Behind the Lens of a Queer Cinema Masterpiece:

We also look at the powerhouse, star-studded creative team bringing this film to life. From legendary queer executive producers like Alan Cumming, Lilly Wachowski, and Adrian Salpeter, to a "who's who" of game-changing documentary filmmakers including Caryn Capotosto, Lauren Greenfield, and Kirsten Vangsness, this project represents a massive milestone for diverse storytelling.

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

• The SNL Legacy: How a 1990s comedy sketch predicted today's mainstream conversations around gender.

• Theatrical & Digital Release Dates: Where to watch We Are Pat across major cities (NY, LA, Chicago, Portland, Philly) and online this June.

• Diverse Filmmaking: The importance of trans, non-binary, and queer leadership both in front of and behind the camera.

• Plus More! Tune in to find out!

Watch and learn more: We Are Pat Official Trailer here. We Are Pat Website

TVOD/Digital Links:

Apple TV Fandango Prime Video

In an episode of She's All Over the Place podcast, "Tribeca Premiere: Inside the UK Comedy Patterns with Asad Moghal, Jake Watkins & Rex Glensy." The episode explores the creative process behind Patterns and Kevin's Series of Unfortunate Events, which celebrated its World Premiere at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.

Patterns is an eight episodes long anthology comedy series created by Rex Glensy and developed alongside writer Asad Moghal. While some anthologies are associated with dark genres like Black Mirror, Patterns takes a different approach by embracing humor, heart and the wonderful messy experience that connects most of us.

What makes this series stand out is that every episode stands on its own while existing within a large universe, viewers can jump into any story and not feel lost. But those who watch the whole series get a deeper understanding of how characters’ lives intersect.

One of those stories is Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events, the fourth episode of the series written by Asad Moghal and Daniel Mannheim.

(all artwork by Katie Seamonds)

.ᐟ Kevin’s Dating Disaster Era .ᐟ

At the center of the episode is Kevin, played by Jake Watkins, a hopeless romantic whose optimism somehow survives an endless streak of terrible dates.

By day Kevin works as an Online Safety Salamander at a local school. By night, he throws himself into modern dating and its unpredictable world. Kevin is convinced his next swipe and match might lead him to true love.

As his romantic misadventures continue, his colleagues Vera (Cecilia Noble), a sharp-witted school nurse, and Dave Douglas (Ryan Sampson), an eccentric geography teacher watch the chaos unfold with both concern and amusement. All while Kevin remains completely oblivious to the possibility that what he’s been searching for is closer than he realized.

(all artwork by Katie Seamonds)

✎ Built from real-life ✎

One thing that stood out to me is that Kevin’s story is actually inspired from Asad Moghal’s own dating experience.

However, instead of focusing on the pain, the story transforms those uncomfortable and sometimes ridiculous moments into comedy. It’s almost like a reminder that some of life’s most frustrating experiences often become our funniest stories later.

During the discussion, Watkins joked that he felt he was playing himself because he related to the character. His excitement for the role was evident and he spoke about putting a great deal of work into it.

✧˖°. Creating the world of Patterns ✧˖°.

Glensy explained that the idea for Patterns came from him wanting to see more comedy anthologies on screen.

While audiences are familiar with anthology series that focus on science fiction or dystopian themes, Glensy wondered what it might look like to create one centered on humor and human connection instead.

Hence, Patterns was created, where every episode explores different characters, situations, and experiences while still existing within the same world.

☁︎ Final Thoughts ☁︎

Something that I appreciate Patterns doing is finding humor in experience many would rather forget.

Whether it’s an awkward date or a missed connection, the series embraces these imperfections and turns them into something entertaining, heartful and surprisingly happy.

Sometimes the best stories aren’t about people getting everything right, but rather about people continuing to show up, laugh at themselves and keep searching for connection anyways.

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜ Watch the YouTube video of their talk here! ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜

Listen to the episode on She’s All Over the Place podcast (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

୭ ᵎᵎ 🧁 Follow the amazing creators/actors on their media! ୭ ᵎᵎ 🧁

Insta:

@jakeybby

@rexglensy

@asadmoghal

@mrryansampson

@cecilianoble

X:

@AsadMoghal

@MrRyanSampson

@NobleCecilia

• Inside the Set: Betty Buckley shares what it was really like producing an Emmy-winning children's classic.

• Creative Chaos: How the team successfully adapted massive stories like The Odyssey and Sherlock Holmes for TV.

• The Documentary: The inspiration behind bringing this beloved 90s treasure back for a new generation.

Watch the Film Today:

• Official Trailer: Watch the Official YouTube Trailer .

• Stream the Movie: Available now to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV Store .

• More Info: Find local public television airings and directories at Whats The Story Wishbone Official Site .

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Documentaries can always leave a lasting impressions, especially ones that cover controversial topics that society think of as taboo. Some documentaries make you rethink what you already knew.

Every Body is that film.

In the episode Focus Features Films - Every Body Documentary From RBG Director Julie Cohen on the She’s all Over the Place podcast, one question was discussed, why does this documentary feels particularly important right now?

Julie Cohen explained that while she had been aware of trans issues, she came to find out about intersex. Her interest peaked after many years being a journalist and a filmmaker. As she learned more during the filmmaker process, she realized how many intersex stories had been pushed into secrecy for generations.

Cohen mentioned that the time feels right for these kind of conversation. Society is become more willing to discuss gender, identity and bodily autonomy, creating opportunities for greater understanding. She noted, even a little openessed can go a long way.

I appreciated her reminder that many intersex individuals have spent years explaining and defending their existence to others. Part of what Every Body hopes to accomplish is helping carry some of the educational burden by introducing audiences to these experience in a thoughtful and accessible way.

.☘︎ ݁˖Understanding the Conversation.☘︎ ݁˖

One reason intersex topic can sometimes feel difficult is because many people have not been exposed to accurate information.

Directed by Julie Cohen, co-directed by Betsy West, it first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. The documentary shines a light on the lives, experience, and activism of intersex individuals. The film focuses on three individuals, River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, and Sean Saifa Wall.

Instead of treating intersex individuals as a medical discussion or a concept, Every Body centers their voices, experience and journey. Through their stories, the documentary helps the audience explore the long-standing cultural and medical insistence on a strict male-female binary, while addressing the shame and non consensual medical intervention.

That is what makes Every Body feel so important.

Rather than focusing solely on the challenges, the documentary also highlights resilience, joy, advocacy, and the strength of individuals who have fought to reclaim ownership over their bodies and stories.

Cohen uses the experience of Gallo, Weigel, and Wall to counter the misconception, advocate for bodily autonomy, and encourage the viewers to think more critically about how society approaches the decision making of both gender and medical.

♡⸝⸝More Than Awareness⸝⸝♡

One theme that particularly stood out was the idea of visibility.

The individuals featured in Every Body grew up in environments often marked by secrecy, or shame, even pressure to conform to binary gender expectations. The documentary addresses unnecessary surgeries performs on intersex children and the lasting impact those decision can have.

However, the documentary never focused on the pain, in fact, it becomes a celebration of the people who have turned their experiences into advocacy and are speaking up for those who cannot. The balance between pain and celebration is powerful, as it reminds the viewers that representation is not only about acknowledging struggled, but also about recognizing the lives, accomplishments, and the humanity of the people behind those stories.

Cohen acknowledge that there is still very little education about intersex people, she recommended resources as interACT, an organization dedicated to supporting intersex youth and provided educational materials to those wanting to learn more.

☕︎ The Storyteller Behind the Camera ☕︎

Learning about what Julie Cohen does and the reason why, makes Every Body feel so impactful along with her many works.

Long before becoming an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, Cohen was already telling stories. She joked around that when she was 11 years old, she had wrote her first book, a gender-flipped version of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Since then, she has built an impressive career as a journalist and documentary filmmaker, spending years as a staff producer for Dateline NBC and Court TV before transitioning into documentary filmmaking.

Much of her work has been created alongside her collaborator, Betsy West, and together they have become known for documenting the lives of remarkable individuals.

One piece of advice Cohen shared during the podcast was surprisingly simple but deeply meaningful. Stick with something long enough to grow in it. Whether it’s filmmaking, writing, advocacy, or any other craft, she emphasized the importance of surrounding yourself with the support that you need.

☁︎ Looking Back at RGB ☁︎

Before Every Body, many audiences were introduced to Julie Cohen and Betsy West through their acclaimed documentary RGB (2018), which explored the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature and later won an Emmy award, becoming both a critical and cultural phenomenon.

Released during the height of #MeToo movement, RGB resonated with audience as it highlighted Ginsburg’s lifelong fight for gender equality and constitutional rights. Their goal was not simply to document a public figure, but to help ordinary people understand what be accomplished by standing up for fairness, justice and equal rights.

Both film center individuals whose stories challenge assumptions. Both of them encourage audience to think carefully and critically about the system that shape people’s lives. Perhaps most importantly, both remind viewers that change often begins when people are willing to speak up and be seen.

ྀིྀིFinal Thoughts ྀིྀི

What I appreciate about Every Body is that it invited audience into a conversation that many may never have encountered before. By making a documentary that centers real people and their lived experience, the documentary transform what could have been a purely educational film into something that resonated deeply within people.

In a world where many stories still go unheard, Every Body serves as a reminder that visibility matters, and that understanding begins with listening. Sometimes meaningful change starts with something as simple as being willing to hear someone’s story.

Thank you for reading. ♡

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

If you’d like to learn more about Every Body, intersex advocacy, and the work discussed throughout the documentary, be sure to check out the organizations and creators below.

Julie Cohen
Insta: @juliecohenfilms.

Betsy West
X: @Betsywest

River Gallo

Insta: @rivergallo

Alicia Roth Weigel

Insta: @aliciarothweigel

X: @xoxy_alicia

Sean Saifa Wall

Insta: @ssaifa

X: @SeanSaifaWall

interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth
Website: interACTadvocates.org

Every Body (2023)
Official Film Trailer

⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ᰔ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹

🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮ Listen to She’s all Over the Place podcast to fully experience the talk! 🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮

⟡ Links to KC socials⟡

Mention it in a room, and the conversation tends to split almost immediately. Some see empowerment. Others see exploitation. Some view it as a safer alternative. Others see it as evidence of a culture that has lost its way.

On this episode of She’s All Over the Place, Katie Chonacas sat down with law professor and Kinsey Institute senior scientist India Thusi to discuss sex work, feminism, human rights, and the cultural forces that have contributed to the rise of platforms like OnlyFans. Rather than reducing the conversation to whether the platform is “good” or “bad,” Thusi challenged listeners to think more deeply about the systems that shape people's choices.

As Thusi explained, “OnlyFans has given them a platform to engage in sex work without some of the harms of traditional forms of sex work they were engaging in previously.” For many creators, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, online platforms offered a safer alternative to in-person work, allowing individuals to screen clients, maintain physical distance, and exercise greater control over their environments.

What struck me most during Chonacas’s conversation with Thusi was that she repeatedly pushed the conversation toward a much harder question: Why are we so uncomfortable with the people making these choices, but often unwilling to examine the systems that shape them?

Throughout the discussion, Thusi challenged listeners to move beyond the knee-jerk reactions that often dominate conversations around sex work. She acknowledged concerns many people have about platforms like OnlyFans while also emphasizing that for many creators, the platform represents something significant: agency.

“OnlyFans has given them a platform to engage in sex work without some of the harms of traditional forms of sex work they were engaging in previously,” Thusi explained.

For some workers, particularly during the pandemic, the platform offered a safer environment. There were no street corners. No hotel rooms. No physical encounters. There were screens, boundaries, and the ability to disconnect with the click of a button. As Katie pointed out during the conversation, “They can do this without being touched. They can just click end and shut the computer.”

That distinction matters.

Yet I found myself thinking less about the mechanics of the platform and more about the women who occupy it.

India paints a very interesting picture of how societal structures give rise to these young OnlyFans creators. I think it’s hard to truly judge individuals without contextualizing their choices within our current social and political climate.

Thinking of someone like Brooke Shields, who, from childhood, was sexualized in ways she never consented to, I am reminded that women have rarely been allowed ownership over the way their bodies are viewed. Historically, the media has framed women as objects of sexual desire before recognizing them as people. At the same time, society has often diminished the value of women who are not collectively viewed as desirable.

Women have long been looked at.

They have long been scrutinized.

They have long been commodified.

The difference now is that some of them are sending the invoice.

I think the real issue many people have is that these women are now in the driver’s seat.

You were going to look at them anyway.

You were going to zoom in, examine, judge, and fantasize.

But now she gets to profit from your attention. She gets to monetize the parasocial relationship that audiences have spent decades building with celebrities, influencers, models, and public figures.

Perhaps that is what feels threatening.

Not that women are being objectified.

But instead, that they are benefiting from a system that has historically benefited everyone else.

This became even more interesting as Katie and India discussed the role of celebrity culture. According to Thusi, “where we currently are as a society, there is this value placed on authenticity and the feeling that ‘I am getting to know the intimate sides of this person.’ ”

That observation feels incredibly relevant to understanding why OnlyFans exploded when it did. The platform emerged at a perfect moment in our cultural landscape. We are living through an era defined by parasocial relationships.

People know where celebrities vacation.

They know what influencers eat for breakfast.

They know the names of their children, pets, partners, and therapists. Social media has spent the last decade convincing audiences that intimacy is something they are entitled to.

Instagram gave us access.

TikTok gave us authenticity.

OnlyFans simply offered exclusivity.

People do not pay for content because they cannot find it. They pay because they want to feel special.

They want to feel chosen.

They want to believe they have access to something that millions of others do not. OnlyFans works because people want to see what not everyone gets to see. They want to feel like they have unlocked a more authentic version of someone.

A private version.

A real version.

And that desire extends far beyond sex.

In a post-pandemic society, internet users have gotten used to virtual realities becoming the closest thing they have to love.

Many celebrities use the platform without posting sexually explicit content at all. Fans pay for behind-the-scenes access, conversations, personalized interactions, and glimpses into a life that feels just out of reach. The platform is selling intimacy.

Sex is often just the packaging.

Still, none of this eliminates the difficult questions.

Katie raised concerns that many people share. What about the permanence of the internet? What about leaked content? What about people who feel pressured by financial circumstances? What about the reality that some creators may not feel entirely comfortable with what they are doing?

Those concerns deserve attention.

However, before we can begin to answer any of these questions, we must first confront a more foundational one:

What does it say about our society that some young women can make more money selling access to themselves than through traditional career paths?

I had a long conversation with Chonacas about this exact idea after the interview. She brought up musician Lily Allen, who once spoke about making more money from selling photos of her feet than she could reasonably expect to earn from her artistry.

To me, that is less an indictment of women and more an indictment of the systems around them. These women are asking questions that are unsettlingly familiar:

What is it that you actually value?

The things I say?

The work I create?

Or just my body?

And if it is my body that captures your attention, why shouldn’t I benefit from it?

They force us to confront who benefits from visibility and who is expected to simply accept being observed.

As Thusi repeatedly emphasized, these conversations often lead us back to broader structural questions. “This moves into a more fundamental issue in that we live in a society where someone may feel like they have to do something they may not morally align with in order to be able to provide for themselves.”

That is the part of the conversation that lingers with me.

Not OnlyFans itself.

Not celebrity culture.

Not even sex work.

The deeper question.

How do we build a world where people genuinely have choices?

As Thusi asks, “How do we support people, and how do they say they need to be supported?”

The conversation also forced us to think about the limits of good intentions. Thusi explained that some legislation aimed at combating sex trafficking has, at times, made conditions more dangerous for sex workers by restricting their ability to communicate with one another, screen clients, and identify potential threats.

In some cases, the very communities lawmakers claim to be protecting end up facing greater risk. It is a reminder that protecting vulnerable people requires more than moral certainty—it requires listening to those most affected by the policies we create. Otherwise, we risk confusing action with progress.

This conversation is not intended to encourage participation in sex work. Nor is it an attempt to convince anyone to change their personal beliefs about OnlyFans.

Instead, it is an invitation to pause before judging.

To consider the systems before condemning the people.

To ask why we are often more interested in policing individual choices than understanding the circumstances that produce them.

Perhaps the most valuable thing this conversation offers is not an answer, but a challenge. A challenge to look beyond our immediate discomfort and ask harder questions about the world we have built. A world where intimacy can be monetized, attention can be commodified, and survival sometimes requires choices we may not fully understand from the outside.

You do not have to understand OnlyFans.

You do not have to subscribe to it, participate in it, or even like it.

But empathy does not require agreement.

I think we owe it to one another to approach these conversations with more curiosity than condemnation. Behind every account, every headline, and every moral debate is a person navigating the same fundamental question many of us are: How do I survive, and how do I build a life worth living?

(Prepared by Brooke R.)

Continue the Conversation

Listen to the entire episode on Spotify!

And Apple Podcasts

Learn more about the Kinsey Institute

Read Policing Bodies: Law, Sex Work, and Desire in Johannesburg by India Thusi

For more than four decades, the Sundance Institute has served as one of the most influential launching pads for independent filmmakers. From nurturing the early careers of future Academy Award winners to helping shape groundbreaking films that redefine cinema, the Institute’s renowned Directors and Screenwriters Labs have become synonymous with artistic innovation and fearless storytelling.

Now, the Sundance Institute has announced the fellows selected for its highly anticipated 2026 Directors and Screenwriters Labs, introducing a remarkable group of emerging filmmakers whose projects tackle everything from artificial intelligence and identity to family trauma, social justice, grief, and political conflict. The announcement offers a glimpse into the future of independent filmmaking and the diverse voices poised to shape the next generation of cinema.

A Legacy of Supporting Independent Storytelling

Since its founding in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute has built a global reputation for championing bold artistic voices. Through its year-round mentorship programs, grants, and creative labs, the organization has helped launch some of the most influential filmmakers in modern cinema.

Past participants include celebrated filmmakers such as Ryan Coogler, Guillermo del Toro, Chloé Zhao, Quentin Tarantino, and Paul Thomas Anderson, all of whom benefited from Sundance’s commitment to nurturing emerging talent.

The 2026 edition continues that tradition by bringing together storytellers from across the United States and around the world to develop projects that push creative boundaries while addressing timely social and cultural themes.

Inside the 2026 Directors Lab

The Directors Lab, one of Sundance Institute’s signature programs, takes place from June 9 to June 24 at the historic The Stanley Hotel. During the immersive residency, filmmakers work closely with accomplished industry mentors while rehearsing, shooting, and editing scenes from their own screenplays.

Participants focus on directing actors, refining visual storytelling techniques, and strengthening their overall artistic vision in an environment designed to encourage experimentation and collaboration.

This year’s advisor roster includes some of the industry’s most respected creative voices, including Colman Domingo, Ava DuVernay, Ed Harris, Catherine Hardwicke, and Christopher McQuarrie.

The Projects Generating Buzz

Among the most intriguing selections is Electric Homies, written and directed by Roberto Fatal. The science-fiction drama follows Ria, a Two-Spirit social worker whose dying sister gains access to a digital afterlife. As more people upload their consciousness into the technological utopia, entire communities begin to disappear, forcing difficult questions about progress, culture, and identity.

Another standout is Rounds from Taylor Sanghyun Lee. Set years after a church shooting, the story follows two Korean American families grappling with forgiveness, faith, and the threat of deportation. The emotionally charged drama explores how trauma lingers long after headlines fade.

Canadian filmmaker Bec Pecaut’s The Terrible Child offers an intimate coming-of-age story set in Toronto during 2009. As sixteen-year-old Augusta Goodman navigates adolescence, she must also confront her father’s terminal illness, examining how grief shapes identity and maturity.

Meanwhile, Joanna Rothkopf’s provocatively titled Attachment (a.k.a. Bluey Is the Warmest Color) promises an unconventional blend of psychological thriller and social satire. The film follows a mother whose obsession with a beloved children’s entertainer spirals into dangerous territory.

Technology, Identity, and Alternate Futures

Several selected projects explore how technology influences personal choices and social structures.

George Watsky’s yellowwood imagines a future where a couple facing an unexpected pregnancy participates in a revolutionary experiment that allows them to experience two separate life paths simultaneously, one with a child and one without. The premise raises profound questions about destiny, parenthood, and the consequences of choice.

Philip Thompson’s Dance Monkey Dance uses a fictional found-footage format to examine race, media representation, and celebrity culture. Through archived recordings and television appearances, the film chronicles the rise of a Black comedian whose success becomes increasingly tied to performing stereotypes for mainstream audiences.

Together, these projects reflect the growing tendency among independent filmmakers to blend genre storytelling with social commentary.

Global Voices Take Center Stage

The 2026 cohort also demonstrates Sundance’s continued commitment to international storytelling.

Palestinian British filmmaker Said Zagha brings Black Harvest, a powerful crime drama examining vengeance, corruption, and grief within a Palestinian family devastated by violence. The project promises a deeply human perspective on political conflict and personal loss.

Chinese American filmmaker Renee Zhan contributes BAOBAO, a psychological horror story that combines family drama with supernatural elements. Set in China after the end of the one-child policy, the film follows a young woman who suspects something deeply unsettling about her parents’ new child.

These projects highlight Sundance’s emphasis on stories that transcend borders while remaining rooted in specific cultural experiences.

Screenwriters Lab Expands Creative Development

Following the Directors Lab, fellows will continue developing their projects during the online Screenwriters Lab from June 29 through July 2. The program provides individualized mentorship and intensive script development sessions designed to strengthen narrative structure, character development, and thematic depth.

Among the additional projects participating exclusively in the Screenwriters Lab is Brown Baby, a collaboration between filmmaker Smriti Mundhra, writer Nikesh Shukla, and actor-writer Himesh Patel. The story examines race, family, and identity through the experiences of a mixed-race family confronting uncomfortable truths.

Another notable project is Liberation by acclaimed playwright Bess Wohl. The screenplay follows a woman who mysteriously steps back into her mother’s feminist consciousness-raising group from the 1970s, discovering that many of the questions women faced decades ago remain unresolved today.

Why These Labs Matter

In an era where entertainment increasingly revolves around franchises, sequels, and established intellectual property, Sundance’s artist development programs remain vital spaces for originality.

The selected fellows represent a wide spectrum of backgrounds, experiences, and creative approaches. Their stories tackle issues ranging from gender identity and cultural heritage to artificial intelligence, grief, political violence, race, and family dynamics.

More importantly, the labs provide filmmakers with the resources, mentorship, and creative freedom necessary to transform ambitious ideas into meaningful works of art.

As Michelle Satter, Sundance Institute’s Founding Senior Director of Artist Programs, noted, the labs continue to serve as a nurturing environment where bold storytellers can sharpen their craft, strengthen their vision, and build lasting creative relationships.

Looking Ahead

Every year, Sundance’s labs offer a glimpse into the future of cinema. While not every selected project will become a household name, history suggests that many will go on to shape conversations, earn critical acclaim, and influence audiences worldwide.

The 2026 cohort demonstrates that independent filmmaking remains a powerful force for innovation, empathy, and cultural exploration. Through stories that challenge assumptions and expand perspectives, these filmmakers are poised to continue Sundance Institute’s legacy of championing the next generation of cinematic voices.

For film lovers, industry professionals, and anyone curious about where storytelling is headed next, the 2026 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs are worth watching closely.

If you have also ever sat at your phone after a date that didn’t go as expected, so catastrophically comical and wrong that it felt like a sitcom, Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events was made for you. It’s something everyone needs right about now in this current era of swipe right, you matched, you unmatched, oh look, you’re blocked too.

(all artwork by katie seamonds)

Meet Kevin.

Kevin is a hopeless romantic, so sincere, very endearing, a bit delusional. Probably reminds you of either yourself or someone you know. He works as a school’s Online Safety Salamander, that’s his job. You’re probably thinking that it’s a mess; you’d most definitely be right. By night, he throws himself into the abyss of modern dating with the energy of someone who actually believes that if he just goes on enough bad dates, love will eventually show up and find him when he needs it.

And you guessed it, the dates do not go well. They are absurdly wrong in ways that will make you laugh out loud, and then become super self-aware because you know good and well that you’ve had a similar experience. Maybe not exactly, but enough to make you cringe to yourself and think, “Oh my god no-” and then a flood of second-hand embarrassment floods your body, and you’re doing everything in your power to think of anything else to make it go away. They’re typically the kind of date where everything that could go wrong genuinely goes wrong. Then you have to decide in real time, “Do I cry in the Uber home or should I just text the GC?” Kevin chooses to keep going, every. single. time.

The determination and way that he still manages to have self-preservation is kinda beautiful.

There’s something that is truly freeing about a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It can be exhausting when watching TV, and you don’t feel like having to analyze, look for clues, think about what the previous scene is supposed to set up for the rest of the lore, etc. Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events was written by Asad Moghal, who based it on his own real-life dating disasters. He didn’t write it out of bitterness and shame, to warn people, write them off, to make some grand statement about how romance is dead. He wrote this because sometimes the most honest thing you can do with your humiliating moments is to turn them into something that people can relate to and laugh at together.

Self-security. Genuine self-security, not the kind where you pretend like nothing is bothering you, but the kind where you can look at your own chaos and go “yeah, yikes, that was a lot, but it was actually kinda funny.”

We are living in an era that is deeply, almost pathologically, terrified of being seen as cringe. Nobody wants to be the person who cares too much. Nobody wants to be caught feeling something earnest in public. We’ll sooner die than send a text that could be read as “too eager” or “too desperate.” We’d rather ghost someone rather than have a conversation that might make us look like we have emotions. And then we wonder why dating feels hollow, why everything fizzles out before it starts, why the apps feel like a second job with an awful benefits package.

The truth is that you can’t have a real relationship while also being absolutely terrified of being seen. Especially when we have so much media that doesn’t depict an accurate portrayal of an actual relationship, and yes, I’m talking about the reality-dating shows that we guiltily consume for entertainment. A lot of people don’t seem to understand that vulnerability is the core of a strong, authentic, and genuine relationship. That takes trust and risk; you owe it to yourself to enact rather than play the game that modern-day society has set up. I’m not gonna act like it isn’t exhausting and that it doesn’t take immense effort, especially when people aren’t on the same page, but that’s how you get a relationship of substance with a strong foundation rather than another talking stage gone wrong where you’re up at three am thinking to yourself, “Did I say something wrong for them to ghost me? Did I overshare?”

Without giving too much away, Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events does something that a lot of romantic comedies are too afraid to do: it gently, lovingly points out that sometimes we are so fixated on finding something that we completely miss what’s already there.

So many of us have done this before. You’re so busy chasing the idea of what you want that you walk right past the actual thing. You’re swiping left and right on strangers while the person who actually gets you is sitting two desks away, watching you spiral in real time. It sounds cliché because it is, and it’s cliché because it’s true, and it keeps being true, generation after generation, app after app, situationship after situationship. We often forget why clichés are what they are; it’s because they happen more often than not.

Being driven is a good thing. Ambition is a good thing. But there’s a version of being goal-oriented that becomes a kind of avoidance, where staying busy and staying focused on the next thing means you never have to sit still long enough to notice what’s already in your life. Kevin is that person. And his journey toward actually seeing what’s in front of him is so relatable and will resonate with so many audiences.

Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this month, and its arrival during Pride feels so incredibly fitting. At its core, this is a show about the courage it takes to continue being open, vulnerable, soft, to keep wanting love when the world makes you feel like that’s embarrassing. That’s a queer experience. That’s also just a human experience. The best pride stories have always understood that those two aren’t separate/

The show is funny, warm, and unapologetic. In a month that’s all about visibility and showing up for yourself, even when it’s terrifying, even when it’s awkward, even when you’ve already had six dates that were beyond mortifying, that feels exactly right.

Before the show finds its home on your screen, Katie sat down to talk all about it - and I encourage you to see the full picture before the film festival. It’s the perfect place to start, and it’ll hype you up even more.

Kevin’s Series of Unfortunate Events is 8 episodes of sharp, warm, and genuinely funny television that understands the specific pain of looking for love in a world that has made looking for love very weird. It’s for anyone who has ever had a terrible first date and shown up for another one anyway. It’s for anyone who’s scared to be seen as too much, while quietly hoping someone will think they’re enough.

You aren’t alone in this; Kevin is the personified proof. The fact that he keeps going is the entire point.

You don’t find conversations and analysis like this everywhere, don’t miss out on Katie’s podcast She’s All Over The Place on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Her website, and YouTube.

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Haunting, unforgettable, and deeply moving, this episode takes you inside the cinematic event 'This Ordinary Thing.' The film tells the remarkable true stories of non-Jews who risked everything to save thousands of Jewish strangers across Europe during The Holocaust.

Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and real testimonies, the film employs some of the world's greatest actors to perform excerpts translated directly from original historical transcripts.

Our legendary, all-star narrators have collectively amassed 5 Oscars, over 20 Academy Award nominations, 60+ Emmy nominations, and 25+ Tony nominations.

Special Feature: Music by Tony-Award winning composer Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins). Directed by: Nick Davis (You Had To Be There / TIFF 2025) Executive Producer: Albert M. Tapper (Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy)

This film is a timely reminder of the pockets of goodness that can rise in a sea of evil, causing each of us to ask the ultimate contemporary question: "What would I have done?"

Subscribe and leave a review to help bring these untold stories of everyday heroes to light.

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In this episode, we dive into the UK-made comedy series "Patterns" focusing on Episode 4: Kevin's Series of Unfortunate Events, which is currently premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival!

Kevin (played by Jake Watkins) is a hopelessly earnest romantic whose optimism far outweighs his self-awareness. By day, he works as a school's Online Safety Salamander. By night, he subjects himself to a relentless series of disastrous dates, convinced that persistence alone will eventually lead to love.

His misadventures become a source of fascination for his colleagues: the confident, sharp-tongued school nurse Vera (Cecilia Noble) and geography teacher Dave Douglas (Ryan Sampson). But what Kevin fails to notice is that a genuine connection has been quietly forming much closer to home.

MEET THE CAST & CREATORS • Kevin (Jake Watkins - BBC's 'I Kissed a Boy'): A lovable friend whose life never quite works out, dreaming of a Hollywood career but stuck as a Safety Salamander. • Dave Douglas (Ryan Sampson - Sky's 'Mr Bigstuff', 'Brassic', ITV's 'Plebs'): An eccentric geography teacher with the best intentions who thinks he's "down with the kids." • Vera (Cecilia Noble - BBC's 'Killing Eve', Netflix's 'Black Mirror'): A no-nonsense school nurse who acts as Kevin's anchor with tough love and emergency sausage rolls. • Creator & Writer: Asad Moghal, who drew inspiration from a string of his own real-life dating disasters to create this sharply observed, character-driven comedy. • Director: Rex Glensy, an orchestral conductor turned entertainment lawyer and filmmaker (director of 'Hill of Vision'), representing production company Aurelia Pictures.

INSIDE THE DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT "Everyone has had a disaster date... My goal as a director was to take a self-deprecating view of dating nightmares some of us might have had, so that at least we can laugh at ourselves instead of crying. The lead character, Kevin is all of us."

Stay connected with me: https://www.chonacas.com/links/

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The upcoming anthology film Animals in War offers a strikingly original perspective on the human cost of conflict by shifting the focus to those often forgotten victims. Inspired by true stories emerging from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the feature-length anthology presents seven interconnected tales that examine war through the experiences of animals and the humans whose lives become inseparable from theirs.

Premiering across Video on Demand platforms and Film Movement Plus on June 26, 2026, the film brings together some of Ukraine’s most acclaimed filmmakers alongside international collaborators and Academy Award winner Sean Penn. The result is an emotionally powerful cinematic experience that explores not only the devastation of war but also the enduring resilience of compassion, empathy, and hope.

A Different Kind of War Story

What makes Animals in War unique is its refusal to depict conflict as spectacle. Rather than focusing on battlefields and military operations, the anthology examines the quieter, more intimate consequences of war.

The film consists of seven standalone stories connected not by a shared plot but by a common emotional landscape. Each segment follows animals whose lives intersect with people struggling to survive under extraordinary circumstances.

A white rabbit, a wolf, a cow, and other creatures become central figures in stories that reveal how conflict transforms daily life. Sometimes these animals serve as companions. Sometimes they act as witnesses. In other moments, they become symbols of survival itself.

By placing animals at the heart of the narrative, the filmmakers create a fresh perspective that allows audiences to experience familiar themes of loss, displacement, fear, and resilience in unexpected ways.

The approach highlights a simple yet profound truth: war impacts every living creature within its reach.

Seven Stories, One Shared Humanity

Although each chapter stands on its own, together they form a larger portrait of life during wartime.

Children forced to mature long before their time. Families separated by violence. Civilians living under occupation. Communities struggling to maintain dignity amid destruction.

These stories explore how relationships between humans and animals can provide comfort, purpose, and emotional stability when everything else appears uncertain.

In many cases, caring for an animal becomes an act of resistance against despair. Protecting a companion animal or helping wildlife survive can offer a sense of humanity in circumstances designed to strip people of hope.

The anthology demonstrates that compassion does not disappear during conflict. Instead, it often becomes one of the most powerful forms of survival.

A Collaboration of Ukraine’s Leading Filmmakers

One of the film’s greatest strengths lies in its creative team. Rather than presenting a single director’s vision, Animals in War brings together several prominent Ukrainian filmmakers, each contributing a distinct artistic voice.

The anthology includes work from:

• Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi (Eagle)

• Yuliia Shashkova (Cow in the Fog)

• Maksym Tuzov (Rabbit)

• Oleksii Mamedov (Sonny)

• Sviatoslav Kostiuk (Underwater Adventure)

• Ivan Sautkin (Torpedo)

This collaborative structure allows the film to explore a range of visual styles and storytelling approaches while remaining united by a common purpose.

Some segments embrace observational realism, capturing the everyday realities of wartime existence. Others move toward poetic imagery, allegory, and even fairy-tale elements, creating a rich cinematic tapestry that reflects the emotional complexity of conflict.

The diversity of styles mirrors the diversity of experiences within Ukraine itself, illustrating how war affects individuals and communities in profoundly different ways.

Sean Penn’s Continued Support for Ukraine

The involvement of Sean Penn adds further significance to the project.

Penn has been one of Hollywood’s most visible supporters of Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, frequently visiting the country and documenting aspects of the conflict through humanitarian and filmmaking efforts.

His participation in Animals in War reflects a continued commitment to amplifying Ukrainian voices and helping bring their stories to international audiences.

While Penn’s presence will undoubtedly attract attention, the anthology’s true strength lies in its collective storytelling approach and its dedication to showcasing Ukrainian perspectives.

The film uses celebrity involvement not as its primary selling point but as a means of directing global attention toward stories that deserve to be heard.

War as an Ecological Catastrophe

One of the anthology’s most compelling themes is its exploration of war as an environmental crisis.

When discussions of conflict occur, attention often focuses on human casualties and infrastructure damage. Yet wars also devastate ecosystems, displace wildlife, destroy habitats, contaminate water sources, and create long-term environmental consequences that persist long after fighting ends.

Animals in War highlights these realities by placing animals at the center of the narrative.

The result is a broader understanding of conflict that extends beyond national borders and political agendas. The film argues that environmental destruction caused by war ultimately affects everyone, regardless of geography.

This perspective has resonated strongly with early reviewers.

EcoWatch praised the film for showing war as both a humanitarian and ecological disaster, emphasizing its relevance to audiences worldwide.

Similarly, critics have noted the anthology’s ability to balance emotional storytelling with urgent social commentary without sacrificing artistic integrity.

A Story of Compassion Amid Devastation

Despite its difficult subject matter, Animals in War is not solely a film about suffering.

The anthology repeatedly returns to themes of kindness, moral courage, and human connection.

Characters face impossible choices. Communities endure unimaginable hardships. Yet moments of tenderness continue to emerge throughout the stories.

An animal rescued from danger. A family refusing to abandon a companion. A child finding comfort in an uncertain world.

These moments become reminders that compassion remains possible even in humanity’s darkest chapters.

Rather than leaving audiences overwhelmed by despair, the film encourages reflection on the values that help people endure adversity.

Why Animals in War Matters

As global audiences continue to process the ongoing consequences of conflict in Ukraine and elsewhere, Animals in War arrives as a timely and important work.

Its unconventional perspective offers something increasingly rare in modern cinema: a fresh way of understanding familiar realities.

By focusing on animals, the anthology removes political barriers and ideological divisions, allowing viewers to connect with universal experiences of fear, love, loss, and survival.

The film reminds us that war’s impact extends far beyond battlefields. It touches every living thing caught in its path.

Through seven unforgettable stories, Animals in War delivers a haunting yet deeply humane portrait of resilience, empathy, and the enduring bonds that connect humans and animals alike.

In doing so, it stands as both a powerful work of art and a moving call for awareness, compassion, and action.

In this episode, we sit down with filmmaker Frank Sun, who draws on his decade-long career as an elite NYFW photographer to tell an immigrant's story of yearning for belonging in an opulent world. We dive into the performances of genderqueer actor b Norwood (Netflix's YOU, Public Theatre's Twelfth Night) and Kate Pittard (HBO Max's And Just Like That) as they trace the fragile humanity hidden beneath the shields of status, beauty, and success.

Frank Sun discusses how he structured the film's texture alongside real fashion designers, models, and authentic backstage venues. Tune in for an exclusive look at the filmmaker's journey from rural China to the Tribeca Shorts competition, and find out where you can catch the upcoming New York screenings!

For more information and press inquiries, check out the official press materials (https://tinyurl.com) or connect with publicity via Obscured Pictures.

FABRIC's Instagram is here https://www.instagram.com/fabric_film/ Frank Sun account here https://www.instagram.com/xfranksun/

Stay connected with the Founder, Katie Chonacas: https://www.chonacas.com/links/

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One of my favorite thing about film festivals is discovering projects that tackle difficult questions through storytelling.

The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg is an independent feature film produced by Laughing Cow Production, and Atlanta-based production company who was founded by Doug Bremner and his wife Viola.

What caught my attention was that the film isn’t a simple thriller or cartoon drama, but instead at its core, asks a more larger question: What happens when profits become more important than people?

A True Story of Truth and Consequence

Written and directed by Doug Bremner, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg follows psychiatrist Dr. Jack Forteo (Andy Evans). Dr. Forteo works for Renzon Pharmaceutical Company, a company earning millions of dollars from their successful acne medication, Carinaderm.

After publicly raising concern during a presentation, the company turns against him. Accusation of fraud follows, his reputation takes a hit, all of this makes him stop pursuing the truth. That is until Amanda Bellaconda (Hannah Fierman) seeks ot Dr.Forteo to help her. She is a mother of a teenager child that commited suicide, and one of the leading plaintiff in an ongoing litigation against the pharmaceutical company.

From Fable to Reality

One detail I find interesting is the symbolism behind the title as well as its connection to reality.

Within the story, Carinaderm is the company’s “golden goose”. The product has generated the company an enormous amount of profit. Following closely to the fable, the company becomes obsessed with protecting its source of wealth, disregarding the serious concerns.

Doug Bremner explained in both the book and film that they are inspired by real-world events surrounding Accutane, and acne medication originally manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche. Over the years, the drug became the subject of controversy, lawsuits and public concerns, causing it do be discontinued.

Many of the plaintiffs ultimately settled with the drug manufacturer. However, part of those settlements included agreements that prevented them from publicly discussing the details afterward, hence the mystery.

A Unique Perspective Behind The Camera

Another aspect that stood out to me was Doug Bremner professional background.

In addition to being a filmmaker, Bremner is a psychiatrist, researcher, and director of the Emory Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at Emory University School of Medicine. Because of his experience, he brings a perspective that feels uniquely suited to a story like this.

It’s not an everyday thing to encounter a filmmaker who approached storytelling from both a scientific and artistic perspective.

Looking Ahead

It explores difficult questions regarding accountability and ethics at human cost.

Whether you’re interested in psychological dramas, medical ethics, or stories inspired by real events, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg is a film that aims to spark a conversations long after the credit rolls.

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THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG PREMIERES AT DANCES WITH FILMS ON JUNE 27 AT 3:45 p.m. IN THEATER 4

Follow the film!

Website: Goose Film

Dance With Film Festival Link

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Socials:

Twitter: @doug_bremner

Insta: @dougbremner

Linkedin /in/dougbremner

Tiktok: @jamesdouglasbremner

Facebook: fb.com/dougbremner

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🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮ Listen to She’s all Over the Place podcast to discover your next film 🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮

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This month, McLeod celebrates two significant milestones. They have officially been promoted to series regular for the second season of AMC’s critically acclaimed drama The Audacity, while simultaneously preparing for the highly anticipated festival debut of their short film She’s Nonbinary. Combined with a new management partnership and a growing list of high-profile collaborations, these developments signal a pivotal chapter in an already impressive career trajectory.

A Bigger Role in AMC’s The Audacity

One of the most notable announcements surrounding McLeod this year is their promotion to series regular on AMC’s acclaimed technology-focused drama The Audacity. Created by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Jonathan Glatzer, whose credits include Succession, Bad Sisters, and Better Call Saul, the series has quickly established itself as one of television’s sharpest examinations of power, technology, and privacy in the digital age.

McLeod portrays Harper, the brilliant pink-haired Chief Technology Officer of Hypergnosis, a cutting-edge data-mining startup operating at the center of the show’s narrative. Harper is far more than a stereotypical tech genius. As a gifted programmer and visionary innovator, they have developed a groundbreaking algorithm capable of uncovering even the most protected personal information.

In an era increasingly defined by debates around surveillance, artificial intelligence, and data privacy, Harper represents a fascinating character whose technical brilliance carries enormous ethical implications. McLeod’s performance in the role has earned praise for bringing intelligence, complexity, and emotional depth to a character navigating both innovation and responsibility.

Being elevated to series regular status reflects not only the growing importance of Harper within the show’s storyline but also the confidence producers and audiences have placed in McLeod’s ability to anchor significant narrative developments moving forward.

The Rise of She’s Nonbinary

While television audiences are becoming increasingly familiar with McLeod’s acting work, their creative ambitions extend far beyond performing. Their latest short film, She’s Nonbinary, demonstrates a powerful commitment to storytelling from a deeply personal and authentic perspective.

McLeod wears multiple creative hats on the project, serving as writer, director, and lead performer. The film follows Max and their cisgender boyfriend Jake as they navigate the emotional and psychological complexities surrounding a top-surgery-induced identity crisis.

At its core, She’s Nonbinary explores questions of self-discovery, relationships, gender identity, and personal transformation. Rather than offering simplistic answers, the film seeks to capture the nuance and emotional complexity that often accompany conversations around identity.

The project has already attracted significant attention within the independent film community. The short film is making its debut as part of the prestigious Tribeca Festival’s sold-out Love Fictionally Shorts Program, screening multiple times throughout June in New York City.

Even more impressive is the film’s inclusion in the highly selective Tribeca Creators Market, a curated showcase that highlights emerging storytellers pitching future feature, episodic, and audio projects. Participation in the Creators Market places McLeod among a select group of filmmakers viewed as promising voices in the next generation of storytelling.

Following its Tribeca debut, She’s Nonbinary will continue its international festival journey with screenings at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and Raindance in London, further expanding its reach among global audiences.

Backed by Industry Heavyweights

One of the strongest indicators of a project’s creative potential is the caliber of talent willing to support it. In the case of She’s Nonbinary, the film benefits from the involvement of two highly respected figures in contemporary entertainment.

The short is executive produced by Bob Odenkirk and Jane Schoenbrun.

Odenkirk, known worldwide for his acclaimed performances in Better Call Saul and Nobody, has consistently championed unique creative voices throughout his career. His involvement lends considerable credibility to the project and reflects confidence in McLeod’s artistic vision.

Meanwhile, Schoenbrun has emerged as one of the most innovative filmmakers working today, earning critical acclaim for projects that explore identity, technology, and contemporary culture through bold cinematic storytelling. Their support further reinforces the film’s significance within the independent film landscape.

A Remarkable Year Across Film and Television

The momentum surrounding McLeod extends well beyond The Audacity and She’s Nonbinary. Their recent acting work has positioned them among a new generation of performers successfully bridging mainstream entertainment and independent cinema.

Earlier this year, audiences saw McLeod appear in Ben Wheatley’s action-comedy Normal alongside an impressive cast that includes Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, and Lena Headey. Sharing the screen with such established performers represents another important milestone in McLeod’s expanding career.

They also appeared in The Audacity following the series’ successful debut at SXSW, where the show generated significant industry attention.

Adding to their impressive resume, McLeod is part of Jane Schoenbrun’s upcoming slasher comedy Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a project that has already attracted international interest after premiering in the Cannes Un Certain Regard section and closing SXSW London.

Together, these projects highlight McLeod’s versatility as a performer capable of moving seamlessly between comedy, drama, satire, and experimental storytelling.

Building Stories That Matter

What makes McLeod’s rise particularly noteworthy is the way they are using their growing platform. Rather than simply pursuing traditional acting opportunities, they are actively creating stories that broaden representation and introduce audiences to perspectives that remain underrepresented in mainstream media.

As a trans nonbinary filmmaker and actor, McLeod brings lived experience to their work while resisting the limitations often placed on identity-based storytelling. Their projects focus not only on representation but also on universal themes of belonging, love, uncertainty, ambition, and self-understanding.

This approach allows audiences from diverse backgrounds to connect with their stories while simultaneously expanding cultural conversations around identity and human experience.

A Promising Future Ahead

The combination of a series regular role on a critically acclaimed television drama, a festival-circuit short film attracting industry attention, support from established creative leaders, and new representation through OPE Partners creates a compelling picture of an artist entering an exciting new phase of their career.

With The Audacity returning for a second season and She’s Nonbinary gaining momentum on the international festival circuit, Jess McLeod is rapidly establishing themselves as one of the entertainment industry’s most promising multi-hyphenate talents.

Whether in front of the camera or behind it, McLeod continues to demonstrate the creativity, authenticity, and vision necessary to shape the future of contemporary storytelling. For audiences and industry observers alike, this is only the beginning of what promises to be a remarkable journey.

The documentary follows Russian musician Boris Grebenshchikov—often referred to as the “Bob Dylan of Russian rock and roll”—and the remarkable decision to bring the film back to audiences 36 years after its original release.

At the time the documentary was first made, Boris was already a major figure in Russia’s underground music scene. Yet outside of his home country, few people knew his name. The film captures a unique historical moment when the Soviet Union was beginning to open under policies like Glasnost, creating opportunities that would have seemed impossible only years earlier.

For Boris, that meant the chance to record music in the West with CBS Records. It was an opportunity that came with challenges. He had spent years studying Western music from a distance, yet had never worked in a professional recording studio. Suddenly, he was being asked not only to write songs in English but also to navigate an entirely new creative landscape.

As Lawrence explains, the transition involved much more than translating language. Boris had to make artistic decisions about synthesizers, electronics, sampling, loops, and production techniques that had not been part of his musical world before. The pressure from the label was immense, but so was the weight of expectation from the loyal fans back home—many of whom struggled to connect with music that was no longer being written in their language.

However, what stood out to me was Boris’s attitude toward the experience.

Rather than seeing it as a burden, he embraced it.

Lawrence recalls Boris joking that he was “the only person who has ever been sent on a mission by the Soviet Union where the mission was to have as much fun as I possibly can.”

That perspective says something powerful about both the artist and the person. Faced with uncertainty, cultural differences, and enormous expectations, Boris approached the experience with curiosity instead of fear. At a moment when Cold War tensions still shaped public perception, he carried the impossible task of being seen not only as an artist, but as a symbol of an entire nation.

But what moved me most of all was Lawrence’s explanation for why he chose to revisit the film decades later.

After attempting to create a sequel in 2010 and facing financial obstacles, the project sat unfinished for years. Following the death of director Michael Apted in 2021, Lawrence eventually found a way forward. With support from donors who believed in the original film and wanted to honor Apted’s legacy, he was able to restore the documentary and create a new epilogue that brings Boris’s story into the present.

There’s something beautiful about caring enough about a story to tell it again.

Lawrence hopes audiences will see that Boris has “kept the faith.” He explains that “though the political landscape around him has changed dramatically, Boris remains a prolific and inspiring artist.” Ironically, the musician who once benefited from changing government policies now finds himself living away from his homeland because of them.

In Lawrence’s words, the story “has come full circle in a way nobody could have predicted.”

Listening to the interview, I was reminded that great art doesn’t always belong to a single moment in history. Sometimes it takes decades to understand why a story matters. And sometimes the ending hasn’t happened yet.

Prepared by Brooke R.

Check out Long Way Home: https://www.thelongwayhomefilm.com/

Watch Katie and Steven’s entire conversation:

The project will premier for the first time at the Dance with Film Festival, introducing the audience to a story that blends mystery, comedy, drama and question the distinction between morality and justice.

Dance with Film Festival is held annually in Los Angeles that focus on emerging filmmakers and original voices. Since its founding in 1998, it has built a reputation for showcasing innovation projects that may or get overlooked by bigger studios. It makes the festival a valuable platform for passion-driven storytelling as it gives the filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their hardwork and dedication. The festival emphasises on creativity and independency, it’s like a fitting home for The Reverb to make its debut.

Jordan Ruttert, founder, writer, and direct of the project, graduated from New York University (NYU) with a degree in Journalism and English. Alongside her is Janie Ruttert, the director and founder. The pair of sisters developed The Reverb from a simple interest that soon turned into something bigger.

On their website, the synopsis of the movie starts with the line:

““The Reverb” is a show written by Gen Z for Gen Z”

That’s definitely been a new perspective that has been recently explored by most recent hit movies like Obsession by Currie Barker and Backrooms directed by Kane Parson, which are Gen Z directors. The Reverb aims to explore the complexity about friendship and loyalty though the characters who are navigating those questions themselves.

₊⊹ Exploring The Reverb ₊⊹

At the center of The Reverb is Cassie (Mari Blake), a compassionate college student whose life turns upside down by the appearance of Aaron Blake (Matthew Assheton), lead guitarist of the famous Indie rock band, Entourage, who’s also her former friend who she hasn’t seen in five years, appeared before her seeking refuge.

Things turn for the worst as she quickly discovers that Aaron is rumored to be connected to the murder of the lead singer of Entourage, Skye Thomas.

As she is face with the return of someone she once trusted, that’s where Cassie has to decide whether to stay loyal to Aaron, that share a past together, or whether to puruse the truth.

˚. ᵎᵎ More Than Just a Mystery ˎˊ˗

While The Reverb contains elements of mystery, the creators also describe the project as a blend of comedy and drama, dramedy. It’s a unique combination that I find intriguing because some of the most memorable stories are able to balance tension between humor and humanity, which in my opinion tends to leave a more lasting impression.

It also explored the themes of morality and justice, themes that feel relevant to younger audience navigating a complicated world.

Sometimes the battle between doing what feels right and doing what is legally right is an everyday thing. It’ll be interesting to see how The Reverb explores those gray areas.

꒰ྀི১ ໒꒱ིྀ Looking Ahead ꒰ྀི১ ໒꒱ིྀ

As The Reverb is set to premier at Dance with Film Festival in LA, it already stands out as a project driven by passion and creativity.

Whether you’re drawn to murder mystery, the Indie rock background, or just the promise of a Gen Z centered perspective, The Reverb feels like something to definitely keep on your radar.

And honestly? As someone who loves the blend of mystery and emotions, I’m excited to see where it leads!

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THE REVERB WILL HAVE ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT DANCES WITH FILMS ON JUNE 27 AS PART OF A BLOCK OF THREE PILOTS AT 4:00PM

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ✉︎ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ Tickets available here! ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ✉︎ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Check out Pink Collar Productions website!

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🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮ Listen to She’s all Over the Place podcast to discover your next film 🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮

⟡ Links to KC socials⟡

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Yellow Broken Road sits in that tension.

All imagery provided by Njedeh Anthony

The film follows Imani, a woman who dreams her entire future with a stranger in a single night, only to discover that the dream is real. She falls for Ike, fully aware that he is destined to die young. This is not a vague or passing fear, nor merely an anxiety that arises late at night, but rather an absolute certainty she carries from the outset of their relationship. Despite this inevitability, she chooses to love him fearlessly and completely. Through Imani’s unwavering love, the film directly explores its central themes: the tension between love and impending loss, and the courage it takes to fully embrace vulnerability in the face of certain heartbreak. In loving Ike without reservation, Imani exemplifies the film’s commitment to examining how individuals navigate love and grief together, and how acts of emotional bravery can define a relationship even when its ending is inevitable.

That’s not a small thing.

What makes this story hit different is that it isn’t just about love and loss. It’s about what it means to build something real with someone, a marriage, a family, a creative life, while navigating who you are, where you come from, and whether the world around you will ever fully hold space for that. Imani and Ike’s relationship is woven through with cultural identity, with the specific weight of carrying a heritage that forms how you love, how you grieve, and how you keep going when the road ahead looks broken.

That part matters. Because for so many young people, especially those who exist between worlds, between cultures, between the person their family raised them to be and the person they’re still becoming, the question of identity isn’t background noise. It’s the whole story. When you see it being treated not as a subplot but as the actual texture of a love story is rare, you will find that far and few between

The film was written, directed, and produced by Njedeh Anthony, and the fact that this story exists at all is its own kind of testament to what the film is actually about. Because making something this personal, this honest, this unafraid of grief, that takes integrity. Not just artistic integrity, but the deeper kind. The kind that means you tell the truth even when it’s uncomfortable, you finish the world even when it’s hard, and you trust that the people who need to find it will find it.

Integrity during hardship is not a concept. It’s a daily choice. It’s choosing to keep creating when the industry makes you feel like there isn’t room. It’s choosing to tell stories rooted in your own unique experience when you’ve been told to sand down the edges to make them more “universal.” It’s choosing to love fully when you already know it’s going to cost you something.

Yellow Broken Road understands all of that. And it holds all of it with a tenderness that doesn’t feel forced or performed; it feels earned.

The film stars Chelsea Rose Cook, Jean Charles, Deyemi Okanlawon, and Omonni Oboli, and it will world premiere at Dances With Films on June 22 at 8:15 PM. If you happen to be in LA, go. If you’re not, I’d keep an eye out for it

Yellow Broken Road will make its world premiere at Dances With Films, one of the most respected independent film festivals in the country. Founded in 1998 in Hollywood, Dances With Films built its reputation on one very specific promise: no stars, no industry politics, just films that earn their place on their own merit. It’s the kind of festival that has always existed for exactly this, stories that might not have a major studio behind them, but have something far more valuable: something real to say. For a film like Yellow Broken Road, a world premiere here isn’t just a screening date on a calendar. It’s the beginning of the next exciting chapter. The film is currently seeking distribution, which means these early festival screenings are everything. They’re the moments that put the film in front of the buyers, programmers, and advocates who decide whether a story like this gets to travel further into the world.

Film festivals are, at their core, a marketplace of vision. And the films that resonate, the ones that make audiences sit in the dark and feel something they weren’t expecting to feel, those are the ones that find their way. This is how independent cinema survives. Not through algorithms or opening weekend numbers, but through rooms full of people who believe a film deserves to be seen

Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is love something fully, knowing that it won’t last forever. Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is create something real, even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, loving fearlessly is the bravest thing anyone could do. Especially for those who do not fit into the stereotypical mold, for those who risk facing hatred and vitriol daily for being unapologetically loving.

Yellow Broken Road is a reminder that the broken parts of the road are still a part of the journey. And that showing up for it anyway, that’s not naivety, that’s strength and determination.

Tickets: danceswithfilms.com

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Few television hosts are as naturally suited to exploring Italy as Stanley Tucci. The Academy Award-nominated actor, acclaimed author, and lifelong food enthusiast has built a reputation for transforming culinary travel into something far more meaningful: a deep exploration of culture, history, and human connection. Now, with the latest season of Tucci in Italy, Tucci returns to the country of his heritage for another unforgettable adventure, proving once again that the best way to understand a place is through its food.

Hosted and executive produced by Stanley Tucci, the new season invites viewers to travel across five remarkable Italian regions, uncovering the stories, traditions, and people behind some of the country’s most beloved dishes. At the heart of the series lies a simple but powerful belief: food is more than nourishment. It is memory, identity, history, and community.

Why Italy Is the Perfect Culinary Destination

Italy is often celebrated as one of the world’s greatest food destinations, but what makes its cuisine truly unique is its regional diversity. Unlike countries with a single dominant culinary identity, Italy’s food culture changes dramatically from one region to another. A particular pasta shape, sauce, bread, cheese, or cooking method can reveal exactly where a dish originates.

For Tucci, this remarkable regional variation provides an ideal lens through which to explore Italian life. Every meal becomes a story about geography, migration, agriculture, family traditions, and local pride. Throughout the series, viewers discover that understanding Italian food means understanding Italy itself.

As Tucci has often noted, food in Italy is never “just food.” It serves as a living archive of generations of history, carrying forward traditions that continue to shape modern Italian society.

A New Season, Five Extraordinary Regions

The latest season takes audiences through five distinct regions, each offering a unique culinary identity and cultural heritage. This time, Tucci ventures into Naples and Campania, Sicily, Le Marche, Sardinia, and Veneto. These destinations represent a fascinating mix of famous culinary capitals and lesser-known treasures waiting to be discovered.

Naples and Campania

The region surrounding Naples is often considered one of Italy’s great culinary heartlands. From world-famous pizza traditions to ancient vineyards and agricultural practices, Campania offers a rich tapestry of flavors rooted in centuries of history. Tucci explores how local ingredients and age-old customs continue to influence contemporary Italian cuisine.

Sicily

Sicily stands apart as one of Italy’s most culturally layered regions. Influenced by Greek, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and Italian traditions, the island’s cuisine tells the story of centuries of cultural exchange. Through bustling markets, family kitchens, and local producers, Tucci examines how Sicily’s multicultural heritage has created one of the most distinctive food cultures in the Mediterranean.

Le Marche: Italy’s Hidden Gem

Perhaps the most intriguing destination of the season is Le Marche, a region that Tucci had never previously visited. Stretching along Italy’s Adriatic coast, Le Marche remains relatively undiscovered compared to tourist favorites such as Tuscany or Rome.

The region combines dramatic coastlines, rolling countryside, medieval towns, and an extraordinary food tradition that remains one of Italy’s best-kept secrets. Through local markets, family-run restaurants, and conversations with residents, Tucci uncovers a culinary landscape that reflects both the sea and the mountains. The result is one of the season’s most captivating discoveries, highlighting a side of Italy that many international travelers have yet to experience.

Sardinia

Sardinia offers another fascinating chapter in the series. Known for its rugged beauty and remarkable longevity rates among residents, the island provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between food, health, and lifestyle. Tucci investigates how traditional Sardinian diets, local ingredients, and community-centered living may contribute to the region’s reputation as one of the world’s longevity hotspots.

One memorable highlight includes a visit to Tavolara Island, home to what is often described as the world’s smallest kingdom, where Tucci dines with members of the Bertoleoni family and learns about their unique traditions.

Veneto

The season concludes in Veneto, a region famous for its rich culinary heritage and elegant cities. Here, Tucci explores questions surrounding the origins of iconic dishes and investigates how regional traditions continue to shape modern Italian gastronomy. From historic recipes to contemporary interpretations, Veneto offers another compelling example of how food preserves cultural identity across generations.

More Than a Food Show

What separates Tucci in Italy from many travel and cooking programs is its emphasis on people and stories rather than simply recipes. Tucci spends time with chefs, farmers, artisans, winemakers, and everyday Italians, allowing viewers to see how food functions as a central part of community life.

The conversations often reveal broader themes about family, tradition, migration, economics, and cultural preservation. A local dish becomes a gateway to understanding how communities evolved, adapted, and maintained their identities through changing times.

This human-centered approach has become a hallmark of Tucci’s work. His previous series, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, earned critical acclaim and multiple Emmy Awards for its ability to blend travel, history, and food into a deeply engaging narrative experience. Tucci in Italy continues that tradition while expanding its scope and introducing viewers to regions that are often overlooked by mainstream travel programming.

The Enduring Appeal of Stanley Tucci

Part of the series’ success comes from Tucci himself. Unlike many celebrity hosts, he approaches each destination with genuine curiosity, warmth, and humility. His Italian heritage gives him a personal connection to the stories being told, while his enthusiasm for food makes every discovery feel authentic.

Whether sampling regional specialties, learning centuries-old cooking techniques, or sharing a meal with local families, Tucci serves as both guide and participant. His ability to connect with people allows viewers to feel less like tourists and more like welcomed guests at the table.

A Celebration of Italy Through Food

At its core, Tucci in Italy is a celebration of everything that makes Italy extraordinary. It is a reminder that food is not merely something we consume. It is a reflection of where we come from, how we live, and what we value.

Through breathtaking landscapes, unforgettable meals, and heartfelt conversations, Stanley Tucci invites audiences to experience Italy in the most authentic way possible: one plate at a time.

For anyone who loves travel, culture, history, or simply great food, this season promises an inspiring and delicious journey through one of the world’s most fascinating countries. As Tucci demonstrates throughout the series, every meal has a story, and every region has something extraordinary to share.

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After speaking with She’s All Over The Place founder Katie Chonacas about the ceremony, one thing became clear: the success of North of North and Heated Rivalry is about much more than awards.

North of North and Heated Rivalry swept the major categories, with Anna Lambe taking home Best Lead Performer in a Comedy and Hudson Williams winning Best Lead Performer in a Drama. Their respective series also claimed top honors for Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series.

On paper, the shows could not be more different.

One follows a young woman attempting to reinvent herself in a small Arctic town where everybody knows everyone’s business. The other tells the story of two professional hockey players navigating love, identity, and the pressures of masculinity inside one of the most traditional spaces in sports.

Yet somehow they feel connected.

These projects didn’t win because they tried to imitate what was already popular. They succeeded because they trusted their own specificity.

For years, there has been an assumption that stories need to appeal to everyone in order to matter. Yet some of the most compelling work often does the exact opposite. It dives deeper into a particular community, a particular place, a particular experience.

The more specific the story becomes, the more universal it often feels.

Take North of North.

The Netflix comedy follows Siaja, a young woman attempting to reinvent herself in her Arctic hometown. On the surface, it is a story rooted in a place many viewers may never visit. Yet that’s exactly what makes it so important.

Growing up in the United States, our understanding of other countries is often surprisingly limited. Without direct exposure, entire places can become flattened into stereotypes. Some children still imagine Egypt as nothing but sand and pyramids, overlooking the modern cities, skyscrapers, and everyday lives that exist there today.

Shows like North of North quietly challenge that.

They humanize places we may never encounter otherwise. They invite audiences into kitchens, conversations, relationships, and routines. They remind us that people everywhere are navigating many of the same hopes, insecurities, dreams, and frustrations.

For viewers who share that culture, I imagine there is something equally powerful about seeing your day-to-day life treated as worthy of a global audience.

Then there’s Heated Rivalry.

In my opinion, it was one of the most moving and important projects of the year.

Not simply because it tells a queer love story, but because it explores the tension between who we are and who the world expects us to be. Beneath the romance lies a deeper examination of masculinity, identity, and the cost of living as dictated by someone else’s expectations.

The series allows viewers to slowly fall in love with its characters while also deepening their understanding of why coming out remains so difficult in professional sports.

Every conversation feels intentional. Every interaction builds toward a larger understanding of the tensions, pressures, and fears these athletes carry.

The show never asks viewers to pity its characters. It asks them to understand them. And understanding can be transformative.

Especially at a moment when conversations about inclusion and visibility continue to evolve. Progress has been made, but there are still countless people who don’t feel safe enough to fully live in their truth. People who worry how the world will respond. People who fear that one aspect of their identity will become the only thing others see.

Heated Rivalry doesn’t solve those problems.

But it does something art always does at its best: it creates empathy.

Both North of North and Heated Rivalry shine a light on communities we do not often see represented on such a large stage. In an entertainment landscape saturated with sequels, remakes, and familiar formulas, these stories feel surprisingly fresh.

As someone who writes and loves storytelling, I often wonder how filmmakers continue finding new ways to say things that feel like they’ve already been said thousands of times.

Yet these projects somehow manage it.

Five or ten years ago, I don’t think many people would have predicted that a queer hockey romance or a comedy set in an Arctic community would captivate audiences across continents.

And yet here we are. Proof that audiences are still hungry for something genuine. Proof that originality is still possible.

Chonacas recommends both series, and so do I.

Maybe the stories that stay with us aren't the ones that mirror our own experiences, but the ones that invite us into someone else's.

Prepared by Brooke R.

Watch Heated Rivalry and North of North!

Tune into She’s All Over The Place on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Katie’s website, and YouTube to engage in more conversations like this.

On this episode of She’s All Over The Place, Katie Chonacas explores a feeling that is often difficult to describe: psychological isolation.

Not being alone.

Not being abandoned.

Not even being disconnected.

Psychological isolation is something stranger than that. The CDC describes it as: “The subjective feeling or state of being disconnected from others, combined with an inability to bridge that gap.” It’s sitting in a room full of people and feeling as though you’re separated from them by a sheet of glass

Everyone is visible. Everyone is present. Yet somehow, you remain unreachable.

This episode was inspired by Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly and a solo trip Chonacas took to Hawaii. When I spoke with her afterward, she described spending time in communal spaces designed to bring people together. Travelers gathered around shared tables. Conversations floated through the room. Laptops clicked open and closed.

And still, she felt alone. Not physically alone; mentally imprisoned.

We often imagine loneliness as an empty apartment, an unanswered text message, or a Friday night spent by yourself. Psychological isolation is different. It can exist in the busiest airport, at a dinner party, inside a relationship, or in a room specifically designed for community.

The feeling does not always require tangible solace; it can just as easily be awoken through a more philosophical emptiness.

That feeling sits at the center of Brené Brown’s work. In Daring Greatly, Brown argues that vulnerability is not weakness but courage. Real connection requires us to show up imperfectly, without guarantees, and without knowing whether we’ll be accepted.

It sounds simple until you realize how much energy most of us spend protecting ourselves from exactly that.

Brown writes, “Connection is why we’re here.” Yet so many of us build entire identities around avoiding it.

We perform strength.

We perform perfection.

We perform self-sufficiency.

Then we wonder why nobody knows us.

The irony is almost cruel. The very walls we build to keep ourselves safe often become the reason we feel trapped.

That’s why one particular question Katie asks in this episode has stayed with me:

“What part of me has been protecting itself, and what does it need now?”

Not “what’s wrong with me?”

Not “why am I lonely?”

Not “why can’t I connect?”

Instead, what am I protecting?

The question shifts loneliness from a failure to a clue.

It asks us to examine the architecture of our defenses rather than judge ourselves for having them.

Sometimes self-care isn’t meditation, a face mask, or booking a vacation. Sometimes, self-care is learning what kind of metal makes up the bars to your mind’s invisible cage.

The timing of this conversation feels especially relevant. We are living through what many have called a loneliness epidemic while simultaneously existing in the most connected era in human history.

Every day, we are given front-row seats to everyone else’s lives.

The vacations, the relationships, the friend groups, the career milestones, the perfectly curated versions of fabricated, unattainable happiness.

I’ve noticed that my own worst moments of loneliness rarely happened when I was physically alone. They happened when I became too aware of what everyone else appeared to be doing. Social media has transformed comparison into a full-time occupation. We are constantly measuring our lives against highlight reels, only to wonder why we feel inadequate.

Authenticity quietly leaves the room, leaving space for performance to take its place.

Katie doesn’t offer a quick solution to any of this. Instead, she points toward awareness.

Travel, she explained, can sometimes disrupt the patterns that keep us stuck. Meeting new people, experiencing unfamiliar environments, stepping outside routines—these moments can create openings. Not because geography magically heals loneliness, but because unfamiliarity forces us to confront ourselves.

Growth often begins where comfort ends.

Which brings us back to another question Katie poses:

“If connection were safe again, what would I be afraid of losing?”

It’s a beautiful question because it acknowledges something uncomfortable: many of us say we want connection while quietly fearing what genuine connection requires.

To be known.

To be vulnerable.

To risk disappointment.

To be seen without editing ourselves first.

This conversation isn’t really about loneliness. It’s about the courage required to dismantle the systems we’ve built to protect ourselves from it.

And perhaps that’s why it resonated with me.

Not because it offered answers.

But because it reminded me that healing often begins with curiosity.

And that sometimes the first step toward freedom is understanding that the cage was never around you—it was built within you.

(Prepared by Brooke R.)

Continue the Conversation

Watch the entire episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Katie recommends Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly, which explores vulnerability, shame, belonging, and the courage required to show up authentically in our relationships and communities.

Want to read it for free? Download the Libby app and connect it to your local library card. As Katie says, “All education should be free.” Many libraries offer free access to ebooks and audiobooks, including Daring Greatly.

Cate Shortland is the empowering proof that this narrative is wrong.

(all artwork by katie seamonds)

A time before she directed Scarlett Johansson in Marvel’s ‘Black Widow,’ before she made Berlin Syndrome, which scared people at film festivals all around the world, before she made Lore, the film that was on the opposite side of the table. She made a Somersault. This movie was not made by being distant or detached, but by being truly emotionally intelligent, by really caring about a girl that the world had already given up on, and by telling a story that is honest and raw, which is something that only a filmmaker who is not afraid to feel everything can do.

This movie did not just do well. It made history.

It started with a girl whom nobody else dared writing about.

Cate Shortland was travelling between Sydney and Canberra. She was drawn to the beautiful Lake George. While she was working with kids who struggled emotionally, one girl truly stuck with her.

"It was a combination of landscape and disturbed children that was the inspiration. That's still there in the film."

This girl was behind the inspiration of a character in Somersault, a sixteen-year-old girl named Heidi who was starving for love and did not know how to find it in a safe way. Not a villain, not an antagonist, she was just a kid who was desperate for love and lacked proper guidance.

“This film is inhabited by scared people, who all want to be loved,” Shortland said. “I wanted the viewer to be intimate with them.”

Intimacy. The word is so often weaponized against women in film. As if sitting inside another person’s experience and rendering it honestly on screen were somehow less rigorous than keeping your distance.

Somersault won all thirteen awards it was nominated for at the Australian Film Institute Awards in 2004. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and the movie was made four million dollars. It was shot by hand in beyond freezing temperatures. Cate Shortland says that her producer had to push her to finish the movie, she got addicted to making it anyway. This is what happens when you love what you do and you are in tune with what you love. In the episode, she talks about how she felt during that time. It’s worth listening to her talk about it, there’s inspiration bleeding through every word.

Believe me when I say, the camera that Cate Shortland used to shoot the movie felt everything too.

She shot the movie by hand, not to make it look cool, but because the story needed it to be that way. A stylistic choice that helped control the narrative and present it in a way that couldn’t be done by what’s taught in the book.

“The camera is continually moving and reacting to the actors, it is a part of the scene rather than just sitting back and observing it. The film is not an action/drama; it is experiential.”

The camera was wildly heavy; it weighed thirty kilos. The lenses were extraordinarily long. The focus was very sharp. The crew had to work in freezing, stiff, weather. The colors in the movie were frequently combination of grays, browns, and blacks, then punctuated with bursts of red every ten to fifteen scenes. Taillights. Gloves. A heartbeat running through the film.

What “Too Sensitive” Actually Looks Like on Screen

Executive Producer Jan Chapman put it simply, “We’ve seen coming-of-age films before, but this time I thought we were in the mind of an adolescent girl.”

The main character in the movie Heidi is played by Abbie Cornish. She is a young girl who keeps moving and never gives up, even when everything is falling apart. A character very representative of resilience and determination, exactly what teenage girls are made of. “She doesn’t sit and dwell on anything,” Cornish said. “She just powers on.” Shortland saw her clearly from the start: “She is a survivor, resilient and tough-skinned. She expects to be hurt, so nothing can harm her.”

It takes a lot of time and effort to create a character like that. Cate Shortland talks about all of it in this episode; it’s gripping.

For Every Woman Who's Been Told She's Too Much

Shortland was told the script needed more drafts. She wrote them. She was told the story was too small, too interior, too female. She made it anyway, in the freezing cold, with a skeleton crew and a vision clear enough that every department head spoke about it as a shared language.

What strikes you most listening to Shortland speak isn’t just her talent — it’s her honesty. There’s no polished PR version of events, no careful deflection. She talks about being dragged “kicking and screaming” through her own debut film. She talks about the years of self-doubt, the endless rewrites, the process being as brutal as it was necessary. In an industry that rewards the performance of confidence, that kind of transparency is rare and so refreshing.

What’s even more striking is the grace with which she carries it. Because Shortland isn’t airing grievances. She’s telling the truth about what it actually takes, for anyone, but especially for women in the arts, who are so often expected to either shrink quietly or fight loudly, with very little room for anything in between. She occupies that in-between space with remarkable ease: clear-eyed about the obstacles, unsentimentally proud of the work, and completely unwilling to pretend the path was anything other than what it was.

There is so much power in women telling stories, especially the ones that aren’t written to have a perfect ending, Somersault is one of the many stand out examples.

Now available in a stunning 4K restoration, Somersault is finding a whole new generation of viewers. And this episode of She’s All Over the Place is the perfect place to start — or to return.

Watch here on:

YouTube, Apple Podcasts, & Spotify

https://www.chonacas.com/podcast/

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