Past Present Feature with Marcus Mizelle

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E73 • Facing the Future Without Looking Away • CHARLIE TYRELL, co-dir. of ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’ Now in Theaters from Focus Features Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Charlie Tyrell breaks down how The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, this years SXSW Audience Award winner now in theaters from Focus Features, turns an overwhelming, abstract subject into something personal by grounding it in fatherhood. Instead of approaching AI through pure information or fear, the film frames it through the lens of bringing a child into the world, making the stakes immediate, emotional, and human.

Co-directed by Daniel Roher, Academy Award winning director of Navalny, and produced by Daniel Kwan, Academy Award winning director of Everything Everywhere All At Once, the filmmaking process was massive and chaotic, built from dozens of interviews, extensive transcripts, and layered animation. The challenge was finding clarity inside that volume while keeping the film engaging and cinematic, reflecting a lineage of documentaries that blend personal narrative with larger ideas. Charlie’s past inspirations include Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley and recent films Weapons and 28 Years Later.

At its core, AI is already here, already shaping everything, and the real question is who chooses to engage with it. Don’t assume someone else will shape the future for you.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Revival Hub is your guide to specialty screenings in Los Angeles - classics on 35mm, director Q&As, rare restorations, and indie gems you won't find on streaming. We connect moviegoers with over 200 venues across LA, from the major revival houses to the 20-seat microcinemas and more.

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

This episode is brought to you by BeastGrip. When you're filming on your phone and need something solid, modular, and built for real productions - including 28 Years Later and Left Handed Girl - BeastGrip's rigs, lenses, and accessories are designed to hold up without slowing you down.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E72 • Feel the Fear, Do it Anyway • FREDERIKE MIGOM, dir. of ‘Everyone’s Sorry Nowadays’ at Berlinale Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

Belgian filmmaker Frederike Migom breaks down her Berlinale premiere Everyone’s Sorry Nowadays, a coming-of-age story set almost entirely inside a single home and a young girl’s mind. The film explores identity through a tightly contained structure, blending realism with imagined sequences that bring the character’s inner world to life.

She talks through her unconventional path into directing, from acting and production work to navigating Europe’s state-funded film system. A key turning point came not from making films, but from receiving funding, the moment she says she finally felt “allowed” to call herself a director. The conversation digs into adapting a novel, working within creative limitations, and why fear is an unavoidable part of the process.

Migom cites films like Boy, Arizona Dream, the work of Céline Sciamma and Andrea Arnold, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as touchstones for balancing realism with subjectivity. She also shares a simple philosophy that carried her through: feel the fear, do it anyway - and trust that the process will lead you where you need to go.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E71 • Don’t Wait For Perfect Conditions • JEREMY WORKMAN, dir. of ‘Secret Mall Apartment’ now on Netflix Mar 17, 2026

Show notes

Jeremy Workman discusses Secret Mall Apartment, his Netflix documentary about a group of Rhode Island artists who secretly built and lived in an apartment inside a busy shopping mall, filming the entire four-year experiment themselves. After a strong self-released theatrical run, the film is now streaming on Netflix.

Jeremy traces the project back to a chance meeting in Athens, where he connected with the main subject and slowly earned the trust of the full group after years of other filmmakers being turned away. He also reflects on his path into nonfiction, growing up around editing through his father, Chuck Workman, and building a career through independently financed documentaries.

He cites films like American Movie (Chris Smith), Man on Wire (James Marsh), The Raft (Marcus Lindeen), and The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer) as inspirations for playful, form-bending nonfiction. The conversation also explores self-distribution, theatrical strategy, and why filmmakers should stop waiting for perfect conditions and just go make the thing.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E70 • Build It Small, Release It Smart • GILLE KLABIN, dir. of ‘Weekend at the End of the World’ Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Gille Klabin discusses Weekend at the End of the World, his follow-up to The Wave, and the deliberate choice to build a second feature that didn’t require waiting for studio permission. Shot in 12 days on a sub-$300K budget, the film was designed around creative, logistical, and financial control. Gille reflects on the lessons he learned from The Wave’s release, where traditional distribution left him frustrated by opaque marketing spends and limited transparency, and how that experience reshaped his approach to ownership, equity, and rollout strategy the second time around.

Gille discusses the current indie landscape not as a lament, but as a tactical puzzle, and breaks down the realities of aggregators versus distributors, the economics of digital-first releases, and why he chose to prioritize transparency and direct recoupment over a conventional deal. Drawing comparisons to films like Shaun of the Dead, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, and The Cabin in the Woods, he discusses the balance of tone, heart, and genre - and how surprise and emotional whiplash can be a strategic storytelling tool.

He also outlines a 50/50 equity split between investors and cast/crew, a flat-rate pay structure on set, and a belief that if independent filmmakers want a more just system, they have to build it at their own scale first. The conversation closes on preparation, resilience, and the long game: make the movie you can actually control, learn the business as deeply as the craft, and let your specific weirdness become the thing that carries you forward.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E69 • When the Story Becomes the Evidence • SHARON LIESE, dir. of ‘Seized’ at Sundance Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Sharon Liese joins the show after premiering Seized at Sundance to unpack the story behind the Marion, Kansas newspaper raid that ignited a national debate around press freedom, abuse of power, and the fragility of the First Amendment. What begins as an egregious police search of a small-town newsroom expands into a layered portrait of community tension, history, ego, and how something unthinkable can happen in a place that looks quiet on the surface. The film moves beyond headlines into character, contradiction, and the uncomfortable gray areas that fueled the raid.

We dig into craft and access: how Liese drove two hours the moment she heard the news on NPR, earned trust without a formal agreement for months, and built a film out of surveillance footage, body cams, courtroom material, and intimate interviews. She talks about structuring the story around a one-year time jump, using a young reporter as an audience surrogate, shaping tone so viewers can register the absurdity without losing the stakes, and making the call to abandon fourth-wall devices in favor of a cleaner, more immersive approach.

She shares the films that informed her thinking during the edit, including All the President’s Men and the investigative restraint of Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour and Cover Up. Sharon reflects on what it meant to launch the film at Sundance amid both celebration and uncertainty in the documentary market. Advice to filmmakers: there are no shortcuts. Put in the hours, earn trust slowly, and keep showing up until the experience begins to live inside the work.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E68 • Finding the Frame in a Shared Landscape • GABBY OSIO VANDEN & JACK WEISMAN, dirs. of 'Nuisance Bear' - Sundance Grand Jury Award WINNER Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

Gabby Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman join the show after winning Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize to unpack the ten-year road behind Nuisance Bear, a polar bear’s journey through two connected worlds: tourist-heavy Churchill, Manitoba, and the Inuit community of Arviat, where the stakes are far more complex and far less welcoming. The film becomes a meditation on coexistence, control, and who gets labeled a “nuisance” in a shared landscape.

We dig into craft and access: finding the right position for the camera so the story can reveal itself, structuring the feature in two halves, and how a dialogue-free short film born partly out of COVID constraints became the proof of concept that unlocked TIFF, The New Yorker, and eventually A24. They also talk candidly about what the audience never sees: rough living conditions, long hours waiting, the specific agony of “the best thing happened, and we missed it,” and the slow but important work of earning trust, where listening comes before filming.

They share influences that shaped them, including Miyazaki’s sense of nature and modernity, Gus Van Sant’s bravery with form, and John Cassavetes’ belief in the energy of a set. The conversation closes on what it meant to experience Sundance as both a career peak and a personal milestone, getting engaged and then married during the festival. Advice to filmmakers: be tenacious when you know you need to tell a story, protect trust like it is part of the craft, and do not turn on each other when the pressure spikes.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

BeastGrip - Proud Sponsor of the Past Present Feature Podcast 🎙️ use code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10% off Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

Proud to welcome BEASTGRIP as a new sponsor of the Past Present Feature Podcast 🎙️ Head over to Beastgrip.com and use code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10% off
When you're filming on your phone and need something solid, modular, and built for real productions - including 28 Years Later and Left Handed Girl - BeastGrip's rigs, lenses, and accessories are designed to hold up without slowing you down.

If you’re ready to level up your mobile workflow, head to Beastgrip.com and use code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10% off.

What Movies Are You Watching?

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E67 • Taking the Scary Road on Purpose • STEPHANIE AHN, dir. of 'Bedford Park' at Sundance, U.S. Dramatic Competition (Special Jury Award) Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Stephanie Ahn discusses Bedford Park, (Special Jury Award) her Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition debut about a Korean American woman in her 30s pulled back into her parents’ home after her mother’s car accident, where she meets the man responsible and an unexpected connection begins to form. Ahn shares why she needed to make this film, how growing up Korean American left her hungry for stories that felt real beyond familiar clichés, and why writing Bedford Park meant finally walking straight into something deeply autobiographical she avoided for years.

She talks about choosing uncertainty over comfort and taking the scary road on purpose, stepping away from a stable editing career to pursue a story that wouldn’t let go. Ahn reflects on journaling as a way into the script, years of rejection, and learning to be ruthless with her own material as the film evolved from a family drama into a more intimate relationship story. Rather than starting with a message, she describes how the film’s themes revealed themselves over time, ultimately centering on human connection, being truly seen, and how that clarity reshapes self-understanding.

Ahn walks through the long, practical build: seven years of persistence, financing that finally unlocked through relationships and Korean backing, and an unusually deep rehearsal process with actors that stretched across years before shooting in New Jersey. She reflects on editing as a brutal but clarifying search for truth alongside a trusted co-editor, and on the films she kept returning to for structure and inspiration, including A Separation, Secret Sunshine, Rust and Bone, Heat, and The Insider.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E66 • Finding the Soul of Your Film • J.M. HARPER, dir. of ‘Soul Patrol’ at Sundance, U.S. Doc Competition (Best Director Winner) Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

Documentary filmmaker and editor J.M. Harper discusses Soul Patrol (Best Director Winner at Sundance ‘26), his six-year journey telling the story of the first Black special operations unit in Vietnam. What began with reading Eddie Manuel’s book grew into years of weekly conversations, slow trust-building, and eventual access to never-before-seen Super 8 footage and photographs shot by the soldiers themselves. Harper also reflects on how his work editing Jeen‑Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy sharpened his instincts around character, structure, and letting footage reveal meaning over time.

We talk about point of view and theme as the engine of a film, not ideas layered on afterward. Harper frames Soul Patrol around a central question: whether speaking openly about acts committed in war, long buried and rarely acknowledged, can offer any form of healing. Drawing on Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, he discusses how cinema can confront violence without glamorizing it, and the ethical tension of rendering horrific experiences with clarity, restraint, and intention.

He reflects on editing as discovery, assembling a team of editors with different strengths, and shaping a film that moves between memory, present-day reckoning, and historical record.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

E65 • Curation as Craft, Responsibility, Intuition • ANIA TRZEBIATOWSKA, Sundance Programmer & SANDS Festival Director Dec 30, 2025

Show notes

Sundance feature programmer Ania Trzebiatowska joins the show to talk about curation as craft, responsibility, and intuition. From her roots in Poland to running Krakow’s Off Camera festival, working in acquisitions at Visit Films, and programming U.S. and world documentary features at Sundance, Ania reflects on how taste is formed and why being pleasantly surprised when viewing submissions still matters most.

We discuss the realities filmmakers obsess over, including who you know, timing, marketplace “success,” and why Vimeo analytics do not tell the full story. Ania breaks down what actually happens behind the scenes at Sundance, how programmers balance limited slots with thousands of film submissions, and why being the right fit matters more than trends or agendas.

She shares why festivals need balance between urgent, heavy films and work that is entertaining, humane, and emotionally alive. Drawing from examples like André Is an Idiot and Gleason, Ania explains how character-driven storytelling can carry even the most difficult subjects. Advice to filmmakers: do your research, be clear about what you are making, and remember that programmers are rooting for you, even when the answer might still be no.

What Movies Are You Watching?

The Past Present Feature Film Festival returns Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Eastwood Revival in Hollywood, California.

Join us for features, shorts, and convos with filmmakers, including an in-person Q&A with Shih-Ching Tsou following a screening of her acclaimed film Left-Handed Girl.

Festival lineup, schedule, and reservations coming soon.

https://pastpresentfeature.com/film-festival/

Visit revivalhub.com to see what's playing this week.

If you're ready to level up your mobile workflow, visit BeastGrip.com and use coupon code PASTPRESENTFEATURE for 10 % off.

Support the show

The Past Present Feature Film Festival - Nov. 21, 2026 in Hollywood, CA - Submit at filmfreeway.com/PastPresentFeature

Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, as well as at www.pastpresentfeature.com. Like, subscribe, and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

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Past Present Feature with Marcus Mizelle

Past Present Feature is a film appreciation podcast hosted by Emmy-winning director Marcus Mizelle, showcasing today’s filmmakers, their latest release, and the past cinema that inspired them.

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