Rough Cut
Conversations with documentary filmmakers and video journalists about their creative process—successes, failures, and what they’ve learned along the way. Created by the global filmmaking collective The Video Consortium, Rough Cut is a guide to navigating today’s ever-changing media landscape.
Episodes
66 episodes
Filming a documentary on an iPhone: Ann Collins with Sandra Luckow
On this episode of Rough Cut, filmmaker and editor Ann Collins talks to director Sandra Luckow about her new feature doc, Vanishing: A Love Story, shot entirely on an iPhone. Ann and Sandra discuss how smartphones have made filmmaking ...
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Season 6
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Episode 64
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27:55
Journalism in the Age of Vertical Video with Brandon Graves and Kamaria Roberts
On this episode of Rough Cut, Brandon Graves and Kamaria Roberts—Video Consortium’s Newsroom Collective team—unpack video as a crucial tool for newsrooms. They also share their personal journeys through the industry, discuss the challenges and ...
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Season 6
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Episode 63
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23:21
The Vital Power of Local Stories: Kevin Merida and Dawn Porter
In this episode of Rough Cut, esteemed journalist and VC Board member Kevin Merida, former Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times, sits down with award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter for a wide ranging conversation, including her latest docum...
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Season 6
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Episode 62
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40:29
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Cocaine Cowboys and Challenging Industry Expectations: Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman
On this episode of Rough Cut, filmmaker and writer Michael Werner talks to Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, who shook up the documentary landscape with their film Cocaine Cowboys. The bold documentary launched their careers and solidi...
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Season 6
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Episode 61
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28:35
Storytelling With Mixed Media and Animation: Lizzy Hogenson and Zach Dorn
This week on Rough Cut we’re joined by animators and filmmakers Lizzy Hogenson and Zach Dorn, who, with host Sean David Christensen, delve into how animation lends itself to emotional intensity in nonfiction stories.All three filmmakers ...
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Season 5
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Episode 60
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54:34
Creative Teams that Vibe: NPR’s Mito Habe-Evans and Quincy Ledbetter
Quincy Ledbetter and Mito Habe-Evans met on NPR’s video desk, when Mito hired Quincy after a refreshingly casual and candid interview. On this episode of Rough Cut, Quincy, an independent filmmaker and artist, and Mito, a Creative Director and ...
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Season 5
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Episode 59
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27:42
Joss Fong and Adam Cole on Building New Audiences
In this episode of Rough Cut, we dive into the story of Joss Fong and Adam Cole, two journalists and former Vox production desk partners. After working together for years, they embarked on the exciting journey of jumpstarting their own YouTube ...
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Season 5
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Episode 59
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46:13
Putting on a Show: How Magic Taught Ben Proudfoot to Make Movies
In this month’s episode of Rough Cut Podcast, filmmaker and curator Stephanie Owens talks with Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot about the art of short documentary. Growing up in Nova Scotia, Ben was a young magician with a youth championshi...
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Season 5
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Episode 58
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41:06
Why Start a Production Company?: Scott Faris with Meg Griffiths
In this episode of Rough Cut, filmmakers and longtime collaborators Scott Faris and Meg Griffiths talk about what it means to make work with a purpose and why they chose to create their production company, Universe Creative. Scott i...
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Season 5
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Episode 57
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43:01
Transitioning from Photo to Video: Ed Ou with Amanda Mustard
Rough Cut Podcast is back! Did you miss us? After a brief hiatus, Rough Cut returns in a new, community-driven format, with alternating Video Consortium members hosting each episode.For our first episode back, join longtime friends, film...
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Season 5
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Episode 56
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38:54
The Biggest Challenges Facing the Documentary Industry
The documentary industry has seen huge changes in the last decade. So where does the industry stand today? What are some of the greatest challenges documentary filmmakers face? And what kind of work do industry gatekeepers want to support?<...
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Season 4
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Episode 55
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32:16
Inside Programming at Hot Docs Film Festival
Aisha Jamal is a filmmaker, programmer and college professor. She is Canadian film programmer at Hot Docs Documentary Festival and previously worked for TIFF and Syria Film Festival Toronto, a...
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Season 4
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Episode 54
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19:58
Lessons from a First Time Filmmaker
When filmmaker Amanda Kim discovered the artist Nam June Paik, she knew she wanted to make a documentary about him. Five years later, Amanda's debut film Nam June...
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Season 4
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Episode 53
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19:01
What Documentary Filmmakers Can Learn from Narrative
The Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes has a distinct visual style: long, beautiful, perfectly-constructed shots akin to narrative films. How can one stay true to this style in the unpre...
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Season 4
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Episode 52
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21:49
Rita Baghdadi on Building Intimacy with Subjects & Directing and Shooting Simultaneously
In this episode, we sit down with director, producer, and cinematographer Rita Baghdadi, who's latest film Sirens premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest.Rita talks about ...
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Season 4
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Episode 51
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25:37
When Subjects Change their Relationship with your Film
Indian filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh were pleasantly surprised when their independent feature doc Writing with Fire swept up awards, i...
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Season 4
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Episode 50
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39:40
What Do Filmmakers Owe Their Subjects?
What Do Filmmakers Owe Their Subjects? Souki Mehdaoui is a documentary filmmaker, DP, and subject coordinator. Her cinematography can be seen on Netflix, HBO, New York Times, and the Sundance-premiering documentaries The Great H...
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Season 4
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Episode 49
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35:35
Two Documentaries on the Same Subject?
It's a scenario most documentary filmmakers dread: someone else is covering the same story. Dueling documentaries are becoming more common, but is competition always bad for filmmakers?Director
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Season 4
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Episode 48
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25:34
The Relationship between Filmmaker and Subject
A documentary filmmaker's relationship with their film's participants, or "subjects", is one of the most important but challenging parts of making a film. The director might have to consider: What are the boundaries of my relationship with the ...
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Season 4
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Episode 47
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29:13
Licensing Music For Your Film
This episode is all about music in film—choosing the right tracks, licensing music, music supervision, and more. We sat down with all star Music Supervisor Justin Feldman, whose credits include The Last Dance, Silicon Valley, Biggie...
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Season 4
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Episode 46
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27:18
How to Create a Film Festival Strategy
You've finished a film. Now how do you get it programmed at your preferred festival? Samah Ali is a film festival strategist, meaning she works with documentary directors and producers to achieve their film festival goals. Samah is also...
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Season 3
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Episode 45
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27:53
Jon Gerberg on Covering the War in Ukraine
Jon Gerberg is an award-winning video journalist on the national and investigative beats. He joined The Washington Post in 2017 and was previously a foreign affairs producer at th...
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Season 3
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Episode 45
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40:39
Chloe Gbai on What Makes a Great Documentary Short
*Republishing an old favorite*Chloe Gbai is the director of If/Then, a Tribeca Film Institute initiative that gives grants and provides mentorship to ...
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Season 3
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Episode 44
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33:11
Poh Si Teng on What Makes a Strong Grant Application
Poh Si Teng is a documentary filmmaker and the Funds and Enterprise Program Director at IDA, one of the l...
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Season 3
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Episode 43
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35:11
Joe Posner on Building Vox Video
Since it launched in 2014, Vox Video has amassed nearly 10 million subscribers on YouTube, and has expanded to platforms like Netflix, HBO, and Quibi. Its new docu-series Level Playing Field, about the intersection between sports and p...
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Season 3
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Episode 42
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31:35