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Talkhouse

Rachel Elizabeth Seed is an LA-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing. Her debut feature film, <a href="https://www.rachelseed.com/#/apm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Photographic Memory</a>, premiered at True/False 2024 and was cited as “one of the best docs of the year” by Rogerebert.com and “an ingenious, meta doc” by Variety. Rachel’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Pictures, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Maine Media Workshops, the Roy W. Dean grant, the Jewish Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners, and IFP/Gotham Labs, among many others. Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries including Sacred by Academy-Award winning filmmaker Thomas Lennon. Rachel’s writing has been published by No Film School, the Sundance Institute and Talkhouse

Rachel Elizabeth Seed

Film

The Day After the Party

Haroula Rose is a filmmaker and performer from Chicago, now living in Los Angeles. In 2025, All Happy Families, her sophomore feature film as writer, director and producer, was released in theaters nationwide. The film was executive produced by Michael Shannon and stars Josh Radnor, Becky Ann Baker, Chandra Russell, Rob Huebel, John Ashton, David Pasquesi and Colleen Camp. Her debut feature as writer-director, Once Upon a River, an adaptation of the bestselling novel, won 19 awards at over 40 festivals worldwide. Haroula was selected to be part of Hello Sunshine’s short film series, for which she wrote and directed a romcom fable called Hound of Love. Other acclaimed short films and videos include As They Slept, Lost &amp; Found, Wedding Dress, No Love Song and Baby Crazy. Rose received her BA and MA from the University of Chicago, and attended USC&#8217;s MFA program. As a producer she has worked on Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, David Sington’s The Fear of Thirteen, Heaven Adores You, Permanent and Saint Frances. Rose has released three LPs as well as remixes, singles and EP’s with Thirty Tigers and Tone Tree Music. Her latest collaboration is a group of compositions with Oliver Hill, released on Ba Da Bing Records in early 2025.

Haroula Rose

Some Holiday Spirit: On Film and Chosen Families

Actress, writer and producer Mary Neely first came to the world’s attention with her viral musical theater videos during the pandemic, earning praise from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as being named &#8220;Best Theater of 2020&#8221; by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Since then, she has continued to act, edit, go on tour as a solo stand-up, produce showcases for comedic writers, and direct projects such as her short film Pink Trailer, which premiered at SXSW,  and the TV pilot Stars Diner, which premiered at SXSW this year and won Best of Late Night at Series Fest in May. Additional credits include MGM&#8217;s Valley Girl, Sony&#8217;s Lyle Lyle Crocodile, and Netflix&#8217;s Happiness for Beginners. Mary can currently be seen opposite Subway Takes&#8216; Kareem Rahma in <a href="https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/or-something" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Or Something</a>, which they also co-wrote together; the film is out now in theaters through Factory25.

Mary Neely

The Anxiety of Digital Permanence and Independent Filmmaking

Michael Felker is the director, writer, producer and editor of the new sci-fi thriller <a href="https://www.magnetreleasing.com/thingswillbedifferent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Things Will Be Different</a>, which is out now through Magnet Releasing. Michael is known for editing feature films The Endless, Synchronic, Spring, Sunset on the River Styx, Get the Girl and, most recently Something in the Dirt. Michael has directed and produced several dozen short films over the last 15 years including most recently Would You Like to Try Again? and Save and Continue. He is from Huntsville, Alabama, and is a graduate of Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts. (Photo by Jori Lynn Felker.)

Michael Felker

“Where Else Can I Go?” Or, How I Reckoned With My Movie Almost Completely Falling Apart On Day One

Christopher Munch’s first feature, The Hours and Times, was released in 1992, and won prizes at Sundance and Berlin. Munch’s subsequent features include: Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1997), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Harry and Max (2004), and Letters From the Big Man (2011). His most recent feature, The 11th Green (2020), a what-if chronicle of President Eisenhower’s folkloric (or not) involvement in UFO events, was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and named one of the best movies of the year by The New Yorker. He is currently preparing to shoot A Cat Called Nadja, which dramatizes the converging catastrophes of his aborted first feature and a near-fatal relationship.

Christopher Munch

Staunchly Independent: A Personal Remembrance of Robert M. Young

Pete Ohs writes, directs, shoots and edits. His latest film, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09L77C3SG/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youngstown</a>, is now streaming on Amazon Prime. He is a four-time Emmy-Award winner and was named one of Filmmaker Magazine&#8216;s &#8220;25 New Faces of Independent Film&#8221; for 2013. His feature-length sci-fi film Everything Beautiful Is Far Away stars Julia Garner &amp; Joseph Cross. premiered in competition at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Fiction Cinematography Award, was acquired by The Orchard and is currently available to stream online. He edited the features Beast Beast directed by Danny Madden, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and Olympic Dreams, starring Nick Kroll and Alexi Pappas and directed by Jeremy Teicher, which premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival and was named one of the 10 best films at the Festival by both Hollywood Reporter and Indiewire. He lives and works in Los Angeles. (Photo by Christian Sorensen Hansen.)

Pete Ohs

No Script. No Budget. No Crew. No Problem.

Laura Terruso is a screenwriter, director and producer. Her latest comedy, Work It, will premiere on Netflix later this summer.&nbsp;Her previous film, Good Girls Get High, will be available on HBO Max in July. Her feature debut as writer-director, Fits And Starts,&nbsp;premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival and is available on Amazon. She co-wrote and co-produced the film&nbsp;Hello, My Name Is Doris, starring Sally Field and directed by Michael Showalter. The feature is based on her short film&nbsp;Doris &amp; The Intern. Released by Roadside Attractions, Hello, My Name Is Doris went on to become one of the top grossing indies of 2016. Laura attended NYU&rsquo;s graduate film program at the Tisch School of the Arts. She is repped by CAA, Industry Entertainment and SGSBC.

Laura Terruso

How Do We Get Back to Work During Coronavirus? By Embracing Our Indie Roots

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

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

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

Rod Blackhurst is a Nashville-based filmmaker whose latest film, the horror movie <a href="https://dolly.movie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dolly</a>, is out now in theaters through IFC and Shudder. His first fiction feature, Here Alone, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically by Vertical Entertainment, and his thriller Blood for Dust, starring Scoot McNairy, Nora Zehetner, Ethan Suplee, Amber Rose Mason, Stephen Dorff, Josh Lucas and Kit Harington, came out theatrically in 2024. His first documentary feature, the Netflix Original Amanda Knox, premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Rod Blackhurst

The Independent Film System is Broken (and Some Advice on How to Succeed Anyway)

Award-winning writer-director Maggie Greenwald’s films include The Kill-Off, The Ballad of Little Jo and Songcatcher. Her most recent film, Sophie and the Rising Sun, is now streaming on Netflix. TV work includes the films What Makes a Family, Get a Clue and Good Morning Killer, along with recent forays into episodic directing. She is currently developing the feature biopic Tokyo Rose – The Treason Trial of Iva Toguri. (Picture by Larry Ford.)

Maggie Greenwald

How I Found Abundance Moving from Indie Features to Episodic TV

Zia Anger is a filmmaker and music video director. Her debut feature, <a href="https://mubi.com/en/us/films/my-first-film" target="_blank" rel="noopener">My First Film</a>, is streaming globally on MUBI from September 6. In 2018 she began touring a new solo performance that traces the last ten years of her lost and abandoned work, titled My First Film. The performance was named by The New Yorker as one of the “Sixty-two Films That Shaped the Art of Documentary Filmmaking.” Her most recent short, My Last Film, premiered at the 53rd New York Film Festival. She has made music videos for various independent artists, including Angel Olsen, Mitski, Julianna Barwick, Maggie Rogers, and Jenny Hval; the latter of whom she also tours with as a performer. In 2016, Zia participated in the Sundance Institute&#8217;s Screenwriter&#8217;s Intensive, and in 2015 she was included in Filmmaker magazine&#8217;s &#8220;25 New Faces of Independent Film.&#8221; Find out more at her <a href="http://www.ziaanger.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">official site</a>. (Picture by Theo Anthony.)

independent film