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Talkhouse

Dan Gregor&#8216;s first feature as writer-director working in film and TV. He is currently a writer on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and his past TV credits include How I Met Your Mother, The Comedians and Adult Swim&#8217;s NTSF:SD:SUV. His debut feature as writer-director, <a href="http://lionsgateathome.com/most-likely-to-murder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Most Likely to Murder</a> starring Adam Pally, Rachel Bloom and Vincent Kartheiser, is now available on VOD.

Dan Gregor

Film

My Porno Tape Story

Brendon Small is a director and stand up comic. He’s also the creator, writer, and musician behind the animated series Metalocalypse and Home Movies and the band Dethklok. Look for the album Galaktikon II: Become the Storm and the Galaktikon comic from Albatross Comics. (Picture by Jim Donnelly.)

Brendon Small

The Sci-Fi That Ignited My Brain

Natalia Almada is a director, writer, producer and editor who was a 2012 MacArthur “Genius Award” Fellow and recipient of the 2009 Sundance Documentary Directing Award for her film El General. <a href="https://www.cinematropical.com/new-events/new-york-theatrical-release-of-natalia-almadas-everything-else" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Todo lo demás </a>(Everything Else), Almada’s debut feature fiction film, is released theatrically on May 4. Her 2011 film El Velador, about violence in Mexico, premiered at New Directors/New Films and played as part of the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. Her previous credits include All Water Has a Perfect Memory, an experimental short film that premiered at Sundance in 2002, and Al Otro Lado, her 2005 award-winning debut feature documentary on immigration, drug trafficking and corrido music. Almada graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives between Mexico City and San Francisco.

Natalia Almada

The Invisible Woman

Bobby Miller is a filmmaker and author from New Jersey who lives in Los Angeles. His films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW and Fantasia. His debut novel, Situation Nowhere, is available now. Learn more at: <a href="http://www.SituationNowhere.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SituationNowhere.com</a>.

Bobby Miller

How I Made “Emo Gremlins” (With a Little Bit of Help)

Tamer El Said is a filmmaker living between Berlin and Cairo, where he was born in 1972. He studied filmmaking and journalism and went on to make many documentaries and short films that received several international and local awards. Tamer founded Zero Production in 2007 to produce independent films. He is also a co-founder of <a href="http://cimatheque.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cimatheque</a> – Alternative Film Centre in Cairo, a multipurpose space that provides facilities, training and programing for the independent filmmaking community. <a href="http://bigworldpictures.org/films/inthelastdaysofthecity/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In the Last Days of the City</a>, his first feature film, plays in select theaters from April 27 through Big World Pictures.

Tamer El Said

A Journey Through Doubts, Memories and Streets

Ashley Bell is the author of Shoot it. Sell it. Show it. How I Made an Independent Film With Grit &amp; Google and the director, writer and producer of <a href="http://loveandbananas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Love &amp; Bananas: An Elephant Story</a>, which is out through Abramorama in April, starting with special screenings on Earth Day, April 22.

Ashley Bell

How Directing a Documentary About Elephants Led to Me Finding My Voice

Nijla Mu&#8217;min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Named one of the 2017 <a href="http://filmmakermagazine.com/people/nijla-mumin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://filmmakermagazine.com/people/nijla-mumin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1524571778612000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-Amz57jqB--hxi4Jr0H5o9kv4XA">&#8220;25 New Faces of Independent Film&#8221;</a> by Filmmaker magazine, she tells stories about black girls and women who find themselves between worlds and identities. Her short films have screened at festivals across the country. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been recognized by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent and the Princess Grace Foundation. In 2011, she worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s film Middle of Nowhere. Her debut feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee and Simone Missick (Netflix’s Luke Cage), premiered at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, where she won the Special Jury Recognition Award for Writing. Her short film Dream was acquired by Issa Rae Productions (Insecure, HBO) for online streaming. She is a 2013 dual-degree graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Writing Programs. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Shadow and Act, The East Bay Express and The Los Angeles Times.

Nijla Mu’min

Growing Pains

Mara Wilson is a writer, playwright, actor, and storyteller perhaps best known as the little girl from Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and Matilda. Her acclaimed memoir, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, was published by Penguin in 2016. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Wilson regularly appears at live storytelling and comedy shows, including her own, What Are You Afraid Of?. Her writing can be found on Jezebel, The Toast, McSweeney’s, The Daily Beast, and Cracked.com, and on her blog, <a href="http://MaraWilsonWritesStuff.com">MaraWilsonWritesStuff.com</a>. A voice actor on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, she will guest star on upcoming episodes of Broad City and BoJack Horseman. She lives in New York City. (Photo by Ari Scott.)

Mara Wilson

The Right to Live Differently, or Why Blame It on Fidel is My Comfort Movie

Courtney Moorehead Balaker is an award-winning filmmaker, theatre director, and founding partner of Korchula Productions, a film and new media production company devoted to making important ideas entertaining. She wrote, directed, and produced her feature debut, <a href="http://littlepinkhousemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Little Pink House</a>, starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn; the film is released theatrically on April 20. Courtney also produced Can We Take a Joke?, a Korchula Productions documentary about the clash between comedy and outrage culture, as well as The Collector, American Pie Presents the Naked Mile and Pulse. Courtney previously served as a producer on the award-winning PBS documentary series America in Primetime. (Picture by Ricardo Hubbs)

Courtney Moorehead Balaker

How Having A Baby Made Me Fearless (and Crazy) Enough to Direct My Debut Feature

Serena Dykman is a New York–based filmmaker and self-described “culture-clasher” who uses storytelling to connect people through humor, heart, and humanity. A proud third-culture kid, she was born in Paris and raised across Brussels, the French Antilles, London, and New York. A graduate from NYU&#8217;s Tisch School of the Arts, she has made films which range from comedy to drama and documentary, and earned more than 25 awards, including a Webby Award and a Humanitas Prize nomation. At just 23, Serena directed her debut feature documentary, <a href="https://www.nanafilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nana</a>, about her grandmother’s survival of Auschwitz. The film was theatrically released by First Run Features and led her to speak internationally at institutions such as the European Commission and Amnesty International. She recently completed three films Babka, At See and M.U.B., and is developing several scripted and unscripted projects. She works between New York, Los Angeles, Europe, and wherever a good story takes her. Find out more about her at her <a href="https://www.serenadykman.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official site</a>.

Serena Dykman

On Being a Millennial Making a Holocaust Film

Aisha Tyler is an actress, broadcaster, writer and filmmaker. She is known for her roles in the TV series Friends, Ghost Whisperer, Criminal Minds and Archer, and is also currently the co-host of CBS&#8217; The Talk and the host of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the podcast Girl on Guy. She recorded the comedy special Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore in 2009, and is the author of two books, including Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation. Her directorial debut feature, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Axisthefilm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axis</a>, is available on VOD from April 10.

Aisha Tyler

Aisha Tyler’s Guide to Recovering From Disaster

Mark Pariselli is a writer and director based in Toronto. He graduated magna cum laude from York University with a BFA in Film Production. Retrospective programs of his short films have been presented in Toronto, Sicily, New York City and Montreal. He is currently developing his first feature. Go to <a href="http://markpariselli.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">markpariselli.com</a> for more info.

film essay