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Talkhouse

Shahnaz Mahmud is an award-winning journalist who has served as a staff writer for such publications as Adweek and freelanced for Screen Daily, Sports Business Journal and The Hollywood Reporter. She is a recipient of the 2017 Development Studio Screenwriting Fellowship through the NYU Production Lab and in 2018 was one of six selected participants of First Three Pages Live, sponsored by the Austin Film Festival, for her narrative feature, Olivia and the Fat Girl. Mahmud began her career as a researcher with ABC News and also worked on documentary programming for the A&amp;E Television Networks. She has an MA with concentrations in screenwriting and film studies and a BA in English &amp; American literature and journalism from NYU. She is based in New York City.

Shahnaz Mahmud

Film

The Myth of Sundance

Following its world premiere in Toronto, Annabel Jankel’s latest feature, <a href="http://gooddeedentertainment.com/tellittothebees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tell It to the Bees</a>, starring Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger is in theaters through GDE from May 3. Annabel, with Rocky Morton, was the creative force behind Cucumber Studios, which pushed the boundaries of filmmaking with innovative combinations of animation, CGI and live action, such as in the seminal video for Elvis Costello’s “Accidents Will Happen.” In the mid-eighties, Jankel co-created and co-directed Max Headroom, which led to co-directing Hollywood features, including the cult movies D.O.A., with Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, and Super Mario Bros., with Dennis Hopper and Bob Hoskins. Back in London, Jankel created the music documentary series Live From Abbey Road, and directed the TV feature Skellig, starring Tim Roth. A U.S. and U.K citizen, Annabel divides her time between London and Los Angeles.

Annabel Jankel

Sketch in Time

Born and raised in New York City, Jonathan Levine has been making films since the age of 12. A graduate of Brown University&#8217;s Art/Semiotics program and the AFI Conservatory, he made his directorial debut in 2006 with All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, following it up two years later with The Wackness, starring Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley, which won the Audience Award at Sundance and an Independent Spirit Award nod for Best First Screenplay. Levine has made two films with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen, 50/50 (2011) and The Night Before (2015), and in 2013 wrote and directed the hit adaptation of Isaac Marion&#8217;s YA bestseller Warm Bodies. He directed the pilot of the Showtime drama <a href="http://www.sho.com/im-dying-up-here" target="_blank">I&#8217;m Dying Up Here</a>, which debuts June 4, and the Amy Schumer-Goldie Hawn comedy <a href="http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/snatched" target="_blank">Snatched</a>, out May 12 through 20th Century Fox.

Jonathan Levine

I’m on a Train with a Hangover, But By God, I Will Fulfill My Obligation to Write This Talkhouse Piece About My New Movie, Long Shot!

Pollyanna McIntosh is an actor, writer and director who currently plays Jadis on The Walking Dead. Her feature debut as writer-director, Darlin&#8216;, had its world premiere at SXSW 2019, has subsequently played at festivals such as What the Fest!?, and is forthcoming in theaters later this summer. Her recent work in film has included The Woman, Filth, Let Us Prey, Burke and Hare and Tales of Halloween, while on TV she appeared in Sundance Channel&#8217;s Hap and Leonard and was the female lead in the BBC political comedy, Bob Servant Independent, starring alongside Brian Cox. Born in Scotland, she grew up in Portugal and Colombia and now lives in Los Angeles. (Picture by Lexus Gallegos.)

Pollyanna McIntosh

Naked and Barefoot in the Snow: A Day on Darlin’

Ant Timpson&nbsp;studied law before working in all facets of the industry from festivals and exhibitions to distribution and production. He created the hit series of films the ABCs of Death with his partner in crime Tim League and has produced a slew of successful features, including Housebound, Turbo Kid, and The Greasy Strangler. Timpson sports no tattoos, collects 35mm film prints, and loves animals. His first feature as director, Come to Daddy, has its <a href="https://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/come-to-daddy-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world premiere</a> at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25. (Image by David White.)

Ant Timpson

The Very Long, Dark and Strange Journey to Directing My First Feature

Pamela B. Green is the director of<a href="https://benaturalthemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché</a>, which is now in select theaters through Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber. In 2005, Green founded PIC, an entertainment and motion design boutique based in Los Angeles, California. Nominated for an Emmy for the documentary Bhutto, Green has produced main titles, created and advised on internal story sequences and marketing campaigns for films such as the Bourne series, Fast and Furious, The Muppets, Rings and several Marvel comic-book franchises. She has also worked on films such as The Cabin the Woods and The Kingdom. For television and streaming, she has created titles for Supergirl, The Flash and Quantico among many others. She lives in Los Angeles.

Pamela B. Green

How I Set Out in Search of a Cinematic Mystery – and Found Myself

Penny Lane has been making award-winning, innovative nonfiction films for more than a decade. Her latest documentary,&nbsp;Hail Satan?, about the The Satanic Temple, premiered at Sundance and is being released in select theaters by Magnolia from April 19.&nbsp;Her previous documentary features include&nbsp;The Pain of Others (2018),&nbsp;Nuts! (2016) and&nbsp;Our Nixon (2013). She&nbsp;was named one of Filmmaker magazine&#8217;s &#8220;25 New Faces of Independent Film&#8221; in 2012.&nbsp;Lane is currently an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Colgate University, where she lives in a very old house and shows movies in her barn. And yes, Penny Lane is her real name.

Penny Lane

I Finally Made a “Normal” Documentary. Here Is What I Learned.

Eva Husson is a writer and a director. Her second feature, <a href="http://cohenmedia.net/films/girlsofthesun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Girls of the Sun</a>, a film inspired by the true story of female fighters who took on ISIS, had its world premiere at Cannes and is now in select theaters through Cohen Media Group. Her debut feature, Bang Gang, premiered in 2015 in competition at the Toronto International Film Festival and was also selected at the BFI London, Rotterdam and Ramdam festivals. Husson has been a nomad most her adult life, living between the States, France, Spain, England and Puerto Rico, but was born and raised in France. She has a Masters in English Literature and a BA in Spanish Literature from the Sorbonne University, and an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. (Image by Caitlin Cronenberg.)

Eva Husson

The Words of Pain

Emma Tammi is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. The Wind, a supernatural western horror film which is in theaters now through IFC Midnight, is her first narrative feature as director. Tammi is the Co-Founder of Mind Hive Films and her most recent documentary films include Election Day (EPIX / Blumhouse) and Fair Chase (iTunes/Amazon). Born and raised in New York City, and the daughter of two actors, she grew up in the theatre world. Tammi has worked under a handful of great directors, including Robert Altman, Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University.

Emma Tammi

Alone in the Wilderness

Alex Ross Perry was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1984. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and worked at Kim’s Video in Manhattan. He is the director of the films Impolex, The Color Wheel, Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth, Golden Exits, Her Smell, Pavements and the new documentary Videoheaven.

Alex Ross Perry

How First Reformed’s Success Actually Points to a Dark Future for Independent Film

Laura Farber is a documentary filmmaker best known for her ability to draw inspiration from the field as a freelance producer in Chicago. Her production experience spans a variety of networks, including MSNBC, TLC, The Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, Discovery Health, and History. In 2012, Farber launched Lioness Productions, where she is committed to telling character-driven stories on topics she’s passionate about. We Are Columbine is the first feature documentary by Lioness Productions and Farber&#8217;s feature documentary directorial debut. It is now available on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/we-are-columbine/id1451990745" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iTunes</a>.

Laura Farber

How to Talk About Something People Never Actually Talk About

Adam Gussow is the subject of the documentary Satan &amp; Adam, directed by V. Scott Balcerek, which is in select theaters from April 12 through Cargo Film &amp; Releasing. Gussow, a professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, is the author of Mister Satan&#8217;s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir (1998) and Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition (2017).

film essay