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Writer, director and producer Kerry Mondragon’s latest film, the pscyhedelic jungle thriller <a href="https://dekanalog.com/film/wetiko-detail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wetiko</a>, is out now on digital. Best known for his films, Tyger Tyger (2020) and Meet Me at a Funeral (2015), Mondragon was born and raised in the ancient haunts of the Sonoran barrios and borderlands of the Mexican desert, a landscape populated by wild poets, peyote roadmen, and saintly Mexican grandmothers. He wrote poetry at an early age and corresponded with Allen Ginsberg at age 10, until Ginsberg&#8217;s death. After his biological father left, he was raised by his mother and step-father (turned-father,) they relocated to Marin County, California where he was blasted by the culture shock of a very different world. He discovered the dark shadow side of the wealthy county – a youth scene of bullying, trauma, drugs, alcohol – and was disgusted by the spiritual pretense of their culture. Bullied out of middle school and unable to adjust to high school, he lived the life of the youth underworld of one of the nation’s wealthiest towns. Throughout, he honed his artistic skills, he dropped out of college, worked at an ad agency and used that money to jump onto a crowd-funded Spike Lee feature film where he assisted the legendary director in prep and principal photography. This served as his film school. Upon returning to California and after significant life experiences, he resolved to make something pure, honest, and true – something stripped of all Hollywood illusions that was recognizable to those still lost in the pain of addiction – something to give hope to the hopeless. (Photo by Federico La Tona © Uninflected Pictures.)
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Kerry Mondragon

Film

Murder, Fever Dreams and Spiritual Reckoning: Behind the Scenes of Wetiko

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Formed in Omaha in the early 2000s by Stephen Pedersen following his departure from Cursive, Criteria has always lived in the space between melody and weight, control and collapse, moving only when there was something real enough to justify it. Criteria’s latest record SEIZE! reflects a period of profound personal and professional change: relationships dissolving, chapters closing, and attention turning toward the fragile beauty of the present. It’s out now on Spartan Records. 
(Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel)

Stephen Pedersen

Music

Mood Board: Criteria’s SEIZE!

Your favorite musicians, filmmakers, and other creative minds one-on-one. No moderator, no script, no typical questions. The Talkhouse Podcast offers unique insights into creative work from all genres and generations. <a href="https://pod.link/Talkhouse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Subscribe now</a>, and explore more illuminating shows on the <a href="https://talkhouse.com/category/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Talkhouse Podcast Network.</a>

Talkhouse Podcast

John Cameron Mitchell’s 2006 film <a href="https://shortbus.oscilloscope.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shortbus</a>, which he wrote and directed, is being re-released in theaters by Oscilloscope from January 26. He co-created and starred in the stage/film musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, for which he won Best Director at the 2001 Sundance Festival, four Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. He also directed the films Rabbit Hole (2010), featuring an Oscar-nominated performance by Nicole Kidman, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017). He appears on TV in Hulu’s Shrill and in 2022 will be seen in Netflix’s Sandman and in the title role of Peacock Channel’s Joe Exotic adapted series. His musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus starring Glenn Close, Patti Lupone, and Cynthia Erivo, was just rereleased as a free podcast. In 2020, he put out the collaborative album New American Dream and his ongoing The Origin of Love World Tour resumed in December 2021. (Photo by Matthew Placek.)

John Cameron Mitchell

Podcast

Sook-Yin Lee Talks with John Cameron Mitchell on the Talkhouse Podcast

Jack Whitescarver is a singer-songwriter who fronts the New York-based band Amiture Music. Amiture Music’s self-titled record is out now on Dots Per Inch.
(Photo Credit: Kayhl Cooper)

Jack Whitescarver

Anna Thérèse Witenberg is a dancer and choreographer based in New York.
(Photo Credit: Frank Lebon)

Anna Thérèse Witenberg

Anna Thérèse Witenberg and Jack Whitescarver Talk the Physicality of Music

Channy Leaneagh is the singer and co-songwriter in Minneapolis-based band <a href="http://www.thisispolica.com/" target="_blank">Poliça</a>. You can follow them on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/thisispolica" target="_blank">here</a> and Facebook <a href="facebook.com/thisispolica" target="_blank">here</a>.

Channy Leaneagh

Haley Fohr (b. Dec 16 1988) is a vocalist, composer, and singer-songwriter. Her musical endeavors focus around our human condition, and her career as Circuit des Yeux has grown into one of America’s most successful efforts to connect the personal to the universal. She is most distinctly identified by her 4-octave voice and unique style of 12-string guitar.

Circuit des Yeux

Poliça and Circuit des Yeux Tap into the Rawness

Kyra Sedgwick is an Emmy Award®- and Golden Globe®-winning actress, producer and director who can currently be seen in the romantic crime thriller <a href="https://www.carolinacarolinemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carolina Caroline</a>, opposite Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, which is in theaters now. Sedgwick&#8217;s feature Family Movie, a horror-comedy co-directed with Kevin Bacon and starring their children Travis and Sosie Bacon, had its world premiere at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival, and she recently starred alongside Kevin Bacon and Judd Hirsch in the feature film The Best You Can. Sedgwick’s previous directing credits include the feature films Space Oddity starring Kyle Allen and Alexandra Shipp, Story of a Girl, which earned her a DGA Award nomination, and Girls Weekend, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Sedgwick has contributed her directing talents to notable series such as Ray Donovan, City on a Hill, Grace and Frankie, and others.

Kyra Sedgwick

Three Great Things: Kyra Sedgwick

Ruth Leitman is an award-winning filmmaker recognized for highlighting social justice issues in feature documentaries over the past 20 years. Her 1994 film <a href="https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/wildwood-nj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wildwood, NJ</a> (1994) has enjoyed a second life as a viral film since 2009 and screened at Hot Doc’s fifteen-year anniversary festival in 2013, and is currently playing at the <a href="https://lowcinema.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Low Cinema</a> in Queens. In 2015, she directed for Kartemquin Films’ Al Jazeera America documentary series Hard Earned, which was nominated for an International Documentary Association Award and won an Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Journalism Award (2016). Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival and Hot Docs, Lipstick &amp; Dynamite (2005) won the Documentary Storytelling Prize at Nantucket Film Festival and was broadcast on Showtime and her immigration film Tony &amp; Janina’s American Wedding (2010) premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival and won a jury prize as well as several social justice awards. Alma (1998) won the Documentary Feature Jury Prize at the Hamptons Film Festival and screened at IDFA, SXSW, Director’s Guild of America, and Whitney Biennial. Learn more at her website, <a href="http://ruthlessfilms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ruthless Films</a>.

Ruth Leitman

That Girl in My Films

Nick Dawson talks with filmmakers, musicians and comedians whose work he loves, avoiding the mundane, predictable questions they&#8217;ve heard numerous times and instead asking substantive, thoughtful questions that get to the heart of who they are.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Zia Anger

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Lucía Aleñar Iglesias is a writer-director based in Los Angeles. Her feature debut <a href="https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/forastera/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forastera</a> premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is in theaters now through Grasshopper Film as a New York Times Critic&#8217;s Pick . She holds a BFA in Film from NYU and an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University. Lucía‘s short film Forastera (2020) screened at numerous major international festivals, including Cannes Critics’ Week, Curtas Vila do Conde, Les Arcs, Oberhausen, and was nominated for a Gaudí Award. Lucía developed the feature version of Forastera with the Critics’ Week Next Step programme. She took part in La Résidence through Cannes Cinéfondation and received the ArteKino award during MIA Market. Lucía has worked in the casting department for the Safdie brothers’ Good Time and line-produced for Academy Award-winning Peggy Stern. (Photo by Agnès Piqué Corbera.)

Lucía Aleñar Iglesias

Forastera: Shape-Shifting Through Language

Song of Rimbaud

Warped depravity in pop bubblegum packaging, Emma Higgins is a writer and director interested in telling stories she hasn’t seen before through a genre lens. Emma’s debut feature as writer-director, <a href="https://fela.tv/work/special-projects/sweetness-first-look/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweetness</a>, premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival to rave reviews and is out now in theaters. A coming-of-age story for the digital age exploring the line between innocent fandom and twisted obsession, it stars Kate Hallett and Herman Tømmeraas. A self-taught filmmaker, Emma established herself directing commercials and music videos, helming Jessie Reyez&#8217;s music video “No One’s in the Room,” which earned the esteemed Video of the Year win at the 2021 Juno Awards. Emma currently lives in Los Angeles, where she enjoys living amongst the coyotes and nurturing the filmmaking community.

Emma Higgins

Sinking into Sweet Uncertainty – Otherwise Known as Making a Movie

Writer-director Carmen Emmi’s award-winning debut feature,<a href="https://www.magpictures.com/plainclothes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Plainclothes</a>, starring Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, Maria Dizzia and Amy Forsyth, premiered at Sundance in 2025, was released theatrically by Magnolia and is out now on digital. Set in 1997, the film follows a promising undercover officer assigned to entrap gay men, who defies professional orders when he falls in love with one of his targets. Emmi is a filmmaker with deep roots in Syracuse, New York, where he grew up in a family of farmers. After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Carmen began his career as an independent Director of Photography, contributing to a range of projects, including short films, commercials, and feature-length productions. (Photo by Lindsy Avritch.)

Yaya Bey

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