📽️ Past 📺 Present📱Feature

New @nofilmschool article alongside my @pastpresentfeature interview with director @gilleklabin about his film @weekendattheendoftheworld and a modern indie release strategy built around ownership, transparency, and audience-first marketing. Link in bio. #indiefilm #filmmaking #filmdistribution #indiefilmmaker #nofilmschool #filmindustry #filmrelease #filmcommunity #pastpresentfeature @fortepictures

Wrote this piece for @nofilmschool in tandem with my @pastpresentfeature interview w/ Shih-Ching Tsou @blackkittenmadeintaiwan on her & @bakermovies Oscar-shortlisted @lefthandedgirlfilm - shot entirely on an iPhone 13 with @beastgrip support. 🔗 in bio. #pastpresentfeature #filmpodcast #lefthandedgirl #iphonefilmmaking #independentcinema #behindthecamera #beastgrip #nofilmschool #filmconversation #mobilecinema #oscarsbuzz #netflix #taiwan #mobilecinema #beastgrip

Thank you @bakermovies for supporting @pastpresentfeature #FilmFestival - you are a true champion of film. And everyone go see @lefthandedgirlfilm ❗️ Dir. by @blackkittenmadeintaiwan #PastPresentFeatureFilmFestival #PastPresentFilmFest #FilmCollective #IndependentCinema #IndieFilmmaking #SupportIndieFilm #CinemaCulture #LosAngelesEvents #LAArts #LAFilmScene #LAIndependentFilm #HollywoodScreening #EastHollywood #ThingstoDoInLA #LAWeekend #LAStudents #Cinephile #CinephilesOfInstagram #ArtHouseCinema #WorldCinema #FilmDiscussion #ScreeningSeries #FilmCommunity #MovieLovers #FilmEnthusiast #AuteurCinema #DirectorSpotlight #EmergingFilmmakers #ContemporaryCinema

E72 • Feel the Fear, Do it Anyway • FREDERIKE MIGOM @frederikemigom dir. of ‘Everyone’s Sorry Nowadays’ @sorrythefilm at Berlinale @berlinale Full ep: Spotify, Apple podcast, pastpresentfeature.com Belgian filmmaker Frederike Migom breaks down her Berlinale premiere Everyone’s Sorry Nowadays, a coming-of-age story set almost entirely inside a single home and a young girl’s mind. The film explores identity through a tightly contained structure, blending realism with imagined sequences that bring the character’s inner world to life. She talks through her unconventional path into directing, from acting and production work to navigating Europe’s state-funded film system. A key turning point came not from making films, but from receiving funding, the moment she says she finally felt “allowed” to call herself a director. The conversation digs into adapting a novel, working within creative limitations, and why fear is an unavoidable part of the process. Migom cites films like Boy, Arizona Dream, the work of Céline Sciamma and Andrea Arnold, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as touchstones for balancing realism with subjectivity. She also shares a simple philosophy that carried her through: feel the fear, do it anyway - and trust that the process will lead you where you need to go. #pastpresentfeature #marcusmizelle #filmpodcast #filmmakerpodcast #filmfestivals

E71 • Don’t Wait For Perfect Conditions • JEREMY WORKMAN @jeremyworkman_ dir. of @secretmallapartment now on @netflix Full ep on Spotify, Apple Pod, pastpresentfeature.com Jeremy Workman discusses Secret Mall Apartment, his Netflix documentary about a group of Rhode Island artists who secretly built and lived in an apartment inside a busy shopping mall, filming the entire four-year experiment themselves. After a strong self-released theatrical run, the film is now streaming on Netflix. Jeremy traces the project back to a chance meeting in Athens, where he connected with the main subject and slowly earned the trust of the full group after years of other filmmakers being turned away. He also reflects on his path into nonfiction, growing up around editing through his father, Chuck Workman, and building a career through independently financed documentaries. He cites films like American Movie (Chris Smith), Man on Wire (James Marsh), The Raft (Marcus Lindeen), and The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer) as inspirations for playful, form-bending nonfiction. The conversation also explores self-distribution, theatrical strategy, and why filmmakers should stop waiting for perfect conditions and just go make the thing. #SecretMallApartment #JeremyWorkman #DocumentaryFilm #NetflixDocs #NowStreaming #IndieFilm #DocFilmmaking #FilmPodcast #PastPresentFeature #FilmmakerInterview #NonfictionFilm

Self-distribution used to mean nobody wanted your film. Now it might be the smartest move an indie filmmaker can make. Director @jeremyworkman_ breaks down how his documentary @secretmallapartment went from a self-released theatrical run, to TVOD, and now @netflix The conversation digs into building a release team from scratch, raising money for distribution, and why filmmakers shouldn’t wait around for someone else to give their film permission to exist. His full episode of Past Present Feature w/ @marcusmizelle drops Tuesday, March 17.� Watch Secret Mall Apartment now on Netflix. #pastpresentfeature #podcast #marcusmizelle #filmpodcast #filmmakerpodcast #filmmakers #filmmaking #filmappreciation #filmfestivals #documentary #documentaryfilm #documentaryfilmmaker #nonfictionfilm #jeremyworkman #secretmallapartment #netflix #filmdistribution #selfdistribution #directorinterview

E70 • Build It Small, Release It Smart • GILLE KLABIN @gilleklabin dir. of @weekendattheendoftheworld Full ep: Spotify, Apple, pastpresentfeature.com Gille Klabin discusses “Weekend at the End of the World”, his follow-up to “The Wave” @thewavefilm and the deliberate choice to build a second feature that didn’t require waiting for studio permission. Shot in 12 days on a sub-$300K budget, the film was designed around creative, logistical, and financial control. Gille reflects on the lessons he learned from The Wave’s release, where traditional distribution left him frustrated by opaque marketing spends and limited transparency, and how that experience reshaped his approach to ownership, equity, and rollout strategy the second time around. Gille discusses the current indie landscape not as a lament, but as a tactical puzzle, and breaks down the realities of aggregators versus distributors, the economics of digital-first releases, and why he chose to prioritize transparency and direct recoupment over a conventional deal. Drawing comparisons to films like “Shaun of the Dead”, “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”, and “The Cabin in the Woods”, he discusses the balance of tone, heart, and genre - and how surprise and emotional whiplash can be a strategic storytelling tool. He also outlines a 50/50 equity split between investors and cast/crew, a flat-rate pay structure on set, and a belief that if independent filmmakers want a more just system, they have to build it at their own scale first. The conversation closes on preparation, resilience, and the long game: make the movie you can actually control, learn the business as deeply as the craft, and let your specific weirdness become the thing that carries you forward. @edgarwright @simonpegg @sleepinthegardn @thomaspatricklennon @camfife @a_clay_elliott @jessebrokebad @grimmfest @aarongrasso @lana.wolverton @drewgoddardfilms #pastpresentfeature #filmmakerappreciation #filmappreciation #filmpodcast #indiefilmmaker #independentfilm #filmbusiness #indiedistribution #filmmarketing

E69 • When the Story Becomes the Evidence • SHARON LIESE @sharonliese dir. of ‘Seized’ @seized_film at Sundance @sundanceorg Full ep: Spotify, Apple, pastpresentfeature.com Sharon Liese joins the show after premiering Seized at Sundance to unpack the story behind the Marion, Kansas newspaper raid that ignited a national debate around press freedom, abuse of power, and the fragility of the First Amendment. What begins as an egregious police search of a small-town newsroom expands into a layered portrait of community tension, history, ego, and how something unthinkable can happen in a place that looks quiet on the surface. The film moves beyond headlines into character, contradiction, and the uncomfortable gray areas that fueled the raid. We dig into craft and access: how Liese drove two hours the moment she heard the news on NPR, earned trust without a formal agreement for months, and built a film out of surveillance footage, body cams, courtroom material, and intimate interviews. She talks about structuring the story around a one-year time jump, using a young reporter as an audience surrogate, shaping tone so viewers can register the absurdity without losing the stakes, and making the call to abandon fourth-wall devices in favor of a cleaner, more immersive approach. She shares the films that informed her thinking during the edit, including All the President’s Men and the investigative restraint of Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour and Cover Up. Sharon reflects on what it meant to launch the film at Sundance amid both celebration and uncertainty in the documentary market. Advice to filmmakers: there are no shortcuts. Put in the hours, earn trust slowly, and keep showing up until the experience begins to live inside the work. #FilmPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #NewPodcast #FilmmakerInterview #DirectorLife #DocumentaryFilm #IndieFilm #Sundance #FilmFestival #BehindTheScenes #CreativeProcess #Storytelling #CinemaLovers #CinephileCommunity #FilmIndustryLife #AspiringFilmmaker #ContentCreators #MediaAndCulture #PressFreedom #FirstAmendment #JournalismMatters #TrueStory #InvestigativeJournalism #MovieBuff #WatchThis

E68 • Finding the Frame in a Shared Landscape • GABBY OSIO VANDEN & JACK WEISMAN @sanguinuss @jack_weisman dirs. of ‘Nuisance Bear’ @nuisance_bear_film - @sundanceorg Grand Jury Award WINNER Full episode on Spotify, Apple, pastpresentfeature.com Gabby Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman join the show after winning Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize to unpack the ten-year road behind Nuisance Bear, a polar bear’s journey through two connected worlds: tourist-heavy Churchill, Manitoba, and the Inuit community of Arviat, where the stakes are far more complex and far less welcoming. The film becomes a meditation on coexistence, control, and who gets labeled a “nuisance” in a shared landscape. We dig into craft and access: finding the right position for the camera so the story can reveal itself, structuring the feature in two halves, and how a dialogue-free short film born partly out of COVID constraints became the proof of concept that unlocked TIFF @tiff_net , The New Yorker @newyorkermag , and eventually A24 @a24 . They also talk candidly about what the audience never sees: rough living conditions, long hours waiting, the specific agony of “the best thing happened, and we missed it,” and the slow but important work of earning trust, where listening comes before filming. They share influences that shaped them, including Miyazaki’s sense of nature and modernity, Gus Van Sant’s @gus_van_sant bravery with form, and John Cassavetes’ belief in the energy of a set. The conversation closes on what it meant to experience Sundance as both a career peak and a personal milestone, getting engaged and then married during the festival. Advice to filmmakers: be tenacious when you know you need to tell a story, protect trust like it is part of the craft, and do not turn on each other when the pressure spikes. #PastPresentFeature #PodcastEpisode #FilmPodcast #DocumentaryPodcast #DocumentaryFilm #IndieFilm #IndependentFilm #Sundance #SundanceFilmFestival #GrandJuryPrize #A24 #TIFF #TheNewYorker #WildlifeDocumentary #NatureDocumentary #PolarBear #Arctic #ChurchillManitoba

E67 • Taking the Scary Road on Purpose • STEPHANIE AHN @ahn_stephanie , dir. of ‘Bedford Park’ @bedfordparkfilm at @sundanceorg , U.S. Dramatic Competition Stephanie Ahn discusses Bedford Park, her Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition debut about a Korean American woman in her 30s pulled back into her parents’ home after her mother’s car accident, where she meets the man responsible and an unexpected connection begins to form. Ahn shares why she needed to make this film, how growing up Korean American left her hungry for stories that felt real beyond familiar clichés, and why writing Bedford Park meant finally walking straight into something deeply autobiographical she avoided for years. She talks about choosing uncertainty over comfort and taking the scary road on purpose, stepping away from a stable editing career to pursue a story that wouldn’t let go. Ahn reflects on journaling as a way into the script, years of rejection, and learning to be ruthless with her own material as the film evolved from a family drama into a more intimate relationship story. Rather than starting with a message, she describes how the film’s themes revealed themselves over time, ultimately centering on human connection, being truly seen, and how that clarity reshapes self-understanding. Ahn walks through the long, practical build: seven years of persistence, financing that finally unlocked through relationships and Korean backing, and an unusually deep rehearsal process with actors that stretched across years before shooting in New Jersey. She reflects on editing as a brutal but clarifying search for truth alongside a trusted co-editor, and on the films she kept returning to for structure and inspiration, including A Separation, Secret Sunshine, Rust and Bone @jacquesaudiard2009 , Heat, and The Insider. @michaelmannofficial #PastPresentFeature #FilmPodcast #FilmAppreciation #SundanceFilm #IndieFilm #IndependentCinema #FilmmakerLife #WomenInFilm #AsianAmericanStories #KoreanAmerican #Storytelling #CreativeJourney #BehindTheScenes #HumanConnection #FilmCommunity

E66 • Finding the Soul of Your Film • J.M. HARPER @jmharper , dir. of ‘Soul Patrol’ @soulpatrolfilm at the Sundance Film Festival @sundanceorg Full ep: Spotify • Apple pod • pastpresentfeature.com Documentary filmmaker and editor J.M. Harper discusses Soul Patrol, his six-year journey telling the story of the first Black special operations unit in Vietnam. What began with reading Eddie Manuel’s book grew into years of weekly conversations, slow trust-building, and eventual access to never-before-seen Super 8 footage and photographs shot by the soldiers themselves. Harper also reflects on how his work editing Jeen‑Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy sharpened his instincts around character, structure, and letting footage reveal meaning over time. We talk about point of view and theme as the engine of a film, not ideas layered on afterward. Harper frames Soul Patrol around a central question: whether speaking openly about acts committed in war, long buried and rarely acknowledged, can offer any form of healing. Drawing on Steven Spielberg’s @stevenspeilbergofficial Saving Private Ryan, he discusses how cinema can confront violence without glamorizing it, and the ethical tension of rendering horrific experiences with clarity, restraint, and intention. He reflects on editing as discovery, assembling a team of editors with different strengths, and shaping a film that moves between memory, present-day reckoning, and historical record. #PastPresentFeature #FilmPodcast #DocumentaryFilm #SundanceFilmFestival #IndependentFilm #DocFilmmaking #FilmEditing #FilmmakerLife #Storytelling #FilmCommunity #VietnamWar #BlackHistory #WarAndMemory #TrueStories

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