The No Film School Podcast

Co-hosts Jon Fusco, Erik Luers, Oakley Anderson-Moore and yours truly, Liz Nord have been running all over downtown Austin, Texas for the past week to bring you insights from America's coolest film event, the SXSW Film Festival and conference. In this episode, we forego our regular show format to share in-depth festival coverage, from news on the ground, to interviews with festival award-winners, to the best advice from industry panelists, to survival tips for navigating the massive event. We also talk about the value for filmmakers of a festival with as many non-film tracks and sections as this one has. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nash Edgerton, Tonya Glanz, and Cesar Mazariegos are three creators of shows that were featured in the new Indie Episodic section at Sundance 2018. They Join No Film School’s Liz Nord to discuss how the got their series off the ground, stretched production dollars across multiple episodes, and how much freedom they felt working in this burgeoning medium, unrestricted by duration, platform and traditional production rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers get pumped for America’s coolest film festival, SXSW, and share our fun-fact-filled awards season recap. Charles Haine joins us for gear news including new and improved versions of three useful tools. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about the best way to get those surprisingly tricky super slow shots. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you haven’t picked up on the hottest trend in film and TV right now, then you may be living under a rock. Of course, we're talking about the “80’s Revival” a movement seemingly spurred by the success of Stranger Things. In reality, however, the 80’s Revival may just be the sign of a new wave of filmmakers coming to fruition in the masses. 80’s babies who are looking to re-live their childhood on the big screen are having their moment at just the right time. They have an eager audience at their disposal and an even more eager group of producers looking for projects. Many movies of the revival deal with similar themes. You can usually bet that a group of suburban children will encounter some sort of supernatural force then band together to defeat it. Summer of 84 puts a spin on the trend, keeping many of the Stand By Me vibes, but committing to an antagonist that’s more grounded in reality. In the film, a group of kids begins to suspect that their neighbor is, in fact, a serial killer. As a result, the kids spend their summer gathering clues and spying on him to prove he’s responsible for the death of several other teens in the neighborhood. Summer of 84 is directed by the filmmaking trio that made Turbo Kid, which first started off as a short, before being picked up and greenlit for a feature. No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with the directing trio at Sundance and talked about how they used the “80’s Revival” to their advantage to strike while the iron was hot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers preview the upcoming Academy Awards, ponder whether Netflix’s total dominance of original content is good for indie filmmakers, update you on the latest in the battle for Net Neutrality, and say a sad goodbye to veteran producer Benjamin Melniker. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including new camera offerings from Sony and Canon in the affordable 4K mirrorless space. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about how to rig a camera to a rollercoaster. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. https://nofilmschool.com/2018/03/indie-film-weekly-030118 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To say that it’s tough to play your short at Sundance is an understatement. In 2018, 69 shorts were picked from 8,740 submissions. While there’s no simple formula on how to make a short film will get into Sundance, programmer Dilcia Barerra told No Film School that there is one important guiding principle for filmmakers that do get in: be authentic to your reality and your style. Anything contrived is obvious to programmers. While at Sundance, Oakley Anderson Moore sat down with five filmmakers whose short films embody just that authentic quality that you instantly recognize in a really good short. Their conversation can offer you insight on how to make a good film that’s authentic to your voice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers and discuss how BitCoin and the blockchain are revolutionizing the film industry. We also update you on awards season and the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as marvel over ‘Black Panther's astonishing opening weekend and talk about what it means for indie filmmakers. Charles Haine joins us for gear news including official details of the Fujifilm X-H1 mirrorless camera. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about the difference between still and cinema lenses. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s no secret that filmmakers copy those other filmmakers in their lives who most inspire them. Whether that’s picking up on some sort of trademark dialogue, production design, pacing, music, performances, editing, or camerawork, many times it's easy to identify and trace a piece of style one director drew influence in from another. With two wildly different, yet eerily similar films under his belt, Nicolas Pesce is mastering the art of adapting his favorite filmmaker’s techniques in a way that serves his own form of storytelling. He describes his first film The Eyes of My Mother as his tribute to 50’s/60’s black and white horror, while he claims his newest project, the stylistically impressive thriller Piercing, is his take on the Giallo crime pictures which peaked in popularity in Italy during the 1970’s. That’s not to say his films are a direct emulation of those pieces that he so dearly loves. As his actor Christopher Abbott puts it, filmmaking is all about “gathering influences to create something of your own.” Clearly, Pesce is a filmmaker who is not only interested in taking risks, but in creating and pushing style as well. Piercing is indeed one of those risky pictures. Abbott plays a man with, well, psychological problems. One night he kisses his wife and baby goodbye, seemingly on his way to a business conference. His real plan, however, is to check into a hotel, call an escort service, and kill an unsuspecting prostitute. That prostitute is played by Mia Wasikowska who ends up providing her captor with a little bit more trouble than he initially imagined. No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with Pesce, Abbot, and their producer Jacob Wasserman back at Sundance to discuss, cultivating tone and style in your picture, maintaining your vision through intensely detailed pre-production and how to create screenplays that will attract both actors and producers to your project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers discuss ‘Black Panther’ mania ahead of the groundbreaking film’s opening weekend. We also get into the Parking Production Assistants of New York decision to unionize, the results of the WGA Awards, and say a sad goodbye to Oscar-nominated film composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Charles Haine joins us for gear news including some speculation about a potentially game-changing partnership between RED and Foxconn. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question on whether you should shoot with RED or ARRI cameras for your short film. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. https://nofilmschool.com/2018/02/indie-film-weekly-021518 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his introduction speech prior to the premiere of "The Catcher Was a Spy," Sundance Director of Programming John Cooper described the film’s director Ben Lewin as the “nicest director you'll ever meet.” When you’ve got four decades of dealing with the chaos of filmmaking under your belt and can still be described as such, you know you must be doing something right. While Lewin may describe his career as a “career built on accidents,” in reality, it is his attitude and personality that keep people coming with projects again and again. The greatest lessons Lewin’s learned don’t come from a technical, professional or even filmmaking level. They’re personal lessons. These are the type which help to maintain a working personality, sanity, level-headedness and leadership when the shit around you has hit the fan. His philosophy is to stay positive, especially between projects. Everyone knows it's hard to make a movie, so why gripe about it? "The Catcher Was a Spy" is a film that not only Lewin, but Hollywood at large, has been trying to bring to the big screen for years. It tells the story of Moe Berg, a queer Jewish major league baseball player, who was hired by the US government during WWII as a spy. His mission: to kill Werner Heisenberg before he could finish creating the Atomic Bomb for the Nazis. While it may sound absurd, the story is one hundred percent true. The film made its premiere at Sundance where No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with Lewin to discuss his career, coping with the post-production blues, and most importantly, how to maintain your sanity when making a living as a director. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers discuss why the ‘Kill Bill’ car crash story matters for every filmmaker, how to create a winning Super Bowl ad, and the results of the recent DGA Awards. Liz also answers an Ask No Film School question about what to do if you don’t think you fit in at film school. Charles Haine joins us for a huge week in gear announcements, including ARRI’s new 4K Alexa LF. As always, we also bring you upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet four powerhouse cinematographers who had nine projects between them at Sundance this year: Claudia Raschke, Shana Hagan, Ashley Connor and Mia Cioffi Henry. The talented group sat down at Sundance 2018 with No Film School’s Liz Nord to discuss the benefits of switching between docs & features instead of sticking to just one, how to be the cinematographer your director needs, what to do when a production starts to go off the rails, why cinematography is a people’s business, and much more. The group has a pretty amazing combined filmography. At Sundance alone, they screened docs, narratives, shorts, and an episodic TV show. They also represent four different decades of DPs, having begun shooting professionally in the ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000’s and 2010s, respectively, so they were able to share stories and advice with each other that we can all benefit from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Erik Luers discuss two historic Sundance deals and what the festival sales tell us about the ever-changing indie distribution landscape. We also cover the Sundance awards and ponder whether MoviePass’s risky strategy will pay off. Liz answers an Ask No Film School question about perfecting your film's fundraising pitch. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including RED’s limited edition Gemini sensor and an analysis of the cameras that were used to shoot Sundance films. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nathan and David Zellner are no strangers to Sundance, but perhaps they wish the festival was as new and exciting to them as it was when they premiered "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter" back in 2014. That's not to say Park City has grown stale for the directing brothers, merely that they enjoy new experiences. So much so, in fact, that it has become the driving force in their creative mission over the course of their career. They make it a point not to explore material which they have already explored, so with every new film, they add a new genre to their resume. For their current project, the subversively titled "Damsel," that means "western." "Damsel" takes place in the frontier west sometime in the 1800's. Robert Pattinson plays a wealthy dandy-man by the name of Samuel who hires a priest (in fact played by one of the Zellners) to accompany him in tracking down and marrying his beloved Penelope. Penelope is played by Mia Wasikowska who had two brilliant and strong-willed performances at the festival this year with this film and Nick Pesce's "Piercing." No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with the Zellner's the day after their film premiered to discuss their "fresh start" philosophy, their roots as child filmmakers, and what it's important to remember when acting in your own films. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco are joined by Oakley Anderson-Moore and Erik Luers to give a full rundown from the snowy streets of Park City. The whole team has been trudging through the mountain snow for the past week to bring you all the most fascinating stories from America's preeminent independent film event. We forego our regular show format to share in-depth Sundance coverage, from the lay of the land, to celebrity run-ins, to the most intriguing films. We also cover festival acquisitions—or lack thereof—and what the lesser presence of Netflix and Amazon in the buying pool might mean for independent filmmakers. Finally, we bring news of the other biggest event in the film world this past week, the 2018 Academy Award nominations.You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, here we are, live from Utah and our first interview out of Sundance is for a film called "Arizona." Bizarre right? Well not nearly as bizarre as the film itself. Set in the midst of the 2009 housing crisis, this darkly comedic story follows Cassie Fowler (played by Rosemary DeWitt), a single mom and struggling realtor whose life goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder. The man who commits the murder (played by Danny McBride) proceeds to take her hostage and she must do her best to escape the grasp of his insanity. The result is a film that quickly alternates between dark comedy and horror/slasher, which makes sense considering the team behind it will be responsible for the "Halloween" sequel coming later this year. But how do you toe that line without lessening the effects of either genre? Director Jonathan Watson has been part of David Gordon Green and McBride's Rough House Pictures since "Eastbound and Down," but this is his first shot at the helm of a feature. To enhance that slasher vibe he employed the talents of composer Joseph Stephens. No Film School's Jon Fusco sits down with the collaborators to talk about how a great score can be used to influence your audience, the typical workflow of audio post-production and how a composer can stand out in the biz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco are headed to Park City, Utah for the 34th Sundance Film Festival. They are joined by NFS Managing Editor Erik Luers to share everything you should know to get ready for the big event, whether you’ll be there in person or not. In gear news, Kodak makes a big gamble on a new version of old tech, and in Ask No Film School, Charles Haine reveals the most useful film production apps on the market. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the third and final episode of our “Best of 2017”, but honestly, with the quality of advice we received over the course of our interviews last year, we could keep this going forever. All of the excerpts featured in this week’s volume are part of what we here at No Film School like to call “Roundtable” episodes. We’ll try to get at least one or two of these done at every festival we travel to. The idea is really to get a group of filmmakers together and have them discuss their craft together in a forum where everyone can relate to each other and build off of their experiences. A lot of times they will be fresh off seeing each other's work so the questions keep flying and lead to some fantastic stories. We’ve selected three of these episodes to feature today, “What It Takes to Get Your Short into Sundance,” “How to Get Your Midnight Shorts into SXSW,” and “DP Roundtable: The Shots That Almost Killed Us.” For those of you making short films, these clips should be especially helpful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss one of the most memorable Golden Globes ever and other awards season news, as well as the group of industry women coming out *against* the #MeToo movement. Liz answers an Ask No Film School question about holding public screenings before your festival premiere. Charles Haine joins us to preview the new film and video gear being released at this year’s CES, including a very unusual entry from Kodak. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s officially a new year but we’re still not over how great our podcasts turned out in 2017. Last year, we started doing interview podcasts every single week in addition to our Indie Film Weekly episodes. We’ve had tons of great guests from Sean Baker to Flying Lotus and everything in between. In the first volume of our “Best Of” episodes, we heard from Flying Lotus, Gillian Robespierre, Brett Gelman and more. Today you’ll hear selections from Sean Baker, Ruben Ostlund, Parker Smith and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment. Our series will continue next week, as NFS Producer Jon Fusco leads you through more of the best clips from 2017. If you haven’t heard all of our interview podcasts, these are some great examples of the type of information you can expect to come away with after every listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss rumors of a major merger that could change the industry as we know it, and results of the 2017 box office returns. We also say a sad goodbye to ‘Black Swan’ production designer Thérèse DePrez. In gear news, we reveal the most rented items on ShareGrid last year. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about how to choose vintage lenses for your next project. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, it's been quite a year. Here at No Film School, we started doing interview podcasts every single week in addition to our Indie Film Weekly episodes. We’ve had tons of great guests from Sean Baker to Flying Lotus and everything in between and we’re all really proud of the type of resource this podcast has become. Before we conduct each interview, we'll take the time to remind our guests that this will be a different sort of interview than the other ones they’ve been doing on the press junket or at the festivals. We’re not just interested in hearing about what makes their movie great. Rather, we want to frame these episodes as educational gems, with takeaways from their experiences that every one of our listeners can put into practice. In that sense, we really think we’ve succeeded. If you went back and listened to every single one of our interview episodes that came out this year, we're confident that you’ll come out with more than enough information to get yourself started on making your film. You’ll be all out of excuses. Over the next couple weeks, editor/producer Jon Fusco will be leading you through some of our best clips of 2017, so if you haven’t heard all of our interview podcasts, these episodes will be a great overview of those pearls of advice that may end up helping you down the road. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special, year-end episode of Indie Film Weekly reveals the best that 2017 had to offer while you were busy making films. This year was full of controversy and growing pains in the industry, balanced by stellar indie releases, gear innovations, and inspiring filmmaker journeys. In our final episode of 2017, co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine reveal our favorite films, top camera and gear choices, and predictions for the future of the film business. We also discuss our best takeaways from talking to some of the most interesting filmmakers and industry pros on the planet, from DIY maverick Sean Baker to ‘Wonder Woman’ DP Matt Jensen to French new wave and Cannes-winning filmmaker Agnes Varda. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss Louis CK’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’ distribution saga and awards season updates (and upsets) from the Golden Globes, European Film Awards, and IDA Documentary Awards. We also reveal Netflix's most binged shows of 2017, get into a pretty geeky debate about Star Wars, and share tips from filmmaker Ela Thier about how to become your own script doctor. Charles Haine joins us for gear news and answers an Ask No Film School question about scanning photos to use in your film. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Directors Nathan Fitch and Daniel McCabe join No Film School’s Liz Nord to share their tips on preparing to film in a conflict zone, both practically and emotionally. Fitch embedded with the US Military in Afghanistan for his film 'Island Soldier', and McCabe filmed amidst various factions of the Congolese civil war for six years for his documentary 'This is Congo’. In this episode, the directors reflect on their experiences and give advice on what gear makes sense to bring into a conflict situation and how to shoot while you’re literally being shot at. For new stories daily on the craft of filmmaking, visit nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss one filmmaker’s major role in Russia’s Olympic doping scandal, the first news from Sundance 2018, and the inaugural Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards decision to split best male and female directors into two separate categories. We say goodbye to influential video essay series ‘Every Frame a Painting’ and Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about how to deal with brands and logos in your film. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss the indie films that are changing the face of awards season after the results of the Gothams and the National Board of Review list results were revealed this week. We cover the questionable award categorizations of Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ and Errol Morris’ ‘Wormwood’ and why they matter to other filmmakers. We also hear some unconventional lensing advice from rising star DP Katelin Arizmendi and debate the merits of anamorphic. In gear news, we share the results of getting our hands on DJI’s new Zenmuse X7 camera. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about how to shoot anamorphic on a still camera. As always, we bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three producers with decades of combined experience under their belts join No Film School’s Liz Nord for a detailed primer on how to get a documentary made and seen. Geeta Gandbhir has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and has won two, as well as working professionally as an editor as such acclaimed titles as Oscar-winning 'O.J.: Made in America’, Chanda Chevannes is an award-winning documentarian as well as a film instructor at Centennial College in Toronto, and Chris Metzler is prolific documentarian known for cult favorite docs like the John Waters-narrated ‘Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea’ which won over 30 best doc awards and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel. In this episode, we cover an A to Z of documentary production, and discuss what a successful producer’s role is at every stage of a film’s life. Learn more at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss discuss what the FCC's recent actions on Net Neutrality and the 600mhz band mean for filmmakers, along with the most bizarre and heartbreaking turns in the avalanche of sexual misconduct stories and how they're affecting productions everywhere. In gear news, we reveal some of the best Black Friday discounts for filmmakers. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about color grading for different outputs. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Film School’s Liz Nord is joined by three directors who have taken on the challenge of telling character-based stories where their films center around the personal journeys of one or a small handful of subjects. Their characters couldn’t be more different—one is the tough guy frontman of a New York hardcore band, one is the first female Sharia Law judge in Palestine, and one is a woman who has started a traveling circus of cats—but the lessons the filmmakers learned and advice they share is surprisingly similar and applies to any filmmaker trying to tell a good story. Erika Cohn ('The Judge'), Ian McFarland ('Godfathers of Hardcore'), and Jacob Feiring ('Samantha’s Amazing Acrocats'), discuss how they pulled off their impressive films, and the bravery it takes to embark on such a project both behind and in front of the camera. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss Drip, Kickstarter's bold new move for filmmakers, plus a field report from DOC NYC that reveals why it's become the American documentary festival to pay attention to. We also cover the first Oscars handed out this year, marvel at Agnes Varda's infinite wisdom, and say farewell to Oscar-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, who died last week. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including the new Lumix G9 from Panasonic, and answers an Ask No Film School question about the best way to up-res VHS footage. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know that getting your first film made is hard. With the added pressure of expectation, getting a second made can be even harder. And then there are the Julie Cohens of the world. Cohen is a documentary filmmaker who has completed and distributed 8 feature docs and 5 shorts in the past ten years, and won three Emmys along the way. And this is after a prolific career as a producer at NBC, where she produced more than 20 hour-long and two-hour programs for Dateline. Cohen’s latest, available on iTunes now just in time for Veteran’s Day, is called AMERICAN VETERAN. It tells the story of Army Sergeant Nick Mendes, who was paralyzed from the neck down by a massive improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011, when he was 21. Liz Nord sits down with Cohen to discuss tips on speeding up production, how to reach niche audiences to market your work, and steps for sustaining your career in this unpredictable business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the community you’re filming doesn’t want you there? That is exactly the dilemma that faced celebrated documentarians Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady when they embarked on their latest project, the Netflix Original film 'One of Us'. The directing duo returns to the territory that garnered them an Oscar nomination in 2007 for 'Jesus Camp': extreme religious sects in America. In 'One of Us', we travel far from the rural Evangelical Christian summer camps of Jesus Camp to a very different world: the insular Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. The film focuses on three young people attempting to leave the community despite threats of retaliation. They are at different stages of separation but each is struggling to join mainstream America after having been raised strictly following daily religious mandates, speaking Yiddish, and with virtually no secular education. Because of sensitivities around their subjects and the community at large, Ewing, Grady and their cinematographers, Jenni Morello and Alex Takats, had to to develop all kinds of tactics and strategies for shooting very inconspicuously. Both the directors and DPs join No Film School's Liz Nord on this episode to discuss how they managed to film and craft such a sympathetic tale from within a notoriously closed community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever been at one of those parties where people talk about movies and Hitchcock comes up, but you’ve never seen any Hitchcock? So then you get all sweaty and start avoiding people’s gaze? It feels like everyone is watching you, the world is slowly closing in and you get so claustrophobic and insane that you feel like you want to scream? Us neither. Funnily enough, the experience of watching Psycho for the first time feels exactly the same way. So now that you know what you’re in for, it’s time to stop making excuses and just watch it. Right now. Or rather, after you’ve listened to this podcast and before you go see Alexandre Phillipe’s illuminating documentary 78/52. This documentary defies the mere convention of looking back at an entire filmmaker’s career and it takes an even deeper focus than just examining one film. Instead, Phillipe focuses on one scene. Psycho’s infamous shower scene, which had 78 camera setups, 52 cuts and took seven days to shoot. In many ways, examining this one scene provides us with more insight on Hitchcock’s filmmaking than if we were to look at his resume as a whole. Jon Fusco sits down with Phillipe to discuss Hitchcock’s legacy, what Psycho has to say about his tendencies as a filmmaker, and plenty more interesting facts that will place you firmly in the realm of Hitchcock expert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine get in the mood for Halloween by sharing some of No Film School's best horror filmmaking tips from the likes of Jeremy Saulnier and Rob Zombie. We discuss a lens so good that it got its own Emmy (plus this year's other Engineering Emmy winners) and why there's an uncertain future for Amazon Studios. We also say a sad goodbye to Oscar-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally. Gear news includes Sony's 42 megapixel beast, the a7R III, and Charles answers Liz's Ask No Film School question about migrating a project from FCP6 to Premiere. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruben Östlund has never been one to shy away from difficult themes. That's not to say that the themes he presents his audiences are controversial or difficult to watch. It's more that they're difficult to fully comprehend. Östlund's ability to translate his thoughts to screen, however, is unrivaled among his contemporaries. "The Square" is certainly one of these pictures. Östlund explores what exactly the concept of 'trust' means in a modern society where paranoia is the dominant human emotion and catastrophe seems to await us around every new corner. The Palmes d' Or winning film centers on Christian, a curator at a renowned modern art museum in Sweden. One day he is robbed in blind daylight and his ensuing decision to track down the thieves sets off a series of events that cause his life to descend into chaos. No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with Östlund at the New York Film Festival to discuss his mind-bending new feature. They cover everything from how to make a two-and-a-half hour movie breeze by at a lightspeed pace to what Östlund (a teacher himself) feels is the most important part of film school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine predict what the Harvey Weinstein fallout could means for future film sets and discuss some steps being taken by the Academy, the PGA, and other film institutions to combat sexual misconduct in the industry. We also share a ton of news from Netflix, including the company's plans to release 80 original films in 2018. In gear news, we reveal how filmmakers can use Microsoft's new GPU, and Charles answers an Ask No Film School question about renting a 360 stereoscopic camera. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Spielberg is the highest grossing directors of all time, with over 50 influential titles under his belt. And yet, do we really know Spielberg? After all, he rarely does public appearances or gives in-depth interviews. Perhaps the director was just waiting for the right moment to tell his life’s story and the right person to tell it to. Fortunately, that time has come, and that person is our guest, Susan Lacy. As executive producer of the PBS series American Masters, she produced 250 films exploring the lives of America’s most influential cultural icons. For the new HBO documentary ‘Spielberg', she turned her hand to directing. Lacy interviewed Steven Spielberg for over 30 hours collectively, skillfully pulling out threads from his own life to weave together the film’s thesis: though he’s not known as a “personal filmmaker", there’s a part of Spielberg in every film he makes. In this episode Susan Lacy joins No Film School’s Liz Nord and the film’s editor, Deborah Peretz, to discuss how they managed decades-worth of archival and new interview material, and what they learned from Spielberg and his movies in making this one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse accusations and what they mean for indie film, share highlights from our New York Film Festival coverage including conversations with Richard Linklater and Sean Baker, and ponder what exactly is the future of storytelling. In gear news, RED has finally released its Monstro sensor and DJI has released its highest resolution drone cinema camera yet. DP Open Soffer joins us to answer an Ask No Film School question about how to shoot dialog scenes. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Florida Project" may be the first Sean Baker movie you'll go out to see in theaters, but he's been on the scene for a long, long time. Perhaps best known for the iPhone 5s filmed "Tangerine", Baker has been a champion of low-budget filmmaking for his entire career. More so than that, he has been a trailblazer in the democratization of film. Inspired by the Dogme 95 movement pioneered by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, he makes the absolute best use of the resources that are available to him. "Take Out", "The Prince of Broadway" and, yes, "Tangerine" were all shot on minuscule budgets with minimal crew and whatever gear they could afford to shoot on. His latest film, "The Florida Project", breaks this trend but keeps the Dogme 95 spirit well alive. It’s his first film to be granted a million dollar budget and shot on 35mm every frame oozes with beauty. The film is set over one summer in Celebration, Florida (the home of DisneyWorld) and follows the everyday adventures of precocious 6-year-old Moonee, a child whose mother lives month to month in a motel and does some less than favorable things to make rent. Baker and No Film School's Jon Fusco discuss the director's long road through obscurity, the level of discipline every filmmaker should aspire to own, and how even when no one else believes in you, you can still believe in yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss Vulture’s list of the Top 100 Screenwriters of All Time, a new online marketplace for lenses, an indie distributor making bold moves, and how one filmmaker is changing the entire advertising industry. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about whether or not you need to buy a cage for your small camera. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, a slew of new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three directors who have been invited to and attended some of the most elite labs and fellowships in the business join No Film School's Liz Nord to define pitch forums, labs, retreats, and fellowships, and let other filmmakers know why participation in these opportunities can be extremely rewarding. Guests Sierra Pettengill ('The Reagan Show'), Sabaah Folayan ('Whose Streets’), and Jeff Unay (‘Cage Fighter’) share their own filmmaking journies and pitching processes, and also elaborate the value of fellowships to anyone trying to get a film made—everything from relationships to mentorship to feedback to simply having space to cry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine discuss the lifesaving info that every filmmaker can learn from recent Radiohead and NARCOS shoots, and a dirty debacle threatening the beloved indie institutions in the Alamo Drafthouse family. In gear news, we get a first look at Sony’s full-frame VENICE, and we answer an Ask No Film School question about what you can do in 8K that you can’t do in four. As always, we also bring you the latest filmmaking tools, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guests have heard over 10,000 pitches between them and, in this episode, they reveal what works and what doesn't when you're trying to raise money for your films. No Film School’s Liz Nord is joined by Molly O’Brien (Chief Business Development Officer of Fork Films), Daniel Chalfen (Co-founder of Naked Edge Films), and Jose Rodriguez (Director of Documentary Programs at the Tribeca Film Institute) to discuss the art of the pitch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss why the Emmys are actually worth noticing this year and what we should make of all the hubbub around Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, ‘mother!’. We also share wrap-ups from the Toronto and Camden International Film Festivals, including the movie made with 10,000 hours of surveillance footage. In Ask No Film School, we answer the perennial question of why your film isn’t getting into festivals. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do theater when you can do film? Why do film when you can do theater? Why do one when you can do both? Why do both when you can do VR? Director Dan Hasse and director/actor Taylor Myers are an ambitious pair of artists based in New York City who grappled with these pressing questions at length before finally coming to a conclusion. The answer? Just do all three. The duo went abroad earlier this year after conceiving the idea to fly to Ireland, rent a castle, and perform an immersive theater adaptation of Shakespeare’s immortal play Hamlet. Then they thought, well why would we limit this experience to just a few people? So the theater makers, brought along a crew and decided to become filmmakers as well. The result is Hamlet in the Golden Vale, a feature-length film that will be appearing on the festival circuit next year. All of this output from a single independent film production is made even more impressive considering that In the process, they also managed to secure funding for a companion VR piece as well. Dan and Taylor sit down with No Film School Producer Jon Fusco to discuss their multi-pronged effort to make the most of their eleven days in Ireland and the difficulties in translating from stage to the screen in all different aspects of production. From screenwriting to acting to directing they share a few tips on how to keep things running smoothly across every medium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine bring you a fall gear preview. We discuss all the latest gear news coming out of Amsterdam's IBC expo, including more details of Panasonic's EVA-1 and major Resolve upgrades, plus the multiple Apple announcements made at the company's annual launch event and how they affect indie filmmakers. We also cover a bevy of indie acquisition news out of TIFF, Louis CK’s top-secret DIY movie, the Creative Arts Emmys, and Disney's latest Star Wars shakeup. As always, the show also brings Ask No Film School, plus news you can use about upcoming grant and festival deadlines, this week’s indie film releases, industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Israeli journalist Maya Zinshtein took on a four-day assignment to cover the arrival of two foreign players to a local soccer club, she had no idea that it would turn into a year-long making of a feature documentary that dramatically reveals the skeletons in her own country’s closet. But this was no ordinary soccer team—and this is certainly not your average sports documentary. The team at the center of the film is Beitar Jerusalem, which had been historically known for the right wing politics and even racist tendencies of its fan base. In fact, It was the only team in Israel’s premier league never to sign an Arab player. When two Muslim players from Chechnya were brought onto the team, the resulting backlash exposed the ugliest parts of Israeli society, and threatened to tear the team and country apart. Rarely does a documentary—especially about something as apparently innocuous as soccer—expose so many layers of one society, from race to class to politics to economics. But it didn’t come without Zinshtein’s own battles. In her conversation with No Film School's Liz Nord, she is very candid about how she overcame the challenges she faced making the film, especially in trying to convince people to let her turn vérité cameras on them in the midst of personal and national crises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Emily Buder jump into fall festival season with reports from Venice, Telluride, and TIFF. We also share some positive financial news for indies against the backdrop of the summer blockbuster fail. For her very last episode ever, Emily shares a compendium of all the best filmmaking advice she's received from dozens of interviews with groundbreaking filmmakers. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including the world's highest capacity microSD card, and answers a pressing Ask No Film School question about lens adapters and flange focal distance. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making a short should be an easy thing, right? That’s what No Film School Producer/Editor Jon Fusco thought when he decided he would finally shoot his own. He was wrong. Making any film, no matter the length is certain to be an ordeal. In both pre-production and on set, many more things are bound to go wrong than right. Fusco sits down with award-winning short director Hughes William Thompson to discuss some of the more common struggles first-time filmmakers face and the steps that you can take to ensure your production goes as smooth as possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices