Recent Events
Preview screening and Q&A with director Anne Sundberg and lead choreographer Troy Schumacher
Anne Sundberg is known for creating critically acclaimed films and television series. Her work has been shortlisted for the Oscars, won a Columbia-Dupont Silver Baton, and earned 13 Emmy and two Peabody nominations as well as numerous festival accolades. Here to Climb, her latest project with filmmaking partner Ricki Stern at Break Thru Films, launched [...]
Q&A with director Maura Smith
Maura Smith, a graduate of the USC Cinema Department, went on to direct Towing with Sue Lyon and Joe Mantegna. While an honors student in the MFA Screenwriting Program at Columbia University, Smith received first prize for the Zaki Gordon Memorial Award for Excellence in Screenwriting. Smith has directed for such companies as Sony Music, [...]
Live virtual Q&A with executive producer Richard Gere
Richard Gere, humanitarian, actor, producer and Golden Globe winner, is known for his roles in films such as An Officer and a Gentleman, Days of Heaven, American Gigolo, Breathless, Pretty Woman, First Knight, Primal Fear, Chicago, Unfaithful, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Cotton Club, Shall We Dance and Internal Affairs. Recently, Gere starred as Max [...]
Q&A with actress Christine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole has captivated audiences throughout her performing career. Recognized with a string of honors that includes two Tony Awards, she has appeared in twenty Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, as well as gracing television series and specials, films, concerts, recordings and opera. Ebersole has also accrued a long list of film/television credits in addition to [...]
Introduction by writer and film critic Jordan Hoffman
Jordan Hoffman is a culture writer and critic whose work is currently read in Foreign Policy Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The Hollywood Reporter, Fangoria and Decider dot com. He also publishes a newsletter on Substack called HOFFSTACK that you really ought to subscribe to. He is a member and former chair of the New York [...]
Q&A Panel with production designer Jack Fisk, cinematographer Darius Khondji, sound editor/designer Skip Lievsay, and make-up artist Kyra Panchenko
Jack Fisk is an Academy Award–nominated production designer whose work has defined some of the most acclaimed films of the past five decades. Known for his meticulous attention to historical detail and his ability to create immersive, character-driven worlds, Fisk has collaborated with visionary directors including Terrence Malick, David Lynch, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alejandro González [...]
Introduction by writer and film critic Jordan Hoffman
Jordan Hoffman is a culture writer and critic whose work is currently read in Foreign Policy Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The Hollywood Reporter, Fangoria and Decider dot com. He also publishes a newsletter on Substack called HOFFSTACK that you really ought to subscribe to. He is a member and former chair of the New York [...]
Q&A with director Mstyslav Chernov
Mstyslav Chernov is a Ukrainian filmmaker, war correspondent, videographer, photojournalist, and novelist. He is a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award® winner known for his coverage of the Revolution of Dignity, War in Donbas, the downing of flight MH17, Syrian civil war, Battle of Mosul in Iraq, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the [...]
Q&A with director Marina Zenovich
Marina Zenovich is a two-time Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker who has premiered four feature documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival. Her films have been widely praised for their powerful storytelling and their thoughtful, sensitive approach to a wide range of subjects. Marina’s recent films include a revealing portrait of former California governor Jerry Brown entitled Jerry [...]
Q&A with costume designer Malgosia Turzanska
Malgosia Turzanska was born and raised in Krakow, Poland. She has a BFA in Costume Design from DAMU in Prague and an MFA in Costume Design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her design credits include Season 1 of Stranger Things, which earned her a CDG nomination for Excellence in Period TV, and The [...]
Q&A with director Amber Fares
Amber Fares is an award-winning documentary filmmaker best known for her directorial debut Speed Sisters (Hot Docs, 2015), which aired internationally on Netflix, Al Jazeera and Rai. Her directing credits include We Are Ayenda (Amazon, 2023), Gutsy ep5 (Apple TV, 2022), Reckoning with Laughters (Al Jazeera’s “Witness,” 2021), Convergence: Courage Under Crisis (Netflix, 2021). Amber also served as [...]
Live virtual Q&A with director Elliot Kirschner and producer Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse
Elliot Kirschner is a New York Times best-selling author and an Emmy Award-winning news and documentary producer. He is the executive producer of the non-profit Science Communication Lab, which produces and distributes science films for public and educational audiences. His previous feature films include Human Nature and The Most Unknown. Elliot began his career at [...]
Q&A with director Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi was born in 1960 in Mianeh, Iran. After studying at the Iran Broadcasting University, he directed several short films, documentaries, and TV movies. In 1995, he directed his first feature, The White Balloon, co-written with his mentor Abbas Kiarostami. After numerous other award-winning and politically provocative films such as The Mirror, The Circle, [...]
Q&A with director Elizabeth Lo
Elizabeth Lo is an award-winning director, producer, and cinematographer whose films have premiered at Venice, TIFF, Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, MoMA, CPH:DOX, True/False, and New York Times Op-Docs. Elizabeth has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40,” and Cannes Lions’ “New Directors Showcase.” She is a recipient [...]
7:00pm Q&A with actor Brendan Fraser *SOLD OUT*
Brendan Fraser is an Academy Award winner whose nuanced performances and compelling role choices have earned widespread acclaim. Fraser starred in Darren Aronofsky’s, The Whale, which premiered in December 2022 and earned him several awards including his first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, a Critics Choice Movie Award, SAG Award, AACTA [...]
Q&A with director Ira Sachs
Ira Sachs needs no introduction as one of the most acclaimed American independent filmmakers working today. With a career dating back over thirty five years, some of his notable feature films include: Frankie (2019), starring Isabelle Huppert; Little Men (Grand Prix, 2016 Deauville American Film Festival); Love is Strange (2014), starring John Lithgow and Alfred [...]
Introduction with Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne, beloved for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, continues to charm audiences and critics alike almost 30 years later. Most recently, Griffin can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and series like HBO’s The Girls on the Bus and Hulu’s Only [...]
Q&A with Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne, beloved for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, continues to charm audiences and critics alike almost 30 years later. Most recently, Griffin can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and series like HBO’s The Girls on the Bus and Hulu’s Only [...]
Q&A with Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne, beloved for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, continues to charm audiences and critics alike almost 30 years later. Most recently, Griffin can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and series like HBO’s The Girls on the Bus and Hulu’s Only [...]
Q&A with actress Alicia Silverstone with fashion designer Christian Siriano moderated by Leslie Ziff
Alicia Silverstone is a renowned actress, commonly recognized for her generation-defining performance in Clueless as Cher Horowitz. Silverstone can currently be seen in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia and the upcoming Netflix holiday film A Merry Little Ex-Mas, of which she was also an executive producer. On television, Alicia stars in Acorn TV’s acclaimed series Irish Blood, [...]
Q&A with film subject and poet Megan Falley, director Ryan White, and producer Jessica Hargrave
Megan Falley is a spoken word poet, author, and teaching artist. She is the author of four books of poetry; her most recent collection, “Drive Here and Devastate Me” was heralded by Autostraddle as “a love letter to the queer community.” Her chapbook, “Bad Girls, Honey: Poems About Lana Del Rey” was the winner of [...]
Introduction with Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne, beloved for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, continues to charm audiences and critics alike almost 30 years later. Most recently, Griffin can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and series like HBO’s The Girls on the Bus and Hulu’s Only [...]
Q&A and book talk with Griffin Dunne moderated by film critic and writer Alissa Wilkinson
Griffin Dunne, beloved for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, continues to charm audiences and critics alike almost 30 years later. Most recently, Griffin can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and series like HBO’s The Girls on the Bus and Hulu’s Only [...]
Q&A with filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Sara Khaki is a documentary director, producer, and editor dedicated to telling stories that promote gender equity. She is a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner, World Cinema Documentary and Visions Du Reél Audience Award winner for her feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which follows the first elected councilwoman of a rural Iranian village. [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Matthew O'Neill and executive producer Kristen Powers
Matthew O’Neill is an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker and journalist. He most recently directed Surveilled for HBO and created the Emmy-winning HBO documentary news series AXIOS on HBO with Perri Peltz. Matthew and Perri also directed the 2019 HBO documentary Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America. Matthew has [...]
Q&A with director David Osit
David Osit is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director, editor and composer. His most recent film Mayor won a Peabody and Emmy Award, was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, and holds a 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. David directed, produced, edited, filmed and composed the feature documentary Thank You For Playing, which [...]
Q&A with director Emily Mkrtichian
Emily Mkrtichian is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary collaborator whose artistic practice reflects her upbringing in a displaced, diasporic family, and explores radically personal, alternative archives of places and people, especially from the SWANA region, and a deep commitment to the healing power of relational, ethical, collaborative storytelling. Her films include the sci-fi short Transmission, which [...]
Q&A with director Vicki Abeles, research mathematician Ben Blum-Smith, and film subject Glenn Rodriguez
Vicki Abeles is a filmmaker, attorney and change agent. She directed the award-winning documentaries Race to Nowhere and Beyond Measure and reached millions of viewers by focusing on social impact. She is the author of the NYT best-selling book Beyond Measure. Additional film credits include Associate Producer on the Sundance favorite Miss Representation (2011) and Associate Producer on Plastic Man: The [...]
Screening and Lecture with NYU professor and director Kenneth Bowser
Kenneth Bowser is a director of documentaries, feature films and episodic television and specializes in crafting stories about American culture. In addition to Phil Ochs, There But For Fortune, he is the writer, producer and director of NBC’s Emmy nominated two-hour network special, Live From New York, The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live, [...]
Q&A with animation legend Floyd Norman alongside directors Michael Fiore and Erik Sharkey
Floyd Norman is the undisputed “Forrest Gump” of the animation world. Hired as the first African American at Disney in 1956, he would later be hand-picked by Walt Disney to join the story team on the Jungle Book. After Walt’s death, Mr. Norman left Disney to start his own company (Vignette Films, Inc.) to produce Black [...]
Screening and Lecture with NYU professor and filmmaker David K. Irving
David K. Irving is currently an Associate Professor at the Film and Television program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. David has directed six feature films including Night of the Cyclone with Kris Kristofferson and Marisa Berenson; C.H.U.D. II with Robert Vaughn and Gerrit Graham.; The Emperor’s New Clothes with Sid Caesar and [...]
Preview screening and live virtual Q&A with director Carmen Emmi and composer Emily Wells
Carmen Emmi is a filmmaker with deep roots in Syracuse, New York, where he grew up in a family of farmers. After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Carmen began his career as an independent Director of Photography, contributing to a range of projects, including short films, commercials, and feature-length productions. His debut screenplay, [...]
Community discussion Q&A panel moderated by Kathleen Williamson from Films On Purpose
Naomi Brickel is the new Project Director for Supported Decision-Making New York (SDMNY), leading the state’s human rights effort to scale up supported decision making as an alternative to guardianship for people with developmental disabilities and autism. Valerie Jensen is the President and Founder of the Prospector, a non-profit movie theater dedicated to improving the [...]
Q&A and Book Talk with Film Writer Nicolas Rapold
Nicolas Rapold is a writer and editor. He worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment (both web and print) at Film at Lincoln Center, where he hosted the Film Comment Podcast, curated Film Comment Selects, and was a member of the magazine’s editorial team since 2005. He currently hosts the podcast The Last Thing I Saw [...]
Q&A with director Julia Loktev
Julia Loktev was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and immigrated to the U.S. at age 9. She has made both fiction and documentary. THE LONELIEST PLANET starring Gael Garcia Bernal, screened at the New York Film Festival, received the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Film Festival, nominations for Best Director at Independent Spirit Awards, [...]
Q&A with director Oren Rudavsky moderated by Variety writer Addie Morfoot
Oren Rudavsky is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and several National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts grants. Rudavsky produced, directed, and co-wrote the NEH-funded American Masters documentary Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People, which was nominated for a Critics Choice award. His film Colliding Dreams, co-directed with Joseph Dorman, [...]
Preview screening and Q&A with writer/director Jay Duplass and writer/actor Michael Strassner on September 2
Jay Duplass began his career in the early 2000’s writing, directing and producing several award winning independent and studio films with his brother Mark, including The Puffy Chair and Cyrus. In 2014, Jay and Mark created the critically acclaimed television series, Togetherness, inking a television deal with HBO, where they’ve since produced shows like Somebody Somewhere, The [...]
