First Time Go

The tagline of the podcast is “the future of filmmaking.” I don’t think you can earn that without hosting my guest, Elliott Hasler, who began his filmmaking journey at the age of 10.

Fifteen years later, he’s two features in, the latest being VINDICATION SWIM (2022), a biopic around Mercedes Gleitze and her attempt to become the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Big period pieces aren’t what you’d expect him to take on, but that boldness is partially, he acknowledges, why he’s been successful. He also has a keen sense of the business o...

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 GRAND SEDUCTION (2013).

Director: Daniel Andre

Screenplay: Daniel Andre

Cast: Brendan Gleeson; Taylor Kitsch; Liane Balaban

SYNOPSIS

Residents of a small fishing community in Newfoundland charm a doctor into becoming the town's full-time physician, in order to secure a vital factory contract.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us...

I haven’t done a how much I love New York City episode in a couple weeks, so the indie smash, OR SOMETHING (2024), and the film’s director, Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder, makes for the absolute perfect guest. Why is the film being extended at Quad Cinemas? What does it say for indie filmmakers that the Substack crowd got so behind this film? Is it repeatable? Let’s hope so. And if you haven’t seen it at the time this airs, go see it through September 4th. Or later, if we keep talking about it.

In this episode...

Brilliant in acting. Brilliant in producing. Brilliant in executive producing. Brilliant in...directing? Let's hope so. Given her extraordinarily body of work, most recently in front of the camera in Gil Henry's PAS VRAIMENT ORDINAIRE (2025), we can only hope my guest, Floriane Andersen, will be in the director's chair soon.

She certainly has made the opportunity for herself; the production company she co-founded, Artak Pictures, has six projects in the works, two of which she is slated to direct. She is not only forging ahead, but creating a path for others to follow.

In this...

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: RUNNING ON EMPTY (2024).

Director: Daniel Andre

Screenplay: Daniel Andre

Cast: Lucy Hale; Keir Gilchrist

SYNOPSIS

Mort discovers he has less than a year to live. After his fiancé leaves him, he meets Kate on a dating service that matches people by their death dates, all while being stalked by a crazy pimp.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

When you prepare, special filmmaking tends to happen. That’s the case with my guest, Jordan Murphy Doidge, and his new film, CLOUT, which premiered at HollyShorts. It tells the story of a lonely teenage boy who risks everything to prove himself in a bid for online fame. In the wake of Netflix’s hit ADOLESCENCE (2025), CLOUT has resonated with nonprofits and theaters in the United Kingdom. And as the reviews have shown after its world premiere, that’s likely to spread. It’s phenomenal filmmaking that was made possible by being prepared.

In this episode, the early ar...

Most people choose (relatively) comfortable and safe topics for their first films. A bank robbery over here, a meet cute over there. My guest, Kristen Gerweck Diaz has chosen Ramadi, Iraq, a phone booth on an ocean cliffside, and her newest, MILK BABY (2025), about a woman’s entry into a maternity home and the sheer enormity of breastfeeding. These are not what you’d call easy topics. But for this lawyer turned filmmaker, she’d never sign up for the easy path, anyway.

In this episode, Kristen and I discuss:

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: HELLO I MUST BE GOING (2012).

Director: Todd Louiso

Writer: Sarah Koskoff

Cast: Melanie Lynskey; Christopher Abbott; Blythe Danner

SYNOPSIS

A divorcee (Melanie Lynskey) moves back in with her parents and begins a clandestine affair with a 19-year-old suitor (Christopher Abbott).

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram<...

Watch BONNIE (2022) Now

There’s so few people involved in the film industry that can be referred to by just their first name, but in the case of my guest, Bonnie Timmermann, she is one who achieved that honor. If I asked you to pick 20 films out of the last 25 years, I would bet around 5 would have been cast by Bonnie. The documentary, now available for streaming, BONNIE (2022), is a must-watch.

We go beyond the doc to talk about what she wish was covered, representation in casting, how directors and casting directors should look at Ti...

Let’s put it down right now: Brook Linder has the branded content hit of the year, with his weekly promos for Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney. Vimeo put it out as its own thing, and once you turn on the compilation of promos, you can’t turn it off. It’ll be running on repeat in your head. I warned you.

We go deep in this episode in getting banned from Springfield, Missouri high schools, not just for his film crew but every film crew afterwards, early Kickstarter, what it’s like making branded content, and so muc...

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: KAJAKI (2014).

Director: Paul Katis

Writer: Tom Williams

Cast: David Elliot; Mark Stanley; Scott Kyle; Ali Cook

SYNOPSIS

Helmand Province in Afghanistan, 2006. A company of young British soldiers encounter an unexpected, terrifying enemy: a dried-out river bed, and with every step the possibility of an anti-personnel mine that could kill.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow u...

You’d expect comedy out of a comedian turned actor and then director, right? Think again. My guest, filmmaker Ali Cook, turns what you’d expect upside down. So far, he’s written two short films, directed one, and is working now on his first few features. He acted in a truly phenomenal Afghanistan war film, KAJAKI (2014), sometimes known as Kilo Two Bravo, and he’s got more insight than we could possibly cover in 30 minutes. 

I tried to keep my laughter to a minimum, but come on. Go watch his films. Ali is talented and funny. 

In th...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

I feel like this would be a good plotline for a gonzo Mission Impossible movie: make romcoms and comedy dramas relevant again. In one sentence, my guest, director and podcaster Charles Hood, declared “comedies and comedy dramas are dead, sadly” but also came back in the next few sentences with the announcement, I’m releasing a romcom feature later this year. 

This sounds exactly like a challenge, if you choose to accept it, for one of the co-hosts of the official Mission Impossible podcast. And here’s to thinking he’ll be succe...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: PEOPLE PLACES THINGS (2015).

Director: James C. Strouse

Screenplay: James C. Strouse

Cast: Jermaine Clement; Regina Hall; Stephanie Allynne

SYNOPSIS

A graphic novelist /professor (Jemaine Clement) tries to navigate the unfamiliar waters of single fatherhood and dating.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on X

Follow us on F...

This is still an indie film podcast, don’t misunderstand, but if I had to do one conversation with somebody who made a studio film, it would be with my guest Ebs Burnough. I’d argue no other person understands the indie film market like he does, especially now with the release of KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION (2025). The film examines how Jack Kerouac’s iconic novel “On the Road” resonates in contemporary America. 

Ebs has a career that hardly seems repeatable — working for the White House to chairing the Sundance Institute — but those kind of unique sto...

I don’t know if we’ve ever had such fire practical advice from a film festival programmer who — I know this is shocking — actually cares about indie filmmakers than the pod does today with my guest, Imani Davis. From how the PROOF Film Festival got started to the advice she gives directors to take notes and cut your short films, this is absolutely the pod for you if you want to make it in indie film today. I’m so excited for you to hear from such an innovative voice in the industry. 

Imani and I talk about...

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: COME AS YOU ARE (2019).

Director: Richard Wong

Screenplay: Erik Linthorst

Cast: Grant Rosenmeyer; Hayden Szeto; Ravi Patel

SYNOPSIS

A travelling nurse takes three disabled men on a road trip to Montreal so they can lose their virginity at a brothel.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

“Creative director, curator, publisher, collector” and founder of Sixteen World Xavier Encinas joins me on the podcast for this episode. I’d argue you could also add great podcast guest because he pushes back against this idea that France is a great haven for independent film. 

As part of his Sixteen artistic venture, he curates the Sixteen Film Institute, with a new film weekly, mostly from around the world, not France. Let’s not misstate his argument — he has nothing against French cinema, he lives there. He’s planning film events in Paris for this Fall. He’s saying, the w...

There’s no more exciting place to be in independent film than the intersection of France and the United States, or as a filmmaker in either of these locations. In France, cinemas are packed and the Cannes Film Festival often sets the tone for what’s considered the best films of the year. 

So if the goal is understanding France’s role in global cinema, there is no better person than my guest, Amanda Sthers, who has released three feature films that star globally known actors and help explain, in each of their ways, what is attractive about f...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: I LIKE MOVIES (2022).

Director: Chandler Levack

Screenplay: Chandler Levack

Cast: Isaiah Lehtinen; Percy Hynes White; Veronika Slowikowska

SYNOPSIS

Socially awkward 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence Kweller takes a part-time job at Sequels video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older store manager, Alana. Lawrence hopes to earn enough money to achieve his dream of attending film school at NYU.

Subscribe to our YouTube c...

Bottle films, films made predominately in one location, are like playing with fire. There’s not a lot of room to make a good film if you don’t cast well, for instance, or if the location of your bottle isn’t fantastic. My guest, director Nicolai Schumann, understood all this….because he watched a bunch of the previous bottle films…and went ahead with THE LONELY MUSKETEER (2024) anyway. And I’m so glad that he did. 

The film tells the story of “the psychological downfall of a man who is highly traumatized by life.” Along the way, it’s earned...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

This is way easier said than done but when you’re making a short film, you need a couple things to exceptionally stand out. Whether it’s the writing, cinematography, subject…something. Otherwise, you’re lost in a sea of submissions. The money is almost irrelevant if you don’t have the goods. 

For my guest Jennie Butler and her film, GEORGIE (2024), it’s piecing out a theme of his life from an interview and then making an extraordinary film from that thread. 

Jennie calls GEORGIE a “melancholic but humorous pro...

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: NIGHT OWLS (2015).

Director: Charles Hood

Screenplay: Charles Hood; Seth Goldsmith

Cast: Rosa Salazar; Adam Pally; Peter Krause

SYNOPSIS

Kevin goes home with Madeline for a drunken one-night stand and is horrified to learn she is his boss's ex-mistress. After he catches her taking a box of sleeping pills, they slowly start to fall in love as he keeps her...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Watch SOVEREIGN Now

SOVEREIGN (2025) is a filmmakers’ thriller and the story behind its director, my guest, Christian Swegal, is one of the best in independent film this year. The reason that so many investors are reluctant to back a new director for their first feature is one of skepticism — they think the director won’t be able to handle the responsibility. And when you add in powerhouse actors like Nick Offerman and Dennis Quaid, it’s fair to expect a watered-down mush of a film which critics and audiences would chalk up...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: MARJORIE PRIME (2017). 

Director: Michael Almereyda

Writers: Michael Almereyda; Jordan Harrison

Cast: Geena Davis; Hannah Gross; Jon Hamm

SYNOPSIS

Eighty-six-year-old Marjorie spends her final, ailing days with a computerized version of her deceased husband. With the intent to recount their life together, Marjorie's Prime relies on the information from her and her kin to develop a more complex understanding of his hi...

Happy 2nd anniversary to the pod, and I can’t think of a more vital filmmaker for our time and for this episode than Nathaniel Lezra. His film ROADS OF FIRE (2025), winner of the Best Feature Documentary at the 2025 ‪@officialSBIFF‬ interweaves the lives of a human smuggler navigating the treacherous Darién Gap (the only land bridge between North and South America), an asylum seeker rebuilding her life in New York City, and volunteers working on the frontlines of a growing humanitarian emergency.

It found distribution from ‪@NewMountainFilms‬ with a theatrical release in September 2025, with event screenings in markets...

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000).

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan

Cast: Laura Linney; Kenneth Lonergan; Mark Ruffalo; Matthew Broderick

SYNOPSIS

Sammy is a single mother who is extremely protective of her 8-year old son. She is satisfied with living in the small town she grew up in and working in a local bank. When her brother Terry visits he fits the void in the life o...

Watch FORWARD THINKING (2025) Now

I’m not sure if the pod has ever gotten a bigger honor than what Antonio Harper & Abby Burton gave it in this episode — sure, they said, listeners can watch our short, currently on its festival run. FORWARD THINKING (2025) is a “surreal short film about a young black man who is attempting to trademark his likeness in the event that he's murdered by the police.” And to me, that sells it short. It’s a film about race that goes further than any other film I’ve seen in a way that makes you think ab...

An upcoming wedding, a film that made it into Tribeca -- filmmaker Blake Jarvis is having himself a summer. 

IN JEFF WE TRUST (2025)'s logline is "two mentally ill girls regret joining a cult...but is it too late?" It is a hilarious short film produced and starring comedy duo Sydney Heller and Olivia DeLaurentis. 

Other than finding out if he has a band or a DJ, we go pretty deep into this guy's amazing summer for this episode.

Blake and I talk about:

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: HOW TO MAKE MILLIONS BEFORE GRANDMA DIES (2024)

Director: Pat Boonnitipat

Writers: Pat Boonnitipat; Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn

Cast: Putthipong Assaratanakul; Usha Seamkhum; Sanya Kunakorn

SYNOPSIS

A man, driven by his desire for a multi-million dollar inheritance, begins to care for his terminally ill grandmother. However, winning her favor will not be an easy task and he is not the only one w...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

Joining me today is…he is going to hate that I write it this way, as you’ll hear in the conversation…but the director with the most nominated film at Raindance, Max Morgan, talking about his film BREAKWATER (2025).

The ability to make your first feature, your first film, carry the weight of, and I’ll quote Max here, “people never mean what they say, and there is a lot of that in BREAKWATER” is simply breathtaking. I’ve posted the trailer in the YouTube conversation, go watch it and you see what y...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

If you watch IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT (2023), you might get an idea about the director, and guess he has a cinematographer's eye for visuals and a humanist's approach to connecting with people. This episode proves that assessment right about director Stephen Gerard Kelly.

IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT is described as "a portrait of modern-day Lebanon as seen through the eyes of four families living in the backdrop of an infamous massacre in 1982." It's visually stunning and Stephen calls it a "bit of an emotional juggernaut."

It...

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: 29,000 WISHES. 1 REGRET (2012)

Director: Oliver Robins

Writers: Oliver Robins

Cast: Justus Zimmerman; Casey Ruggieri

SYNOPSIS

After losing their jobs, a husband (Justus Zimmerman) and wife (Casey Ruggieri) decide to max out their credit cards and have some fun, then commit suicide.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow us on Letterboxd

Follow us on Instagram

Watch This Episode On YouTube

The film, SPECTRUM (2024), directed by my guest, Rick Stanton, is a true triumph for art and sticking to one's own vision. As he said, “it’s a very honest take on what life is like as an adult with autism.” 

Rick's path into filmmaking is unconventional and instead of paying endless amount of festival fees, he's forging a different path.

In this episode, Rick and I talk about:

DC/DOX is about to celebrate its third year, and I chat with co-founder Sky Sitney about its origin story, celebrity documentary, AI in docs, the financial plight of doc filmmakers, and more.

Befitting a powerhouse in the doc filmmaking world, Sky took on the most challenging questions and gave thought-provoking answers. It's no surprise with her leadership DC/DOX has become an international stop in the world of documentary in three quick years.

In this episode, Sky and I discuss:

Watch The Video 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: GOD'S POCKET (2014)

Director: John Slattery

Writers: Peter Dexter; Alex Metcalf; John Slattery

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Richad Jenkins; Christina Hendricks; John Turturro

SYNOPSIS

A boozy lowlife (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist (Richard Jenkins) and the young man's mother complicate matters.

Subscribe to our Y...

Go See WELCOME HOME FRECKLES at DC/DOX on June 14th, 12pm

Watch This Episode On YouTube

What do you do when people question your style of filmmaking? If you know that the story is in your heart, as my guest Huiju Park did with her film WELCOME HOME FRECKLES (2025), you make your film your way. In a deeply personal tale about her return home to Korea for the first time in four years, that's what she did. We talk about that and so much more with this UK-based filmmaker, whose authenticity will astound you.<...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

With the baritones of Bono and U2 as the soundtrack, the globe-trotting world of Mary Robinson requires an epic film to depict her life, and thankfully, they found the director that can deliver just that in Irish filmmaker Aoife Kelleher.

Aoife gave us the brilliant film MRS ROBINSON (2024), still on its festival run. MRS ROBINSON tells the inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders.

An...

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: BEFORE/DURING/AFTER (2020)

Director: Stephen Kunken; Jack Lewars

Screenplay: Finnerty Steeves

Cast: Finnerty Steeves; Jeremy Davidson; John Pankow; John Ellison Conlee

SYNOPSIS

This sharp-witted dramedy studies a middle-aged NYC theatre actress suddenly forced to figure out the kind of person she wants to portray in real life when her marriage comes to an end after she catches her husband...

Watch This Episode On YouTube

As soon as RIVER OF GRASS (2025) starts, the viewer is given an astonishing sense of place, and according to my guest, director Sasha Wortzel, this is most certainly by design. The film -- "an ode to the Florida Everglades past and present" -- is an amazing piece of artwork that elevates its subject to a character all of its own. Wherever you watch the film -- perhaps at DC/DOX on June 14th, 2025 -- you are going to feel like you are in Florida.

I’m not sure you’re tran...