In the final episode from SXSW, host Ondi Timoner leads a conversation on the taboo subject of mental health with advocates and filmmakers.

WeTalk — Brave Art: Mental Health and the Justice System

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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

Film

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

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: Zia Anger

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Lucía Aleñar Iglesias is a writer-director based in Los Angeles. Her feature debut <a href="https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/forastera/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forastera</a> premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is in theaters now through Grasshopper Film as a New York Times Critic&#8217;s Pick . She holds a BFA in Film from NYU and an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University. Lucía‘s short film Forastera (2020) screened at numerous major international festivals, including Cannes Critics’ Week, Curtas Vila do Conde, Les Arcs, Oberhausen, and was nominated for a Gaudí Award. Lucía developed the feature version of Forastera with the Critics’ Week Next Step programme. She took part in La Résidence through Cannes Cinéfondation and received the ArteKino award during MIA Market. Lucía has worked in the casting department for the Safdie brothers’ Good Time and line-produced for Academy Award-winning Peggy Stern. (Photo by Agnès Piqué Corbera.)

Lucía Aleñar Iglesias

Forastera: Shape-Shifting Through Language

Eric Appel’s latest film, <a href="https://breadwinnermovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Breadwinner</a> starring Nate Bargatze, is out now in theaters. Appel previously co-wrote, directed, and produced Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which premiered at TIFF, won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award, and secured an Emmy for Outstanding TV Movie, among other major nominations and awards. Appel also directed both seasons of Die Hart for The Roku Channel, starring Kevin Hart with John Travolta and John Cena, and recently directed multiple Season 2 episodes of the Sony/Apple+ series The Afterparty. He served as series director and executive producer for the Lord Miller live action/animation hybrid Fox series Son of Zorn after directing the pilot, and has directed episodes of hit shows including Silicon Valley, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office, and Happy Endings. Appel was an early director for Funny or Die, creating iconic viral hits, and his writing credits include comedic programs like Human Giant, The Andy Milonakis Show, and Crank Yankers, following his time performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York.

Eric Appel

Being The Breadwinner

Chie Hayakawa’s latest film, the 1980s-set lyrical coming-of-age drama <a href="https://renoir.film/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renoir</a>, premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is in theaters from tomorrow through Film Movement. Born in Tokyo, Hayakawa studied photography at School of Visual Arts in New York. Her debut feature, <a href="https://www.kimstim.com/film/plan-75/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Plan 75</a>, premiered at Cannes and was Japan&#8217;s official selection for Best Foreign Language Feature at the Oscars. Hayakawa&#8217;s short film version of Plan 75 was the acclaimed opening segment of feature anthology Ten Years Japan, executive produced by internationally acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Ten Years Japan screened as a world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2018, followed by successful theatrical releases and an international festival tour.

Chie Hayakawa

My Little Irene

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Talkhouse

Formed in Omaha in the early 2000s by Stephen Pedersen following his departure from Cursive, Criteria has always lived in the space between melody and weight, control and collapse, moving only when there was something real enough to justify it. Criteria’s latest record SEIZE! reflects a period of profound personal and professional change: relationships dissolving, chapters closing, and attention turning toward the fragile beauty of the present. It’s out now on Spartan Records. 
(Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel)

Stephen Pedersen

Music

Mood Board: Criteria’s SEIZE!

Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk” w/ Hanif Abdurraqib

787: The Food Writer to Romance Novel Pipeline with Eliza Dumais & Julia Turshen

Linda Perry

953. – Shaad D’Souza

Producer/director&nbsp;Ondi Timoner has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice. Her 2004 doc, <a href="http://www.interloperfilms.com/portfolio/dig/">Dig!</a>, explores the star-crossed rivalry of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while her 2009 top prize-winner, <a href="http://www.interloperfilms.com/portfolio/we-live-in-public/">We Live in Public</a>, examines privacy in the virtual age through Internet visionary Josh Harris&#8217; social experiments. Her company <a href="http://atotaldisruption.com">A Total Disruption</a>&nbsp;releases weekly short docs about thought leaders and doers who are transforming our lives through technology.

Ondi Timoner

post

I Heard Sex Is Over