The No Film School Podcast

Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, and Liz Nord are here to catch you up on all the stuff you missed while in a tryptophan coma last week. Believe it or not, awards season has officially begun and we have a full report on what could be the year's top contenders. Plus the perennial riddle of how to best shoot sex on film may be closer to being solved. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, where he discusses so...

If you've seen any of Yorgos Lanthimos' films, then you know the Greek director isn't afraid to put anything on the screen. Like many famous surrealists, Lanthimos isn't interested in exploring stories where things go right, he wants his audience to see what's wrong in the world. To him, nothing is off limits and any dark side of the human psyche is worth exploring. In surrealist film, any image c...

Jon Fusco and Erik Luers are stranded together in Brooklyn for yet another turkey day, but a major announcement from The Criterion Collection has given them plenty to be thankful for. On the other side of the coin, we take a moment to remember one of the greatest American screenwriters of all time. Charles Haine joins us for gear news where big changes may soon be coming for Final Cut users and on...

How we approach history and how we approach film are very similar. As László Nemes puts it, history doesn’t work the way we think it works, we think we know more about these events in our past, but there’s no way of ever knowing firsthand what the atmosphere at the time actually was. In much the same way, we can lean on popular conceptions of the way films should be made or we can question the exi...

Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, and Liz Nord are here to recap what was a truly insane week in the world, even in the film industry. They discuss an unexpected loss in the epicenter of cinema as fires continue to rage through Southern California and say goodbye to one of the world's greatest storytellers - Stan Lee. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, where he reveals a major acquisition from Teradek, ne...

Working with Mike Leigh is what you would call an actor’s dream true. Since his debut in 1972, the seventy-five-year-old legendary British director has made twenty films and consistently refined his craft to fit a process where the collaboration with actors is paramount. This is due in part to his own experiences at acting school in the 60’s, where he felt confined by rigid Shakespearian premedita...

Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, and Liz Nord are here this week to reveal a few of their favorites from what BBC has labeled their one hundred greatest foreign films of all time. Is your favorite on the list? Plus should "A Star is Born" really come with a trigger warning? Charles Haine joins us for gear news, where we talk Aputure's new venture into sound with Deity microphones and a new cage that actuall...

For co-directors Daniel Schmidt and Gabriel Abrantes, the making of Diamantino was just as, if not more complex, than the award-winning film's insane plot. It tells the story of Diamantino, the world's premier soccer star, who loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets on a delirious odyssey where he confronts neo-fascism, the...

Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, and Liz Nord are back together again, this time to mourn the loss of yet another brilliant streaming service. But while our home options dwindle, box offices around the country continue to put up big numbers. So much so that Alamo Drafthouse has given its employees half a day off...for a much-needed reason. Charles Haine joins us for gear news fresh off Apple's big event in...

It's hard to coin Steven Yeun's year as "breakthrough" since the South Korean actor has been a figure in the public's eye since his first appearance as Glenn from AMC's The Walking Dead in 2010. But with starring roles in both Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You and Chang Dong Lee's Burning in 2018, he has all but cemented himself as a leading man on the independent film scene. It's been a long road...

Jon Fusco is back this week with Liz Nord to lead you through the fallout of Withoutabox's shut down and what it could mean for your project. Plus, in what was a busy week on the internet, they discuss new financial opportunities for educational YouTubers and the demise of one of our favorite video platforms. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, where he reveals his long-awaited opinion on the 20...

Irene Lusztig (‘Yours in Sisterhood’) and Dominic Gagnon (‘Going South’)—two filmmakers who edit their own films—join No Film School’s Liz Nord to make the case for editing your own work by sharing their processes and how they make the many decisions that go into an edit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erik Luers and Liz Nord are together again to discuss the state of the movie industry as we near the end of 2018 and how it could lead to a downward trend we'd all be happy to see take place. Plus there may be a new place on the map to move if you want to make movies, and it's not New York or LA. Charles Haine joins us for gear news and dishes on not one, not two, but twelve new lenses you may wan...

Hayley Pappas (Head of RYOT Films), Caroline von Kuhn (Director of Artist Development at SFFILM), and Leah Giblin (Head of Grants at Cinereach) are responsible for getting millions of dollars to independent filmmakers each year through grants and financing. They join No Film School’s Liz Nord to discuss the many ways independent films are being funded today, and how you can access these various fu...

Erik Luers, and Liz Nord get together this week to discuss two of their favorite things: movies and words. They also address some pretty spooky rumors that George Romero may soon be rising from the dead. Charles Haine joins them to discuss a new camera from his favorite camera company as well as new software from Mocha, Pomfort and Baselight that may end up greatly enhancing your workflow. And in...

Not many people with an interest in film have the direction to start pursuing sound at an early point in their career. It seems, rather, that through working on various projects they come to realize how powerful a tool sound really is and fall head over heels in love. If it's early enough in their career, there's plenty of work to be found and no turning back. For Milly Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling L...

Jon Fusco and Erik Luers buckle down and get serious this week to discuss one of the single biggest hacking controversies of our generation and what it could mean for Marvel's box office returns. There will only be one group of people to blame if Venom flops this weekend, and it's Lady Gaga fans. Also in the news, do people who play video games for ten hours or more a week somehow end up having mo...

Jeremy Saulnier has carved out his own little place in film history. His second feature film Blue Ruin was the first of its kind in many ways, an artful genre thriller that is a spectacle to behold and shot on a shoestring budget. His next film, Green Room, cemented his place as one of today's most talented thriller auteurs. And it all stems back from blowing shit up as an eight-year-old in his ba...

It seems like the Toronto International Film Festival just wrapped up but Jon Fusco, Erik Luers and Liz Nord are all back together this week to preview the Fall's next big one, The 56th Annual New York Film Festival. The team drops some clues on what to look out for in addition to highlighting their most anticipated films at the fest. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, where Panasonic shocked t...

When Fabrice Aragno went to film school, he was written off as a creator of meaningless images. What was the point of his thesis picture? Where was the emotion? These questions, however, didn't matter much to him, so he ignored them. What mattered was assembling work that he felt was sincere. In Aragno's opinion, cinema doesn't need an explanation. There is no objective. Don't explain it, just emb...

In this episode, Jon Fusco and Erik Luers talk TIFF takeaways, a successor to MoviePass that could actually work out and the Emmys' failures to get with the times. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, talking two of the biggest mirrorless cameras to come out this year and an exciting new pair of Cooke lenses. On Ask No Film School - some thoughts on how advertising could end up hurting your short...

Steve McQueen has made some great movies. So has Denis Villeneuve. So what do Hunger, Sicario, Shame, Blade Runner 2049, 12 Years a Slave and Arrival have in common? They were all edited by Joe Walker. McQueen and Walker's latest collaboration, Widows, made its world premiere to a sold-out crowd at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. It's the Academy Award winner's most accessible f...

In this episode, Erik Luers and Liz Nord reveal a couple of changes to awards season that everyone can agree on, Nicoloas Cage is in a really good movie, and the best new wireless kit to own. On Ask No Film School - a reminder to take it easy. As always, the show also brings news you can use about gear, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, this week’s indie film releases, industry wisdom, and ot...

It seems that many short films even after they wrap a successful shoot never end up seeing the light of day. And why is that? Because they dry up in the post-production process. Whether it's for lack of money, lack of inspiration, lack of enthusiasm, or just plain destitution at what your footage has revealed, the sad truth is that may directors decide to leave their precious projects on the cutti...

Festival season is upon us once more and with it, a whole new class of award contenders have suddenly made themselves known. In this episode, Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, and Liz Nord reveal the films their most excited about, as well as countless others you should keep an eye on as Fall begins to heat up. In gear news, we highlight a couple of new wide angle lenses that caught our eyes and on Ask No Fi...