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Talkhouse

Sean Baker directed the award-winning and Spirit Award-nominated films Take Out and Prince of Broadway. His latest film, <a href="http://www.starletfilm.com" target="_blank">Starlet</a> (winner of the Robert Altman Spirit Award), marks the lead role debut of Dree Hemingway and was released in North America by Music Box Films. He is also one of the creators of the long-running comedy television show entitled Greg the Bunny and its spin-off, Warren the Ape. Collectively his films have garnered over 30 awards and nominations.

Sean Baker

Film

Sean Baker (Starlet) Talks William Friedkin’s Sorcerer

Rod Lurie is a writer-director. His films include Oscar-nominated The Contender and Straw Dogs. His TV series include Commander in Chief.  He is a sexual God.

Rod Lurie

Rod Lurie (Straw Dogs) Talks David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ Game of Thrones

Michael Tully is the director of Cocaine Angel (2006), Silver Jew (2007), Septien (2011), and Ping Pong Summer (2014). Since 2008, he has been the head writer/editor of <a href="http://www.hammertonail.com/" target="_blank">Hammer to Nail</a>, a website devoted to championing ambitious cinema. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and puppy.

Michael Tully

Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer) Talks Jim Mickle’s Cold in July

With a strange mix of underground horror shock and existential atmosphere, Calvin Lee Reeder made a name for himself with short films like Piledriver and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDFaLFA5VBY" target="_blank">Little Farm</a>. His features films <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWJiYebSQYM" target="_blank">The Rambler</a> (Anchor Bay Films) and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE7lxnhqYJ8" target="_blank">The Oregonian</a> (Factory 25) divided and excited Sundance audiences just as his shorts had before them. Reeder specializes in turning lo-fi splatter pics into art films by meshing high-concept thought and design with genre storylines. Follow him <a href="https://twitter.com/CalvinLeeReeder" target="_blank">here</a>.

Calvin Lee Reeder

Calvin Lee Reeder (The Rambler) Talks Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality

Lou Howe&#8216;s debut feature film, Gabriel, starring Rory Culkin, premiered in competition at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and is released by Oscilloscope Films on June 19. The project was awarded an Annenberg Feature Film Grant by the Sundance Institute, as well as financial support from Cinereach, and was one of 10 projects selected for the IFP Narrative Labs. A graduate of Harvard and the MFA Directing program at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles, Howe was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film for 2013.
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Lou Howe

Lou Howe (Gabriel) Talks Sam Fleischner’s Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Anthony C. Ferrante made his feature writing and directing debut with the ghost story Boo, starring Dee Wallace, but it’s not nearly as ironic as his latest directorial efforts, Sharknado and the forthcoming Sharknado 2: The Second One due out July 30 on Syfy. Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Ferrante doesn’t hate sharks, only tornadoes.

Anthony C. Ferrante

Anthony C. Ferrante (Sharknado) Talks Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla

David Lowery is a filmmaker from Texas. His work as a director has been shown at Sundance, SXSW and the Cannes Film Festival, and includes Pioneer, St. Nick and Ain&#8217;t Them Bodies Saints. As an editor, he has cut such films as Bad Fever, Sun Don&#8217;t Shine and Upstream Color, for which he received an Independent Spirit Nomination. As of this writing he is working on a movie about a dragon.

David Lowery

David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) Talks James Gray’s The Immigrant

Yung Chang is the multi-award-winning director of Up the Yangtze《沿江而上》(2007), China Heavyweight《千錘百鍊》(2012), The Fruit Hunters (2013) and Gatekeeper (2016). In 2015, Chang was a Fellow at the prestigious Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, where he worked on his first dramatic feature, Eggplant.. Chang’s films have screened at international film festivals including Sundance, Berlin, TIFF, and IDFA, and have played theatrically in cinemas around the world. His latest feature documentary, <a href="https://www.kimstim.com/film/this-is-not-a-movie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This Is Not a Movie</a>, which follows the controversial Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, is now screening virtually and at select theaters around the country. (Photo by Richmond Lam.)

Yung Chang

Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) Talks Andreas Johnsen’s Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

Adam Leon is a writer-director born and raised in NYC. His feature debut, Gimme the Loot, won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW, was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard) and was released theatrically in 2013 by IFC Films. His second feature, Tramps, is available worldwide on Netflix from April 21.

Adam Leon

Adam Leon (Gimme the Loot) Talks Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto

Terence Nance is an Artist, Musician, and Filmmaker born in Dallas, Texas in what was then referred to as the State-Thomas community. Nance wrote, directed, scored, and starred in his first feature film, <a href="http://ofherbeauty.com">An Oversimplification of Her Beauty,</a> which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2013. In 2014, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow. In the summer of 2018, Terence’s Peabody award-winning television series Random Acts of Flyness debuted on HBO to great critical acclaim, and was renewed for a second season by the network. His latest release as a musician, Vortex+, came out in early 2025.

Terence Nance

Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) Talks Richard Ayoade’s The Double

Michael Mohan’s new film, the erotic thriller <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CSFX3NP/?ref=DVM_US_DL_SL_GO_AST_21VOYR_mkw_sTXIQHLhA-dc_pcrid_544725152548" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Voyeurs</a>, starring Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy and Natasha Liu Bordizzo, is out now on Amazon Prime Video. Mohan received critical acclaim for his short film Pink Grapefruit, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Award for Narrative Short at SXSW Film Festival. He co-created and executive produced the Netflix original series Everything Sucks!, which he also directed. This ’90s-set coming-of-age series, which also stars Sydney Sweeney, became an instant cult favorite, as many LGBTQ+ youth across the globe still use it as a tool to help them come out to their parents. Additionally, Michael wrote and directed the independent film Save the Date starring Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, and Martin Starr, which premiered in competition at Sundance and later released by IFC Films. Previously, Michael was the senior coordinator at the Sundance Writing and Directing Labs, under Michelle Satter. Films developed during his time there include Taika Waititi&#8217;s Boy, Cary Fukunaga&#8217;s Sin Nombre, and Dee Rees&#8217; Pariah.

Michael Mohan

Nicholas Stoller is a screenwriter and director, directing projects like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, and Neighbors. He wrote The Muppets and is a frequent creative partner of Jason Segel.

Nicholas Stoller

Michael Mohan (Save the Date) Talks Nicholas Stoller’s Neighbors

Onur Tukel is a writer, director and illustrator. Some of his films include Catfight, The Misogynists, Scenes From An Empty Church and Summer of Blood. He co-wrote the children&#8217;s books Let&#8217;s Make a Movie! and The Legend of Halloween with David Gordon Green, and his latest book, the illustrated novel <a href="https://www.pitchstonebooks.com/catalog/run-werewolf-run" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Run Werewolf Run</a>, is out now.

film commentary