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Talkhouse

Jennifer Phang is a San Francisco-based filmmaker. Her award-winning debut feature, <a href="http://halflifemovie.com/" target="_blank">Half-Life</a>, premiered in 2008 at Sundance and was distributed by the Sundance Channel. Phang was commissioned by ITVS to create the short film Advantageous (2012), as part of the Futurestates series. She subsequently adapted it into a feature film, also called <a href="http://www.advantageous.me/" target="_blank">Advantageous</a>, which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, winning a Special Jury Award.

Jennifer Phang

Independent Spirit Award-nominated writer/director/actor Jonathan Lisecki made his feature film debut with the romantic comedy <a href="http://www.gaybyfilm.com/" target="_blank">Gayby</a> (2012), adapted from the award-winning short film of the same title. He lives in New York and Los Angeles with his husband, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/jonnynyc" target="_blank">@jonnynyc</a>.

Jonathan Lisecki

Rodney Ascher is a filmmaker known for working in the spaces between documentaries, collage, and genre films. His feature debut, Room 237, managed a theatrical release despite the fact that it was made on a home computer in his living room. Other projects include The Nightmare, Primal Screen, Haunted, Horrifying Sounds From Beyond the Grave, and as editor, Andy Kaufman’s posthumous (?) comedy album, Andy and His Grandmother. A Glitch in the Matrix, his latest, explores Simulation Theory and, knock on wood, will premiere later this year. He lives in a fast-gentrifying corner of Los Angeles with his talented family and their beautiful cat. (Photo by Joseph Cultice.)

Rodney Ascher

Film

Election 2016: Filmmakers Get Out the Vote!

Stuart Gordon was a writer-director-producer of film, television and theater. He is best known for the cult classic Re-Animator and for having murdered his wife Carolyn in his films whenever possible.

Stuart Gordon

Underrated/Overlooked: Stuart Gordon on The BFG

Anna Biller&rsquo;s 35mm cult feature Viva and her 16mm art-film shorts have screened at major film festivals and art spaces around the world, and her work has been discussed in academic cinema journals. She is known for her use of classic and outdated film genres to talk about female roles within culture, coding feminist ideas within cinematic aesthetics and visual pleasure. She creates all of her own costumes and set designs, making many or the props and paintings as well as composing and scoring for her films. She has a BA in art from UCLA, and an MFA in art and film from CalArts. She continues to work on film because of her interest in emulating the look and feel of classic cinema, and her latest film, The Love Witch, was made using only traditional film processes.

Anna Biller

Bluebeard at the Movies

Linas Phillips is a director, actor, teacher, and spiritual seeker. He is currently crowdfunding his latest feature, <a href="https://seedandspark.com/fund/taketwo#story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Take Two</a>, on Seed&amp;Spark. In 2006, he walked 1,200 miles to meet Werner Herzog, documented in his first film, Walking to Werner. His other films include Bass Ackwards (which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival) and Rainbow Time (2016). As an actor, Phillips has appeared in Twin Peaks, Eastbound &amp; Down, Togetherness, and Manson Family Vacation. As the &#8220;screenplay doula,&#8221; Phillips teaches screenwriting by applying techniques drawn from notable spiritual teachers.

Linas Phillips

Video Essay: Linas Phillips Brings Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill “In Focus”

Brian Trenchard-Smith has been burning to make genre films ever since seeing Hitchcock’s Vertigo at age 13. So far he has directed 42 Crimes Against Cinema, and counting. (He’s an enthusiastic recidivist.) His cult favorites include The Man from Hong Kong, Turkey Shoot, BMX Bandits, Stunt Rock, The Siege of Firebase Gloria. His memoir, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ADVENTURES-MOVIE-TRADE-MEDWIN-TRENCHARD-SMITH/dp/B08JVLC35P/ref=asc_df_B08JVLC35P/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=475866653660&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=15351232785781447577&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9004367&amp;hvtargid=pla-972105956148&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adventures in the B Movie Trade</a>, is now available as an e-book.

Brian Trenchard-Smith

How I Swayed the 2004 Presidential Election with My Pro-Bush 9/11 Movie (Even Though I’m a Leftie)

Writer-director Nicholas McCarthy made his feature debut in 2012 with The Pact, adapted from his short film of the same name. The horror film, which premiered at Sundance, was released by IFC Midnight in the U.S. and spawned a sequel. In the wake of the success of The Pact, McCarthy wrote and directed the At the Devil’s Door, starring Naya Rivera and Catalina Sandino Moreno, which was released in 2014, also by IFC Midnight. In 2016, McCarthy wrote and directed the “Easter” segment of the anthology horror film Holidays. He lives in Los Angeles.

Nicholas McCarthy

One of Those Creatures: Remembering Michael Massee

Sierra Pettengill is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Her directorial debut, Town Hall, was broadcast on PBS in 2014. She produced the Oscar-nominated Cutie and the Boxer, which premiered at Sundance in 2013, and is currently producing The Reagan Years, an all-archival film directed by Pacho Velez.

Sierra Pettengill

The Great Missed Opportunity of Michael Moore in TrumpLand

Spirit Award-nominated writer/director Adam Bhala Lough has dedicated his career to telling compelling stories, collaborating with interesting people and creating authentic work. Moving between narrative and documentary, his films sit at the nexus of mainstream culture and the arthouse. He specializes in crafting real performances out of non-performers, artists, musicians, athletes and celebrities, while bringing Oscar-winning actors to the table as well. His films have played at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Edinburgh and Karlovy Vary, to name a few. His new film, Alt-Right: Age of Rage, opens in theaters on August 17. For updates, follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/adambhalalough" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@adambhalalough</a> (Photo credit: Betty Bastidas)

Adam Bhala Lough

13th Gives America a Much-Needed History Lesson

Steven Sheil is a screenwriter and director. His first feature, Mum &amp; Dad, was released in 2008 and was described by Total Film as “one of the defining British horrors of its generation.” His second feature, the 2012 action-horror Dead Mine, was shot in Indonesia and starred an international cast. HBO Asia’s first original production, the film is distributed in the U.K. by eOne. He is also the co-writer of psychological drama Gozo, co-written and directed by Miranda Bowen for Bishop Films and due for release in 2016. He also works as a cinematographer, primarily with his wife, the artist and documentarian Jeanie Finlay, and is the co-director of the Mayhem Film Festival, based at Broadway Cinema in Nottingham, U.K.

Steven Sheil

Death, Grief and Why Horror Films Truly Matter

Bruce LaBruce is a filmmaker, writer, photographer and artist based in Toronto, Canada. Recently there have been retrospectives of his films at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto and at MoMA in New York City. His latest feature, The Misandrists, will be released in 2018.

Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce’s Academy of the Underrated: Moment by Moment

Aaron Stewart-Ahn lives in NYC. He is the co-writer of Mandy. He is currently working on Thor for Marvel Comics and a documentary about police brutality. In between film projects he works in bicycle shops and as an occasional film journalist.

Aaron Stewart-Ahn

Barry Jenkins and the Fearless, Heartbreaking Honesty of Moonlight

Musa Syeed is an independent filmmaker and writer. His new narrative feature, A Stray, premiered at SXSW 2016 and is now on release. His first narrative feature, Valley of Saints, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema: Dramatic and the Alfred P. Sloan Film Prize. The Big House, a narrative short Syeed shot in Yemen, was a 2014 Sundance selection. His current features in development have been supported by the San Francisco Film Society, Tribeca Film Institute, and Torino Film Lab. (Photo by Nushmia Khan.)