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Talkhouse

Lone Scherfig is a Danish writer and director. Her many acclaimed films include Italian for Beginners, the fifth official &ldquo;Dogma&rdquo; film, which won three awards at the Berlin International Film Festival; her first English-language film, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself; and the 2010 movie An Education, which won Sundance&#8217;s audience award and received nine BAFTA nominations and three Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Nick Hornby) and Best Actress (Carey Mulligan). Her latest film, The Kindness of Strangers, starring Zoe Kazan, Tahar Rahim, Andrea Riseborough, Bill Nighy, Caleb Landry Jones, and Jay Baruchel, is in select theaters through Vertical Entertainment from February 14.

Lone Scherfig

Film

The Final Scene

Chelsea Stardust’s second feature, the horror comedy Satanic Panic, produced by Fangoria and Cinestate, releases theatrically through RLJE Films on VOD and digital HD on September 6. Her first feature film, the science fiction thriller All That We Destroy, was a part of Blumhouse series “Into the Dark” and is currently available on Hulu. Her Her first short film, Where Are You? was a part of the 2019 Etheria World Tour and was also featured on Nerdist’s Short Ends on Alpha. Chelsea also released four short films on Crypt TV, Slay Per View, Marco Polo, Project Hope and Under The Bed, two of which have exceeded over one million views. She recently directed a horror/musical/comedy for the stage titled Slashed! The Musical for the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival, which was nominated for Best Musical, Screamiest Show and won the Encore Award.

Chelsea Stardust

Thank You, Kathryn Bigelow

Krys Marshall has wasted no time establishing herself as a promising young actress, gaining respect and accolades for her hard work on the stage and screen. She can currently be seen as a series regular in the AppleTV+ series For All Mankind playing the role of Danielle Poole, a NASA engineer and astronaut. The series explores what would have happened if the global space race had never ended, and Krys’ character Danielle is the first African-American astronaut of NASA and the first black woman to set foot on the moon. They are currently filming the show’s second season. When not working, Krys loves to travel, and has visited more than 50 countries, across five continents.

Krys Marshall

Help a Sister Out

Anita Flores has produced and starred in videos for Buzzfeed, Univision, and Pride.com. She hosts 2 monthly comedy shows called <a href="https://www.timeout.com/newyork/comedy/party-of-two" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Party of Two</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/arts/comedy-in-nyc-this-week.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gross Girls</a>. She is currently on tour with <a href="http://www.awkwardsexandthecity.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Awkward Sex and the City</a> and has a podcast called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/im-listening-with-anita-flores/id1335196851?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I’m Listening</a> where she explores different themes and pivotal moments from the show Frasier with a new guest each episode. For more, visit her <a href="http://anitajewtina.weebly.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official site</a>.

Anita Flores

How Horror Movies Help Me Cope With Difficult Emotions

Richard Stanley is the director and co-writer of H.P. Lovecraft&rsquo;s Color Out of Space starring Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson and Tommy Chong, currently playing on a screen somewhere near you. Stanley made his directorial debut with the apocalyptic sci-fi horror film, Hardware, and returned to his South African roots with his second feature film in 1992, the supernatural road movie romance Dust Devil, cementing his status as a cult director of genre cinema. The production of Stanley&rsquo;s third feature film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, was fraught with legendary challenges that eventually led to the director&rsquo;s ousting from his own dream project, to be replaced by John Frankenheimer. Stanley&rsquo;s experience on the film led to the award-winning documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley&#8217;s Island of Dr. Moreau. For Stanley, bringing Color Out of Space to the screen represents the culmination of more than 20 years of preparation.

Richard Stanley

The Mythos Meme or, How Great Cthulhu Ate My Brain and Made Me Like It!

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

Ben Mullinkosson is a cinematographer and director based between Los Angeles and Chengdu, China, often on the road making documentaries and commercial work. He has worked with brands such as Facebook, Samsung, Yelp, HBO, and Home Depot. His most notable films have been New York Times Op-Docs, Vimeo Staff Picks, and have been featured at festivals such as the Tribeca International Film Festival, the Slamdance Film Festival, and more than 50 others internationally. His most recent film, <a href="https://dontbeadick.oscilloscope.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Don’t Be a Dick About It</a>, won the Audience Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and is out now through Oscilloscope Films.

Ben Mullinkosson

The Benefits of Being Hungover as a Documentary Filmmaker

Bert&amp;Bertie are a female writing-directing duo from London with combined backgrounds in photography and performance and their own unique style of storytelling and playful realism. Blurring lines between reality and whimsy, they craft a distinctive world full of heartwarming invention that crackles with emotion and is driven by affecting performances. Their multiple short-film awards—including a BAFTA—have paved Bert&amp;Bertie’s way into the world of feature films. Their debut feature, the &#8220;great girl adventure&#8221; <a href="https://www.troopzero.movie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Troop Zero</a>, starring Viola Davis, Mckenna Grace, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Epps and Allison Janney, premiered at Sundance 2019 and is now available on Prime Video. (Photo by Alexo Wandael.)

Bert&Bertie

Bert&Bertie’s Great Girl Adventure

Born in London, Andrew Desmond is a British film director based in Paris. After attending the ESRA (Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle) film school in Paris and obtaining a Master Degree in filmmaking at Denis Diderot University, he went on to direct music videos, commercials and several short films. His 2014 short, Entity, was selected over 50 festivals worldwide, won five awards and was bought by Cine+ and NBC Universal in France, Shorts TV in the UK and the KQED Network (PBS) in the USA. Andrew`s debut feature, The Sonata, a horror film starring Freya Tingley and Rutger Hauer, is in select theaters through Screen Media from January 10.

Andrew Desmond

In a Bubble

Liz Manashil earned her B.A. in Film and Media Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and her M.F.A. from USC&#8217;s School of Cinematic Arts. Post-graduation, Liz spent several years as a film critic for the PBS/Hulu series Just Seen It (which she also helped produce and direct), while also working with distribution guru Peter Broderick. In 2016, Liz became the manager of Sundance&#8217;s groundbreaking Creative Distribution Initiative until the program&#8217;s close in 2019. Her debut feature, Bread and Butter, which was called “an absolute must-watch for women everywhere” by HelloGiggles, was released by The Orchard and can be seen on VOD nearly everywhere. Liz’s second feature film, Speed of Life (starring Ann Dowd and Allison Tolman), will be released January 10, and she is now in production on her third, Lady Parts. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Laura Palmer, her partner, Sean Wright, and her son, Colin. She currently works as the Senior Manager, Impact Distribution for Picture Motion. To watch Speed of Life: <a href="https://www.speedoflifefilm.com/how-to-see-speed-of-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.speedoflifefilm</a>.

Liz Manashil

Looking Backwards and Forwards

Aaron Schimberg&#8216;s latest film as writer-director, <a href="https://www.kinolorber.com/film/chained-for-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chained for Life</a>, starring Adam Pearson and Jess Weixler, is in select theaters from September 11 through Kino Lorber. His debut feature Go Down Death (2013) was called “an astonishing out-of-nowhere film” by Filmmaker magazine and “a stunning midnight movie in the tradition of Jodorowsky and The Saragossa Manuscript” by The Dissolve. He has received grants and fellowships from Cinereach, New York Film Festival Artist Academy, Frontiéres and the IFP Labs. Chained for Life is his second feature film.

Aaron Schimberg

Revisited: How Not to Talk About a Film (Not) About Disability

&#8220;We met 11 years ago as competitors on On the Lot, Steven Spielberg’s reality show search for up-and-coming filmmakers. We made a new short film every week and lived together for a summer, sequestered in a bungalow on a studio lot in Los Angeles.
Out of the 12,000 filmmakers who started the competition, we both finished in the top 5 but short of the prize. But we won something better than the competition: a lasting friendship and collaboration. Over the years we’ve directed digital and TV projects, most recently the live-action version of Disney’s Kim Possible.
Freaks is our first feature film, and the first project that we’ve written. As a result, it’s the most personal and artistic expression of who we are as filmmakers.”

film essay