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My guest, Lee Knight, won Best Director at 2025's HollyShorts for his stunning film, A FRIEND OF DOROTHY (2025), but you wouldn't know it because as you just heard, his thoughts are with the indie filmmakers still out there struggling. That sounds exactly like my type of filmmaker to host on the podcast.A FRIEND OF DOROTHY could be described as "a lonely widow's quiet life is upended when a...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeHis feature film, SOMEWHERE WITH NO BRIDGES (2020)? Too short, he was told. His award winning short film, SHANTI RIDES SHOTGUN (2025)? Also -- too short! What the world is telling my guest, filmmaker Charles Frank, is that we need to see more of his lyrical vision of the world in the documentary space. His awards and credits in the indie space -- an incredible 10...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GOODBYE, HELLO (2024).Director: Jack Cooper StimpsonWriters: Jeremy Ford; Bec PittardCast: Steve Guttenberg; Nancy Linari; Hollie BaharSYNOPSISNate Ryan returns home to Bundy Canyon to visit his dying father; Nate opens old wounds in an attempt to make...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeThat’s my guest, Alex Salam, with one of the most riveting reasons to become a filmmaker I’ve ever heard. Given their significant training, it’s practically impossible to do, but I wish we had more doctor/filmmakers in the world. From those that I’ve seen, they’ve produced work that is equal parts precision and creativity, the perfect combination of soul and mind....

Watch This Episode On YouTubeThe tagline of the podcast is “the future of filmmaking.” I don’t think you can earn that without hosting my guest, Elliott Hasler, who began his filmmaking journey at the age of 10.Fifteen years later, he’s two features in, the latest being VINDICATION SWIM (2022), a biopic around Mercedes Gleitze and her attempt to become the first British woman to swim the English...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE GRAND SEDUCTION (2013).Director: Daniel AndreScreenplay: Daniel AndreCast: Brendan Gleeson; Taylor Kitsch; Liane BalabanSYNOPSISResidents of a small fishing community in Newfoundland charm a doctor into becoming the town's full-time physician, in...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeI haven’t done a how much I love New York City episode in a couple weeks, so the indie smash, OR SOMETHING (2024), and the film’s director, Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder, makes for the absolute perfect guest. Why is the film being extended at Quad Cinemas? What does it say for indie filmmakers that the Substack crowd got so behind this film? Is it repeatable? Let’s hope...

Brilliant in acting. Brilliant in producing. Brilliant in executive producing. Brilliant in...directing? Let's hope so. Given her extraordinarily body of work, most recently in front of the camera in Gil Henry's PAS VRAIMENT ORDINAIRE (2025), we can only hope my guest, Floriane Andersen, will be in the director's chair soon. She certainly has made the opportunity for herself; the production...

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: RUNNING ON EMPTY (2024).Director: Daniel AndreScreenplay: Daniel AndreCast: Lucy Hale; Keir GilchristSYNOPSISMort discovers he has less than a year to live. After his fiancé leaves him, he meets Kate on a dating service that matches people by their death...

When you prepare, special filmmaking tends to happen. That’s the case with my guest, Jordan Murphy Doidge, and his new film, CLOUT, which premiered at HollyShorts. It tells the story of a lonely teenage boy who risks everything to prove himself in a bid for online fame. In the wake of Netflix’s hit ADOLESCENCE (2025), CLOUT has resonated with nonprofits and theaters in the United Kingdom. And as...