A new video essay from Mark Rappaport about movies in movies, and how the screen watches us just as we watch it.

Video Essay: Mark Rappaport on The Empty Screen

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Travis Gutiérrez Senger is a Mexican American director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles. His recent project, <a href="https://ascofilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ASCO: Without Permission</a>, a genre-defying film about the Chicano, avant-garde art group ASCO, premiered at SXSW 2025 and is out now on PBS. The film is executive produced by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. The project has received support from the Ford Foundation, Film Independent, the Dolby Creator Lab and was recently given the Cinema Tropical Award for Best U.S. Latinx Film. His prior narrative and documentary projects, Desert Cathedral, White Lines and the Fever, along with a number of shorts, have won top prizes at festivals such as Tribeca, SXSW, and SIFF. He founded ANM Films, a premium film and TV company, focused on bold, progressive Latinx stories.

Travis Gutiérrez Senger

Film

Notes on a Dedication

Clark Duke is an actor, writer and director best known for Clark and Michael, The Offce, Sex Drive, Kick-Ass and Hot Tub Time Machine. Originally from Arkansas, Clark attended film school at Loyola Marymount University. His thesis film was the pilot for Clark and Michael. Clark was most recently seen alongside Vince Vaughn, Liam Hemsworth and John Malkovich in his feature directorial debut, Arkansas. Clark also produced and co-wrote the film, an adaptation of John Brandon’s acclaimed novel. Stranglehold, Clark’s sophomore feature as a writer, producer, and director, is out now, a comedy thriller starring Ashley Benson, Jake Lacy, Justin Long, Chandler Duke, and Ron Perlman. His upcoming third feature is an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel You Don’t Love Me Yet. (Photo by Steven Meiers Dominguez.)

Clark Duke

Three Great Things: Clark Duke

Melody C. Roscher’s debut feature film as a writer and director, <a href="https://www.futureoffilmisfemale.com/bird-in-hand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bird in Hand</a>, premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in the U.S. Competition category and is out now in theaters. The film is preceded by a companion short film she wrote and directed, White Wedding, that premiered at 2021’s Sundance Film Festival, and played in dozens of festivals around the world. Her directing and writing work comes off years of producing film, television and commercial work. Some notable works include Borderline Films Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, and Josh Mond’s works Christine; James White, Simon Killer, and Martha Marcy May Marlene. For these works she was nominated for two Independent Spirit awards including Best First Feature for James White, and Piaget Producer’s Award for Christine. Other cult favorites include Dean Fleischer-Camp’s Catherine, starring Jenny Slate, and Robin Comisar’s Great Choice. Melody hails from both New York City, and Richmond, Virginia where she now resides. She’s a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Melody C. Roscher

The Genetics of a Film

Comedy trailblazer and actor Dane Cook is currently the subject of the new documentary <a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/funny-money-the-dane-cook-story/umc.cmc.7bpcjxhy42pl3uekhh3fpdxkq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story</a>, which is now on digital. He has released a number of record-breaking comedy specials including Vicious Circle, Isolated Incident, Harmful if Swallowed, Retaliation, Tourgasm and Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden. In addition to stand-up comedy, he is known for his various acting roles in movies such as Mr. Brooks, My Best Friend’s Girl, Dan in Real Life, Employee of the Month, Good Luck Chuck, Waiting… and more. He was the second comedian to ever sell out multiple shows at Madison Square Garden and is about to announce a massive 2027 tour which can be found on DaneCook.com. Cook, originally from Arlington, Massachusetts, currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Kelsi Taylor, and their two dogs, Chopper and Ripley.

Dane Cook

Three Great Things: Dane Cook

Nick Dawson talks with filmmakers, musicians and comedians whose work he loves, avoiding the mundane, predictable questions they&#8217;ve heard numerous times and instead asking substantive, thoughtful questions that get to the heart of who they are.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That

Podcast

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Vicky Krieps

Acclaimed producer and actor Leonardo Nam can now be seen returning to his fan-favorite role as Maddox Hatter in Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, now streaming on Disney+. He is best known for HBO&#8217;s Westworld, where he starred opposite Thandiwe Newton as Felix Lutz, as well as standout roles in Marvel’s Werewolf by Night, Netflix’s Yes Day, and in films such as Origin, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Off-screen, Leonardo is also entering a major new chapter creatively with the launch of Good On Ya Productions; his independent film and television banner focused on globally minded, character-driven storytelling. Born in Argentina to Korean immigrant parents and raised in Australia, Leonardo brings a uniquely international perspective to both his acting and producing work.

Leonardo Nam

Someone Sent My Family a Hateful Homophobic Note. We Responded to Fear with Visibility.

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Talkhouse

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Mark Rappaport’s film include From the Journals of Jean Seberg and Rock Hudson’s Home Movies. Since 2014, Rappaport has made 20 video essays ranging from 10 minutes to an hour, including one for Talkhouse, <a href="../video-essay-mark-rappaport-on-the-empty-screen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Empty Screen</a>. His new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Book-Dreams-Mark-Rappaport/dp/6086733902" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Book of Dreams</a>, a mesmerizing collection of almost 100 photomontages, is now available to buy. Four collections of his essays and fictions — all about film — The Moviegoer Who Knew Too Much, (F)au(x)tobiographies, and The Secret Life Of Moving Shadows — Pt 1 and Pt 2 are available as e-books.

Mark Rappaport

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Jay Baruchel is currently starring in the 1970s-set biopic <a href="https://www.independentfilmco.com/films/the-stunt-driver" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Stunt Driver</a>, now in theaters through IFC, and recently starred in the award-winning film BlackBerry, portraying co-founder Mike Lazaridis. He has starred in numerous studio feature films including This Is The End, Knocked Up, She’s Out of My League, Tropic Thunder, The Trotsky, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and the Academy Award-winning Best Picture Million Dollar Baby. He is also the voice of “Hiccup” in DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise and TV credits including the critically acclaimed comedy Man Seeking Woman and Judd Apatow’s cult hit Undeclared. Baruchel co-wrote the cult hockey film Goon with Evan Goldberg, starring alongside Seann William Scott, Alison Pill and Liev Schreiber, and reprised his role in Goon: Last of the Enforcers, which he also co-wrote and directed, marking his directorial debut. In 2019, Baruchel co-wrote, directed, and starred in the horror thriller Random Acts of Violence, alongside Jesse Williams and Jordana Brewster.

Jay Baruchel

Three Great Things: Jay Baruchel