American Filmmaker

Diane Bell is an award-winning screenwriter and director.    Diane's first feature, "Obselidia," premiered in Dramatic Competition at Sundance, where it won 2 awards, and went on to play at festivals around the world …

Mathew Silver has been doing performance art and filmmaking for over 2 decades. He creates conscious content every week that inspires love consciousness in a fun and weird way. He currently posts new work on Wednesday …

Raphael Smith is a 6th Generation Lineage Holder of Song Family Hsing-I Chuan under master Li Yujie.  Raphael is also a student Jeong Won-il and …

Alex White Plume was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He grew up strongly connected to traditional Lakota culture. He joined the U.S. Army and was …

Josh Hyde, producer of the "American Hemp" documentary and host of the American Filmmaker podcast, gets interviewed by Elevate Nevada's Josh Bell about "American Hemp." Hyde talks about shooting and editing the film …

Nathaniel Kennon Perkins lives in Boulder, CO, where he works as a bookseller and runs Trident Press. He is the author of "Cactus," a novella. His …

Ivy & Ivan MacDonald are a brother and sister filmmaking duo from the Blackfeet tribe of Northern Montana.  Currently, they're working on "When They Were Here," a feature documentary about the serial disappearances …

Leslie Simmer of Kartemquin Films talks about the journey to edit social justice motivated documentary films and docu-series.  Leslie Simmer is Kartemquin's Director of Editing as well as Senior Editor on staff.

For …

Deo Cardoso is a Brazilian-American filmmaker completing his first feature film, "Cabeça de Nego", and starting the international film festival circuit.  He talks about the reality of living in Brazil as a filmmaker, …

Gordon Quinn and Josh Hyde talk about the history of “cinéma vérité,” Kartemquin starting as a filmmaking collective, being the muse for Bob Dylan's …

Keri Pickett is an award-winning artist and producer/director/cinematographer of the documentary First Daughter and the Black Snake, a feature film …

Marie Cheng talks about choosing to be a story teller over going to business school, the long journey through film school, playing the intern and …

Brian Newman talks about producing independent films, transitioning to working with brands on distribution strategy for branded content films, how to be diversified as a producer and how basic analytics can help a film …

Colby Gottert is an Emmy Award-winning producer and cinematographer whose films have been broadcast on HBO, CBS, ESPN, AT&T Audience, Fox …

Chris Hunt is a comic book creator, writer and artist. Currently residing in his hometown of Westerville, Ohio, he arrived back there after 19 years …

Chelsea Hernandez talks about growing up in Austin, going to college in NYC, finishing film school at University of Texas, working at KLRU-TV - …

Bryan Rodriguez is an acupuncturist and tai chi practitioner living in Boulder, Colorado. Through his life Bryan found the healing arts.   A fun side …

Mitch Shenassa, writer, anthropologist, and co-founder of Incredibowls smoking devices, stops in to drink tea and help me with some research for a …

As a filmmaker, sometimes you find yourself in strange situations with profound meaning.  I was filming extra shots for a feature documentary on the …

Dr. Hari Ailinani stops by to help research my new documentary film, American Hemp.  We talk about healthcare in Indiana, a CBD study he did on his …

Jeff Zimbalist was born on August 15, 1978 in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. He is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer, writer and director, known primarily for Favela Rising (2005), The Two Escobars (2010), …

Chris Rejano was born and raised in the shadows of Detroit.  Chris has forged a career in feature film, commercials and music videos.  His creativity is steeped in early MTV, skateboard videos, and American independent …

Russell Costanzo is the editor of All These Small Moments, a feature film written and directed by Melissa Miller Costanzo.  Russell also makes film.  His first feature as a writer/director/editor was The Tested.  …

Melissa B. Miller Costanzo (a.k.a. Melissa B. Miller) talks about making her first feature film as a writer/director, All These Small Moments.  The …

Travis Irvine is a comedian, filmmaker, journalist, and some times politician. Travis’s films focus on documenting the political reality facing …

Julia Rendleman is a freelance editorial photographer and photojournalist working for major news outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York …

Clarissa Jacobson wrote and produced the award-winning short film, Lunch Ladies.  The short film played over 100 film festivals around the world.  Along the way, Clarissa learned how to maneuver the U.S. and …

Justin Hayward is a Chicago-based director who started as a production assistant and worked his way up to directing commercials, short films, and music videos by being a director of photography.  Along the way, he …

Dan Fischer is a director of photographer living in Chicago, Illinois.  He freelances on big budget commercials and enjoys making small films with his friends.  Dan talks about how to stay fresh and keep a zen mindset …

Chris Lett, former CNN producer and journalist, talks about working as a field producer at a major news network for a decade.  During the recording …

Mario Contreras talks about coming up in the Chicago documentary scene, his experiences as an alumni of Kartemquin’s Diverse Voices in Documentary program, new documentary films to watch produced in Illinois, Minding …

Michael J Deller, member of the Budos Band and founding member of Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires stops by to talk about the journey from musician to composing scores, filming Luke Cake scenes, touring the World …

Andrew from Environmental Farming Solutions and Pure Hemp Technology stops by to talk hemp farming, the new Farm Bill, and genetically modified food. …

Nathaniel Kennon Perkins, is an American author and indie book publisher at the Trident Press.  Nate stops in to talk about the top indie book publishers and bookstores across the U.S., how he escaped the honor code at …

The host, Josh Hyde, talks about making short films, feature films, and the creative journey and reality to being a filmmaker.  This episode features songs from Hyde's feature spiritual stoner comedy, “My Friend's …