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Talkhouse

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

Film

Short Film Premiere: Your Own Good

Nicola Rose is a film director and writer from New York City. Most recently she completed her second feature film, <a href="https://www.magnetospheremovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magnetosphere</a>, a coming-of-age comedy about growing up neurodivergent with synesthesia. The film, which is <a href="https://www.freestyledigitalmedia.tv/film/magnetosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now available</a> for rent or purchase throughout North America, stars Colin Mochrie, Patrick McKenna, Debra McGrath, Tara Strong, Steven He, and Shayelin Martin. In 2021, Nicola directed and wrote her first feature film, Goodbye, Petrushka, which premiered at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and is now streaming on many major platforms. ​Previously, Nicola directed, wrote and produced several short films. She is a graduate of Columbia University and the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Paris. (Photo ©Kisha Peart.)

Nicola Rose

Sing, Dance and Be Yourself: How Two Films Helped Heal One Hurt

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

A Walk with My Dog and Falling (Back) in Love with the Journey

Zyortza is a Spanish writer-director based between Los Angeles and Spain whose work explores identity, cultural duality, and the resilience of immigrant women. With a background in acting and degrees in Film Production and African-American Diaspora Studies and an MFA in Film Directing, she has a storytelling style that blends emotional rawness with sociopolitical depth. Her latest short film, <a href="https://www.idesmovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I Don’t Even Skate</a>, follows Nahiki, an undocumented girl chasing a dream on wheels while battling exploitation and survival in the shadows. The film, now on the festival circuit, captures the stakes of choosing between safety and self-determination. Zyortza creates in both Spanish and English and is currently developing her debut feature, to be shot across Spain and Los Angeles. More at <a href="http://www.zyortza.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">zyortza.com</a>.

Zyortza

You Think You Know the Story

Anna Maguire and Kyle Greenberg are the British-Canadian-American filmmaking duo behind the 2024 short film <a href="https://hiyouarecurrentlybeingrecorded.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded</a>, the dog-friendly screening series and book Cannes Dogs and the newly launched Vancouver festival, OFF-VIFF. They started Stupid Co in 2024, not only to make a really cool hat, but to build a home for their own artistic work and to create space for playfulness, creativity and independence for a growing community &#8230; With their second short, French Lessons, hitting festivals in 2025, plus features in pre and post-production, they bring together their own defined practices to create something more than the sum of its parts. Seriously though, let us know if you want a hat!

Anna Maguire and Kyle Greenberg

When Form and Content Echo Each Other: The Endless Loop

Emma Claire Crockett was born and raised in the humid heat of Alabama, to a nurse and an environmental scientist. A self-proclaimed “cinephile,&#8221; she spent much of her free time at Blockbuster, selecting movies for her portable DVD player. In 2020, she relocated to New York City to study acting at the Atlantic Acting School. There, she discovered her love for writing and filmmaking through improv and film classes. After graduating in 2022, she co-founded the production company Tomato Tomato Pictures with Sara Demetree. Emma is inspired by examining humankind in all its gore and glory. Elsewhere: A Place for Girls Like You and Me is her directorial debut. She would also like you to know she uses both “Emma Claire” and “Emma” interchangeably, and will respond to both!

Emma Claire Crockett

Making My First Short Film (and How I Possibly Cursed My Set …)

Anna Roberts-Gevalt is one-half of the experimental folk duo Anna &amp; Elizabeth (alongside Elizabeth Laprelle).
(Photo Credit: Francie Seidl Chodosh)

Anna Roberts-Gevalt

Music

Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Peter Coccoma Are Looking for the Gooey Center of Folk Music

Jenn Harris is an award-winning writer-director, actor and producer from a small cornfield town in Illinois who takes comedy very seriously 😉 She can currently be seen in the Oscar-winning film American Fiction. Her short film She&#8217;s Clean, which she wrote, directed and starred in, won Best Director at the Poppy Jasper Film Festival and Best Actress at The Los Angeles Short Film Festival. Her series New York is Dead premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, and won Best Comedy at the New York Television Festival and Best Actress at SeriesFest. Her short film Island Queen, starring Rachel Dratch and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, played several prestigious festivals in 2020, including the San Francisco Film Festival and Florida Film Festival. As an actor in New York, Jenn is known for originating the role of Clarice Starling in Silence! The Musical and won a Lortel and Theatre World Award for her performance in Modern Orthodox. Some film and television credits include: High Maintenance, Search Party, 30 Rock, Gayby, Difficult People, Younger, Bored to Death and Fits and Starts. Jenn is a Professor at USD where she teaches Acting for the Camera and Comedy for the MFA acting program. She is also a recent mentee of the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Director Program.

Jenn Harris

Better in Person

Paul Taylor is a writer and director. His directorial debut, Driftwood, is a feature length film entirely devoid of dialogue, and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance 2016 Film Festival. He followed this with the short film, Succulent, which screened at the 2018 Sidewalk Film Festival and was part of Spectacle Theater&#8217;s Hidden Visions series. Kiddo, his most recent short film, screened at the 2022 Sarasota Film Festival and later that year at the Tallgrass Film Festival where it was presented with the award for Outstanding Screenplay. Prior to his work as a writer and director, Paul was a cinematographer for a number of years, having shot a myriad of independent features and shorts. He resides in New York with his wife, daughter, two cats and a variety of houseplants.

Paul Taylor

Short Film Premiere: Kiddo

Erin Vassilopoulos is filmmaker based in New York. Her directorial feature debut, <a href="https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/superior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Superior</a>, which she co-wrote and co-edited, premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and opens theatrically at BAM on March 25 through Factory 25. Her short films have screened at Sundance, the Berlinale, BFI London Film Festival, and Tribeca, and have been featured at Vimeo Staff Picks and ARTE TV. She is now developing her next feature film, What We All Want, a mystery/psychological drama about characters whose lives intersect in a dying mall and also in post on Step into the Mattress, a short film supported by grants from the Future of Film is Female (2021) and New York State Council on the Arts (2019). In addition to filmmaking, she has directed music videos for Horsegirl, Parquet Courts, The Wants and NOIA. (Photo by Marie Constantinesco.)

Erin Vassiloupoulos

How the Elevator of Blood from The Shining and a Breakup Inspired My Film Superior

Victoria Negri is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and actor. Her directorial debut, <a href="http://goldstar-film.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gold Star</a>, which she also wrote and stars in, world premiered at the Buffalo International Film Festival in October 2016, where it won the Audience Award, was released theatrically in fall 2017, and is currently available through Amazon Prime. Negri is currently in development on her second feature as writer-director, Ultra.

Victoria Negri

Short Film Premiere: The Walk

Julia Marchese is a filmmaker, actor, podcaster, cinephile and film programmer living in Hollywood, California. Her first film was the award-winning documentary Out of Print, about the importance of revival cinema and 35 mm exhibition to culture, and she is currently the co-host of the popular horror podcast Horror Movie Survival Guide. She recently crowdfunded on <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/i-know-what-you-need-a-stephen-king-adaptation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IndieGoGo</a> for her forthcoming Dollar Baby short film I Know What You Need, based on Stephen King&#8217;s story of the same name from Night Shift. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @juliacmarchese.

short film