Film Roundtable

In our latest Roundtable, we are pleased to welcome Production Designer Kasra Farahani and Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw. Matthew Woolf leads a conversation discussing their experience on the Marvel Series Loki. The conversation covers a range of topics including; the pressure and expectations of making a Marvel show, how much one is able to bring stylistically to the Marvel Universe, the...

In this Roundtable, we welcome Writer, Creator, and Director Danny Strong, Cinematographer Checco Varese and Director of episodes 5 & 6 Patricia Riggen of the Hulu Series Dopesick. The conversation focuses on the responsibility of creating an episodic series covering the national opioid crisis, and how such a series helps expose the architects of this crisis, making evident the roots of such a...

In this Film Roundtable, we welcome back two friends, Director/DP Reed Morano and Director/DP Bradford Young for a therapeutic conversation in the wake of the potential IATSE strike. The two go straight into the quality of life concerns that exist in our business, as well as the general culture of self-care practice being neglected or treated as an afterthought. The two discuss how the s...

On our latest film roundtable, we host a conversation between Isabel Sandoval, Hari Nef, and moderator Ximena Prieto. The three start with a discussion regarding setting, introspection, and reflection, and Isabel points to the impact of nature well as the importance of sunlight on creative input.  Hari delves into her response to prompts as a writer, and the interaction with New York as a sou...

We are thrilled to present our second Roundtable recorded in Spanish. In our latest episode, we are joined by Cinematographers Gonzalo Amat and Alexandra Bas. Gonzalo has shot four seasons of “The Man in the High Castle,” produced by Ridley Scott and Amazon Studios. He’s a member of the International Cinematographers Guild, the DGA, and the ASC. In 2018, Gonzalo ventured into the world of directin...

In this episode, we host discussion between Cinematographer Larry Fong and Doug Torres. Larry relives the early part of his career and how he got started working with visionary Directors Zack Snyder and Tarsem Singh, also sharing a great story about his friendship with JJ Abrams when they were teenagers, and how that carried over into a professional relationship later in their careers. Through the...

In this roundtable, we host a rich conversation between Director John Hillcoat and Cinematographer Benoit Delhomme. You don’t want to miss this special tête-à-tête from these longtime collaborators and friends. They talk with us about a bounty of topics including how they first met, the two incredible films they teamed up together on: Lawless and The Proposition, and a life altering premonition th...

Film Roundtable Community, Our team is taking a short break while we brew up some exciting new roundtables and implement site modifications. In the meantime, we wanted to ensure you’ve heard some of our all time favorite episodes... Almost a year ago, Darius Khondji & Bradford Young came on our show and had a conversation expressing their views on light, inspiration, and letting yourself follo...

In this Roundtable, we are joined by Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber, the founders of the iconic Los Angeles video store, Vidiots. Vidiots opened its doors in Santa Monica in 1985 with a mission to provide access to art house films and rare titles. During its tenure, it served as a community space with events and became a mecca for cinephiles. Vidiots had to close its doors in 2017, but has found...

In this roundtable, Matthew Woolf hosts a conversation between Actor Mark Ruffalo and Director Derek Cianfrance and the three of them discuss Mark & Derek’s experience making the hit HBO Mini-series I Know This Much is True. They break down many aspects of the show, including Mark & Derek’s relationship as co-creators and how that affected their individual roles, the challenges they faced...

In this roundtable, we host a conversation between Cinematographer Roman Vasyanov and Doug Torres. The duo discuss what it was like for Roman growing up in Russia and learning his craft at a young age from some of the great Filmmakers from Eastern Europe. Roman delves into those early days, how they drove his desire to make it in America, and what that transition was like to shoot movies such...

In this Roundtable we are joined by rising directors Kendall Goldberg and Nina Meredith. Kendall’s feature directorial debut, When Jeff Tried to Save The World, won the International Film Critics’ Prize at the 2018 Heartland Film Festival and garnered much praise. Most recently, Kendall created and directed a docuseries pilot for Comedy Central. Nina’s work as a director blurs the line between nar...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Cinematographers Rodney Taylor (ASC), Tommy Maddox Upshaw (ASC), and Eric Branco . Rodney has been a long time Television DP and his recent credits include Swagger and Ballers. Tommy is also a veteran of the Television world and recently became a member of the ASC; his recent credits include Empire and Snowfall. Eric has established himself in the indie film wor...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Wendy Levy and Kimberlin Bolton . Wendy is an Executive Director of The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture and the co-founder of Arts2Work, a new award winning creative workforce initiative that centers racial and gender justice in a new model of Apprenticeship for digital media careers. Kimberlin is an executive Director of re:imagine/ATL, an organization that t...

In this roundtable we are joined by Production Designer Hannah Beachler, Artist and Filmmaker Jenn Nkiru , and Director/Creative Director Kwasi Fordjour . The conversation opens with a discussion on unexpected sources of inspiration and creativity in the past year (including the sun!) as well as the spirit of continuation and exploration through one’s connection and responsibility to self. The gro...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Mexican photographer, Tania Franco Klein , and art curator and writer, William J. Simmons . Tania’s work has been exhibited widely both in solo and group shows across Europe, the USA, and Mexico and has been commissioned by clients like The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue and Dior. Will received his BA in Art History and LGBTQ Studies at...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Hollywood Pipeline co-founders: Educator and Law Student Mischaël Cetoute & Production Designer Ethan Tobman (Room, Beautiful Boy, Black Is King). The Hollywood Pipeline is a radical network of young people from backgrounds underrepresented in the film industry and conscientious allies looking to connect them to the insider information, jobs, and training ne...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Director Karen Cinorre and Cinematographer Sam Levy. Karen is the writer and director of Mayday, which premiered this year at the virtual Sundance film festival.  Along with lensing Mayday, Sam has collaborated with Karen on a range of projects, including marriage. Sam’s career behind the lens took off when he was an apprentice to cinematographer Harris Sav...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Filmmaker and Innovation Doula,  Nova Scott-James  and elder Yoruba Priestess,  Grandmother Sangoma.   They discuss their new film that is in its crucial fundraising phase,  Wild Darlings Sing the Blues (And It's A Song of Freedom). This feature-length documentary follows the Wild Darlings, queer healing art collectiv...

In this Roundtable we are joined by wildlife documentary filmmakers Rolf Steinmann and Fredi Devas. Rolf’s cinematography is featured predominantly in BBC natural history documentaries such as Planet Earth 2, Seven Worlds and A Perfect Planet. Fredi’s a producer known for his work on Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. He and Rolf have worked together on a couple of projects and will collaborate later...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Composer/Sound Designer, Nicolas Becker and Editor Mikkel E.G Nielsen of the latest Darius Marder film Sound of Metal for a conversation moderated by Editor/Sound Designer, Marc Thomas. They discuss their process for developing the sound experience for the film and get into the approach and concepts behind how the team advanced the story, character arc and main...

In this Roundtable we are joined by New Zealand Cinematographer, Ben Seresin.  Ben has lensed many films over the years, including Tony Scott’s Unstoppable , Marc Forster’s World War Z , and the upcoming Chaos Walking by Doug Liman.  Ben is joined by Film Roundtable Co-Founder, Erin Wile, to talk about career path, inspiration, and how to unify personal joy with a career.  

In this Roundtable we are joined by Award-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola and producer Youree Henley for an intimate conversation moderated by Chase Sui Wonders. Sofia and Youree dive into the importance of finding your team, learning how to pick the right project, and how they achieved their harmonious relationship as director / producer. Chase shares some first hand accounts from her experiences...

In our latest Film Roundtable we’re joined by Cinematographer Michael Goi ASC, Cinematographer Christian Sprenger, Cinematographer Tehillah DeCastro, and the President of Motion Picture and Entertainment at Kodak, Steve Bellamy, moderated by Hannah Welever. In this enlightening conversation we discuss the future of shooting film in higher education, the foundation of cinematography, and how film a...

In this Roundtable we are joined by Award-winning documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen to discuss her powerful film “How It Feels to be Free,” which is streaming on PBS through February 16th. This documentary follows the inspiring stories of six iconic Black female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – and the ways their actions defied...