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Talkhouse

Award-winning actress and producer Naomi Ackie plays R&amp;B pop legend Whitney Houston in the new biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which is out in theaters now. Most recently, she was seen starring in season 3 of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s Master of None on which she also serves as an executive producer. She will soon be seen in Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho’s next film, based on the novel Mickey 7, alongside Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, and in Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut, Pussy Island, in which Naomi stars opposite Channing Tatum. Naomi’s breakthrough role was Anna in Lady Macbeth. She also starred in the second season of Netflix’s End Of The F***ing World, which won her a BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress, and played Jannah in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker, alongside Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and John Boyega. (Photo by Marcus Olsson / Lucasfilm Ltd.)

Naomi Ackie

Film

Best of 2022: Naomi Ackie on Severance

Eugene Mirman is probably best known as the voice of Eugene Belcher on the animated comedy Bob’s Burgers, but he’s also a veteran of the alt-comedy world with many albums and countless live performances under his belt. He’s the subject of It Started As A Joke, a documentary about the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, and his song with Lucy Wainwright Roche, “How Do You Lie To Your Child About Santa,” is now available to stream and as <a href="https://prettygoodfriends.com/merch/vinyl-christmas-card-how-do-you-lie-to-your-child-about-santa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limited-edition vinyl</a> via his label, PGF Records.

Eugene Mirman

Best of 2022: Eugene Mirman on Welcome to Chippendales

Liza Lapira plays Melody &#8220;Mel&#8221; Bayani in CBS’ smash hit The Equalizer and can currently be seen as Natalie in the CBS holiday movie Must Love Christmas. She was most recently seen starring opposite Daniella Pineda and Alicia Witt in the film Modern Persuasion, while her additional feature film credits include Crazy, Stupid, Love, opposite Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore and Marissa Tomei; 21, opposite Jim Sturgess and Kevin Spacey; Fast &amp; Furious, with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Gal Gadot; and Matt Reeves&#8217; Cloverfield. Lapira&#8217;s most recent television credits include Nancy Drew and Unbelievable, opposite Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver. On stage, Lapira starred in Steve Martin&#8217;s Picasso at the Lapin Agile, at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, opposite Justin Long and Hal Linden. (Photo by Lindsay Siu / CBS.)

Liza Lapira

Best of 2022: Liza Lapira on That’s My Time with David Letterman

Alison Star Locke moved a lot as a kid with her single mother, growing up mainly in San Antonio and Oakland. She earned a B.F.A. in Filmic Writing from USC, where she won the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award. She began her writing career as a story producer for reality TV and has written, directed and produced numerous shorts. Her favorite, Shhhhhhh&#8230;, was laureled-up by the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Denver Film Festival. Her script The Projectionist won second place at Slamdance in the Horror/Thriller category. Her scripts have placed in numerous contests, including the BloodList, Nicholls, Screamfest, Women in Horror Film Festival, Scriptapalooza and Fright Night. After staying home to advocate and care for her daughter, Bethany, who was diagnosed with autism, she returned to work this year to make The Apology, her first feature as a writer-director, starring Anna Gunn, Linus Roache and Janeane Garofalo. She lives with her husband and daughter in the Los Angeles area.

Alison Star Locke

Seeing My Family at the Movies

Celyn Jones is a critically acclaimed actor and BAFTA nominated screenwriter from Wales who is the director, co-writer and one of the lead actors in the acclaimed drama <a href="https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-almond-and-the-seahorse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Almond and the Seahorse</a>, also starring Rebel Wilson, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Trine Dyrholm, which is out December 16 through IFC Films. He started his producing career with a series of award-winning short films. Celyn is the co-founder of Mad As Birds Films and has produced on every one of their feature films including the Diane Keaton comedy Poms, which he developed from a one-line pitch. Celyn wrote Set Fire to the Stars (2014), in which he starred as Dylan Thomas opposite Elijah Wood. Since then he has written the critically acclaimed, BAFTA and BIFA-nominated, noir-thriller The Vanishing, starring Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan, and co-wrote Eddie Izzard’s first screenplay, Six Minutes to Midnight, starring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, which was released by Lionsgate. He co-wrote the screenplay for The Almond and the Seahorse after originating the role of Joe on stage. (Photo by Jemima Marriott.)

Celyn Jones

Failing Better

Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard are the directors of the documentary <a href="https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/lowndes-county-and-the-road-to-black-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power</a>, a timely and compelling look at the struggle and determination to correct the political imbalance within a small-town Black community, which is out now in theaters and on VOD through Greenwich Entertainment. Geeta Gandbhir is an award-winning director, producer and editor with more than 25 years of experience in the film industry. She started her career in narrative film under Spike Lee and Sam Pollard. After working for 11 years in the edit room in scripted film, with filmmakers including Merchant Ivory, the Coen Brothers, Robert Altman, she branched into documentary film. Her most recent films include Hungry to Learn and I Am Evidence. Sam Pollard is a veteran feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director. Between 1990 and 2010, he edited a number of Spike Lee films, including Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers, and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee co-produced a number of documentary productions for the small and big screen, including Four Little Girls, which was nominated for an Academy Award® in 1998 and When The Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. A prolific documentarian, his most recent films include Citizen Ashe, MLK/FBI, Mr. Soul and Sammy Davis, Jr.: I&#8217;ve Gotta Be Me. (Photo via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spike_Lee,_Geeta_Gandbhir_and_Samuel_D._Pollard,_May_2011_%289%29.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wikipedia</a>.)

Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard

Best of 2022: Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard on Reginald Hudlin’s Sidney

Vashti Anderson is an American filmmaker and published author based in Brooklyn. She has been working in film and TV production in NYC since the late &#8217;90s and, since earning her MFA in Film at NYU, has written and directed several narrative films. Her first feature, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moko-Jumbie-Vanna-Vee-Girod/dp/B07HR2S3K8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moko Jumbie</a>, was filmed in rural Trinidad and premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival. It screened in competition at Bentonville, Urbanworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival and others and is now available on Indiepix and Amazon Prime Video. Vashti currently spends her time writing stories, developing her second feature and making sure her kids don’t kill each other.

Vashti Anderson

The Living Record of Your Memory

John Waters has written and directed sixteen movies, including Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom and A Dirty Shame. He is also a photographer whose work has been shown in galleries all over the world and the author of several books, including Shock Value, Crackpot, Art: A Sex Book (cowritten with Bruce Hainley), Role Models and the 2014 bestseller Carsick, which chronicles his adventure hitchhiking across the United States in May 2012. The restoration of Multiple Maniacs is out now through Janus Films.

John Waters

Learn a Life Lesson or Two from John Waters and Raymond Antrobus

Serge Bozon makes movies, writes about movies and plays in movies.

Serge Bozon

On Pop

Andrew C. Fisher grew up on the gulf coast of Texas. He studied Philosophy in college, and he has spent most of his adult years trying to figure out how to tell a good story through moving pictures and sound. You can find Thanatos and other work at <a href="http://www.andrewcfisher.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">andrewcfisher.com</a>.
Right after Cacia Zoo popped out of her mom&#8217;s womb, she was dancing! She always knew she wanted to be a performer and artist. She visited New York when she turned 16 and took an acting class throughout the summer. After that summer her life was never the same. She went back to Taiwan and came back to New York the first chance she got. Her creativity is versatile and spread through many different mediums. Whether she&#8217;s in front of the camera or behind it, with herself or collaborating with others, she has immense passion for performance and art. If she&#8217;s not moving or creating, she&#8217;s on her way to.

Andrew C. Fisher and Cacia Zoo

Can We Talk About BDSM?

Ravi Kapoor is a writer, director and actor who was born and raised in Liverpool. His latest feature as director, <a href="https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/four-samosas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four Samosas</a> – a quirky heist comedy set in L.A.’s “Little India” – is out on December 2 through IFC Films. He trained at the East 15 School of Acting in London and has worked extensively in both the U.K. and America. He directed and co-wrote the feature Miss India America, which played at many festivals and then sold to Netflix worldwide and is now available on most streaming channels. He’s appeared in numerous TV shows and movies including Flight, Book Club, The Starling, 24, Sharp Objects, NCIS, Elementary, The Brink and many more. He was also a series regular on the shows Gideon’s Crossing and Crossing Jordan, for which he also directed.

Ravi Kapoor

Bruh, What the Hell Even is a Samosa?

Noah Segan is an actor who played a cowboy on the soap opera Days of our Lives. He&#8217;s appeared in movies like Brick, Deadgirl and Looper. His favorite actor is Warren Oates, who died, as Noah also plans to do one day. Blood Relatives, which he wrote, directed and stars in, is now <a href="https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/blood-relatives/cefde188a6f617b9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">streaming on Shudder</a>.