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Talkhouse

Hilary Brougher is a screenwriter and director living and working in New York City. <a href="https://southmountainfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Mountain</a>, her third original feature, premiered at SXSW on 2019 and is on VOD from May 5. Her first feature, Sticky Fingers of Time, was an official selection at the Venice, Rotterdam, SXSW, and Toronto International Film Festivals and was released theatrically in 1997. Her second feature, Stephanie Daley, starred Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Melissa Leo, Tim Hutton and Denis O’Hare, and premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Award for Screenwriting. She is currently working on a documentary, Striper, co-directed with Maria Rosenblum. Brougher is the Chair of the Film Division at Columbia University’s School of the Arts as well as a full-time member of faculty in directing in the MFA program.

Hilary Brougher

Film

Try This at Home

As former frontwoman of the critically acclaimed New York-based group San Fermin, KAYE (Charlene Kaye) has played network television and has toured with St. Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, alt-J, and others. She recently released &#8220;Closer Than This,&#8221; the first single from her upcoming album, which earned praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, FLOOD Magazine, and more.
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Charlene Kaye

Music

Sister, Sister: Charlene and Liann Kaye Talk Growing Up Creative

Dubbed the “hero hip-hop needed,” veteran music journalist, hip-hop curator, Queens-native, filmmaker, and musician Sacha Jenkins has narrated hip-hop poetics for three decades. At age 20, he co-founded Beat Down, the first ever hip-hop newspaper, and went on to spend several years at Vibe magazine, where he served as both Staff Writer and Music Editor. His first feature-length documentary, Fresh Dressed (which tells the tale of hip-hop fashion), premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Jenkins would go on to direct Burn Motherfucker, Burn! (2017) and Word Is Bond (2018), both of which premiered on Showtime. Jenkins served as Executive Producer on the Netflix hip-hop series Rapture (2018), and his latest project Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, a four-part doc series which he directed by Jenkins, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, and aired on Showtime in 2019. Jenkins is also a musician, whose latest band, The 1865, has been heralded by legendary guitarist and Living Colour founder Vernon Reid as “the only band that matters. Right now.&#8221;

Sacha Jenkins

Journey Back to My Father

Lynne Sachs is a Memphis-born, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Her work explores the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences by weaving together text, collage, painting, politics and layered sound design. Her latest film, <a href="https://www.lynnesachs.com/2025/10/22/every-contact-leaves-a-trace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Every Contact Leaves a Trace</a>, will have its West Coast premiere on April 29 at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where she will receive the prestigious <a href="https://sffilm.org/event/pov-award-lynne-sachs-every-contact-leaves-a-trace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Persistence of Vision Award</a>. Following this, Lynne will present Every Contact Leaves a Trace as part of <a href="https://www.prismaticground.com/year-six/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prismatic Ground</a> at Anthology Film Archives on May 3. closing day of the festival). Sachs has made more than 50 films, both features and shorts (including Film About a Father Who, Tip of My Tongue, Your Day is My Night, Investigation of a Flame, and Which Way is East) which have screened at New York Film Festival, Sundance, Oberhausen, Viennale, BAMCinemaFest, Vancouver Film Festival, DocLisboa and many others nationally and internationally. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Arts. In 2019, Tender Buttons Press published Lynne’s first collection of poetry, Year by Year Poems. (Photo by La Nación.)

Lynne Sachs

In Celebration of the Darkness: What Can Happen When the Lights Are Out

With Mexican and Salvadoran roots in the San Gabriel Valley, East of Los Angeles, Angelica Garcia has spent the last few years creating a new, second family for herself within the welcoming community of Richmond, VA. The bond is christened with the announcement of Garcia’s signing to Spacebomb Records (Bedouine, Matthew E. White), and the release of her first two singles for the preeminent Richmond label: “It Don’t Hinder Me,” an anthem celebrating her roots that blends Wall of Sound pop and Southern rock, and “Karma The Knife,” a Reaggeaton-meets-dancehall earworm.
Like Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Rosalía, Angelica isn’t afraid to tear pages out of her diary and express emotions that might be difficult and oftentimes daunting to share. Garcia — who has recently toured with and supported acts like Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers, Natalie Prass, and Violent Femmes — sings about and pulls inspiration from her experience growing up in the predominantly immigrant Latinx communities of Southern California. The two new singles produced by Eddie Pendergast (a long time co-writer of Matthew E. White) showcase Garcia in her creative element, and herald the arrival of a bold and buoyant new voice in music.
(Photo Credit: Caitlyn Krone)

Angelica Garcia

Home Isn’t Just Where You’re From

Storyteller, podcast producer and host Sam Dingman is the co-creator of Bad With Money with Gaby Dunn and was a longtime producer on Karina Longworth&#8217;s You Must Remember This. Sam just released the third season of his own podcast, <a href="http://mailstat.us/tr/t/ko50g2ck2w5xijb/4l/https://familyghostspodcast.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Family Ghosts</a>, a documentary-style storytelling podcast. In each episode of Family Ghosts, Sam investigates the true story behind a mysterious figure whose legend has followed a family for generations, from grandmothers who were secret jewel thieves to mothers who assumed multiple identities. Sam is a Moth Grand Slam champion, and his stories have also appeared on RISK!, Too Beautiful to Live, Benjamen Walker&#8217;s Theory of Everything The Moth Radio Hour.

Sam Dingman

Unknown Legend: The Family Ghosts of Rachel Getting Married

Luke Lorentzen is the director, producer, cinematographer and editor of <a href="https://midnightfamilyfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Midnight Family</a>, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and is in theaters from December 6 through 1091. The story of a family-run ambulance business in Mexico City, Midnight Family has played at over 130 film festivals around the world and has won over 25 awards including a Special Jury Award for Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest. Lorentzen&#8217;s first film, Santa Cruz del Islote (2014) – a short documentary about a small and densely populated fishing community in Colombia – won awards at more than 10 international film festivals including the San Francisco International, Full Frame Documentary, Camden International, and Chicago International. Luke is also part of the creative team behind the Netflix documentary series, Last Chance U. His work explores elements of everyday life, often through rigorous formal means, questioning and experimenting with the ways in which non-fiction stories are told. Originally from Connecticut, Luke currently lives in San Francisco.

Luke Lorentzen

The Craft of Building Trust

Odessa is a Los Angeles-based artist. Her new album All Things was produced in tandem by Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Conor Oberst), Wilco’s Pat Sansone, and Spoon’s Jim Eno. The collection is both psychologically raw and emotionally mature, a graceful meditation on acceptance and perseverance that’s fueled by ethereal vocals and elegant string arrangements. It’s a work of catharsis and release, to be sure, but more than that, it’s the sound of a songwriter rediscovering herself, of an artist reclaiming the strength and promise she’d all but forgotten she possessed.

Odessa

Odessa Pushes Through the Low Points

Beth Aala is a three-time Emmy Award-winning producer and Peabody Award winner for her documentary work at HBO. Beth’s latest documentary, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/made-in-boise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Made in Boise</a>, premieres on October 28th on PBS’ Independent Lens. Her previous documentary, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, which she co-directed and produced, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Beth was nominated for the 2015 News and Documentary Emmy Awards for her film, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2013 Toronto International Film Festival), which she directed and produced with comedian Mike Myers. Her directorial debut, Pool Party (2010), played at festivals all over the world. She resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two boys. In her free time (ha!), she makes woodblock prints, cooks, takes way too many photos of her kids, and documents her travels around the world.

Beth Aala

The New American Family

Morgan Enos is a musician, essayist and music journalist specializing in classic rock. He records and performs as <a href="https://finalhouse.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://finalhouse.bandcamp.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE969PQS5H6jwcQaH3Zb_8LZ4WVew">Other Houses</a> and has bylines in Billboard, HuffPost, the Recording Academy, Vinyl Me, Please, TIDAL and more. He is also the co-founder and editor of <a href="https://northoftheinternet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://northoftheinternet.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGi0xmSRKyGPRseoPZ41v4L7WkbQw">North of the Internet</a>, a series of conversations with creative people. He can be found at <a href="https://www.morganenos.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.morganenos.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG79-8vfghEO9sl4msNRI9Ts-3rdQ">his website</a>.
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Morgan Enos

Remembering My Dad Through Classic Rock’s Greatest Misses

Evocative music can be some of the best. And musician Shannon Carey, who performs under the moniker Luray, has a particular knack for doing just that. Her songs feel welcoming, yet elusive, like a long-forgotten photograph you find at the bottom of a box, a memory that gets hazier with each passing year.
&#8220;My songs tell me what’s going on with me, like my unconscious trying to get my attention,&#8221; explains Carey, who had plenty to unravel in her life leading up to the recording of her sophomore full length, Dig. &#8220;My marriage broke up while I was writing this album and the songs started to speak to me about my relationship and what I was hoping for and holding onto. What I wasn’t letting myself acknowledge. I moved to Richmond and set to finishing the songs for the record. I wrote more songs about how it felt to lose, and how it felt to be starting over.&#8221;
Although Carey has called Richmond, Virginia home for a number of years, her music has an inescapable imprint of her Wisconsin upbringing. And it&#8217;s back in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that she set about recording the album, enlisting her brother Sean Carey to produce. &#8220;The band drove out to Wisconsin and met up with Sean and engineer Brian Joseph, who had just completed building his own studio, which he called The Hive. It&#8217;s in the woods and feels very &#8216;Northern Wisconsin&#8217; — feels like a little haven from the world.&#8221; The Hive became the perfect locale to capture such a personal collection of songs. &#8220;It’s hard to explain how intimate the recording process was, but it felt very insular and almost delicate. After the end of that relationship that had been so central, I felt a little fragile and obviously in transition. Sometimes you can hear something tentative in my vocals. I had been getting my new life together for the past year, but it still felt strange.&#8221;
The eleven songs that came to form Dig provide a stolen glance at a snapshot of Shannon Carey&#8217;s life, yet invite listeners into the story to explore for themselves. It also marks the closing of one chapter and the beginning of the next.
(Photo Credit: Jake Cunningham)

Luray

Spend Some Quality Time with Luray and S. Carey

A graduate of USC’s Master of Professional Writing program, Autumn McAlpin is a filmmaker and owner of Side Gig Productions; her debut feature as writer-director, <a href="http://www.missarizonamovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miss Arizona</a>, is in select theaters from July 12 through Cinedigm. She recently co-wrote and produced the feature film, Waffle Street, starring James Lafferty and Danny Glover, which won several awards on the festival circuit and is now available worldwide on Netflix, DVD and VOD. She has also directed two award-winning short films, PSA campaigns, and has two other feature films in development. The former actress and model is the author of Real World 101: A Survival Guide to Life After High School, and Autumn worked for several years as a columnist for The Orange County Register, writing about the chaos and conundrums of life as a mother of four. Beyond creative storytelling, Autumn runs the nonprofit Aspire Higher, which connects south Orange County families to volunteerism causes, and she actively supports Operation Underground Railroad and Welcome Inn.

family