Ten states, 10,825 miles, and 123 theaters. Director Rustin Thompson joins Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge to discuss THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS and the people keeping America’s small-town cinemas alive.

Independent movie theaters, small-town cinemas, and the fight to preserve theatrical moviegoing are at the heart of THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS, a new documentary from filmmaker Rustin Thompson.

Ten states. 10,825 miles. 123 theaters.

Thompson traveled across the American West searching for what remained of a once-essential center of small-town life: the local movie theater. He encountered abandoned cinemas, theaters struggling to survive, and devoted owners working against extraordinary odds to keep their screens—and their communities—alive.

What began as an elegy for a disappearing American institution became something more hopeful: a story of resilience, connection, and the people who still believe that gathering together to watch a movie matters.

The documentary draws inspiration from Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic THE LAST PICTURE SHOW—singular—while THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS—plural—turns its attention to the real movie houses confronting streaming, consolidation, changing audience habits, and the lingering effects of the pandemic.

Join Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge for a conversation with director Rustin Thompson about his 10,825-mile journey, the future of independent movie theaters, and the people determined to keep the lights on.

CHAPTERS

00:00 What Happens When the Last Theater Goes Dark?
01:30 THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS
02:00 Meet Director Rustin Thompson
05:30 Journeying Through America’s Cinema Deserts
09:25 The People Keeping Theaters Alive
12:55 From an Elegy to a Story of Hope
16:25 Finding 123 Small-Town Movie Theaters
19:55 Why These Theaters Matter to Their Communities
26:20 The Struggle to Keep the Lights On
29:20 Abandoned Theaters and Vanishing History
33:20 Streaming and the Future of Moviegoing
35:00 Ten States, 10,825 Miles, 123 Theaters
36:35 Why the Big-Screen Experience Still Matters
39:05 Closing Thoughts

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Subscribe to INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE for more conversations with the filmmakers, artists, and exhibitors keeping independent cinema alive. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you listen.

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Luis Valdez, LA BAMBA, ZOOT SUIT, Chicano cinema, and El Teatro Campesino take center stage in AMERICAN PACHUCO: THE LEGEND OF LUIS VALDEZ, director David Alvarado's documentary about a groundbreaking American artist.

From performing on flatbed trucks for farmworkers with El Teatro Campesino to bringing ZOOT SUIT to Broadway and directing LA BAMBA, Luis Valdez transformed American theater and cinema — creating space for Chicano stories, history, humor, and identity.

In this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge speak with David Alvarado about making AMERICAN PACHUCO, tracing Valdez's extraordinary career, and examining the cultural movement that grew alongside his work.

It is more than the story of one pioneering artist. It is the story of who gets to be seen, who gets to belong, and whose experiences become part of the American canon.

Find screenings and learn more about AMERICAN PACHUCO: https://www.americanpachuco.com/

CHAPTERS

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Hosts: @laemmle and @OfficialRaphaelSbarge

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#AmericanPachuco #LuisValdez #ChicanoCinema

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Celebrate Bastille Day with highlights from four filmmaker conversations featuring Rebecca Zlotowski, François Ozon, Louise Courvoisier, and Laura Piani—and the films A Private Life, The Stranger, Holy Cow, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.

To mark Bastille Day, we’re revisiting four conversations from the INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE archive—highlights from interviews with the filmmakers behind some of the most compelling contemporary French films.

Director Rebecca Zlotowski discusses family, memory, identity, and the mysteries hidden within our closest relationships in A Private Life, starring Jodie Foster.

Director François Ozon reflects on reimagining Albert Camus’ L’Étranger for a new generation in The Stranger.

Director Louise Courvoisier explores the warmth, humor, and lived-in authenticity of rural France in Holy Cow.

Director Laura Piani discusses love, literature, creative ambition, and writing a heroine whose aspirations matter as much as her romances in Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.

Four films. Four distinctive voices. One enduring tradition: French cinema’s appetite for stories that are bold, intimate, provocative, and deeply human.

Celebrate Bastille Day with this special selection from the INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE library of filmmaker conversations.

Follow INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and please leave us a rating and review. It helps other film lovers discover the show.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Celebrating Contemporary French Cinema
01:24 A Private Life — Director Rebecca Zlotowski on Memory, Mystery & Identity
10:14 The Stranger — Director François Ozon Reimagines Albert Camus
19:10 Holy Cow — Director Louise Courvoisier on Rural France, Family & Authenticity
24:28 Jane Austen Wrecked My Life — Director Laura Piani on Love, Literature & Self-Discovery

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David Wain joins us to talk about his new comedy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass — a Sundance 2026 Official Selection starring Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, and John Slattery, from Sony Pictures Classics.

The premise is deliberately, gloriously absurd: a Midwestern bride-to-be discovers her fiancé has used his "celebrity pass" to cheat — and sets off for Los Angeles to even the score with her own pass, Jon Hamm. What follows is a full-tilt Hollywood comedy that never apologizes for being exactly what it is.

We talk with Wain about writing the film with longtime collaborator Ken Marino, assembling a cast that spans three generations of comedy, shooting an original comedy entirely on location in Los Angeles, and why comedy for comedy's sake has become an increasingly rare thing to see on screen.

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is directed by David Wain, written by Ken Marino & David Wain, and releases in theaters July 10, 2026, from Sony Pictures Classics.

0:00 Intro: David Wain on Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass

INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE is an in-depth conversation series with filmmakers across independent and arthouse cinema. Hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres.

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Documentary filmmaking, indie films, and arthouse movies take center stage in this special Fourth of July episode of Inside the Arthouse — a film podcast dedicated to independent film, indie cinema, and the voices that define American storytelling.

While much of the industry turns to reboots, sequels, franchises, and superheroes, we're turning to a different kind of American story — films driven by voice, risk, authenticity, and the courage to see the world differently.

In this special edition, we revisit a curated selection from our library of more than 100 filmmaker interviews — five films that remind us why independent film remains essential to American film culture.

These are the films that don't just entertain us. They ask us to look closer, feel more deeply, and think beyond the familiar. From arthouse movies rooted in character and place to indie films powered by pure creative vision, this is the American cinema that matters.

As America marks its 250th birthday, we celebrate the documentary and independent storytellers who prove that American cinema is at its best when it dares to be independent.

Join us for this special Fourth of July edition of Inside the Arthouse: American Independents.

0:00 Introduction: American Independence in Cinema

Inside the Arthouse is a digital series featuring in-depth conversations with filmmakers across independent and arthouse cinema. Hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres, the series explores film distribution, the creative process, and the evolving landscape of cinema.

Find Inside the Arthouse on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

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Carla Simón’s new film ROMERÍA follows Marina, a young woman who travels to Galicia in search of the truth about the parents she never really knew. What begins as a practical errand becomes something harder to name — an excavation of memory, silence, and the stories families carry across generations.

In this conversation, Simón reflects on the autobiographical roots of the film, the challenge of transforming private history into cinema, working with young performers, and the delicate balance between grief, imagination, and discovery.

Following the international success of SUMMER 1993 and ALCARRÀS, ROMERÍA may be her most personal film yet.

INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE is hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres. New episodes every week — follow wherever you listen.

Episode Guide:

0:00 Introduction: The Inspiration Behind ROMERÍA
2:17 Exploring Personal Grief and Memory
5:51 Historical Memory and the Heroin Crisis in Spain
7:09 Connecting with Biological Roots
8:34 Clip: Investigating the Past
11:34 The Mystery of Memory and Family Secrets
14:01 Using Personal Letters as Narrative Tools
15:51 The Casting Process: Mixing Non-Actors and Professionals
18:01 The Benefit of Three-Month Rehearsals
26:01 Trailer Analysis and Cinematic Approach
30:05 Defining the Title: ROMERÍA as Pilgrimage and Celebration
33:04 Cinema as Personal Therapy
34:03 Audience Reception and Future Projects

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From the directors of Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song comes a new portrait of a man who was somehow at the center of everything — and never quite in the frame.

Peter Asher was one half of Peter & Gordon, swept into the British Invasion on songs written by Paul McCartney. He signed and produced James Taylor at Apple Records. He spent the next three decades guiding Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, and many more — quietly shaping some of the most beloved records in American music.

PETER ASHER: EVERYWHERE MAN is the film that finally puts him in frame. Blending documentary, live musical memoir, and a remarkable archive of songs and stories, it's a portrait of what it actually takes to help great artists find their truest voice — and a reminder that the people who shape culture aren't always the ones standing center stage.

We sat down with Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine to talk about how this film got made, what it takes to earn the trust of legends, and why Peter Asher's story has never been told quite like this before.

From Hallelujah to Everywhere Man — Dan Geller & Dayna Goldfine on Peter Asher

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Who was she?

In this episode of Inside the Arthouse, we sit down with groundbreaking Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour for a conversation about UNIDENTIFIED, a gripping mystery thriller set in modern Saudi Arabia.

The film follows Noelle Al Saffan, a recently divorced woman rebuilding her life through a clerical job at a police station. When the body of an unidentified teenage girl is discovered in the desert, Noelle is drawn into a mystery no one seems eager to solve — and a question that becomes impossible to ignore: who was she?

What begins as a murder investigation becomes a deeper story about identity, silence, gender, and power — and the hidden lives of women navigating a society in transformation.

Known for Wadjda and The Perfect Candidate, Al Mansour describes UNIDENTIFIED as the completion of her "Saudi trilogy," continuing her focus on women who step outside the roles expected of them and challenge the systems around them.

UNIDENTIFIED is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics and premiered at TIFF 2025.

Follow Inside the Arthouse wherever you get your podcasts for conversations with the filmmakers shaping world cinema.

Inside the Arthouse is hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres, exploring film distribution, the creative process, and the evolving landscape of cinema. Also available on YouTube.

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INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE | THE CURRENTS — Director Milagros Mumenthaler

What happens when a woman survives an inexplicable impulse — and tells no one?

In this episode, Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge sit down with Argentinian-Swiss filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler to discuss her haunting new psychological drama THE CURRENTS, distributed by Kino Lorber and an Official Selection of TIFF 2025.

THE CURRENTS follows Lina, a Buenos Aires fashion designer who, while accepting an award in Switzerland, is suddenly overtaken by an urge to jump from a bridge into an icy river. She survives. She says nothing. But she is never the same.

In conversation, Mumenthaler unpacks the film's obsessions: identity and exile, the body's hidden memory, motherhood, artistic crisis, and the life we perform versus the truths we can no longer suppress. They also explore Buenos Aires as a living presence, the influence of Virginia Woolf, and the challenge of putting interior life on screen.

For fans of slow-burn psychological drama, Latin American cinema, and bold auteur filmmaking.

Starring Isabel Aimé González Sola & Esteban Bigliardi

INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE is hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge in partnership with Laemmle Theatres.

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For our 100th episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we return to the belief that started it all: movies matter most when they are shared.

Over the course of 100 episodes, this show has become a gathering place for filmmakers, actors, programmers, distributors, theater owners, advocates, and film lovers who believe in the power of cinema on the big screen, in community, and in the places where stories still feel alive.

In this special milestone episode, we look back at conversations with Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated artists whose work reminds us what independent and international cinema can still do: challenge us, move us, connect us, and stay with us long after the lights come up.

Featuring conversations with Walter Salles, director of the Oscar-winning I’M STILL HERE; Mstyslav Chernov, Oscar-winning filmmaker and director of 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA; Kaouther Ben Hania, Oscar-nominated director of THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB; the filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning documentary MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN; and Atom Egoyan, Oscar-nominated director of THE SWEET HEREAFTER.

Across these films and conversations, we encounter stories of memory, war, resistance, grief, family, history, and survival — from Brazil and Ukraine to Palestine, Russia, Canada, and beyond.

At the center of it all is the arthouse itself: the theater as a gathering place, the screen as a doorway, and cinema as one of the last great communal arts.

Thank you for being part of the first 100 episodes of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE. Here’s to the films, filmmakers, theaters, and audiences keeping cinema alive.

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