Promised Sky - Director Erige Sehiri

Promised Sky - Director Erige Sehiri

An Ivorian pastor and former journalist, Marie, opens her home in Tunisia to three generations of migrant women: Naney, Jolie, and Kenza. A mother desperate to obtain residency status in Tunisia, Naney seeks a better life for herself and her daughter. Jolie, in Tunisia on a student visa, feels burdened by her family’s expectations for her future. Kenza, an orphaned child and the only survivor of a shipwreck carrying refugees to Tunisia, is lost and in need of a mother. Marie struggles with her role as a spiritual leader while assuming the role of Kenza’s caregiver and supporting Naney and Jolie. As the four women grow closer in this makeshift family, they must grapple with poverty, conflict, and alienation. Our guest is an Un Certain Regards Award nominee at Cannes in 2025 for her film PROMISED SKY, director Erige Sehiri. About the filmmaker - Erige Sehiri is a French-Tunisian director, producer, and former journalist whose work bridges documentary realism and narrative cinema. Sehiri began her film career in documentary, directing the acclaimed RAILWAY MEN (2018), which captured the daily struggles of Tunisian railway workers. In 2022, she wrote, directed, and produced her first feature, UNDER THE FIG TREES, an intimate portrait of youth, labor, and fleeting moments of connection set in a rural fig orchard. The film premiered at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Academy Awards. It has since screened at major international festivals and been released theatrically in over twenty countries. Beyond her work in film, Sehiri is an active advocate for freedom of expression and media literacy. She is the co-founder of the media INKYFADA and the Tunisian NGO Al KHATT. She is also a founding member of the Rawiyat Sisters in Film collective, which supports women filmmakers across the Arab world and diaspora. PROMISED SKY, her second feature film, premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2025 as an Official Selection in the Un Certain Regard section.

This Ordinary Thing - Director Nick Davis

Haunting and unforgettable, THIS ORDINARY THING tells the story of non-Jews who helped save Jewish people across Europe during The Holocaust. The film combines never-before-seen archival footage with the testimonies of over forty different people who, operating independently and at great risk to themselves and their families, saved thousands of Jewish strangers from almost certain death. THIS ORDINARY THING is a timely reminder of the pockets of goodness that can rise in a sea of evil: everyday people helping others who were "different" from them. Notably, none of the people featured in the film thought of themselves as heroes. And yet the film, with immense contemporary resonance, causes each of us to ask ourselves “What would I have done?” The film employs some of the world’s greatest actors, performing excerpts translated from the original transcripts. The cast, including Helen Mirren, F. Murray Abraham, Carrie Coon, Jeremy Irons, Ellen Burstyn, Stephen Fry, Bill Camp, Harry Hadden-Paton, Marcia Gay Harden, Bill Irwin, Kasia Kółeczek, Anna Krippa, Natasha Landow, Camillo Lareczyk, Donal Logue, Martha Plimpton, Rufus Sewell, Hope Davis and Lily Tomlin. About the filmmaker - An accomplished writer, director, and producer, Nick Davis got his start in film and television by interning on Ken Burns’ Baseball. His first task was to build a desk. In addition to his work with Burns, which included jobs on Cornerstone and The West, Davis worked for filmmaker David Grubin—co-producing The Language of Life with Bill Moyers for PBS and producing Money and Power: The History of Business for CNBC. In 1993, he directed the Emmy Award–winning Jack: The Last Kennedy Film, produced with his father, Peter Davis. In 1998, Nick wrote and directed 1999, a black-comedy feature starring Jennifer Garner, Dan Futterman, and Amanda Peet. The film aired on the Sundance Channel and screened at more than 20 festivals worldwide. In 2001, he founded Nick Davis Productions. Having seen Young Frankenstein ten times as a child, Nick was thrilled that the company’s first job was producing a Bravo Profile of Gene Wilder. Since then, NDP has produced more than 80 hours of television—and, over the past two decades, more than 300 commissioned films for organizations, institutions, and private clients. Meanwhile, Nick’s public-facing documentary work has continued to grow. In 2018, he produced and directed the PBS American Masters film Ted Williams: “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived,” narrated by Emmy- and Golden Globe–winner Jon Hamm. In 2021, he directed the acclaimed Once Upon a Time in Queens, a multi-part 30 for 30 documentary on the 1986 Mets, in partnership with ESPN Films, Kimmelot, ITV America, and Major League Baseball. In 2024, he won an Emmy Award for executive producing Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox for Netflix. In 2025, Nick organized his work into two distinct entities: Series of Dreams [https://www.series-of-dreams.com/], a boutique production company for films made for wide audiences, founded with his wife, novelist Jane Mendelsohn — and NICK DAVIS PRODUCTIONS, his commissioned-film studio. A filmmaker whose work is known for its humanity, humor, and emotional depth, Nick has a particular love for the private films, where the stakes are personal and the storytelling can be intimate, funny, and deeply meaningful. Prior to his work in film and television, Nick performed improv comedy in New York City nightclubs and co-wrote the novel Boone (with Brooks Hansen), published in 1990 and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His book Competing With Idiots [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/37845/competing-with-idiots-by-nick-davis/]—a dual portrait of his grandfather Herman Mankiewicz and great-uncle Joseph Mankiewicz—was published by Knopf in 2021 and shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize (Biography).

Magic Hour - Director / co-writer / co-lead actor Kate Aselton

Charlie and Erin escape to the desert to navigate an unexpected and challenging new phase of their relationship. Magic Hour is a story of love, perception, regret and acceptance. Director, writer, co-lead actor Kate Aselton joins us for a conversation on the making of Magic Hour, the early days of indie filmmaking, working with her husband / collaborator Mark Duplass and the brilliant co-lead, Daveed Diggs. About the filmmaker - Katie Aselton is an acclaimed actor and filmmaker working across television and film. Her breakout acting role was in the indie hit THE PUFFY CHAIR, directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, and she is known for her starring role as ‘Jenny’ in the FX comedy series, THE LEAGUE.MAGIC HOUR is Aselton’s fourth feature as a director. She made her directorial debut with THE FREEBIE, in which she also stars alongside Dax Shepard; the film premiered to critical acclaim at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Katie also directed and starred in the survivor thriller BLACK ROCK opposite Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell, which also premiered at Sundance in 2012. She directed the iconic Diane Keaton in MACK & RITA in 2022. Her short film OH, CHRISTMAS TREE, starring Mark Duplass and her daughter Ora Duplass, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2024. She recently wrapped her fifth feature, THEIR TOWN starring Ora Duplass and Chosen Jacobs. As an actor, Aselton has appeared in numerous roles on the big and small screen. Her TV credits include: the FX series LEGION, created by Noah Hawley; HBO’s indie hits ANIMALS and TOGETHERNESS; long-running favorites like CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, VEEP, and THE OFFICE; Netflix's acclaimed anthology series ROOM 104, and Hulu’s CASUAL. She can next be seen in Apple TV’s upcoming GOVERNMENT CHEESE. In the feature space, Aselton’s acting credits include Netflix’s OLD DADS, the Paramount favorite BOOK CLUB, Lionsgate’s BOMBSHELL, Warner Brother’s FATHER FIGURES, and the acclaimed horror/sci-fi films SHE DIES TOMORROW and SYNCHRONIC.

Find Your Friends - Director Izabel Pakzad

Amber and her four best friends flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with quiet hostility. As isolation sets in and encounters with aggressive locals grow more threatening, festering resentments within the group begin to surface. What begins as fun and reckless escape spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival, as past wounds and present dangers collide in a night that turns their trip into a revenge-fueled nightmare. Featuring a stellar cast that includes; Bella Thorne, Chloe Cherry, Helena Howard, Sophia Ali, and Zión Moreno, Find Your Friends, director and writer Izabel Pakzad joins us to talk about why she wanted to tell this story about the trauma and fear women are forced to regularly navigate and how this film is a loud and clear expression of resistance. About the filmmaker - Izabel Pakzad is an Iranian-Greek American filmmaker, writer, and actor. She recently wrote and directed her debut feature film, Find Your Friends (2026), starring Helena Howard (Madeline's Madeline,) Bella Thorne (Divinity,) Chloe Cherry (Euphoria,) Zion Moreno (Gossip Girl,) Sophia Ali (Uncharted,) and Chris Bauer (The Wire.) Find Your Friends had its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival as one of the festival's headliners, and additionally screened at TIFF as one of 10 Industry Selects, followed by its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest in Texas, where Forbes named it one of 5 "Must-See Films from Fantastic Fest.” The film went on to screen at the Sitges Film Festival and Torino Film Festival. Pakzad’s short film Don’t Worry, It’s Gonna Be OK (2022), which she directed, wrote and starred in, was an official selection at the Oscar qualifying Raindance Film Festival and Hollyshorts, and also won Best Short Film at the L.A. Film Festival. Previously, Pakzad produced and starred in the independent feature, Thena, opposite Chris Bauer, Virginia Gardner (Fall), Brian Marc (White Girl) Will Peltz (Euphoria), Dakotas Lotus (Cami and Coop), and Malia Baker (The Baby-Sitters Club,). Thena had its world premiere at Taormina Film Festival in June 2025.

Carolina Caroline - Director Adam Carter Rehmeier

Acclaimed director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s romantic crime thriller stars Samara Weaving (READY OR NOT, BORDERLINE) as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner, DINNER IN AMERICA), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast. Also starring Kyra Sedgwick, the film features a wide-ranging country music soundtrack, with tracks from artists such as Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Loretta Lynn, and over a dozen others. Director Adam Carter Rehmeier (Dinner in America) joins us for a lively conversation on making this live wire, criminally entertaining odyssey. About the filmmaker - ADAM REHMEIER is an American filmmaker from Nebraska City, Nebraska, unbound by genre, blending style, humor and humanity into stories that entertain, move and linger long after the credits roll. Rehmeier’s breakout film, Dinner in America (2020), premiered in competition at Sundance, earned critical acclaim for its energy and performances, and developed a cult following in 2024 thanks to a TikTok-fueled rediscovery, trending on Hulu, Google, and Letterboxd before a second theatrical run into 2025. Variety praised the film’s “bright comic look and energy,” while the New York Times reported on the film’s most recent theatrical run, noting several theaters’ requests to show the film “were the most they’d received for any film,” with one critic adding, “this is what a cult film looks like” for modern movie fans. The film’s theme song that aided the movie’s virality, Watermelon, was also co-written by Rehmeier. Rehmeier’s follow-up Snack Shack (2024), produced by T-Street and MRC, released theatrically by Paramount’s Republic Pictures. Named a “Critic’s Pick” by the New York Times, the film was widely praised for Rehmeier’s evocative vision of teen summer, with the A.V. Club calling the film “kinetic… Rehmeier constructs an intoxicating teenage dreamworld.” Rehmeier premieres Carolina Caroline at TIFF50 this fall, starring Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, and Kyra Sedgwick. The film is being produced by Star Thrower (King Richard, Fair Play) and Wonder Company. He just entered post-production on his wild genre-bending feature A BOBBY THING, starring frequent collaborators Gabriel LaBelle and Kyle Gallner.