Director Kay Cannon on Bringing the Modern & the Funny to “Cinderella”

With her hilarious and critically acclaimed feature-directing debut Blockers, Kay Cannon expanded her renown beyond being the writer of the Pitch Perfect blockbuster franchise and writer/producer on hit shows like 30 Rock, New Girl, and Girl Boss. Cinderella, which premiered in theaters and on Prime Video this past September 3rd, is her sophomore release as director and looks like another crowd-pleasing hit.

Vietnamese Filmmaker Le Binh Giang on His New Film “Who Created Human Beings” and Vietnam’s Growing Film Industry

Despite strict travel restrictions imposed against the ongoing pandemic, Vietnamese director Le Binh Giang made it in-person to Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He traveled from Vietnam, along with his Vietnamese producer Le Quynh Anh, to present his latest project Who Created Human Beings at the festival’s international co-production platform Open Doors Hub, which ran from August 6-10.

The new project, which touches on local sensitive issues such as abortion and religion,

“Untold: Breaking Point” Creators Examine Tennis Star Mardy Fish’s Battle With Severe Anxiety

Mardy Fish knows that he and others benefit when he tells his life story. Still, he’s not quite ready to watch someone else tell it for him.

Breaking Point — the latest installment in Netflix’s sports documentary series Untold, which will be released September 7 — recounts Fish’s descent from his perch as the No. 1 American tennis player in 2011 into a years-long battle with severe anxiety disorder.

Documentarian Morgan Neville on “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain”

Charismatic author, chef, and world traveler Anthony Bourdain went from relative obscurity working in a New York restaurant to international success at the age of 43 when his memoir Kitchen Confidential was released. It started a meteoric rise to fame and led to Anthony Bourdain becoming a household name. When he killed himself at 61, his suicide shocked fans all over the world. Now Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville has created a fascinating, poignant portrait of the complicated man in Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.

“Werewolves Within” Director Josh Ruben on His Hilarious Creature Feature

Werewolves Within invites you to the cozy town of Beverfield, Vermont, where things that go bump in the night are manifold. They might be a creature out to get you, or, they might be your neighbor, out to bother the crap out of you. Director Josh Ruben has crafted a deliciously nimble murder mystery/monster story/comedy in the comfy (if cold and often creepy) confines of this wooded would-be paradise. Based on Mishna Wolff’s script, 

Oscar-Nominated Producer Rachel Winter on Her Directorial Debut “The Space Between”

Oscar-nominated producer Rachel Winter worked for years to help get Dallas Buyers Club made, deploying a cheerful tenacity that she’s again and again in her career. The tireless Winter has made a career of finding and shepherding projects, sometimes for years, that she believes in. Or, it might be more accurate to say that Winter has gotten projects made that she herself can’t shake, that she thinks about over and over again.

“In The Heights” Director Jon M. Chu on Capturing a Neighborhood’s Magic

Director Jon M. Chu had to become “a complete listener” to bring the story of the largely Latinx community of In the Heights to life. In an interview, Chu talked about the connections he felt between his Chinese heritage and the characters in the film. He also brought the exuberance that made his previous films, like Crazy Rich Asians and Step Up 2, so vibrant.

How did you focus on the specifics of the Latinx culture for the film?

“WandaVision” Director Matt Shakman on Landing His Dream Job

So many of director Matt Shakman‘s worlds collided when he took on Marvel Studios WandaVision. “I come at it from this bizarre perspective, as I’ve been a lifelong Marvel fan, a comic book fan, I’ve been in the audience for all of Marvel’s movies, but I’m also a sitcom kid, I grew up in Hollywood as an actor on sitcom sets,” Shakman says of his fortuitous role as the series director.

Director Barry Jenkins Mixes Beauty and Brutality in “The Underground Railroad”

The Underground Railroad has been a long time coming in Barry Jenkins‘ imagination. As a kid growing up in Miami’s rough Liberty City neighborhood, the writer-director pictured literal railroad tracks running beneath the earth. Fast forward to 2014, when Jenkins thrilled to Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and secured adaptation rights even before he’d finished promoting his Oscar-winning Moonlight movie.

After completing If Beale Street Could Talk,

“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” Director Kari Skogland on the Evolution of the Hero

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier director Kari Skogland had her work cut out for her. Direct roughly six hours worth of action (practically two Avengers films’ worth), introduce a brand new location to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Madripool), brand new villains (the Flag Smashers), a brand new Captain America (Wyatt Russell’s John Walker), and continue the long-established character arcs of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).

David Oyelowo on His Stirring Directorial Debut “The Water Man”

David Oyelowo was looking for a very particular kind of project when he read Emma Needell’s script for The Water Man back in 2015. The veteran actor is a passionate fan of a specific kind of nuanced, expansive child-led films that one could argue had their heyday back in the 1980s. “The films I had loved growing up were E.T., The Goonies, Stand By Me,” Oyelowo says, “I wore the VHS down watching them.”

Director Simon McQuoid on the Elemental and Supernatural of “Mortal Kombat”

The latest iteration of Mortal Kombat, director Simon McQuoid’s debut feature, follows the development of Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a young dad and failed MMA fighter unaware of his inheritance: as a direct descendent of 17th-century Japanese fighter Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), he’s one of Earthrealm’s pre-destined champions in a violent tournament regularly held between different universes known as Mortal Kombat.

Cole is new to this world,

Nick Stagliano Returns to Directing With Noir Thriller “The Virtuoso”

Mistrust reigns and true identities are questioned when an assassin, a waitress, a deputy, a loner, and a couple cross paths in an isolated, rustic diner one evening in the moody and suspenseful thriller, The Virtuoso. The story is cloaked in mystery from the start, with the highly skilled assassin, The Virtuoso, accepting an assignment from his boss, The Mentor, with little detail about the job other than the place, time, and one puzzling clue.

Oscar-Nominee Shaka King on Writing & Directing “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. Our conversation with Shaka King was originally published on March 30, before he was nominated for two Oscars. The film was nominated for Best Picture (the nomination includes King and producing partners Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler), and King was nominated for Best Original Screenplay along with co-writers Will Berson, Kenny & Keith Lucas.

Judas and the Black Messiah galvanized moviegoers with its fact-based story about Black Panther leader Fred Hampton,

Director Hanelle Culpepper on Filming Fights & Making History in “Kung Fu”

Directing a series pilot has a huge impact on the viability of the show, putting tremendous pressure on the director. It’s pressure Hanelle Culpepper can handle, exemplified by the ratings and stellar reviews of her award-winning work on last year’s Star Trek: Picard. On The CW’s Kung Fu, she was chosen by showrunner Christina M. Kim to direct the first two episodes of a series making history as the first hour-long drama featuring a predominantly Asian-American cast.

Director Marian De Pontes on her Horizon Award-Winning Film “Etana”

For director Marian De Pontes‘ Horizon Award-winning short film Etana, the South African native did not choose an easy subject. De Pontes, who earned her MFA in film production from Chapman University, and her BA with Honors in Film Production from the University of The Witwatersrand in South Africa, was inspired by a New York Times article on child soldiers in South Sudan. Etana is a potent epic-in-miniature, focusing on the title character (played by Vivian Nweze) and her attempt to flee her forced servitude in an army that deploys children soldiers.

Horizon Award Winner Shira Baron on The Importance of Listening

For a young filmmaker casting about for a story, sometimes the subject is standing right in front of you, even calling out to you. That was the case for Shira Baron, a recent recipient of the Horizon Award, whose short De Sol a Sol won for Best Documentary Short. Baron’s film follows entrepreneurs Ricardo and Abraham, ice cream cart peddlers who have been working on Chicago’s northern shore for 20 years. Baron, currently enrolled in the University of Michigan’s Film,

Director Chiaki Kon on Her Netflix Anime Feature “The Way Of The Househusband”

A new Japanese anime series The Way Of The Househusband will premiere on Netflix globally on April 8. The five-episode series follows Tatsu, once a legendary yakuza nicknamed The Immortal Dragon, who is determined to become a devoted stay-at-home husband, diligently handling all the daily chores for his wife Miku, a busy career woman. But his newfound domestic bliss is soon interrupted when friends and foes from the past come back into his lives.

“French Exit” Director Azazel Jacobs on Loving His Wicked, Witty Central Character

Director Azazel Jacobs‘ French Exit won’t, on first blush, seem like a feel-good movie. Its protagonist, Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a ferociously acerbic fading socialite who more or less doesn’t want to live anymore. Based on Jacobs’ friend and collaborator Patrick DeWitt’s novel (and adapted by DeWitt himself), there seems no earthly reason why anyone, in the year 2021, would feel affectionate towards a privileged woman lamenting her third act turn towards insolvency by savaging everyone in her path.

“Concrete Cowboy” Director Ricky Staub Saddles Up in Feature Debut

Westerns have a long and prominent role in cinematic history. The genre tends to conjure images of white hat vigilantes wrangling wild stallions in wide-open plains, but Concrete Cowboy (premiering April 2 on Netflix) starring Idris Elba will challenge all of your preconceived notions. The real-life men who inspire the film ride horseback at the Fletcher Street Stables through the middle of inner-city Philadelphia.

Writer/director Ricky Staub took note of the unusual riders years ago.