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Talkhouse

Drew Denny’s new feature documentary, Second Nature, narrated by Elliot Page, proves there’s nothing “inferior” about being female and nothing “unnatural” about being queer. The film played recently at SXSW EDU and will next play on April 24 at the <a href="https://www.reelwild.org/film/second-nature" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reel Wild Film Festival</a> in New York City, where the film was awarded the special jury award. Harper’s Bazaar called Drew’s one-woman show turned Academy Award nominated podcast Asking For It “a Fleabag fix in a post-Fleabag world,” and her first feature film The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had With My Pants On won Best Feature, Best First Feature and Best Cinematography in its 50-festival run, earning her a spot in The Advocate’s “40 Under 40” list, where she was named “an auteur to watch.” She is a 2025 recipient of the Chicken and Egg Development Grant for her film Inhabit, a collaboration with Chase Joynt. Her forthcoming feature film, Love and Chaos, stars Lux Pascal, Bebe Wood and Christine Taylor. She moonlights in a band called HIPS and runs the non profit Allies in Arts, which has supported over 14,000 artists who identify as women, BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ since she founded the organization in 2015. (Photo by Benjamin Trivett /Shutterstock.)

Drew Denny

Film

Standing Room Only

Josephine Decker’s latest feature <a href="https://neonrated.com/films/shirley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shirley</a>, starring Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young and Logan Lerman, premiered in competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is released on Hulu, VOD and participating drive-ins June 5, 2020. Her previous feature, Madeline’s Madeline, world premiered at Sundance 2018; it was hailed as a “mind-scrambling masterpiece” and was nominated for Best Picture at IFP’s Gotham Awards and for two Independent Spirit Awards. Josephine premiered her first two narrative features, Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Butter on the Latch, at the Berlinale Forum 2014 to critical acclaim. She also explores collaborative storytelling via TV directing, documentary making, performance art, accordion-playing, acting, teaching at CalArts and Princeton University, and leading artist residencies with the School of Making Thinking.

Josephine Decker

Deborah Kampmeier is an award-winning filmmaker. Her first feature Virgin, starring Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright, was nominated for two 2004 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress for Elisabeth Moss and the John Cassavetes Award. Her second feature, Hounddog, starring Dakota Fanning and Robin Wright, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Deborah’s third feature, Split, won Best of Show at the 2016 Female Eye Film Festival and was nominated for the Independent Vision Best Film at the 2016 Sarasota Film Festival. Kampmeier made her television directorial debut on Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed series Queen Sugar in 2019 and followed immediately with two episodes of DuVernay&#8217;s new series Cherish the Day. Her fourth feature, TAPE, starring Isabelle Fuhrman is having its <a href="https://www.tapevirtualpremiere.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online virtual release</a> March 26, 2020, and will be available on Amazon and iTunes April 10th. Deborah is prepping her next feature, Dirt Rhapsody, as well as her limited series Pilgrim&#8217;s Wilderness.

Deborah Kampmeier

“A Warrior Genius with a Child’s Brain in a Sex Goddess Body?”