Fans of Indie Beat, rejoice… we have returned. On this episode we spoke to filmmaker Alexander Jorgensen.

 READ MORE: The Best Documentaries Of The Decade

Jorgensen, originally hailing from Canada, has made a number of films since planting himself in the US of A. He started off focusing most of his time exploring various visual ideas via indie music videos while also paying the bills by picking up random cinematography or post-production gigs here and there.

Continue reading Filmmaker Alexander Jorgensen On Documentaries & 9/11 Truthers [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Movies Of 2020 We’ve Already Seen

Sokolow hit the scene in 2015 with her first feature “Aspie Seeks Love.” The documentary follows David, an artist who had been posting ads seeking romance for over two decades. His life suddenly changes when he discovers that he has Asperger’s syndrome and proceeds to go through some heavy soul searching.

Continue reading Filmmaker Julie Sokolow On Climate Change & Documentaries [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Now Loading… the new episode of your favorite independent film podcast Indie Beat…

On this episode, we spoke to director, producer, actor, and dancer Carolina Monnerat.

Monnerat’s love for film started early and without bounds: alongside regular childhood programming, her parents encouraged her to watch the titans of the cinema canon such as Scorsese or Kubrick, age be damned. This developed not only her passion for cinema but her fluency in it at a very young age, leading her to make inventive little movies with her friends in her spare time.

Continue reading Filmmaker Carolina Monnerat On Making Movies & Brazilian Politics [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

And here we are, once again, to partake in another fresh installment of Indie Beat. Yes, that’s right, your favorite independent filmmaker podcast is back. What a treat. This time we stuck our microphone in the face of Kansas-native Christopher Good.

LISTEN: ‘The Abyss’ Turns 30: Hard-Earned Beauty & Strange Obscurity [Be Reel Podcast]

Good has been at it for a while. His first short film “Return of the Gumshoe Kids” took him over nine years to finish and acted as a sort of film school for the director.

Continue reading Filmmaker Christopher Good On Sundance & Pressure [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Welcome one, welcome all to a new episode of Indie Beat!

Today’s guest is filmmaker and musician Tyler Taormina.

Raised in suburban Long Island, Taormina cultivated his love for sketch comedy by shooting skits with his friends on shoddy digital cameras at a young age. For awhile he was pulled towards music, playing in numerous bands and going to shows around the island. When college came a-callin’ he decided to pursue the screenwriting program at Emerson College, expecting to eventually work in television with an aim to do something along the lines of the old Nickelodeon shows he had grown up with.

Continue reading Filmmaker Tyler Taormina On Suburbia & Sketch Comedy [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

May I welcome you to the newest episode of Indie Beat? Come on in! On this episode, we had on the director, writer, and producer Jessica Kingdon. Kingdon first dabbled in writing before ultimately finding a stronger pull in the art of filmmaking. She made several films throughout the years but the one to really hit was “Commodity City,” an observational documentary about the Yiwu Markets in China.

Continue reading Filmmaker Jessica Kingdon On Observational Aesthetics And Failure [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

♫Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the new Indie Beat episode, I’m gonna listen ’til I can’t no more♫ On this episode we have on filmmaker, stunt coordinator, and former martial artist Micah Khan!

From a very young age, Khan loved action movies and found himself practicing various different forms of martial arts. A fairly debilitating injury caused him to reassess his commitment to the form and drew him to less physically dangerous outlets, dabbling in acting and stand-up comedy before ultimately taking the plunge into directing.

Continue reading Director & Stunt Choreographer Micah Khan On The Action Genre [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Indie Beat is here again! For the latest episode of Everyone’s Very Favorite Indie Film Podcast™, we had on director and cinematographer Brennan Vance.

Vance had a stint in art school before he even decided to start sculpting in time, meeting future collaborator and best bud Peter McLarnan at the University of Minnesota. The two went on to create the feature film “The Sound Of Small Things,” a beguiling and deceptively simple relationship drama indebted to the early work Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Continue reading Director & Cinematographer Brennan Vance Talks Art Films [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Indie Beat listeners — at attention. It’s that time again! On this episode, we spoke to Iman Zawahry, filmmaker and professor located in Florida. Zawahry came across our attention with her short “Tough Crowd,” made while she was attending the grad program at Florida State University. This movie follows a young female Muslim forsaking her family’s wishes for her future in order to focus on her real passion: stand up comedy.

Continue reading Director Iman Zawahry Talks Comedy Films And Teaching [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

It’s a new Indie Beat, and joining us on this episode is filmmaker Patrick Wang.

Patrick spent some time directing and acting in theater productions before bursting onto the scene with his debut feature “In The Family.” The film follows a man, played by Wang, struggling to retain custody of his son after the death of his lover, the biological father of said child. Running nearly three hours with plenty of long takes, ‘Family’ had a rough time finding a home until its premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Continue reading Filmmaker Patrick Wang Talks Directing And Self-Distribution [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Hey, what’s that under the tree? Did Santa come early? Why, it’s a gift! Unwrap that bad boy and click play — it’s the latest episode of Indie Beat. On this installment, I spoke to film critic, screenwriter, comedian, and fellow podcaster Jourdain Searles.

Jourdain began her life in Georgia but soon moved to New York City to pursue her interest in cinema, attending the Master’s program at NYU. Since then she has run her own media criticism website Fishnet Cinema, an outlet solely contributed to by female-identifying writers and focusing on how race, gender, sexuality, and class pervades the various iterations of media we consume.

Continue reading Critic Jourdain Searles Talks Writing Rom-Coms [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Born, raised, and still residing in good ol’ Texas, Mosley started filmmaking at an early age remaking Disney flicks with his father. After pushing through school (which included a stint running his high school drama program and allowed him to put on a production of “Dr. Strangelove“) and making a few low-fi short films he teamed up with director Robby Storey for his first feature, “Hold,” in 2009.

Continue reading Filmmaker Frank Mosley Talks Balancing Acting/Directing & The Influence Of Horror Films [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

There’s no need to be afraid, the latest Indie Beat is ready to be played. Today we have on Blair McClendon, filmmaker, and editor.

McClendon began his film studies at the New York University graduate program and it was there that he met some of his current collaborators. He soon found himself experimenting by repurposing video, taking other forms of media, remixing and rearranging or adding other elements to change their meaning and context entirely.

Continue reading Director Blair McClendon Talks ‘America for Americans’ [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Super Smash that play button! Indie Beat is back, baby!

This episode we have on filmmaker, programmer, and professor Brandon Colvin.

Colvin began his career with the feature film “Frames,” an Antonioni-inspired piece about a young Wisconsin filmmaker obsessed with the disappearance of one of his lead actresses. The result is a formalist, attuned mystery, as if Bresson decided to lean hard on thriller elements.

Continue reading Indie Beat Podcast Chats With ‘Frames’ Filmmaker Brandon Colvin at The Playlist.

Time for another go ’round, Indie Beat listeners. We’re back this time with filmmaker, editor, and critic Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli.

After a number of shorts, Rovinelli embarked on her first feature “Empathy.” The film follows Em (Em Cominotti), an escort and heroin addict, as she navigates life without proper healthcare. Rovinelli’s camera focuses on the mundane aspects of Em’s life (putting on makeup, brushing teeth) while handling the other parts of her life — namely the sex work and the drug use — in a decidedly non-salacious, open way.

Continue reading Indie Beat Podcast Talks To Filmmaker Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli at The Playlist.

Ravenous Indie Beat fans, it’s been a minute, but the wait is now over. On this episode, we spoke to Rachel Morgan, creative director for the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama.

Morgan started out as a volunteer at the festival, splitting her time screening submissions and canvassing for the event while also producing industry commercials and documentary films. Slowly but surely she worked her way up to a programmer position, finding her passion in exhibiting all sorts of movies for a vast Alabamian audience.

Continue reading Indie Beat Podcast Talks To Film Festival Creative Director Rachel Morgan at The Playlist.

Start your engines, we got a new episode of… Indie Beat!

Our guest is Terry Jones, a rising Native American filmmaker based in upstate New York.

Jones enrolled in the film program at Syracuse University in 2012 and composed a number of film projects there with collaborator Govind Deecee. Since graduating in 2016 the pair have toured around the world with their movies and even scored the rare distribution deal for their short films.

Continue reading Indie Beat Podcast Talks To Native American Filmmaker Terry Jones at The Playlist.

Audience, please give a round of applause for the latest episode of…

Indie Beat!

On today’s ‘cast we have filmmaker Aleksandra Niemczyk, a former student of Bela Tarr‘s Film Factory in Sarajevo.

Aleksandra started her work as a painter before eventually turning to cinema. One of her first shorts, “Hide and Seek,” is an unsettling horror-tinged art film about two young girls who play the titular game in an abandoned house.

Continue reading Indie Beat With Filmmaker & Painter Aleksandra Niemczyk [Podcast] at The Playlist.

Thousands upon thousands of people all asked the same question…

“When is the next episode of Indie Beat?”

We are proud to present the answer to this inquiry:

Now.

We spoke to filmmaker Nick Hayes, a director/producer/cinematographer based in Detroit, Michigan. While his day job is in the commercial world, his personal work has been focused on left-leaning activism. He’s done most of the video work for the podcast Street Fight Radio (a really fun show done by anarchist comedians Brett Payne and Bryan Quinby) and captured a number of demonstrations around the Detroit area (here is coverage of the Affordable Care Act repeal protest and here’s another centered around deportation).

Continue reading Indie Beat With Filmmaker Nick Hayes [Podcast] at The Playlist.

Hello one and all! Thanks for tuning in to another iteration of Indie Beat!

Joining us this episode is Numa Perrier. Perrier co-created the platform Black & Sexy TV, an avenue for various web series that the filmmaker was involved in. It eventually grew to encompass other programs and birthed a very dedicated, supportive audience. One of their shows, “The Couple” (which Perrier also has a lead role in), now has a development deal at HBO.

Continue reading Indie Beat With ‘Jezebel’ Filmmaker & Actor Numa Perrier [Podcast] at The Playlist.

We meet again. Thanks again for tuning in to the latest episode of Indie Beat!

This one is particularly special as our guest is long time friend and collaborator Paul Taylor.

Paul and I met during our tenure at Long Island University. We made a number of films together with him acting as the cinematographer (“Bridges,” “The Winds That Scatter,” “Mohammad So-And-So,” “Incorrectional”) but for the podcast I mainly focused on Paul’s directorial work.

Continue reading Indie Beat With ‘Driftwood’ Director Paul Taylor [Podcast] at The Playlist.

Put everything down… we have a new Indie Beat!

This episode features filmmaker and all around great guy Theodore Collatos. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because (a) you’re ahead of the curve and know about terrific American independent cinema and/or (b) you’ve read the interview piece we did together over at Filmmaker Magazine.

Collatos’s first feature film, “Dipso,” follows Tommy (Matt Shaw) as he tries to right his life after a brief stint in jail.

Continue reading Indie Beat With ‘Tormenting The Hen’ Filmmaker Theodore Collatos [Podcast] at The Playlist.

Knock knock. Who’s there? A new episode of Indie Beat!

A new episode of Indie Beat who?

Um…

This time around we spoke with filmmaker Adam Keleman!

The director started out with a bang, having his first short film “Going Back” premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in 2010. This short follows a failed model returning to her hometown after a long time away, focusing on all the discomfort and awkwardness that entails.

Continue reading Adam Keleman Talks ‘Easy Living,’ ‘Hannibal’ Star Caroline Dhavernas & More [Indie Beat Podcast] at The Playlist.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? The latest Indie Beat is here!

On this episode, we interviewed Daniel Martinico, a filmmaker living in Los Angeles.

Daniel’s first feature, “OK Good,” premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2012 and went on to play Sydney, London, Boston, and many other locales. This lo-fi character piece follows a struggling actor going through a string of dismaying auditions while also participating in a fairly intense performance workshop.

Continue reading Indie Beat Talks With ‘Excursions’ Director Daniel Martinico [Podcast] at The Playlist.

Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the next episode of Indie Beat!

This chapter’s guest is filmmaker, programmer, and essayist Caroline Golum.

Golum began her movie mania in a place where it is practically inescapable — the San Fernando Valley. She ghosted the West Coast for college, though, attending the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She made some short films and attended a healthy number of repertory film screenings before tackling her first feature, the darkly funny “A Feast of Man.”

READ MORE: 20 Great Debut Films From Female Directors

Co-written with writer/director Dylan Pasture (“Cloudy All Day”), ‘Feast’ is a campy, quick-witted screwball comedy following a group of friends that are set to inherit their deceased buddy’s money…if they all agree to dine upon his corpse.

Continue reading Indie Beat Chats With ‘A Feast of Man’ Director Caroline Golum [Podcast] at The Playlist.