Filmmakers Collaborative

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/

12/29/2025

"...YouTube decimates TV. Netflix buys Warner Bros. Bob Iger ties Disney to a boundary-pushing AI startup. Donald Trump picks which media moguls rule, gets broadcast newsrooms to pay him massive legal settlements and strong-arms studios to drop inclusion and diversity efforts.

Given the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction year we just lived through, forecasting 2026 may be a fool’s errand. But, The Hollywood Reporter‘s journalists have a few educated guesses and smart takes about what the next year may have in store for the entertainment industry."

Educated guesses, smart takes and back-of-the napkin math on what entertainment industry insiders will be talking about in the next 12 months.

12/26/2025

On the latest episode of Making Media Now, host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss his latest documentary, All the Empty Rooms, which is currently available on Netflix and has been short-listed for the 2025 Oscars in the category of best documentary short.

Across America, bedrooms sit untouched — walls still covered in posters, clothes folded neatly in drawers — silent memorials to children lost to gun violence.

"All the Empty Rooms" is a 33-minute documentary that follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman on a seven-year journey visiting families who have lost a child, photographing each child’s room as it was on their last day.

These “sacred spaces frozen in time” form an intimate portrait of grief, love, and the enduring need for empathy.

Filmmakers Collaborative is proud to have been the fiscal sponsor for All the Empty Rooms.

On this episode host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss his latest documentary, "All the Empty Rooms," which is currently available on Netflix and has been short-listed for the 2025 Oscars in the category of best documentary short. Across America...

12/24/2025

"...However their lives began, the creative figures who died this year soon enough made their way to our stages, our galleries, our cinemas, our book shelves. Their ideas and personalities helped shape our culture, and they still have plenty to tell us. Here is a tribute to just some of them, in their voices."

Robert Redford, Roberta Flack, Diane Keaton and Brian Wilson are among the cultural luminaries who died this year.

12/23/2025

"...As microdramas explode in popularity, screenwriting, film and acting professors are jumping on the trend.

Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, Calif. has incorporated microdramas into its writing for evolving mediums class, which also includes writing for podcasts, video games and more.

UCLA has launched its inaugural Picture Start initiative, a series of extracurricular masterclasses, around the new medium.

And the University of Cincinnati has begun teaching its students how to act in microdramas, including shooting and producing three so far."

“A lot of our students have anxiety about how am I going to support myself when I leave here? And verticals seem to be the one industry right now that is booming, that's growing,” said George Huang, a professor at UCLA.

12/22/2025

Sending out congratulations to FC member Nivi Jaswal on her debut documentary, "Third Degree Burnout," receiving the United Nations International Impact Award.

Very nice shout out to FC and the Making Media Now podcast, too!

"...The documentary’s creative origins and guiding purpose were explored in depth on the Making Media Now podcast, hosted by former PBS (WGBH, Boston) producer and independent media creator Michael Azevedo, and produced under the aegis of the Boston-based nonprofit Filmmakers Collaborative..."

'Some films begin with an issue; others begin with a question,' said Michael Azevedo. 'What struck me in this conversation was how 'Third Degree Burnout' emerged from lived experience, deep research, and a genuine search for meaning. That combination - heart, rigor, and curiosity - is often what gives a documentary its staying power.' "

Award presented by the United Nations Association of Los Angeles during the 2025 City of Angels International Film Festival

12/22/2025

"...Sharyn Alfonsi, the segment's correspondent, alleged in an email to colleagues that she learned Saturday that new CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had "spiked our story" after Trump officials refused to be interviewed, per multiple reports.

'Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,' Alfonsi wrote, per a copy of the email that journalist Liam Scott shared on X."

President Trump recently complained the show was treating him even worse since Skydance bought CBS's parent company.

12/21/2025

"...Tom Wolfe was a fast talker. Eudora Welty had a musical Southern drawl. Kurt Vonnegut’s jokes got belly laughs.

Each of these authors once spoke to audiences at the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center in New York City, which has hosted some of the most celebrated writers of the past several generations, from Isaac Asimov to Anaïs Nin and Kazuo Ishiguro to Margaret Atwood.

Now, the Poetry Center has digitized audio recordings of its literary events stretching back to 1949 — hundreds of which have never been released before — in a collection that offers a glimpse into history and a taste of what the writers themselves were like in public."

Rare recordings of E.E. Cummings, Mary Oliver and more offer a tour through literary history led by authors in their own words — and voices. Take a listen.

12/19/2025

"...In a move that’s sure to send shockwaves through Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has signed a multi-year deal that will give YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars, beginning in 2029 with the 101st ceremony and running through 2033. ABC, where the film industry’s biggest night has aired for decades, has rights to the telecast through 2028."

The Oscars will air on YouTube starting in 2029.

12/18/2025

Haven’t listened to our most recent episode yet?

🎙️ In this moving clip, first-time filmmaker Nivi Jaswal shares the deeply personal story that led to her documentary Third Degree Burnout—a film that explores the hidden links between personal burnout and global crises.

⚠️ After losing her father to COVID-19 in 2020, while battling her own burnout, Nivi began a journey that would connect grief, health, and planetary well-being in ways she never expected.

🌍 The result is a film—and a conversation—you won’t forget.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now: https://fcmakingmedia.podbean.com/e/third-degree-burnout-documentary-connects-the-personal-the-planetary/