Reem Jubran, Calleen Koh, Nicole Chi, Eva Steinmetz and Sujin Jung
Graduate students hailing from UT Austin, Temple University, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University and CalArts are the winners of the sixth annual Student Short Film Showcase, co-presented by JetBlue, Focus Features and The Gotham, Filmmaker's publisher.
In a refreshing turn this year, all of the awardees are women. Indeed, their films focus on the rift in perspective between young women and the generation that came before them. Nicole Chi's Los Mosquitos explores the tension between a 15-year-old Honduran teen and her adorable younger cousin who, to her chagrin, becomes a bottomless vessel for adult praise; Eva Steinmetz's Marina chronicles a difficult interaction between the titular caretaker and an ailing patriarch; Reem Jubran's Don't Be Long, Little Bird finds a mother-daughter vacation shift… Read more
By Natalia Keogan
Andrea Ellsworth
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we're sharing the diary of Andrea Ellsworth, who traveled to the Lab with The Dispute, co-written with Kasey Elise Walker (whose diary can be found here). Here’s the description: “Down on their luck and desperate for more, two best friends from South Central take a chance encounter as an invitation to trade their dead-end lives in Los Angeles for something new. When chaos ensues during their seemingly lucrative adventure, they realize the true cost of their actions.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
“Embrace failure; you’re not here to get it right. You’re here to learn,” shouted… Read more
By Andrea Ellsworth
Steve Zahn gained early attention for his breakout roles in the 1990s, including Reality Bites and That Thing You Do! He became a frequent scene-stealer in films like Out of Sight, Happy, Texas, and Saving Silverman, showcasing his offbeat humor and charm. In HBO’s Treme, he played a passionate music teacher navigating post-Katrina New Orleans. More recently, he appeared in the first season of The White Lotus, earning critical acclaim for his role as a troubled father on vacation. His latest is personal on multiple levels—the indie film She Dances, which he co-wrote with his producing partner Rick Gomez, who also directs. On this episode, he talks about co-starring in that film with his daughter Audrey, and being continually blown… Read more
By Peter Rinaldi
Kasey Elise Walker (center) at the Sundance Directors Lab
This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. First up is Kasey Elise Walker, who traveled to the Lab with The Dispute, co-written with Andrea Ellsworth. Here’s the description: “Down on their luck and desperate for more, two best friends from South Central take a chance encounter as an invitation to trade their dead-end lives in Los Angeles for something new. When chaos ensues during their seemingly lucrative adventure, they realize the true cost of their actions.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
I’m freaking out. Kasi Lemmons and Ed Harris are watching our blocking rehearsal, and I’m not quite sure if I know exactly what… Read more
By Kasey Elise Walker
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In the first two films in their trilogy of environmental-themed documentaries, Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle married — literally — their loving spirit of "ecosexuality" with urgent debates around the preservation of our natural resources. In 2014's Goodbye, Gauley Mountain, Stephens returned to her West Virginia home with Sprinkle only to find the eponymous ridges she remembered from her youth undergoing the environmentally-destructive coal-mining process of mountaintop removal. In the film, as Wren Awry wrote for Filmmaker, Stephens says, "Sometimes I feel like fighting [mountaintop removal] is a losing battle. Then I imagine that some good old queer ACT UP-style activism and eco-sexual performance art may be just what it takes to stop these corporations from destroying the world. That… Read more
By Scott Macaulay
