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Cinemafile

Mike Kaspar

Cinemafile showcases the very best in independent, documentary and foreign films through our conversations with the more than 2,000 filmmakers who made them. Through Cinemafile we will do our best to bring the most interesting and accomplished filmmakers from around the world to your attention.

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78 episodes
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October 13 · 14 min
Following Harry - Director Susanne Rostock
Directed by Susanne Rostock (Sing Your Song), FOLLOWING HARRY joins legendary artist and civil rights leader Harry Belafonte as he embarks on a deeply personal and reflective journey, inspiring the next generation of entertainers and activists to disrupt injustice across the globe, striving for impactful change. FOLLOWING HARRY is an intimate documentary that chronicles the last twelve years of legendary Harry Belafonte’s life, highlighting the artist-activist's enduring commitment to social justice. Fueled by his tremendous sense of urgency to inspire the next generation of entertainers and activists to stand for justice, the film provides a window into both his public endeavors and private moments, capturing his journey from the aftermath of the death of Trayvon Martin, to his engagements in the protests in Ferguson, the Women’s March (which was created in his office), to the deeply and profound conversations in his home. The film ultimately amplifies Harry’s belief that “each generation must be responsible for itself. All I can do is leave behind the crumbs of my experience. I have a trail that you can follow, if you find value in it, pick it up and if you don’t, bring something better.” In addition to Harry Belafonte, Following Harry features; Aja Monet, Angela Davis, Aloe Blacc, Carmen Perez, Chuck D, Gina Belafonte, Jamie Foxx, Jesse Williams, Kerry Kennedy, Matt Post, Phillip Agnew, Rod Starz, Rosario Dawson, Sean Pica, & Talib Kweli and many more. About the filmmaker - Long esteemed as "an aural and visual poet", Susanne Rostock's filmmaking is a stunning 40 years of some of the most compelling documentaries of each decade. Her most recent film as director/editor, FOLLOWING HARRY, is a sequel to her film, Sing Your Song , about Harry Belafonte's earlier life as an artist and activist and was chosen to open the U.S. Documentary Competition section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Sing Your Song received top honors in festivals around the world, was shortlisted for an Oscar, and garnered the NAACP Image Award and a Gracie for Outstanding Director. An EMMY NOMINATED editor and director, she has achieved recognition on a myriad of films that continue to endure and resonate. Her 20-year multi-award-winning collaboration as editor with director Michael Apted has produced such richly provocative films as: The Long Way Home ; Incident At Oglala ; Me & Isaac Newton ; Inspirations; The Power of The Game; Moving The Mountain . Rostock is presently engaged in producing, directing, editing the documentary Between Starshine and Clay: The Hidden Diary of Diahann Carroll , co-directed by Suzanne Kay and Executive Produced by Serena and Venus Williams. Susanne studied anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking with Margaret Mead at Columbia University and received an MFA in Filmmaking from New York University. She resides in New York City.
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October 12 · 16 min
Bird in Hand - Director Melody C. Roscher
Inspired by Roscher’s own biracial experience, BIRD IN HAND follows the newly engaged Bird Rowe (Alisha Wainwright) as she returns to her rural hometown to plan the wedding with her narcissistic hippie mother Carlotta (Christine Lahti). Bird also has a hidden agenda, one that leads her to her mother's new neighbors, a misguided couple on a mission to 'rebrand' a plantation. Truth, lies, and fantasy collide against that backdrop, leading to a surprising climax as tender as it is funny. Roscher's bitingly comic feature film debut weaves themes of race, belonging, and family into Bird’s mercurial journey back to herself. James LeGros, Jeffrey Nordling, and Annabelle Dexter-Jones co-star in this A Future of Film is Female Release. We are joined by the director and co-writer Melody Roscher. About the filmmaker - Melody Roscher debut feature film as a writer and director, Bird In Hand premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in the US Competition category. 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.
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October 10 · 15 min
The Last Message - Subject Kelsie Kimberlin (Co-directors Andrii Voloshyn & Oleksii Mykhailovych Liebiediev)
In The Last Message, Kelsie Kimberlin travels to Ukraine to uncover why her 21-year-old cousin Andrii Rachok was killed by Russian forces during their full-scale invasion. Kelsie, a popular American-Ukrainian singer, struggles to record her song Star in his memory, realizing she must first seek absolution and witness Ukraine’s fight herself. Along the Ukrainian frontline, she meets soldiers, commanders, luminaries, and ordinary citizens enduring Russia’s unjust war, and visits Andrii’s gravesite amid drone and missile attacks. Through her journey, she discovers that Andrii has forgiven her and that every Ukrainian is a star and hero, defending their country with courage and resilience. We are joined my the subject of The Last Message Kelsie Kimberlin. About the subject - Kelsie Kimberlin is a 27-year old singer-songwriter who has been involved with music her entire life, starting with children’s and church choirs and then recording her first song at age eight for Yoko Ono’s Peace Project, which won first prize and a $5000 award. She spent all of that money on music lessons and started recording her own music in the studio at age 12. Over the past several years, she has recorded more than 100 original songs. About the filmmaker - Oleksii Mykhailovych Liebidiev is a Kyiv-based director, cinematographer, editor, and producer, and a graduate of the I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television. Over more than a decade, he has built a body of work spanning documentary and narrative film, working alternately as director, cinematographer, or both. His documentary credits include Alchemy of the Word (2012), which he directed and shot, Krasna Malanka (2014), and Naive Painting of M. Onatsko (2017), both as director of photography. In fiction, he shot the shorts Cold Rain of Solitude (2018) and Stronger Than an Angel (2018), and the feature The Address on the Wall (2021). More recently, Liebidiev directed and served as director of photography on the documentary series Extraordinary Fascism (2022) and the feature documentary The Last Message (2025). About the filmmaker - Andrii Voloshyn is a Ukrainian film director, producer and editor. He was born on July 27, 1980, in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. He began his professional career in audiovisual production as a production organizer and producer. A major stage in his professional development was his long-term collaboration with director and producer Serge Krutsenko. Working on concert, television, theatre and film projects, Voloshyn gradually moved from production into editing and directing. As an executive and line producer, he participated in cultural and film projects including the multimedia show The Little Prince for the ROSHEN fountain, projects of the Watch Ukrainian! initiative, the film anthology Everything Begins in Kyiv, the screen version of Yevhen Stankovych’s folk-opera When the Fern Blooms, the concert project Insha Rika by the band Druha Rika with NAONI, and the documentary film The Address on the Wall. He studied directing at the National Academy of Culture and Arts Management. At the beginning of 2022, Voloshyn joined the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation’s expert council in the field of audiovisual arts. After the beginning of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, he focused on documentary filmmaking. In 2022–2023, together with Oleksii Liebiediev, he worked on the documentary trilogy Extraordinary Fascism, examining contemporary Russian fascism, state propaganda and the ideological causes of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In 2023, as director and executive producer, he created the music videos Armageddon, Another Chance To Live Again and Turn Back with American singer Kelsie Kimberlin, focusing on Russia’s war against Ukraine. In May 2024, shortly after moving to the United States, Voloshyn proposed developing Kimberlin’s story as a feature-length documentary. This became The Last Message, on which Voloshyn served as co-director, co-author of the concept and screenplay, and editor.
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October 9 · 17 min
Stalin Boys - Co-directors Bianca Giaever and Ora DeKornfeld
STALIN BOYS follows four Mexican American middle school boys in a tiny Texas border town who have developed an unusual obsession with Joseph Stalin. When their teacher tells them about the Texas State History Fair, they decide to write and perform a play about the Soviet dictator and his efforts to destroy all who opposed him. Armed with cardboard props and fur hats purchased on the internet, the boys enter the competition as underdogs and leave home for the very first time. What begins as an eccentric school project develops into a funny, surprising and deeply engaging exploration of power, tyranny, bullying, history, friendship, and the ways young people grapple with ideas much larger than themselves. Joining us on Cinemafile are the co-directors of Stalin Boys Bianca Giaever and Ora DeKornfeld. *SXSW Audience Award Winner & SXSW Special Jury Award About the filmmaker - Filmmaker and radio producer Bianca Inga is the creator and host of the podcast Constellation Prize, distributed by The Believer Magazine. She has also worked as a producer on The New York Times audio team, hosting episodes of The Daily that include Delilah, An Obituary for the Land, and Cosmic Questions. Her film, radio, and print stories have appeared on This American Life, Radiolab, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Believer Magazine, and the TED conference. In 2013, her college short film the Scared is scared was named “Web Video of the Year” by USA Today. Her awards include a Daytime Emmy and a Webby Award and she is represented by m ssng p eces for commercial directing. Her latest project and upcoming film, Free Help, was profiled in The New York Times. She is currently a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and an Associate Fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard University. You can follow her latest on Instagram. Originally from Seattle, she is currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts after having spent many years between Vermont and New York City. About the filmmaker - Ora DeKornfeld is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who began her career as a video journalist at The New York Times. She now directs, shoots, and edits documentary films that resist easy answers — morally complicated, human-scaled, and often funny in the places you don't expect. DeKornfeld directed the Emmy-nominated short USA v SCOTT (Tribeca 2020, The New Yorker); STALIN BOYS (SXSW 2024), winner of both the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize; and THE GRANDFATHER PUZZLE (Full Frame 2026), winner of the Audience Award. She shot and edited Isabel Castro's MIJA (Sundance 2022) and was a co-editor on Elizabeth Lo's MISTRESS DISPELLER. She has directed multiple episodes of the Netflix Original Explained and is currently in production on her first feature film following journalistic fixers in Mexico.
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October 8 · 16 min
Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency - Co-directors Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle
When lightning ignites a firestorm in their redwood forest sanctuary in Northern California, longtime lovers and artists Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle are forced to evacuate. Their lives are forever changed as they blend loss and grief into ecosexual art by fusing humor, community care, and environmental awareness into a lush and fiery journey of transformation. Humorously narrated by a mythical white peacock, PLAYING WITH FIRE: AN ECOSEXUAL EMERGENCY documents their adventures in the wake of disaster, while also honoring the broader communities impacted by ecological and social fires. Said Stephens and Sprinkle, "Fire is one of our greatest teachers. It can destroy, but it can also illuminate a path forward. In these turbulent times, PLAYING WITH FIRE offers a sense of hope, eco-sensual pleasures and connection.” ABout the filmmakers - PLAYING WITH FIRE is the third and final film in their trilogy of groundbreaking queer environmental documentaries. It started with Goodbye Gauley Mountain–An Ecosexual Love Story (2013), which critically investigated mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) in West Virginia, focusing on the people and communities affected and the corporations employing this extraction technique. Their second film, Water Makes Us Wet-An Ecosexual Adventure (2017) - screening at MoMa in NYC this summer - explores the pleasures and politics of water, and its conservation, commodification, and sustainability.
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October 6 · 18 min
Antoinetta Stallings - Maxscene Division at Tyler Perry Studios
Joining us on this edition of Cinemafile is Antoinetta Stallings, the Head of the MAXSCENE Division at Tyler Perry Studios, a new specialty division dedicated to expanding theatrical opportunities for filmmakers with distinctive voices. This new arm of Tyler Perry Studios will focus on creator-first and audience-focused projects that are unbound to any blueprint. Maxscene will develop, produce, and distribute films across various genres — giving storytellers the opportunity to build upon an established audience while forging one of their own. The division is named in honor of Tyler Perry's mother, Maxine Perry, whose belief in her son shaped the studio he would go on to build, and now, the storytellers it intends to champion. Antoinetta Stallings, Head of Development & Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios, will oversee the Maxscene division. A studio veteran, Stallings previously served as VP of Unscripted Programming, where she launched and led the studio's joint venture with Pantheon Media Group — making Maxscene the second creative arm she has built at TPS from the ground up. About the filmmaker - Antoinette (Hairston) Stallings - Antoinetta Stallings is an Emmy nominated producer and creative executive, currently serving as the Vice President of Development and Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios. Previously she held roles as producer and post producer on acclaimed projects with networks such as PBS, BET, Centric TV, ITV America, and A. Smith & Co. Productions. Stallings has built an impressive portfolio, starting as a producer for the Black Girls Rock Award show for BET. She went on to co-produce Crank That Vote, a project highlighting youth civic engagement, and served as supervising producer on the docu-series BEING on Centric. Notably, her short documentary The ATL Waterboyz received the Best Society Film award at the July 2023 Toronto Documentary Festival. She also served as Vice President of Unscripted at Tyler Perry Studios where she oversaw the end-to-end development and production of unscripted content. Other credits include Associate producer on TV series such as All the Queen’s Men, House of Payne, and Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living. Stallings was an Executive Producer on Sincerely, Love, a romantic dramedy, and a Creative Executive at Tyler Perry Studios for the film The Six Triple Eight, starring Kerry Washington.
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October 5 · 27 min
Ithaqua - Director Casey Walker
As a brutal winter grips the Canadian wilderness and the fur trade begins its collapse, the isolated inhabitants of a remote trading outpost enlist Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his past, to investigate the silence that has fallen over a nearby Indigenous settlement. What he discovers is a scene of unimaginable terror and an overwhelming sense that something ancient and unnatural still lingers in the wilderness. As fear spreads back to Fort William, an unseen presence begins to take hold. Paranoia, hunger and violence consume the isolated community, driving neighbor against neighbor as reason gives way to madness. A haunting tale of isolation, folklore and psychological dread, Ithaqua, a gripping survival horror from director Casey Walker (The Void, In a Violent Nature), whose remarkable twelve-year journey to bring the film to the screen has become as compelling as the story itself. Starring Luke Hemsworth (Westworld, Land of Bad), Kevin Durand (The Naked Gun, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come), Craig Lauzon (Trickster, Beyblade), Leenah Robinson (Revival, 1923) and Michael Pitt (Day of the Fight, Ghost in the Shell). About the filmmaker - As a novice director whose only prior credit was the short film The Morning After, Director, Producer and screenwriter Casey Walker initially had difficulty securing funding to make A Little Bit Zombie, and launched his own independent crowdfunding platform, My Million Dollar Movie, in 2006. The site attracted more than 200,000 hits and secured $20,000 in donations on its first day alone, and was ultimately successful in raising almost $2 million by the time the film entered production in 2011. The film subsequently won several awards from Canadian and international film festivals, most notably Best Feature Film at the 2012 Canadian Filmmakers Festival Both before and after making A Little Bit Zombie, he also worked in television directing episodes of Fool Canada, The Hardy Boys and Overlord and the Underwoods. He has also been a producer or executive producer of films such as The Void, Pyewacket, Die in a Gunfight and In a Violent Nature. His second and third feature films were both released in 2026, with Home Bodies premiering at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival and Ithaqua, slated for FrightFest London.
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October 5 · 20 min
Songs of Slow Burning Earth - Director Olha Zhurba & Producer Darya Bassel
SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH was filmed during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, documenting the lives of civilians, children and aid workers as war becomes part of everyday life. It’s an intimate and deeply human film about what it means to continue living, working and raising families amid circumstances that have changed the country forever. It captures a collective portrait of Ukrainians fleeing the grindstones of war, and those who stayed and are forced to adapt to life under constant shelling. Songs of Slow Burning Earth premiered at the Venice Film Festival and has since received awards in Latvia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic and the United States. It was also nominated for Best European Documentary and Best European Film at the European Film Awards, as well as Best Director and Best Feature Documentary at the IDA Documentary Awards. Songs of Slow Burning Earth is distributed by EPF Media. About the filmmaker -Olha Zhurba (she/her) is a Ukrainian filmmaker who studied at the Ukranian Film School. She has more than 10 years of experience in the audiovisual sector, first working as a director and an editor of commercials, music videos, and film trailers before moving to filmmaking. Her first short fiction film Dad’s Sneakers (2021) premiered in the shorts competition at Locarno Film Festival and shortly after won the Best Ukrainian Short and FIPRESCI awards at Odesa International Film Festival. It was also awarded the National Film Critics Award Kinokolo, Best European Film at Leuven Film Festival, and was a candidate for a nomination at the European Film Awards 2022. Outside (2022) is Olha’s first feature-length documentary which premiered at CPH:DOX and Hot Docs. She is also an editor of festival hits, such as award-winning documentary films This Rain Will Never Stop (2021) by Alina Gorlova and Home Games (2018) by Alisa Kovalenko. About the filmmaker - In 2011, Darya Bassel (she/her) joined the team of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Kyiv where she still works as a programmer and head of industry. Parallel to her work at the festival, she also works in film production. The first film she worked on as associate producer and festival agent was My Father is my Mother’s Brother, directed by Vadym Ilkov, which was coined the most innovative film in the International Competition at the 2018 Visions du Réel Awards. In 2019, she and Vika Khomenko launched the film production company, Moon Man. The company focuses on creative documentary and fiction films with a strong authorial director’s approach. In 2022, Moon Man’s first production, the documentary Outside, had its world premiere at CPH:DOX. Darya was also co-producer of the award-winning documentary A House Made of Splinters, directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont. She has served on juries at numerous festivals, including IDFA, Visions du Réel, Krakow IFF, One World. She was also invited by the Ukrainian film production company, TABOR, to co-produce Maksym Nakonechnyi’s debut feature, Butterfly Vision, which premiered in Cannes 2022, in the Un Certain Regard.
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October 3 · 22 min
This is Buzz - Director Mark Pellington
This Is Buzz is experimental and music-driven documentary, illustrating the tale of the seismically influential, yet somehow forgotten, MTV slice of life docuseries BUZZ, which only ran for 13 episodes in 1990. The show took an experimental approach to uncovering often undiscussed corners of global life. With fast-paced edits giving the show an avant-garde feel, the series would tackle specific subjects with each entry. This dream-like almost subliminal feel pre-dated the media oversaturation we feel today as we are drawn to a constant conveyor belt of content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram which act to familiarize us with cultures around the world. And on top of it all, RuPaul was the show’s host. From Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies, I Melt With You).
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October 2 · 17 min
The Scout - Paula González-Nasser
Sofia works as a location scout for a TV pilot filming in New York City. It’s her job to find the homes, businesses, and exteriors where the show will be filmed. Driving around the city's different neighborhoods, she enters the private spaces of strangers to photograph their cozy apartments and eclectic shops, stepping into the fabric of their lives while trying to satisfy the demands of her erratic employers. Over a day filled with these encounters, Sofia witnesses moments of curiosity, vulnerability, and quiet tension until her work takes a sudden, personal turn. Drawing from her own experience as a location scout, writer-director Paula González-Nasser captures the poetry and costs of being a young creative. Her celebrated directorial debut The Scout crafts a contemplative exploration of urban disconnection, following one woman's journey through other people's worlds as she struggles to find her own. About the filmmaker - Director & Writer Paula González-Nasser (she/her) is a Colombian filmmaker currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. In 2016, she and Ryan Martin Brown co-founded 5th Floor as a film collective after graduating together from the film program at Florida State University. Paula's feature directorial debut, THE SCOUT, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2025, Paula was named one of 25 new faces in independent film by Filmmaker Magazine. She has also produced films like Melina Valdez’s WEAPONS AND THEIR NAMES, which premiered at Sundance 2023, and Ryan Martin Brown’s FREE TIME, which received three nominations at the inaugural Slamdance Indie Awards. She is a two-time Gotham Film Week participant and a 2023 Sundance Producers Intensive Fellow. Previously, Paula worked as a location scout on many New York films and TV shows such as HIGH MAINTENANCE, RUSSIAN DOLL, SEARCH PARTY, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, and more.
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October 1 · 20 min
Everybody to Kenmure Street - Director Felipe Bustos Sierra
Director Felipe Bustos Sierra's award winning documentary, Everybody to Kenmure Street, is set in motion by a remarkable series of events on a May 2021 morning in Glasgow, Scotland. A U.K. Home Office raid grabbed two Pakistani immigrants from their homes, locked them in a van, and triggered one of the most successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Pollokshields, Scotland's most diverse neighborhood, residents rushed to the street to stop the deportation of their neighbors. And everybody, it seems, filmed it on their phones. Featuring Emma Thompson, also an Executive Producer of the film, this urgent documentary captures the amazing story of ordinary citizens spontaneously gathering and successfully resisting a hostile immigration raid. Director Felipe Bustos Sierra joins us to talk about the making of this engaging and thought provoking film. About the filmmaker - Felipe Bustos Sierra is a Chilean-Belgian filmmaker based in Scotland with Debasers Filums. His debut feature-length documentary, Nae Pasaran (2018), won the Best Feature award at the 2018 BAFTA Scotland Awards. Bustos Sierra is an alumnus of the Eurodoc, Berlinale Talent Campus, the Independent Filmmaker Programme, and the EIFF Talent Lab. Everybody to Kenmure Street is his second feature.
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September 30 · 12 min
POWWOW PEOPLE - Director Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga)
POWWOW PEOPLE is a vérité-style documentary grounded in the rhythms, relationships, and lived experience of contemporary Native powwow culture. Told through the lens of artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga), the film is an intimate portrait of a powwow organized, hosted and documented through the production of this film. Rather than entering as outside observers, the filmmakers organized the powwow itself, inviting dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to participate in the making of the film. About the filmmaker - Director/Producer Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) is a filmmaker and artist whose work explores Indigenous homeland, language, and cultural continuity through experimental and nonfiction media. His films have screened at Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival, among others. Hopinka’s work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and the Centre Pompidou. He is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow and a past recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Radcliffe Institute, and Sundance Institute.
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September 27 · 15 min
My Omaha - Director and Subject Nick Beaulieu
As Omaha is shaken by protests and a death that becomes a movement flashpoint, filmmaker Nick Beaulieu navigates family conflict, personal reckoning, and the lived realities of racial justice activists. What begins as an investigation into division becomes an intimate exploration of what it takes to stay connected when our deepest beliefs pull us apart. Director and subject Nick Beaulieu joins to talk about his personal decision to begin documentary about the widening gap between he and is dad, what he has learned about his father and why it should matter to all of us in these uncertain times. Screening on PBS Independent Lens beginning on October 5 About the filmmaker - Nick Beaulieu is a writer and filmmaker based in NYC. His feature debut My Omaha premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2025. Previously, he was a contributing writer on The Las Tear and produced short films for the PBS series American Portrait. He also works as a marketing consultant for filmmakers, film festivals, and distributors.’ About the filmmaker -Doug Block is an award-winning filmmaker based in NYC. He’s best known for his personal documentaries, which include The Kids Grow Up, 112 Weddings, and 51 Birch Street. His producing credits include: Silverlake Life and Jupiter’s Wife, among others. He is also the founder of The D-Word, a free online community of documentary professionals.
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September 26 · 15 min
Infirmary - Director Nicholas Pineda
A guard vanished on his first night at an old psych hospital in 2023. His bodycam footage shows unexplainable incidents that continue to baffle investigators. We're joined by the director and co-producer Nicholas Pineda About the filmmaker - Nicholas Pineda is a filmmaker and creative director who earned his BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design and his MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is the co-founder and managing partner of the creative agency Dotexe, where he has led high-impact collaborations with major brands and digital creators. His work blends cinematic storytelling with a sharp, contemporary visual sensibility.
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September 24 · 10 min
Beware Boiuna - Director Mike P. Nelson
A team of young doctors embarks on a humanitarian mission to the Amazon rainforest, full of enthusiasm to help those in need, but each of them with their own agenda. However, not everyone reacts kindly to their arrival, and their visit awakens an ancient predator: the Boiúna. This mythical creature, which hunts both on land and in water, returns to defend its territory. In the midst of the dense jungle, a merciless struggle for survival ensues, in which the boundaries between hunter and prey, hero and villain, become increasingly blurred. Director Mike P. Nelson joins us to talk about his thrilling new film , Beware Boiuna.
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September 21 · 18 min
Traces of Home – Director Colette Ghunim
TRACES OF HOME follows filmmaker Colette Ghunim on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery as she sets out to reunite her parents with the ancestral homes they were forced to flee as children in Palestine and Mexico. Filmed over five years and featuring evocative animation and archival footage, the film is both a meditation on memory and an unflinching exploration of what it means to find our way back home—to ourselves. Colette and her brother Ramsey had a typical American childhood. Raised in suburban Schaumburg, Illinois, there were birthday parties, school events, and family outings. Her father, Hosni, and mother, Iza were determined to give their children a happy life. But as a child, Colette always felt disconnected from her culture and her parents. Immigrants forced to flee Palestine and Mexico as children, her parents’ only desire was to make a life that was simple, safe, and American, but they couldn’t escape the unspoken divide that separated them as a family. Now, decades later, filmmaker Colette Ghunim takes us on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery: a quest to bridge that gap, find her parents’ childhood homes, and confront the pain of the past to heal their family. About the filmmaker - As a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit co-founder, Colette Ghunim’s soul purpose is to use the power of film and storytelling for those oppressed around the world to be seen, to be heard, and to heal. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls (2016), received over 2 million views and won Best Short Documentary at the Arab Film Festival for its bold spotlight on street harassment in Egypt. In co-production with Kartemquin Films and funded by Latino Public Broadcasting, she is directing Traces of Home, her first feature-length film documenting her inner quest to find home through unearthing her parent’s forced migrations from Mexico and Palestine. Colette is also the co-founder of Mezcla Media Collective, a nonprofit organization aimed to cultivate a Traces of Home follows filmmaker Colette Ghunim thriving landscape for over 700 women and non-binary filmmakers of color in Chicago. Her work has been highlighted on international outlets such as Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Univision, and TEDx. Colette was selected as a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader, 2024 Sundance Institute x ISF Fellow, and was featured on Arab America’s “30 Under 30” list.
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September 19 · 17 min
Sunny Dancer – Director George Jaques
IVY, 17, is a cancer survivor, in remission. Once one of the popular girls at school, she’s now angry and withdrawn, riddled with survivor’s guilt. She hates pity and she definitely doesn’t want to be a Make-A-Wish kid. Her parents are worried and convince her to go to CRF Camp, or Children Run Free Camp, a four week long summer camp for teenagers affected by cancer to help her “find herself”. When she reluctantly agrees to go to this ‘Chemo Camp’, after seeing the impact her illness has had on her family, she discovers that it really is as disappointing as she thought; a faded, washed out, activity camp which is quite frankly not where a teenage girl wants to spend her final summer before she turns 18. Director, writer and producer George Jacques joins us to talk about his second feature film, Sunny Dancer. About the filmmaker - Writer, Director & Producer George Jaques S is a 25-year-old director, actor, writer and producer from South London. At 16, he founded his production company, Athenaeum Productions. George’s debut feature film BLACK DOG World Premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was nominated for the ‘Best First Feature’ award. It was executive produced by Oscar Winning David Parfitt (The Father) and was also showcased as part of the Great8 competition at Cannes Film Festival. BLACK DOG released onto Apple/Amazon with a limited number of theatrical screenings. It won two awards at Riviera International Film Festival (Best Film and Best Actor) as well as being featured in Vogue. Prior to this, George directed and wrote a number of short films which caught the attention of Sony, Sky and Warner Brothers as well as several sell-out theatre shows including a show at The National. In 2022, George was also the winner of the Breakthrough Filmmaker Award at the inaugural Soho House Awards. He has also just directed a commercial starring Dermot Crowley (Luther) and Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters) for BAFTA winning agency Don’t Panic. As an actor, George starred opposite Jude Law in HBO/Marc Munden’s 12 Hour Epic THE THIRD DAY: AUTUMN, played Francis II in Justin Haythe Lionsgate’s series THE SERPENT QUEEN opposite Samantha Morton, and a lead in Sky/Nick Love’s gangster show A TOWN CALLED MALICE. More recently he Executive Produced and played the lead in Emmy Nominated director Huse Monfaradi’s film ONE PUNCH. George’s sophomore feature film (SUNNY DANCER) as a director, writer and producer opened Berlin International Film Festival as one of the opening night films. It stars Emmy nominee Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Ruby Stokes (Rocks), Earl Cave (The Sweet East), BAFTA nominee James Norton (Happy Valley), Golden Globe winner Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and five-time Emmy winner Neil Patrick Harris (A Series of Unfortunate Events).
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September 18 · 26 min
The Condor Daughter - Director Alvaro Olmos Torrico
Bolivia’s entry for the 2027 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, THE CONDOR DAUGHTER, tells the story of Clara, a teenager growing up in a small indigenous community high in the Andes. Her adoptive mother, a midwife who took her in as a baby, has taught her the ancient songs used to guide women through childbirth, melodies passed down for generations, believed to bring new life safely into the world. But while her voice carries on this tradition, her dreams lie elsewhere: she longs to leave the mountains behind and become a folkloric music star in the big city. Director, writer and co-editor Alvaro Olmos Torrico joins us for a lively conversation on his latest work. About the filmmaker - Álvaro Olmos Torrico was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His debut feature, “Wiñay” (2019), was among the first Bolivian films to be released globally via Amazon Prime. He has produced both documentaries and fiction features, including “The Ones from Below” by Alejandro Quiroga (Mar del Plata IFF, 2022) and “The Visitor” by Martín Boulocq (Tribeca, 2022). He is the founder of BoliviaCine.com, the first SVOD platform dedicated to Bolivian cinema, and has taught at the Bolivian Private University and the Andean School of Cinematography. “The Condor Daughter” is his second feature film and was awarded in the Work in Progress sections of Ventana Sur and Cinélatino Toulouse during its development.
S1 · E273
September 17 · 18 min
Give It a Shot - Director Vaishali Sinha
A global race to develop a new male contraceptive that could revolutionize family planning and improve women’s lives globally. Give It A Shot follows the indomitable 83-year-old Dr. Sujoy Guha in India, the California-based team of Elaine Lissner and L.R. Fox, as well as Kevin Eisenfrats in Virginia, on a quest to successfully launch the first reversible male contraceptive since the modern condom, invented 200 years ago.It is a funny, moving and ultimately urgent film. This film is a timely, intimate and character driven story of the quest to successfully launch the next reversible birth control for men. According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are currently only three methods for men — condoms, vasectomy, and the “pull out” method — compared with at least 15 options for women. This advancement could revolutionize family planning and profoundly impact gender equity. GIVE IT A SHOT provides a window into this high-stakes scientific and social experiment, from the roster of scientists and developers to the implications on society at large. About the filmmaker - Vaishali Sinha (Director/Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and director of the feature documentaries Made in India (PBS) and Ask the Sexpert (PBS, Netflix). Her work has earned numerous honors, including the Critics Choice Award in India, a Grierson nomination for Best Entertaining Film, and a Ridenhour Peace Prize nomination for Excellence in Truth-Telling. Made in India became a case study at Harvard Business School in a course on ethics, while Ask the Sexpert achieved wide distribution across major platforms, including Netflix India. Vaishali was also a development consultant for the Academy Award–winning short documentary Period. End. Of. Sentence. and is currently on the producing team for multiple projects. She is a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center and co-founder of Bitchitra Collective: Indian Women in Documentary, a peer-driven support network. She has mentored emerging filmmakers at Firelight Media Doc Lab, Kartemquin Film’s Diverse Voices in Docs, BAVC, and the Video Consortium. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and a diploma in 16mm film production from The New School, New York. Vaishali lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their child.
S1 · E272
September 15 · 12 min
Brailled It - Co-directors David Grabias & Brendon Schulze & Salome & Isaiah & Chris
Every year, the top under-18 braille readers and writers from across the English-speaking world gather in Los Angeles to compete in the Braille Challenge. For one weekend, blind and low-vision kids are no longer the minority in the room. They're competing, forming friendships, going head-to-head against rivals, and being recognized not for their disability, but for their skill. In the captivating documentary film, BRAILLED IT, the camera is placed directly in their hands. As the kids document the competition themselves, their fragmented imagery and candid moments of nerves, boredom, joy, and triumph invite audiences to experience the event on their terms. Designed with audio description and accessibility at its core–not as an afterthought but as a fundamental creative tool–the film shifts authorship and perspective to the community on screen, revealing a world defined not by limitation, but by mastery, ambition, and the transformative power of literacy. Co-director David Grabias joins us to talk about this raucous and heartwarming film about a group of young people who want to be seen and heard. BRAILLED IT will open in select theaters nationwide beginning September 2026, with additional markets and community screenings to follow. Live brailling demonstrations, where audiences can have their name or short phrase brailled for them, will be held at many screenings, along with same-day filmmaking workshops for blind/low-vision youth. Screening dates and information can be found at brailledit.com. About the filmmakers - Suncatcher Productions is a women and disabled-led boutique film distribution company that amplifies intentional, representative stories to awaken audiences. Suncatcher specializes in theatrical distribution and prioritizes films about women, people with disabilities, and the environment. Since 2023, Suncatcher has led the theatrical release for thirteen feature films, including To Kill A Tiger, an Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature, and Slamdance winner Good Bad Things, a disability-themed rom-com that Suncatcher sold to Hulu and Music Box Films.

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