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I recently was able to have a conversation with activist, filmmaker and writer Ellen Gavin about her latest movie Blood Money, her friendship with Dolores Huerta as well as a far-ranging conversation about the state of the United States of America, ICE, detention centers, the upcoming midterm elections and paths forward for justice, immigration, labor reform, pressuring the people we elect to have the political will to indeed do the right thing moving forward. Here is that conversation:
Prior to the film Sheepwell premiere at the Austin Film Festival I was able to sit down over zoom and have a conversation with Producer Co-Writer Danielle DeMatteo Producer and Actor Lauren Elizabeth Harris Actor Mark Ryan Anderson.
We spoke about the complexity of the characters who inhabit the story of Sheepwell as well as how the film came to made. Sheepwell marks the first feature film form SheNYC and produced with Pathway Pictures.
Our conversation also talked about the challenges that faced production such as the two tornadoes that happened during filming in Alabama and the exquisite cinematography and costume design that enhanced the story.
Here is our conversation:
Prior to The Darkest Light premiering at DOC NYC on November 15, 2026 I was able to sit down over zoom and have a conversation with Director Simon Mendes about his first feature documentary that chronicles Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's legacy. His music that transformed and celebrated Jewish faith and the allegations of sexual abuse that surfaced after Lilith magazine in the Spring issue in 1998 published allegations of sexual assault. Resounding silence followed. With the rise of the #metoo movement so too did the allegations resurface about Shlomo Carlebach. Here is our conversation:
In two decades of conducting interviews with filmmakers last week I did something I had never done before. I partnered with U.S. History teacher Dr, Sarah Mitchell and we had her Junior classes pose questions to filmmaker John B. Beritz and historian Andrew Carroll about their documentary. As we had a conversation about the film I asked the questions students had written. I also conducted the interview from the classroom. Behind The Lines follows Carroll who has spent over three decades collecting war correspondence.
Sick is the debut feature film from writer and director Agata Trzebuchowska. It was a much talked about movie after it's world premiere last month at Fantastic Fest. The movie is rooted in some dark themes seldom talked about in cinema. The film is anchored by the strong performances of it's two young lead actors, Konrad Kakol and Katarzyna Lubik. I was able to speak with Agata about the film, their writing process as well as the performances and the cinematography of the film as well as what the current film scene is like in Poland.
The dust, blood, guts from Fantastic Fest 2026 has settled. I spent the week watching movies, exchanging emails with publicists, conducting zoom interviews with filmmakers. When it was all said and done I conducted over two hours of conversations with filmmakers over seven interviews. I spoke with people in Slovenia, Italy, France, Canada and the United States. That is one of the greatest things about a film festival, it gathers cinema from all over the world. Here are the Fantastic Fest 2026 conversations:
Gimme Truth a documentary about conspiracy theories and the people that go down rabbit holes in search of them just premiered at Fantastic Fest 2026. I was able to have a conversation with directors Brad Abrahams & Simon Ennis about the genesis of the documentary, the people they documented as well how to bring people out of these theories. Here is that conversation:
