q?  It’s the Discover Indie Film Four Questions . Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Nate Hapke wrote and directed One More , a great short films that was an official selection at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2017.  Nate works full...

SOFF Q&A with writer/director Nate Hapke and lead actor Aaron Sanders At the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2017, we played one of my favorite blocks of all time and that block started off with the incredibly well-directed and touching  One More.   At the Q&A I wasn’t surprised that this film came from a filmmaker as thoughtful and intelligent as Nate Hapke. At the Q&A all we disc...

One of my favorite films at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2016 was Safe Bet , a beautifully made film about a memorable evening in a young woman’s life.   Safe Bet  was the brainchild of Aletha Shepherd, a Londoner living in Los Angeles who’s one of those people that never seems to stop working. Aletha moved back to London and it took us a long time to coordinate when we could chat...

You want to talk about indie filmmakers?  Between them,  Sara O’Reilly & Jeremy Foley wrote, produced, directed, and edited the award winning short film The Faceless Man .  On top of that, they’re totally nice people and everyone who worked with them on this laborious passion project speaks highly of them.  Even their lead actor, who endured hours of a prosthetic make-up applicatio...