Blog

Filmmaker Ursula Liang with camera on location in New York
Interviews

April 07, 2021

“Nobody Was Listening”: Finding Light in a Dark Stairwell

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmaker Ursula Liang's previous documentary 9-Man was about the fascinating titular sport that originated among Chinese immigrant communities in the United States and Canada, and was set in mostly Boston,…...

Sgt. Alice White training cadets in procedural justice
Interviews

February 05, 2021

Telling the Story of Gender, Politics, and Violence in America Through the Eyes of Women Police Officers

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

In addition to her documentaries Still Doing It: The Intimate Lives of Women Over 65, and Suicide On Campus, a web documentary produced in conjunction with The New York Times…...

Interviews

January 13, 2021

The Story of 9to5: A Movement that Changed the American Workplace

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Julia Reichert and her filmmaking partner and life partner Steve Bognar, have been making documentaries for a long while. Most recently, in 2020, the team won the Academy Award for…...

two women cheerleaders from a Woman's Work pose together as cheerleaders in front of courthouse
Interviews

December 28, 2020

Battling a Male-Dominated World for Recognition and a Raise

Craig Phillips in

Filmmaker Yu Gu was born in Chongqing, China, raised in Vancouver, Canada, and found her way to the University of Southern California film program. Her films, like the feature documentary…...

Myya records for her campaign
Interviews

October 20, 2020

How Three Passionate Candidates Represent Women Shaping the Future

Craig Phillips in Interviews

What does "representation" mean in the midst of a historically tense election year?  In her film Represent, filmmaker Hillary Bachelder sought to show the universal struggle to redefine repressive expectations…...

From animation of Pepe the Frog playing a video game with pal, from Matt Furie art
Interviews

October 02, 2020

How a Cartoon Frog Became a Symbol for a “Confounding Moment in Our History”

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmakers Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini both bring very unique artistic backgrounds to the drawing table that led to the fruitful collaboration for Feels Good Man, which is Jones' feature…...

Interviews

June 09, 2020

How Do You Sort Through 70,000 Videotapes?

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

The San Jose (CA) native, New York City-based filmmaker Matt Wolf is no stranger to having to comb through archival footage for his documentaries. His film Wild Combination, about the…...

Sasha Neulinger editing Rewind in his editing suite
Behind the Films

May 01, 2020

Sasha Joseph Neulinger Confronts Family Trauma Head-On

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

It's been a pretty impressive run for what was someone's very first feature documentary. But then again, Rewind is no ordinary first film. After Sasha Joseph Neulinger finished film school…...

Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD
Interviews

April 08, 2020

“My Family’s Tragedy Is an American Tragedy”: Bedlam Filmmaker’s Journey to Depict Mental Health Crisis

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

In his film Bedlam, Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD follows the lives of three patients who find themselves with a chronic lack of institutional support, while he also weaves in his…...

Nanfu wang holds her baby while interviewing her mother
Interviews

March 25, 2020

Nanfu Wang’s Riveting Personal Story Probes Impact of One-Child Policy

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Taking risks is nothing new for Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang. Her previous documentary I Am Another You, which was a SXSW Jury Award-winner and aired on Independent Lens, involved her…...

Xu Min, from Leftover Women, speaks to single men at a matchmaker event in China
Interviews

February 05, 2020

Filmmakers Follow Women in China Trying to Overcome Stigma of Being Single

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Israeli filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia have had films air on international television as well as here in the U.S. on HBO, MTV, Sundance, and PBS (Medalia has received…...

Activist Jose
Interviews

January 22, 2020

Finding Common Ground: The Story of an Unlikely Chicago Alliance

Craig Phillips in Interviews

It takes an incredible amount of tenacity and belief in a project to stick with it for 14 years, but that's just how long it took for Ray Santisteban to…...