Bill Morrison is a director devoted to the lost films. His long-running filmography explores what often gets left behind. It’s a filmography of revival and preservation, with painstaking aesthetic attention paid to recovering films. This is a story about more than films. It’s about filling the gaps in our cinematic history. It’s about the intrinsic beauty of degrading nitrate film stocks and how that can all come to life, given just the right musical backing.

Morrison’s latest film, let me come in, is the subject of today’s discussion. Using recovered footage of the lost German silent film Pawns of Passion (1928), the short boldly asserts its themes of separation, connection, and discovery. Working with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang and the incredible soprano voice of Angel Blue, it’s a short film driven by the music.

In our interview, we’ll explore Morrison’s filmography, from the remarkable site favorite Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) to his new short, let me come in, premiering at the Turner Classic Movie festival.

Alien on Stage is the best kind of success story. It is about a troop of bus drivers moonlighting as amateur entertainers who want to put on a stage production of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979). The documentary is the story of how their workmanlike production began on a small stage in Dorset before maximizing the show’s notoriety online, and landing a prime spot on stage in London’s West End. It is the story of workers creating the most amazing fan art. It was all I could do to write a glowing review. Everything about the film resounded beautifully with what I value about the incredible original film and keyed into something crucial about workers making art. So, inspired by their work, the next step was to interview both of its directors, Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey, about their wonderful new film.

Recovery and representation are the topics of the day, in our audio interview with Blackwater director Boise Esquerra. A series of short films, the first of which is showing at Slamdance, Blackwater is the story of a country musician who has bottomed out and returned to her reservation, finding that addiction does not discriminate. We swap stories about our own personal journeys of recovery and what it means to put those stories on screen. There's also a great conversation about de-stereotyping Native Americans on film and what it means to create effective representation. Blackwater's a great, and important, short series, an early highlight of this year's Slamdance.

Bleeding Audio is the story of Oakland punk rock band The Matches. It’s not only about a group of talented young musicians bringing the band back together. It’s a narrative about the democratization of music and the challenges facing any band when the market shifted toward online file sharing and distribution. In the story of The Matches is the heroes journey, the story of every band with a dream of finding their audience. We’re honored to speak with director Chelsea Christer, producer Erin Persley, and The Matches bassist Justin SanSouci.

1980s training videos have carved out a peculiar niche on the internet. Searching for a purpose for his new picture, director Quinn Armstrong utilized these training videos as a lens to tell a different kind of police story. Given recent events, the context of his film has landed differently than planned at inception. Between a wide-ranging change in the discourse on police and the shifting realities of COVID, there has never been a stranger time to shop such a film to the market. We’re proud to present an interview with Armstrong about his new film — the talk of this year’s Fantasia, Survival Skills takes VHS de-making to another level in this intriguing experimental film, with a great theatrical turn by dramatist Stacy Keach. Listen to our interview for all this, and much more.

Maïmouna Doucouré’s feature film debut has provoked a firestorm of controversy. The story of Cuties (Mignonnes) began favorably. The French-Senegalese director picked up the Directing Award at Sundance, landing a deal with Netflix for an amplified international release, and enjoyed a broadly acclaimed release in her home of France. Then the Netflix marketing arm spun the controversy out of proportion — they have since recorded record-high cancelation figures and the film has become a hotbed for online debate about the exploitation of children in film. Cuties is more than the controversy, a story about precocious youthful rebellion against conservative parents, what it means to be Black and Muslim, and finding out what truly matters in life. It’s an uncomfortable film, to be sure, but one adamantly against what it’s accused of promoting. We’re proud to present an in-depth chat with our friend Renee, who brings her own deeply personal perspectives to the coming of age story.

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of the most respected auteurs of the Japanese cinema. An heir to the legacy of Yasujirō Ozu, Kore-eda has found universal acclaim for his heartfelt family dramas. Expanding his international lens, this year finds the release of his first non-Japanese-language film, The Truth. We're honored to present a conversation about his new film, touching on the shifting realities of a long career in filmmaking, and what is so tangibly elemental and human about Kore-eda's own work. The Truth is a different kind of family drama: this time, concerning the family of a famed French actress (Catherine Denueve), and how success has adjusted her relationship with daughter (Juliette Binoche). Also starring Ethan Hawke, as the English-speaking husband absorbed in these dicey family dynamics. Listen to our interview for more on The Truth, premiering July 3 online.

The Penny Black is an intriguing new documentary fresh out of the Slamdance circuit. A man has left a stamp collection from a mysterious, potentially dangerous neighbor. The collection stays with him for years as his neighbor fades out of existence at the apartment complex. In the meantime, director Joe Saunders has filmed the story of the multi-million dollar bag of stamps, tracing the new ownership of his friend, a son of a conman who seems to be constantly wrestling with an urge to sell the collection. Some of them going missing and a noir-ish documentary emerges in the process. We're delighted to speak with Joe Saunders, the film's director, along with producer Alexander Greer.

Jennifer Reeder's Knives and Skin is a great victory for compassion. The director weaponizes empathy as though it were her blade and directs the hell out of this new mystery picture. What truly elevates her voice is a great sense of accessible feminism. Knives and Skin is feminism for everyone. It invites all of us to engage fully with its principles as such and succeeds fully in voicing its feminine characters. The feeling is that Jennifer knows what it is like. She works predominantly with strong female characters and has lived their experiences. Hailing from Ohio, she has deeply felt the need to escape, the outsider impulse she so wonderfully captures here. We're delighted to have the opportunity to chat with Jennifer about her new picture, her experience moving from short films to a feature-length mystery, and the nature of feminism in her work.