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Talkhouse

David Midell began his filmmaking career drawing inspiration from working as a teacher and therapist in economically disadvantaged areas of Chicago. David&#8217;s debut feature, NightLights, followed a sister and brother with autism as they experienced the heartbreaks and triumphs on their journey to find their place in the world. The film was released in 2014, made its network television premiere on the Lifetime Movie Network in 2015, and won numerous awards, including a Prism Award from the Entertainment Industries Council. His latest film, <a href="https://www.killingofkcfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain</a>, tells the true story of the events that led to the death of an elderly African-American former marine, suffering from bipolar disorder, who was killed during a conflict with police officers in his home. The film, which stars Tony Award nominee Frankie Faison and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose and has won awards at the Austin Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival, Urbanworld and more, and is out September 17 through Gravitas Ventures.

David Midell

Film

Being a Filmmaker on the Autism Spectrum Presents Challenges – and Opportunities – of a Lifetime

Nick Fituri Scown is an Emmy-nominated, Libyan-American filmmaker whose new documentary co-directed with Julie Seabaugh, <a href="https://toosoondoc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Too Soon: Comedy After 9/11</a>, airs Wednesday, September 8 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on VICE TV and will also play on September 11 at the Dances With Films Festival at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theater. His narrative feature debut, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Bad-Actress-Nick-Scown/dp/B07DYN7QP3/ref=sr_1_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pretty Bad Actress</a> featuring Heather McComb and Jillian Bell, was released by MVD Entertainment. His shorts have played at film festivals around the globe, and he was named one of the 25 Screenwriters to watch by the Austin Film Festival. (Photo by Paul Tarantino.)

Nick Fituri Scown

A Trip to New York City

Sam Rose is the star and associate producer of Andrew Morgan’s new narrative feature, <a href="https://www.samantharosemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Samantha Rose</a>, out now to rent on digital through Freestyle Digital Media. They are an artist and actor living in Los Angeles with their partner and cat. In their free time, they like to go to the beach, make jam, and write songs.

Sam Rose

Five Ways to Make a Film When You’ve Never Made a Real Film Before

Rebecca Hall is an acclaimed British-American actress whose career encompasses the multiplex, the art house cinema, and the world’s most respected theaters. She can currently be seen in The Night House, a psychological horror film also starring Sarah Goldberg and Evan Jonigkeit, and her debut feature as writer-director, Passing – an adaptation based on Nella Larsen’s 1920s Harlem Renaissance novel starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson – is out later this fall. Hall was recently seen in Godzilla vs. Kong, opposite Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown and Brian Tyree Henry. Her other memorable films include Antonio Campos’ Christine, Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, Ben Affleck&#8217;s The Town, Shane Black&#8217;s Iron Man 3, Stephen Frears&#8217; Lay the Favorite, Nicole Holfcener’s Please Give and Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. Her TV credits include Mark Romanek’s Tales from the Loop, Susanna White’s miniseries Parade’s End , Julian Jarrold’s Red Riding: 1974 (for which she won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress), Stephen Poliakoff’s Joe’s Palace and Peter Hall’s The Camomile Lawn. (Photo via Todd Williamson / January Images.)

Rebecca Hall

Three Great Things: Rebecca Hall

Elza Kephart writes and directs horror and fantasy films. Her latest feature, the horror film<a href="https://us.rljentertainment.com/franchise/240944/SLAXX" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Slaxx</a>, is out on VOD, Digital HD and DVD on September 7, 2021 through RLJE Films. Born and raised in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), she holds a BFA from Emerson College (Boston) and the Canadian Film Center’s Director’s Lab. At 24, she wrote and directed her first feature, Graveyard Alive – A Zombie Nurse in Love. It played in over 20 international film festivals including Fantasia, Fantasporto and Sitges, winning the Kodak Cinematography Award at the Slamdance Film Festival. It was distributed on TMN, on DVD by Maple Pictures, and in theaters. Her second feature film, Go in the Wilderness, premiered at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, played in various international film festivals, and is being distributed on various platforms, including itunes. Slaxx had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival and its International Premiere at the Sitges International Film Festival in 2020. She is one of the co-founders of the Montreal chapter of Film Fatales, and one of the co-founders of Extinction Rebellion Québec. (Photo by Marlène Gélineau Payette.)

Elza Kephart

How the Cabbage Patch Kids Got Me on the Road to Anti-Capitalist Activism!

Actor-writer-producer Zibby Allen trained at the American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) before studying with Steppenwolf West in Los Angeles. Allen can currently be seen starring in the third season of the hit Netflix show Virgin River as Brie Sheridan. Allen’s previous credits include recurring roles on Grey’s Anatomy, Nancy Drew, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and The Exorcist and guest spots on The Flash, The Twilight Zone, Bates Motel and The Good Doctor. Allen is a singer-songwriter, and one half of a musical duo Socks and Chimes. Their first album, I Love You Overall was released in 2011 and they are currently in production on their second album. Additionally, Allen is developing a podcast-for-television project with Marianna Palka (Glow) and Alyshia Ochse (True Detective). Originally from San Francisco, Allen divides her time between Los Angeles, Vancouver and Scotland, where her husband grew up. (Photo by Kristine Cofsky.)

Zibby Allen

Three Great Things: Zibby Allen

Cheryl Dunn is a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City. Her filmic exploration of the life and legacy of the late artist Dash Snow, Moments Like This Never Last, is out now in theaters and is available on VOD from September 3. Her work is influenced by alternative urban and youth culture, documenting skaters, the homeless, musicians, graffiti, artists, and their processes. Dunn graduated with a degree in art history from Rutgers University, traveled throughout Europe, and lived in Milan. After traveling Europe in her twenties, she returned to New York to pursue photography, shooting for magazines such as Spin, Vogue, Elle, Harpers Bazaar and Dazed and Confused. In the mid-1990s, Dunn began to focus much more on filmmaking. Find out more at <a href="http://www.cheryldunn.net" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cheryldunn.net</a>.

Cheryl Dunn

My Abandoned Manhattan Building

Brian Andrew Mendoza’s feature film directorial debut, Sweet Girl, starring Jason Momoa, is now streaming on Netflix. Brian has spent the past 10-plus years building a production company with his partner, Jason Momoa. They’ve produced three feature films (Road to Paloma, Braven and Sweet Girl) and collaborated on commercials with such iconic brands as Carhartt, Harley-Davidson, and recently Ball. In 2016, Brian released his commercial directorial debut Canvas of My Life. In addition, he executive produced the third season of Frontier. Brian and Jason are executive producing their first unscripted series, On the Roam, with Discovery +.

Brian Andrew Mendoza

Leap, Then Look: Saying Yes to Sweet Girl

Stacy Rukeyser is an award-winning creator, showrunner and executive producer whose new show is the Netflix hit Sex/Life, about a suburban mother who takes a fantasy-charged trip down memory lane. Previously, Stacy was the showrunner and executive producer of the critically acclaimed, award-winning drama UnREAL, about the inner workings of a reality TV show. Her other writing credits include the Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy® Award-nominated series Without a Trace, as well as Crash, One Tree Hill, October Road, Standoff, Greek and The Lying Game. A cum laude graduate of Princeton University, she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Stacy Rukeyser

The Revolutionary Act of (Female) Desire

Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s English language debut feature, Beckett, a manhunt thriller set in contemporary Greece starring John David Washington, Alicia Vikander, Vicky Krieps and Boyd Holbrook, is now streaming on Netflix. Filomarino began working as an assistant director and editor of documentaries and short films, and in 2010 wrote and directed his first short, Diarchy, starring Louis Garrel, Riccardo Scamarcio and Alba Rohrwacher, and produced by Luca Guadagnino and Marco Morabito, initiating their many collaborations. After Diarchy won awards at Sundance and Locarno, Filomarino directed the documentary Deceit. Visconti’s Conversation Piece, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival. His fiction feature debut, Antonia, a portrait of the Italian poet Antonia Pozzi, premiered at Karlovy Vary, where it won the Jury Prize. Filomarino continued his collaboration with director Guadagnino as second unit director on A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name and Suspiria. (Image courtesy Netflix.)

Ferdinando Cito Filomarino

Real Fear in a Thriller

Tracey Scott Wilson wrote the screenplay for the new movie <a href="https://www.unitedartistsreleasing.com/movie-site/respect-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Respect</a>, based on the life of Aretha Franklin. On TV, she served as a co-executive producer on Fosse/Verdon at FX and Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. Before that, she was a co-executive producer on FX’s award-winning series The Americans, where she wrote for four seasons and received two WGAE awards, two Peabody awards and a Golden Globe. Tracey is also a renowned playwright; her plays include Buzzer, The Good Negro and The Story and she is the winner of the 2001 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, the 2003 AT&amp;T Onstage Award, the 2004 Whiting Award, the 2004 Kesselring Prize, the 2007 Weissberger Playwriting Award and the 2007 Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship. In 2009, she was the writer-in-residence at the O’Neil National Playwriting Conference. She has taught and guest-lectured at Brown University, Yale University, Rutgers University and NYU. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Temple University.

Tracey Scott Wilson

My God! My Script!

Writer and director Ann Hu&#8216;s latest film, Confetti, starring Zhu Zhu, Amy Irving and Helen Slater and based on Hu’s personal story., is out now in theaters. Her debut feature, Shadow Magic (2000), premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Classics in 2001; the film won both the Chinese Academy Award and Presidential Award in China for Best Film and was one of the top box office hits in China that year. In 2005, Ann Hu produced and directed Beauty Remains, which played at numerous film festivals and was released internationally by Emerging Pictures in 2005. Hu serves as trustee at IndieCollect, and was a board member at Film at Lincoln Center. (Photo by Jasmine Clarke.)