INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE: Oscar Inside & Indie Cinema Discussions

There are documentaries about history, and then there are documentaries about the people who were quietly in the room when history happened. STARMAN, the new film from Academy Award–nominated director Robert Stone, belongs firmly in the latter category. It chronicles the life of Gentry Lee—NASA scientist, mission architect, science communicator, and one of those rare figures whose career seems to...

When Love Doesn’t Disappear, But Quietly Changes Shape — with director Hlynur Pálmason Like Ingmar Bergman pivoting from the existential weight of The Seventh Seal to the gentler, more reflective tone of Wild Strawberries, Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason follows his critically acclaimed 2023 film Godland with THE LOVE THAT REMAINS—a work that feels light and airy even as it engages with emotio...

In this episode, director Jan-Ole Gerster discusses his new film ISLANDS, Berlin Film Festival premieres, and the creative process behind crafting a slow-burn indie mystery It’s only January, but if ISLANDS is any indication of what lies ahead, 2026 is already shaping up to be a remarkable year for cinema. Written and directed by Jan-Ole Gerster, ISLANDS is a sun-drenched, slow-burn mystery inspir...

The Sundance Film Festival is back—and with it, the headlines about splashy acquisitions and record-setting deals. But beyond the price tags and bidding wars, a much bigger story is unfolding. How do these deals actually get made? And what happens to the vast majority of films that don’t get picked up? In this episode of ARTHOUSE, we go beyond the headlines to explore the real journey of an indepe...

As the Sundance Film Festival approaches its final year in Park City, we take a moment to reflect on the artists who didn’t simply pass through Sundance—but helped define it, shaping an entire era of American independent cinema in the process. Among those enduring icons is Steve Buscemi. Buscemi’s breakthrough came with Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances, which premiered at Sundance in 1986. The film...

A Private Life with Public Consequences: Rebecca Zlotowski has been on our radar since Other People’s Children hit the U.S. in 2023, so we were more than ready for her next move: A PRIVATE LIFE (Vie Privée)—a sleek, sharp French-language genre cocktail that’s equal parts mystery, romance, and darkly playful comedy. Jodie Foster plays Lilian Steiner, a tightly wound Paris psychiatrist whose perfect...

HOMEBOUND (Oscar Shortlisted) | A Passport to Contemporary India — Neeraj Ghaywan Interview. We love foreign films at INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE. When they work, they’re more than entertainment—they’re a passport. In this episode, we sit down with Neeraj Ghaywan to discuss his Oscar-shortlisted drama HOMEBOUND, a powerful portrait of contemporary India. That’s exactly what happens in director Neeraj Ghay...

Jim Jarmusch on Making FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER (Venice Golden Lion) In this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we sit down with one of the defining voices of American independent cinema: Jim Jarmusch. Since his 1984 breakthrough Stranger Than Paradise, Jarmusch has carved out a singular path—quietly rebellious, fiercely auteur-driven, and unmistakably his own. His latest film, FATHER MOTHER SIST...

THE PLAGUE (2025) | Charlie Polinger on Childhood, Cruelty, and a Cannes Breakout When a film earns a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, there’s often a quiet suspicion that it’s a critic’s darling—admired more than embraced. But Charlie Polinger’s debut feature THE PLAGUE is something rarer: a film that marries the visceral pull of a taut thriller with the intelligence and moral urgency of serious a...

The Fight to Own Warner Bros. | Hollywood Consolidation, Streaming Wars & the Future of Cinema In this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we step outside our usual filmmaker deep dives to examine a seismic moment in Hollywood—one that could reshape the film industry from top to bottom. Warner Bros., one of the oldest and most influential studios in cinema history, is officially up for sale. After wei...

Oscar Shortlisted | THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB — A Girl’s Cry for Help In the press kit for her urgent new film THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania writes that cinema “doesn’t report, it remembers. It doesn’t argue, it makes you feel.” That ethos reverberates through every frame of this devastating, Oscar-shortlisted work—an act of cinematic remembrance that bypasses...

THE TALE OF SYLYAN:This Documentary Proves You Don't Need Scripts for Drama with DP Jean Dakar | INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE In our latest INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE interview, we’re joined by cinematographer Jean Dakar to talk about the quietly seismic documentary THE TALE OF SILYAN—the much-anticipated follow-up to Tamara Kotevska’s Oscar-nominated HONEYLAND. What begins as an investigation into how climate ch...

They say journalism is the first rough draft of history—but what about films based on true events that bring the past to life on screen? Are they meant to serve as a historical record, or do they use history to reveal deeper emotional truths? In this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we’re joined by acclaimed filmmaker, writer, and actor Cherien Dabis to discuss her sweeping new film, ALL THAT’S LEF...

The Microbudget Filmmaking Miracle of BURT!   $7,000 might buy you a used car—but in Hollywood, it barely covers a single day of craft services on a studio film set. But in the world of microbudget filmmaking, $7K became the entire production budget for filmmakers Joe Burke and Oliver Cooper, who used that tiny sum to create a full-length, truly independent feature film. With a small crew, non-pro...

LEFT-HANDED GIRL: Taiwan’s Oscar Entry Redefining Indie Cinema with director Shih-Ching Tsou. LEFT-HANDED GIRL is the latest breakout in Taiwanese indie cinema—a vibrant, deeply personal coming-of-age story from filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou, co-writer and frequent collaborator of multi–Oscar-winning director Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket). Set against the electric pulse of Ta...

🎬 Put My Soul in My Hand and Walk | Inside the Arthouse In this episode of Inside the Arthouse, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi dives into her gripping new documentary Put My Soul in My Hand and Walk — a visceral, human story emerging from one of the most turbulent moments in recent memory. Unable to enter Gaza herself, Farsi partnered with journalist Fatma Hasona, whose raw footage and lived experience...

Inside the Arthouse | Ira Sachs on Peter Hujar’s Day — Queer Art, Intimacy & the Legacy of a Generation It’s been nearly 30 years since filmmaker Ira Sachs made his indie debut with The Delta. While many of his peers moved toward studio franchises or television, Sachs has remained committed to crafting deeply personal films that explore love, identity, and the quiet intricacies of human connection...

🎬 Inside the Arthouse | Oday Rasheed & Jess Jacobs on If You See Something — Love, Asylum & the Immigrant Experience In this episode of Inside the Arthouse, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge, sit down with Iraqi-American filmmaker Oday Rasheed and actor-writer-producer Jess Jacobs to explore their new drama If You See Something. Rasheed’s American debut tells the story of Ali, an Iraqi doctor...

🎬 Inside the Arthouse | COEXISTENCE, MY ASS! — Comedy, Conflict, and the Fight for Peace The war in Gaza may have quieted under a fragile ceasefire, but the conflict between Israel and Palestine continues to divide. In a world where politicians fail to find common ground, can comedy succeed where diplomacy has stalled? In filmmaker Amber Fares’s new documentary, COEXISTENCE, MY ASS!, we meet Noam...

🎧 New Episode: Roads of Fire — Seeing Beyond the Headlines on Immigration The question of illegal immigration dominates today’s headlines—but between outrage and fear, the human stories often get lost. In his powerful new documentary Roads of Fire, filmmaker Nathaniel Lezra turns down the noise to show what’s really happening on the ground. Through three intimate threads, he reveals the humanity,...

KOLN '75 with Director Ido Fluk on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert is the best-selling solo album in jazz history — a live recording of his extraordinary January 24, 1975, performance at the Cologne Opera House. Earlier this year, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, cementing its place as one of the most iconic moments in modern m...

THE MAN WHO SAVES THE WORLD? with Director Gabe Polsky One has to wonder what Miguel de Cervantes would make of Patrick McCullum. As we meet Patrick at the start of Gabe Polsky’s new documentary, THE MAN WHO SAVES THE WORLD?, we aren’t quite sure what to make of him — and, frankly, neither is the filmmaker. Is Patrick, a self-proclaimed healer and mystic, truly destined to fulfill a prophecy and b...

You’ve probably never heard of PUBLIC ACCESS — the 1993 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner — but you’ve almost certainly heard of Keyser Soze, the enigmatic villain at the heart of the 1995 Oscar-winning THE USUAL SUSPECTS. So what connects these two films? On this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we sit down with Ken Kokin, the producer of both of these films, and discuss how the same...

You may not be overly familiar with the 2000s TV show "To Catch a Predator," but chances are you’ve heard about it. Originally starting as a segment on NBC Dateline, the Chris Hansen–hosted program became a cultural sensation, drawing huge audiences even as critics questioned its sordid tone and the ethical and legal issues surrounding its infamous “sting” operations. Although "To Catch a Predator...

CHAIN REACTION director Alexandre O. Philippe on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE Horror films have haunted cinema since its earliest days — from the silent terror of NOSFERATU to the iconic Universal Monsters of the 1930s, to demonic classics like ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE EXORCIST. For generations, filmmakers have pushed the boundaries of fear, redefining what it means to scare audiences. Then came 1974. When...