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Talkhouse

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

Film

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.

Mark Pariselli

Reclaiming Horror Movie Monsters as Queer Icons

Stephen Cone&nbsp;is a Chicago-based filmmaker whose films include&nbsp;Princess Cyd&nbsp;(BFI London Film Festival, BAMcinemaFest) and&nbsp;Henry Gamble&rsquo;s Birthday Party&nbsp;(BAMcinemaFest, Maryland Film Festival), both of which are currently streaming on Netflix, as well as the Outfest-winning,&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;Critics Pick&nbsp;The Wise Kids, which can be found streaming on Hulu. Other films include&nbsp;Black Box&nbsp;(Devolver Digital),&nbsp;This Afternoon&nbsp;and&nbsp;In Memoriam&nbsp;(Vimeo).&nbsp;Stephen&nbsp;teaches in the Department of Radio / Television / Film at Northwestern University.

Stephen Cone

Films for Children at the End of the World: An Appreciation of Carroll Ballard

Jordan Firstman and Charles Rogers are the filmmakers behind the short film Men Don&#8217;t Whisper, which screened at Sundance and SXSW and is currently being expanded into a feature film. Jordan is best known for his celebrated darkly comedic works The Disgustings, Sold and most recently Call Your Father, which he is adapting into a television series. He is a writer on the TBS series Search Party, which Charles co-created and executive produces. Charles also co-wrote and co-directed the independent feature Fort Tilden, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival. You can watch Men Don&#8217;t Whisper on Vimeo <a href="https://vimeo.com/channels/shortoftheweek/259883913" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Jordan Firstman and Charles Rogers

The 10 Things We Learned Writing a Movie About Our Relationship

Critically acclaimed writer, director and editor Aaron Katz was born and raised in Portland, OR. His movies include <a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/landho/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Land Ho!</a>, Cold Weather and Quiet City.

Aaron Katz

Tracking My On-Again, Off-Again Love Affair with VHS

Chapman and Maclain Way are filmmakers from Los Angeles. They directed the Netflix documentary The Battered Bastards of Baseball, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and in 2016, they directed a short documentary segment for Amazon&#8217;s docuseries The New Yorker Presents. Their new documentary series, Wild Wild Country, is now streaming on Netflix. (Image by Tiffany Roohani, courtesy Sundance Institute.)

Chapman Way and Maclain Way

Interviewing the “Villain” of Wild Wild Country

Sarah Moshman is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and director-producer of the films <a href="http://www.empowermentproject.com/">The Empowerment Project</a> (available on Hulu), <a href="http://losingsightofshore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Losing Sight of Shore</a> (currently on Netflix) and the upcoming <a href="https://www.neverthelessfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nevertheless</a>, which she is now crowdfunding on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1107652396/nevertheless-documentary-aims-to-end-sexual-harass" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kickstarter</a>. Sarah is dedicated to telling stories that uplift, inform and inspire as well as showcase strong female role models on screen. (Image by Brandon Kidd.)

Sarah Moshman

Why I Don’t Owe Anyone My Sexual Harassment Story

Susan Walter spent her youth working her way up the Hollywood ladder, taking the longest road possible to become a filmmaker, which she (finally!) did this spring. Her directorial debut, All I Wish, which she also wrote, made the Hollywood Blacklist of most-liked scripts, and stars Sharon Stone, Tony Goldwyn, Famke Janssen and Ellen Burstyn. The film will be in theaters from March 30 through Paladin Pictures. A Harvard graduate, before becoming a director she worked as an assistant director for eight years, wrote and directed a short film entitled Rubbernecks, produced and directed original content for the Internet long before anyone cared, worked as a development executive, and then as a screenwriter. She lives in Los Angeles.

Susan Walter

What Makes a Director

Leslie Zemeckis is an actress, author and award-winning documentarian. She is the co-author/creator of a one-woman cabaret show Staar wrote and produced the mockumentary film Staar: She&rsquo;d Rather be a Mistress, starring Carrie Fisher, Jeffrey Tambor and Fabio. She wrote, produced and directed the critically acclaimed documentary Behind the Burly Q, the true story of old-time burlesque, based on the bestselling book of the same name. Her second book, Goddess of Love Incarnate, the story of iconic burlesque stripper Lili St. Cyr and has garnered interests in film and Broadway for adaptation. Her second film is the award-winning Bound by Flesh, about vaudeville superstars Daisy and Violet Hilton. Her third documentary, Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer, about Mabel Stark, the world&rsquo;s first female tiger trainer, is forthcoming through Cinema Libre Studio. Find more at <a href="http://lesliezemeckis.com/">lesliezemeckis.com</a>.

Leslie Zemeckis

The Ultimate Game of Trust

Kaouther Ben Hania constantly explores the boundaries between fiction and documentary; her sixth film,<a href="https://www.thevoiceofhindrajabfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> The Voice of Hind Rajab</a>, is now in theaters. As a filmmaker, she constantly explores the boundaries between fiction and documentary. Her previous film, Four Daughters, was nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Awards 2024, after being presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film received numerous prestigious awards and was sold in over 40 territories. Her 2021 film, The Man Who Sold His Skin, was also nominated at the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film in 2021, representing Tunisia. All her other films have premiered at prestigious festivals including: Cannes, Venice, AFI, Los Angeles, Locarno, IDFA, Hot Docs Toronto. (Photo by Ammar Abd Rabbo.)

film essay