Blog

Winemaker Vanessa Robledo control-burning her dry grapevines
Interviews

May 07, 2019

Bernardo Ruiz Tells Story of the Central Role Latinos Play in California Wine Industry

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Two-time Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz, who was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and grew up in Brooklyn, made his directorial feature debut with the PBS film Reportero, about attacks on the press…...

Native Hawaiian prisoners perform a ritual ceremony using conch shells as instruments
Interviews

April 30, 2019

Filmmaker Follows Incarcerated Native Hawaiians Discovering Their Indigenous Traditions

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Native Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy has had her work aired on PBS, ABC, TLC, Discovery, Bravo and A&E, and was an inaugural Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellow for Indigenous Artists.…...

Alex Long of Charm City, in a Safe Streets shirt
Interviews

April 17, 2019

Filmmaker Spotlights Unsung Neighbors Lifting Up Baltimore

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Marilyn Ness is a two-time Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont Award-winning filmmaker, who has produced films like the acclaimed Cameraperson (dir. Kirsten Johnson), which was released by the Criterion Collection and…...

Filmmaker David Sutherland (center) with Marcos and Elizabeth
Interviews

April 12, 2019

Acclaimed Filmmaker David Sutherland Tells the Story of a Family Torn Apart by Deportation

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

David Sutherland takes his time to tell a story, both in the years he spends with his subject, the amount of footage he shoots, and the ultimate running time --…...

The filmmakers of The Providers
Interviews

March 27, 2019

How a Lifelong Fascination with Medicine Turned into a Film About the Rural Healthcare Crisis

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

[UPDATED April 6, 2019: We reached out to filmmakers Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin to gather their thoughts on why they titled their film The Providers.] The filmmaking team behind the…...

Dasan and his mother out in the woods, from Tre Maison Dasan
Interviews

March 25, 2019

Children Own Their Stories in Tre Maison Dasan

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Denali Tiller has been an artist, a teacher, a world traveler, and was named one of 110 “Filmmakers to Watch” by Variety, but Tre Maison Dasan happens to be her…...

Shen Man and Dabao looking at live streaming on a phone, in People's Republic of Desire
Interviews

February 20, 2019

Director Explores Live Streaming Revolution and How Technology Affects Human Happiness

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Technology executive-turned-filmmaker Hao Wu takes a raw and human approach to storytelling in an era when culture evolves online, and for his very first feature film, People's Republic of Desire…...

Copyright IDIOM Film, Courtesy RaMell Ross; Family at hospital, from Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Interviews

February 07, 2019

RaMell Ross Charts “the Visual Story of Blackness” in Oscar-Nominated Doc

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Just one year after RaMell Ross' Hale County This Morning, This Evening won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the filmmaker will follow his film's television debut…...

Director Morgan Neville
Interviews

February 01, 2019

Five Questions About Fred Rogers with Morgan Neville

Craig Phillips in Interviews

"When I met Joanne Rogers, I told her I wanted to make a film not about Fred Rogers’ story but about his ideas," filmmaker Morgan Neville wrote about Won't You Be…...

Black memorabilia figurines
Interviews

January 30, 2019

The Challenge of Making a Film About Racist Relics

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Filmmaker and teacher Chico Colvard's first feature doc, Family Affair, premiered at Sundance and was the first film acquired by Oprah Winfrey for her cable channel, OWN. The searingly personal documentary explored…...

Eugene Jarecki interviewing Dan Rather for
Behind the Films

January 24, 2019

Three Things About “The King,” with Eugene Jarecki and Steven Soderbergh

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's pedigree is impressive. He has twice won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Peabody Award for: The House I Live In, his 2013 film…...

RUMBLE director Catherine Bainbridge, center rear, with members of Ulali
Interviews

January 11, 2019

RUMBLE Filmmakers Go Deep into the Indigenous Foundations of Rock

Craig Phillips in Interviews

The making of RUMBLE was a team effort, all of them passionate about bringing an important story to the world. Director-producer Catherine Bainbridge and co-director Alfonso Maiorana worked with Executive Producer…...