Theodore Bouloukos returns to the podcast after nearly seven years (first time was episode 14). The “secret weapon of independent cinema,” as The New Yorker’s Richard Brody called him, brings us up to date on his adventures in acting. He talks about why he never dwells on a project’s prospects after his work is done, explains the kind of characters that attract him, reminisces about a couple exceptional recent shoots (including the wonderful ode to the game of baseball that is the film Eephus), makes a case for going “full on” for every role, and much more. Eephus is currently […]

The post “You’re Either Inhabiting the Part, Full On, Or You’re Not, and There’s No Pretending Otherwise”: Theodore Bouloukos, Back To One, Episode 341 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

I assumed David Mamet would probably have more opinions about Aristotle than A24 and, indeed, in discussing the 76-year-old playwright-turned-filmmaker’s new movie, Henry Johnson, the former came up while the latter didn’t. Henry Johnson marks Mamet’s return to the director’s chair after a decade-long absence from cinema, and it’s easily his most austere work since 1994’s Oleanna, which like this film was adapted from his own play. Premiering on stage in 2023 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California, and later staged at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater in 2025, the play follows the unraveling of its titular character, a well-meaning […]

The post “Drama Appeals to Us is Because It Touches Something Different than the Contemporary”: David Mamet on TV, Theater, Gene Hackman and His New Film, Henry Johnson first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

It’s been 20 years since Film at Lincoln Center’s last retrospective of Kira Muratova, in which time obviously much has changed: the filmmaker herself has since died, no prints will be in the projection mix this time and Muratova’s identity as a Ukrainian filmmaker (as opposed to a Soviet filmmaker primarily working in a Russian context) has become more prominent. The work, however, remains essential. Check out the trailer above and start investigating her work with 1971’s Long Goodbyes, arguably the great mother-son movie. The retrospective runs May 16 to 25, 2025; click here to learn more.

The post Trailer Watch: “Kira Muratova: Scenographies of Chaos” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

UFO (Untitled Filmmaker Org) announced today the three new filmmakers comprising its 2025 Short Film Lab cohort. Selected filmmakers Daisy Friedman, Carin Leong (a Filmmaker 2025 25 New Face), and Emilio Subía will begin the Lab experience this month as they develop new scripted (Friedman and Subía) and nonfiction (Leong) projects. Filmmakers Emily May Jampel, Arielle Knight, and Samuel Wright Smith from the second Short Film Lab cohort announced last spring will continue in the program through December to develop their second projects engaging scripted narrative, hybrid nonfiction, and animation, in keeping with the Lab’s staggered enrollment model. The UFO […]

The post UFO Announces Spring, 2025 Short Film Lab Cohort first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Filmmaker‘s monthly series at New York’s Paris Theater, Filmmaker Magazine Presents, continues in June with two new events coupled with in-person conversations. On Monday, June 2, the Paris will welcome director Tom Kalin and producer Christine Vachon for a Q&A following a screening of 1992’s New Queer Cinema highlight Swoon. Kalin co-wrote and directed this stylish take on the infamous murder trial of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., a case that also provided inspiration for the stage play Rope, later adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock. Swoon will show on a 35mm print courtesy of Kalin and the film’s director of photography, Ellen Kuras. On Monday, […]

The post Filmmaker Magazine Presents Swoon and Monsoon Wedding at New York’s Paris Theater first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Unlike the rest of her cohort, Xinying Lao has the distinction of being a Short Film Student Showcase winner as an underclassman. Made during her sophomore year at NYU, Xiaohui and His Cows sheds light on the widespread separation of families in rural China as parents migrate to cities for work, leaving their children behind with relatives.  The film also bowed at the 2023 Berlinale in the festival’s Generation Kplus section, which is reserved for stories that explore children’s perspective. Certainly a shoo-in for the category, Lao’s short centers on the titular Xiaohui (Jinhao Wei), a nine-year-old boy living with […]

The post “Children and Animals Have a Natural Intuition and Liveliness”: Xinying Lao on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Xiaohui and His Cows first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

A creepy humanoid inches closer with every blink. A young woman returns to Peru to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish. A nine-year-old boy attempts to hide the beloved cows his grandfather must separate. A despondent man attempts to end his life to no avail. An older woman navigates ageism and desire in China. These are the varied premises of the five winners of the fifth annual Student Short Film Showcase, co-presented by JetBlue, Focus Features and The Gotham, Filmmaker‘s publisher. The five winning filmmakers are, respectively, James Ross (Don’t Blink, Florida State University), Sisa Quispe (Urpi: Her Last Wish, City […]

The post Read Interviews With the Fifth Annual Student Short Film Showcase Winners, Awarded By The Gotham, JetBlue and Focus Features first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

A Peruvian pilgrimage to visit the village of a recently-deceased relative propels the plot of Urpi: Her Last Wish. Helmed by Sisa Quispe as her MFA thesis film at the City College of New York, she also stars as the titular Urpi, a young American woman who travels to the Andes to reconnect with the culture she has long felt severed from.  Guiding her through her personal journey is Sayri (Juan Abel Ojeda Llanos), a local Indigenous man who treks with her to remote villages in order to find the former abode of her grandmother so that Urpi may pay […]

The post “The Story Kept Growing Alongside My Real-life Experience”: Sisa Quispe on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Urpi: Her Last Wish first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

For her California Institute of the Arts MFA thesis film, Mel Sangyi Zhao decided to travel back to her Chinese hometown of Chengdu and cast her mother in the lead role. The resultant film, Return to Youth, follows a retired dancer as she navigates the pressures of misogyny, ageism and a budding romance with a man several decades her junior.  Recently pitched with the prospect of undergoing a vaginal rejuvenation surgery, the elegant Bing (Xiaobing Zhao) laughs off the procedure as preposterous. Only when her cohort of friends begin to seriously discuss their interest does she understand that she, too, […]

The post “We Have More in Common Than We Think”: Mel Sangyi Zhao on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Return to Youth first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The creepy premise of Don’t Blink may be parsed by its title alone, but this still doesn’t make one prepared for the unyielding scares conjured by writer-director James Ross. Completed with the aid of his MFA cohort at Florida State University, Ross’ film takes place during the witching hour in an otherwise quaint suburban enclave.  Travis (Samuel Isaiah Hunter) is eager to spend the night with his date Reese (Tamara French) at her spacious pad. The only demand the beautiful woman makes is that Travis must take a pill to ensure that he sleeps through the night. Though he agrees, […]

The post “Totally Smooth Productions Are a Myth”: James Ross on His Student Short Film Showcase Winner Don’t Blink first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.