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Talkhouse

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Deborah Shaffer&#8216;s new documentary, <a href="https://www.filmmovement.com/queen-of-hearts-audrey-flack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack</a>, is out now in virtual cinemas through Film Movement. Shaffer began making social issue documentaries as a member of the Newsreel collective the ’70s, and co-founded Pandora Films, one of the first woman’s film companies, which produced several shorts. Her first feature documentary, The Wobblies, premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1979. During the ’80s, Shaffer focused on human rights in Central America and Latin America, directing many films including Witness To War: Dr Charlie Clements, which won the Academy Award for Short Documentary in 1985, and Fire From the Mountain and Dance of Hope, which both played at the Sundance Film Festival. Shaffer directed one of the first post-September 11 films, From The Ashes: 10 Artists, followed by From The Ashes: Epilogue, which premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals. She is also the executive producer of the Academy Award-nominated short Asylum, and has directed numerous acclaimed public television programs on women and the arts. She directed and produced To Be Heard, which won awards at numerous festivals and aired nationwide on PBS. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award by the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Deborah Shaffer

Film

How the 1960s Protest Movements Shaped Me as a Filmmaker

With a career that encompasses five Grammys, numerous chart successes and personal and professional accolades, as well as collaborations with some of the world’s most prominent artists, Michael McDonald remains an enduring force in popular music. Hailing from St. Louis, McDonald arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, honing his talents as a studio musician before becoming an integral part of Steely Dan. In the mid-’70s McDonald was invited to join the Doobie Brothers as the band redefined their sound with McDonald serving as singer, keyboardist and songwriter on such Top 40 singles as “Takin’ It To The Streets,” “It Keeps You Runnin’,” “Minute By Minute” and “What A Fool Believes.”
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s McDonald’s solo career took off with a string of hits including “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near),” “Sweet Freedom,” “On My Own” (with Patti LaBelle) and the Grammy-winning James Ingram duet “Yah Mo B There,” plus he co-wrote the Van Halen hit “I’ll Wait.” McDonald has performed with a who’s-who of critically acclaimed artists across a number of genres, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Vince Gill, and Grizzly Bear.
(Photo Credit: Timothy White)

Michael McDonald

Music

Michael McDonald is Ready to Dismantle America’s Authoritarian Regime

Andrew Matthews is an Austin-based filmmaker whose film Zero Charisma won the Audience Award at SXSW. He is the creator and writer of several award-winning educational series for PBS Digital Studios.

Andrew Matthews

Why Independent Filmmakers Make Great Activists

Adam Egypt Mortimer is a filmmaker and writer living in Los Angeles. His debut feature, the indie horror film Some Kind of Hate, was released theatrically in 2015 by Image Entertainment. He directed the &#8220;New Year&#8217;s Eve&#8221; segment of the anthology horror film Holidays, which also features segments by Kevin Smith, Nicholas McCarthy and Gary Shore. He also wrote the acclaimed comic book series Ballistic, published by Black Mask Studios; the collected trade paperback for the series was published in 2015.

Adam Egypt Mortimer

How Volunteering for Hillary Taught Me to Take Action Against Impending Doom

Tom Maxwell is a musician (late of Squirrel Nut Zippers and The Minor Drag) and writer (Al Jazeera America, The Oxford American, The Bitter Southerner). He’s glad to combine the two for The Talkhouse.

Tom Maxwell

We Need Art Now, More Than Ever

Bruce LaBruce is a filmmaker, writer, photographer and artist based in Toronto, Canada. Recently there have been retrospectives of his films at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto and at MoMA in New York City. His latest feature, The Misandrists, will be released in 2018.

Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce (Gerontophilia) Talks Michael Winterbottom’s The Emperor’s New Clothes

political activism