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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Writer, director and producer Kerry Mondragon’s latest film, the pscyhedelic jungle thriller <a href="https://dekanalog.com/film/wetiko-detail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wetiko</a>, is out now on digital. Best known for his films, Tyger Tyger (2020) and Meet Me at a Funeral (2015), Mondragon was born and raised in the ancient haunts of the Sonoran barrios and borderlands of the Mexican desert, a landscape populated by wild poets, peyote roadmen, and saintly Mexican grandmothers. He wrote poetry at an early age and corresponded with Allen Ginsberg at age 10, until Ginsberg&#8217;s death. After his biological father left, he was raised by his mother and step-father (turned-father,) they relocated to Marin County, California where he was blasted by the culture shock of a very different world. He discovered the dark shadow side of the wealthy county – a youth scene of bullying, trauma, drugs, alcohol – and was disgusted by the spiritual pretense of their culture. Bullied out of middle school and unable to adjust to high school, he lived the life of the youth underworld of one of the nation’s wealthiest towns. Throughout, he honed his artistic skills, he dropped out of college, worked at an ad agency and used that money to jump onto a crowd-funded Spike Lee feature film where he assisted the legendary director in prep and principal photography. This served as his film school. Upon returning to California and after significant life experiences, he resolved to make something pure, honest, and true – something stripped of all Hollywood illusions that was recognizable to those still lost in the pain of addiction – something to give hope to the hopeless. (Photo by Federico La Tona © Uninflected Pictures.)
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Kerry Mondragon

Film

Murder, Fever Dreams and Spiritual Reckoning: Behind the Scenes of Wetiko

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: Charles Lane

Lily Lady is an artist from New York City. Lily&#8217;s journalism can be found in Office and Dirty Magazine and their feature film, <a href="https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/sams-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam&#8217;s World</a>, is available digitally on Tubi, Amazon Prime and more platforms via Factory 25. Lily’s full length poetry collections are quickie (2022), NDA (2024) and Blood Brother (2026). (Photo by Max Lakner.)

Lily Lady

Fear Factor’s Animal Problem

Erika Burke Rossa is a writer, director, producer and actor whose feature directorial debut, <a href="https://tribecafilm.com/films/rain-reign-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rain Reign</a>, starring Paul Rudd, Jeremy Sisto, Felice Kakaletris and Gretchen Mol and based on Ann M. Martin’s bestselling novel of the same name, is now playing at the Tribeca Film Festival. Born to a Moroccan Jewish mother and Irish Catholic American father, and raised in Hong Kong and Taiwan, her multicultural and multi-faith upbringing shaped her commitment to stories that reflect the world in all its complexity. She has also directed for the stage, most recently helming Sarah DeLappe&#8217;s Pulitzer Prize-finalist play The Wolves at the Piven Theater with young actors from the Actors Training Center, where she coached and mentored young performers. Erika has also volunteered with Have Dreams, supporting children on the Autism spectrum.

Erika Burke Rossa

The Anti-Anti-Hero

Kyra Sedgwick is an Emmy Award®- and Golden Globe®-winning actress, producer and director who can currently be seen in the romantic crime thriller <a href="https://www.carolinacarolinemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carolina Caroline</a>, opposite Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, which is in theaters now. Sedgwick&#8217;s feature Family Movie, a horror-comedy co-directed with Kevin Bacon and starring their children Travis and Sosie Bacon, had its world premiere at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival, and she recently starred alongside Kevin Bacon and Judd Hirsch in the feature film The Best You Can. Sedgwick’s previous directing credits include the feature films Space Oddity starring Kyle Allen and Alexandra Shipp, Story of a Girl, which earned her a DGA Award nomination, and Girls Weekend, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Sedgwick has contributed her directing talents to notable series such as Ray Donovan, City on a Hill, Grace and Frankie, and others.

Kyra Sedgwick

Three Great Things: Kyra Sedgwick

Ruth Leitman is an award-winning filmmaker recognized for highlighting social justice issues in feature documentaries over the past 20 years. Her 1994 film <a href="https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/wildwood-nj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wildwood, NJ</a> (1994) has enjoyed a second life as a viral film since 2009 and screened at Hot Doc’s fifteen-year anniversary festival in 2013, and is currently playing at the <a href="https://lowcinema.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Low Cinema</a> in Queens. In 2015, she directed for Kartemquin Films’ Al Jazeera America documentary series Hard Earned, which was nominated for an International Documentary Association Award and won an Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Journalism Award (2016). Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival and Hot Docs, Lipstick &amp; Dynamite (2005) won the Documentary Storytelling Prize at Nantucket Film Festival and was broadcast on Showtime and her immigration film Tony &amp; Janina’s American Wedding (2010) premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival and won a jury prize as well as several social justice awards. Alma (1998) won the Documentary Feature Jury Prize at the Hamptons Film Festival and screened at IDFA, SXSW, Director’s Guild of America, and Whitney Biennial. Learn more at her website, <a href="http://ruthlessfilms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ruthless Films</a>.

Ruth Leitman

That Girl in My Films

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955. – Jeremy Sisto

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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Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Zia Anger