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Talkhouse

Sophia Dunn-Walker is a French-American director and co-founder of Emmy-winning ENKIDU International Productions. Her feature documentary on the autism spectrum is currently in post-production, following a 2026 screening of its short version at the American Pavilion at Cannes. She has collaborated with Pussy Riot on several projects, and her visual approach is rooted in fine art and fashion photography, including early work assisting Annie Leibovitz and legally blind photographer Kurt Weston. Dunn-Walker has cone dystrophy, which affects color perception and visual acuity and has become an integral part of how she approaches image-making. She is also an advocate for disability representation in the arts. (Photo by BK Studios.)

Sophia Dunn-Walker

Film

The Camera is a Womb

Chris Merola is a writer and filmmaker from Long Island, New York. He holds an MFA in Film &amp; Television Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His debut feature, <a href="https://www.antennareleasing.com/films/lemonadeblessing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lemonade Blessing</a>, premiered in the U.S. Narrative Competition at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. The film went on to win the Audience Award for Best Comedy at the 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival, the Cineclubs Jury Prize at the 25th Tarragona International Film Festival, and was selected for Letterboxd Video Store&#8217;s second Unreleased Gems showcase.

Chris Merola

Two Halves of a Chalky White Pill

Travis Gutiérrez Senger is a Mexican American director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles. His recent project, <a href="https://ascofilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ASCO: Without Permission</a>, a genre-defying film about the Chicano, avant-garde art group ASCO, premiered at SXSW 2025 and is out now on PBS. The film is executive produced by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. The project has received support from the Ford Foundation, Film Independent, the Dolby Creator Lab and was recently given the Cinema Tropical Award for Best U.S. Latinx Film. His prior narrative and documentary projects, Desert Cathedral, White Lines and the Fever, along with a number of shorts, have won top prizes at festivals such as Tribeca, SXSW, and SIFF. He founded ANM Films, a premium film and TV company, focused on bold, progressive stories.

Travis Gutiérrez Senger

Notes on a Dedication

Melody C. Roscher’s debut feature film as a writer and director, <a href="https://www.futureoffilmisfemale.com/bird-in-hand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bird in Hand</a>, premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in the U.S. Competition category and is out now in theaters. The film is preceded by a companion short film she wrote and directed, White Wedding, that premiered at 2021’s Sundance Film Festival, and played in dozens of festivals around the world. Her directing and writing work comes off years of producing film, television and commercial work. Some notable works include Borderline Films Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, and Josh Mond’s works Christine; James White, Simon Killer, and Martha Marcy May Marlene. For these works she was nominated for two Independent Spirit awards including Best First Feature for James White, and Piaget Producer’s Award for Christine. Other cult favorites include Dean Fleischer-Camp’s Catherine, starring Jenny Slate, and Robin Comisar’s Great Choice. Melody hails from both New York City, and Richmond, Virginia where she now resides. She’s a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Melody C. Roscher

The Genetics of a Film

Acclaimed producer and actor Leonardo Nam can now be seen returning to his fan-favorite role as Maddox Hatter in Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, now streaming on Disney+. He is best known for HBO&#8217;s Westworld, where he starred opposite Thandiwe Newton as Felix Lutz, as well as standout roles in Marvel’s Werewolf by Night, Netflix’s Yes Day, and in films such as Origin, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Off-screen, Leonardo is also entering a major new chapter creatively with the launch of Good On Ya Productions; his independent film and television banner focused on globally minded, character-driven storytelling. Born in Argentina to Korean immigrant parents and raised in Australia, Leonardo brings a uniquely international perspective to both his acting and producing work.

Leonardo Nam

Someone Sent My Family a Hateful Homophobic Note. We Responded to Fear with Visibility.

Louis Paxton is a writer and director from Edinburgh, Scotland. After studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he completed an MA in Directing at the National Film and Television School in London. His feature debut, <a href="https://sumerianpictures.com/movies/the-incomer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Incomer</a>, an offbeat comedy starring Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin and Grant O&#8217;Rourke, premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and is out now in theaters through Sumerian Pictures. Learn more at his <a href="https://www.louispaxton.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official website</a>.

Louis Paxton

Fast Forward

Paula González-Nasser (she/her) is a Colombian filmmaker currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. In 2016, she and Ryan Martin Brown co-founded 5th Floor as a film collective after graduating together from the film program at Florida State University. Paula&#8217;s feature directorial debut, <a href="https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/the-scout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Scout</a>, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and is in theaters from September 25 through Greenwich Entertainment. In 2025, Paula was named one of 25 new faces in independent film by Filmmaker Magazine. She has also produced films like Melina Valdez’s Weapons And Their Names, which premiered at Sundance 2023, and Ryan Martin Brown’s Free Time, which received three nominations at the inaugural Slamdance Indie Awards. She is a two-time Gotham Film Week participant and a 2023 Sundance Producers Intensive Fellow. Previously, Paula worked as a location scout on many New York films and TV shows such as High Maintenance, Russian Doll, Search Party, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and more. (Photo by Jamie Rice.)

Paula González-Nasser

How I Became The Scout

Julia Marchese is a filmmaker, writer, actor, podcaster, film programmer, VHS Vixen &amp; film critic. She’s known for directing the award-winning feature documentary Out of Print, an acclaimed exploration of repertory cinema culture and film preservation. She also adapted Stephen King’s short story I Know What You Need into an award-winning short film. Julia co-hosts the podcasts Horror Movie Survival Guide, The Loser’s Club and JodoWOWsky, reviews a VHS from her rainbow wall every day on her social media channels and writes about cinema for Talkhouse. Her work frequently explores nostalgia, genre cinema, physical media culture, and the communal power of moviegoing. She is @juliacmarchese on all platforms.

Julia Marchese

What I’ve Learned From Reading All of Stephen King

Adam Rifkin is a writer-director whose eclectic career ranges from family comedies to thought-provoking indies to cult classics. Notable titles include The Dark Backward, Detroit Rock City, Look, Giuseppe Makes a Movie, Mousehunt, Small Soldiers and The Last Movie Star. His latest film, the Western <a href="https://lasttraintofortune.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Last Train to Fortune</a>, starring Malcolm McDowell, James Paxton, Mary Steenburgen and Bernadette Peters, is out now in theaters.

Adam Rifkin

The Little Train That Finally Came Home

Avalon Fast’s new film <a href="https://darkskyfilms.com/film/camp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CAMP</a> hits theaters on June 26. They hail from Vancouver Island, BC, and their first film, Honeycomb, which was selected for the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival and went on to screen at Boston Underground, Calgary Underground, Etheria LA, Fantasia, and many more. In 2026, they premiered Drinking and Driving &#8211; co-directed, co-starring, and co-written with Jillian Frank &#8211; at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies. In addition to writing and directing, Fast recently starred in Louise Weard’s cultural breakout trans DIY epic Castration Movie Anthology, co-starred in prolific young filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay’s sapphic horror The Serpent’s Skin, and appeared in Jane Schoenbrun’s recent Cannes sensation Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

Avalon Fast

Chemical Come-down and August in the Water

Shannon Plumb has shot over 200 short films, which have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and on international screens. She started by shooting herself as various characters, acting out three-minute situations using humor and silence as her vehicles for storytelling. In 2013, her first feature film, Towheads, premiered at MoMA as part of New Directors / New Films; it is now streaming on the <a href="https://www.criterionchannel.com/towheads" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Criterion Channel</a>. You can see her short films at <a href="http://shannonplumb.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shannonplumb.com</a> and Towheads is available on Netflix and iTunes. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, director Derek Cianfrance, and their two sons.

film essay