Filmmakers Collaborative

01/07/2026

"2026 is looking to be a top-tier year at the movie theater.

The latest installments in the Dune, Spider-Man and Avengers franchises will be released, while millennial nostalgia will continue at the multiplex with Devil Wears Prada and Practical Magic sequels.

And new films from Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig will both be gracing Imax screens."

Along with a new ‘Dune’ and ‘Spider-Man’, 2026 will have nostalgia plays like ‘Devil Wears Prada’ and ‘Practical Magic’ sequels as well as films from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig.

01/07/2026

NPR has created a front-line account of the Jan 6 riot and a public database drawing on thousands of hours of footage and years of reporting: "The evidence vividly shows the planning for 'revolution' and the brutality of violence."

NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.

01/06/2026

"...After a long festival run and still no U.S. distributor, Premo decided to go straight to his potential viewers.

On Jan. 6, the fifth anniversary of the riot, Homegrown will be available to rent in partnership with Gathr, a tech company that facilitates screenings for filmmakers.

'Homegrown' is following the lead of documentaries like 'Union' and 'The Bibi Files,' which have used Gathr and a similar alternative distribution tool, Jolt, to reach U.S. viewers in the absence of traditional U.S. deals.

Gathr allows filmmakers to retain rights to their projects while also gaining access to viewership data.

With ‘Homegrown,’ Michael Premo presents a verité portrait of radicalized men before and after the siege on the U.S. Capitol.

01/06/2026

The truth of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombs were dropped 80 years ago was obscured by government censorship, propaganda and co-opting of the press, according to the new documentary “Bombshell” which debuts on American Experience | PBS tonight!

Directed by Ben Loeterman, "Bombshell" sheds light on the efforts of courageous journalists to inform the world about the human costs of nuclear weapons, despite government censorship. (See link to Ben's interview on the Making Media Now podcast in Comments.)

Watch a preview of Bombshell.

01/05/2026

"...Less than a year after the Trump administration and Congress voted to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity — which helped fund the operations of local public TV and radio stations — has voted to shut down.

The CPB announced Monday that its board of directors voted to close the organization after 58 years, rather than continue to exist and potentially be 'vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse.'..."

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board voted to close the organization after 58 years after the Trump Administration ended funding.

01/05/2026

Go listen to our most recent episode

🎙️ In this clip, filmmaker Joshua Seftel shares how photographer Steve Hartman approached each child’s room in All the Empty Rooms—not as a set, but as a sacred space. All the Empty Rooms

📷 Before stepping inside, the team spent time with each family—watching home videos, hearing stories, and getting to know the hopes, dreams, and spirit of the children behind the silence.

💔 Gracie, Dominic, Jackie, Hallie. Each room tells a story. And each visit was a deeply human act of discovery.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation now: https://fcmakingmedia.podbean.com/e/joshua-seftel-enters-all-the-empty-rooms/

01/05/2026

"To read or not to read? Where literary adaptations are concerned, that is the eternal question.

If you land firmly in the “read the book first” camp, then now is the perfect time to dive into the source material for some of this year’s most anticipated series and films.

'People We Meet on Vacation,' 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Project Hail Mary' are some of this year’s most anticipated adaptations."

“People We Meet on Vacation,” “Wuthering Heights” and “Project Hail Mary” are some of this year’s most anticipated adaptations.

01/02/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW

🎙️ On this episode of Making Media Now, host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss All the Empty Rooms—now streaming on Netflix and short-listed for the 2025 Oscars.

🖼️ The 33-minute film follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman as he photographs the untouched bedrooms of children lost to gun violence—spaces frozen in time, filled with memory and meaning.

It’s a heartbreaking, humanizing portrait of grief—and a call for empathy in a country too familiar with loss.

🎧 Listen now to hear how this moving documentary came to life: https://fcmakingmedia.podbean.com/e/joshua-seftel-enters-all-the-empty-rooms/

01/02/2026

"...In honor of all the true crime documentaries and docuseries that scared us this year, we’ve ranked some of the most watched new additions to the genre. But this list isn’t exhaustive, nor does it attempt to wrap its arms around every subgenre of true crime. Is that even possible these days, when new docuseries drop seemingly every week?"

'Amy Bradley Is Missing,' 'The High School Catfish,' a Hulu Ruby Franke doc, 'The Perfect Murder' and our top pick for best true crime doc of 2025.

12/31/2025

"...Among the top 100 movies at the domestic box office, just nine Hollywood films had female directors at the helm, according to a new study that found the number of female filmmakers on that list had dropped significantly from the previous year.

With 102 men occupying directors’ chairs for the other films on the list, the report, issued by Stacy L. Smith of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, found that the percentage of female directors dropped this year to 8.1 percent from 13.4 percent in 2024."

The number of female filmmakers dropped to 8.1 percent this year from 13.4 percent in 2024, according to a study from the University of Southern California.

12/30/2025

"...As usual with this annual project, the goal isn’t so much to choose the most beautiful or most “perfect” frames of the year as to spotlight moments that distilled something larger about either the movies they appeared in or the world beyond the frame."

We see everything through phone screens these days. Many of this year’s greatest compositions found a compelling way to play with that fact.

12/29/2025

JOIN US on January 7, 2026 for an FC Lunchtime Webinar: DIY Distribution & The Power of Collective Wisdom

via Zoom | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

Distribution is changing. Learn what today’s filmmakers can take from New Day Films’ DIY roots in this webinar on self-distribution.

In 1971, four feminist filmmakers frustrated by mainstream distribution channels decided to do-it-themselves. Forming a collective, they began selling 16 mm prints directly to women’s groups, schools, and libraries — essentially by passing the mainstream system by creating their own — highlighting the power of collaboration and direct audience engagement. New Day Films is now a cooperative of over 140 filmmakers, but the educational market we’ve been relying on is no longer viable as it once was.

In 2025, filmmakers are being told that we need to become self-distributors all over again. So what does this mean? What can we learn from the spirit of these early pioneers, and what collective wisdom can we lean on now? Jesse Epstein is a long-time member of New Day Films and has had a very successful educational run with her series BODY TYPED: Perfection in 3 Parts. She has just finished a new 30 min doc and has been taking a deep dive into the current climate & resources of self-distribution. She’ll present a short overview of New Day Films, some current resources — and facilitate a conversation about creative ways we filmmakers can come together to support each other now.

To learn more and register: https://filmmakerscollab.org/events/fc-lunchtime-webinar-diy-distribution-the-power-of-collective-wisdom/