At Dances with Films Los Angeles 2025, Below the Line Festival Edition host Hannah Satterlee talks with producer Emma Schlenoff about The Obelisk, a seemingly post-apocalyptic suspense thriller that uses its fractured world to explore perspective, truth, fear and communication in America today.Emma discusses filming in rural Vermont, using locations exactly as they found them, the film’s environmental themes, and why the filmmakers hope The Obelisk starts conversations long after the credits roll.BELOW THE LINE | FESTIVAL EDITIONDANCES WITH FILMS LOS ANGELES 2025Host: Hannah SatterleeFilm: The ObeliskGuest: Emma Schlenoff - ProducerWait For Me MediaProduced by Annie ValentiDirected / Edited by Sean Williams

Recorded at Dances With Films Los Angeles 2025, Below the Line Festival Edition host Hannah Satterlee sits down with the filmmakers behind A Bloody Mess and The Nickname.The Nickname turns a seemingly innocent bachelorette party tradition into a comedy about friendship, embarrassment and discovering that your friends may have been calling you something terrible behind your back.A Bloody Mess takes things in a completely different direction with an offbeat mockumentary investigating a bizarre disaster that devastated a small town decades earlier, and a documentary crew that may be creating more problems than they're solving.The filmmakers talk about finding comedy in uncomfortable situations, working with improvisers, experimenting with mockumentary filmmaking, building believable friendships on screen and turning some wonderfully strange ideas into independent films.BELOW THE LINE | FESTIVAL EDITIONDANCES WITH FILMS LOS ANGELES 2025Host: Hannah SatterleeFilms: A Bloody Mess & The NicknameGuests:Rachel Olson - Director, The NicknameSydney O’Toole - Writer / Actor, The NicknameLead Actor / Producer, A Bloody MessDaniel Hayden - Writer / Director / Producer, A Bloody MessWait For Me MediaProduced by Annie ValentiDirected / Edited by Sean Williams

What happens when making a documentary becomes a deeply personal journey through grief, family, and legacy?In this special Below the Line: Festival Edition, host Judy Nguyen sits down with filmmaker Andrew Davies Gans to discuss his moving documentary, Voices: The Danny Gans Story, an intimate portrait of legendary Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans, told through the eyes of his son.Known as one of the greatest performers in Las Vegas history, Danny Gans earned the city's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year, an incredible 12 consecutive times, captivating audiences with his unforgettable impressions, remarkable vocal talent, and record-breaking run of sold-out performances. But behind the extraordinary success was a deeply personal story of family, perseverance, chronic pain, and an unexpected loss that forever changed those closest to him.

Andrew shares why he chose his father's story as his directorial debut, how making the film allowed him to reconnect with a parent he lost as a teenager, and the emotional process of uncovering family memories, revisiting difficult questions, and finding healing through filmmaking. The conversation explores the challenges of processing grief, the sacrifices behind a life in entertainment, and the lasting influence the people closest to us have on who we become.More than a documentary about an entertainer, Voices is a powerful reflection on family, resilience, legacy, and the voices that shape our lives.🎤 Host: Judy Nguyen🎬 Guest: Andrew Davies GansDirector, Voices: The Danny Gans StorySean Williams - Director / EditorProduced by Annie ValentiWait For Me Mediawww.waitformemedia.comInstagram @waitformemediaTikTok @wait.for.me.mediaWhat stories from your own family deserve to be remembered? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe for more conversations with the filmmakers bringing powerful stories to life from film festivals around the world.

A great cinematographer doesn't just know how to make a beautiful image. They need to understand story, technology, leadership, collaboration... and when to get out of the director's way.On this episode of Below the Line, host Frankie Camposano sits down with acclaimed cinematographer and educator Stephen Lighthill for a wide-ranging conversation about a remarkable career spent behind the camera and preparing the next generation of filmmakers.Lighthill has worked across documentary, news, narrative television, features and education, and has served as both President of the American Society of Cinematographers and Cinematography Discipline Head at the AFI Conservatory.Stephen begins with a deceptively simple question:What is cinematography?His answer? It's an art, a craft and a leadership role.The conversation explores why cinematographers need to be among the most informed people on a film set, why buying an expensive camera won't teach you storytelling, and why cinematography depends on an entire team long before anyone calls "action."Stephen also takes us through an extraordinary career. He recalls his early days shooting documentaries and news, his experience filming the historic and tragic Altamont concert captured in Gimme Shelter, and working as a first assistant on one of George Lucas' earliest feature films, THX 1138.He also shares stories from Top Gun, where he worked on the model unit creating shots in an era before digital filmmaking could simply manufacture the impossible inside a computer.But this isn't simply a trip through filmmaking history.Frankie and Stephen dig into the questions facing cinematographers right now: Has cheaper and more accessible camera technology really democratized filmmaking?What did we gain and lose when the industry transitioned from film to digital? Does shooting more footage actually make filmmaking better?What skills should an aspiring cinematographer learn first? And with fewer film cameras, laboratories and technicians remaining, how much longer can filmmakers realistically continue shooting on celluloid?Stephen also discusses his philosophy as an educator at the AFI Conservatory, where he emphasizes that cinematography isn't merely about lighting and cameras. Cinematographers must become artists, technicians, managers, collaborators and lifelong students of cinema.His advice extends beyond the creative work itself. Cinematography is a freelance career, which means learning how to navigate unemployment, networking, continuing education and the reality that you are essentially running your own small business.And when asked what aspiring cinematographers should watch?Stephen offers an experiment: Watch a great movie. Then watch it again with the sound turned off. How much of the story can you still understand purely through the images?His recommendation: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a film he points to for its extraordinarily visual cinematic language.BELOW THE LINEHost: Frankie CamposanoGuest: Stephen Lighthill — Cinematographer, Educator & Former President of the American Society of CinematographersWait For Me MediaDirected & Edited by Sean WilliamsProduced by Annie ValentiWhether you're a cinematographer, director, film student or simply someone fascinated by how images tell stories, this conversation is a masterclass from someone who has spent decades watching the language of filmmaking evolve.

Host Hannah Satterlee sits down with the team behind She Follows, one of the most intriguing and emotionally layered selections of this year’s Dances With Films: Los Angeles press junket.What begins as a simple ghost encounter becomes a gripping indie horror-romance rooted in real life. Director/Actor Gio Randazzo describes the night he and others witnessed Ocean City, New Jersey’s infamous ghost bride, a woman said to still wander the streets searching for her lost World War II fiancé and missing engagement ring. That chilling experience became the foundation of the film, but production took the story somewhere even stranger… and far more personal.Actress Cynthia Zitter shares what it was like embodying the apparition, from emotional prep to performing blind in white-out contacts, tapping into the ghost’s longing rather than just her terror. Together, the filmmakers reveal how last-minute inspirations, freezing night shoots, missing crew members, real Jersey Shore locations, and unexpected serendipity shaped the film’s atmosphere and mythology.

In this Below the Line exclusive from the Dances With Films Los Angeles press junket, host Hannah Satterlee sits down with filmmaker Colin Whitman, director of the documentary short Diminishing Returns a powerful, intimate portrait of a man fighting for his family one recycled bottle at a time.

The film follows Ernesto, a former aviation worker from the Philippines now living in Los Angeles, who collects bottles and cans seven days a week to pay for his daughter’s leukemia treatments back home. Colin shares how he discovered Ernesto, how the story shifted once he learned the extent of his family’s struggle, and what it was like filming a raw, vérité-style documentary with no control, no interviews, and no second chances.

This interview dives into filmmaking craft, trust-building with real subjects, navigating unpredictable conditions, and the emotional heart at the center of Diminishing Returns: perseverance, dignity, and what it truly means to walk in someone else’s shoes.

If you love human stories, indie filmmaking, or documentaries that remind you of the strength people carry every day, this is a must-watch.

In this Dances With Films press-junket edition of Below the Line, host Judy Nguyen talks with Matt Schuffler (writer/director of The Traveler) and producers Matt Ruccio and Megan-Michelle German. Set in the Victorian era, The Traveler follows a grieving widow who believes she’s being visited by her late husband, until the presence turns hostile and a twist reframes everything. The team digs into making an ambitious period ghost story on a shoestring: seven years of persistence, nights-and-weekends production, a Kickstarter with 200+ backers, post/VFX miracles, and an editor (Dan Roman) who helped shape the film’s tension and reveal. They also trace the film’s DNA, from childhood hauntings to influences like The Others, and share how this short stands as a true proof-of-concept for a feature or anthology. It’s a conversation about buy-in, creative grit, grief, and the pure thrill of hearing an audience whisper, “Ooh… this is scary.”

At Dances With Films LA, Below the Line host Judy Nguyen sits down with filmmakers Kody Leibowitz and Allison Norlian to talk about their powerful feature documentary Meandering Scars, a raw, real, and deeply human story following wheelchair athlete Erica Bogan as she attempts to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about suicide within the disability community.What begins as an ambitious physical challenge becomes a profound exploration of mental health, disability rights, trauma, systemic ableism, and resilience. Kody and Allison discuss the origins of the film, their transition from journalism to filmmaking, working with the only U.S. researcher who studies suicide at the intersection of disability, and how society, not disability, is often the greatest barrier disabled individuals face.They also break down the behind-the-scenes journey: filming on Kilimanjaro, documenting unpredictable emotional turns, navigating COVID delays, and shaping the film’s evolving narrative. Ultimately, Meandering Scars becomes a story of advocacy, identity, community, and what it means to feel truly seen.Whether you’re a filmmaker, a mental health advocate, part of the disability community, or simply love meaningful storytelling, this conversation is one you won’t forget.