Past Present Feature with Marcus Mizelle

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 q...

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 landscap...

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 read...

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 cliché...

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 o...

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 realiti...

Italian documentarian Parsifal Reparato discusses She, his five-year journey inside Vietnam’s electronics manufacturing world, where young migrant women work 12-hour shifts producing devices for the global market. What began as labor-rights research grew into a portrait of fear, capitalism, and survival, earned through slow trust-building with workers afraid to speak openly.

We unpack creative influences like Lars Von Trier’s Dogvil...

Taiwanese filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou traces her path from a strict upbringing in Taipei to directing Left-Handed Girl, Taiwan’s 2025 Oscar submission for Best International Film, and now streaming on Netflix. After years working alongside Sean Baker, the four-time Academy Award winner known for Anora, Tangerine, and The Florida Project, and her creative partner since they co-directed their first feature Take Out, Shih-Ching steps fo...

12 films. 3 nights. 1 Collective.

The Past Present Feature Film Festival is a curated, three-day showcase of cinematic storytelling across time, highlighting overlooked gems, current festival hits, and future feature films in the making. Sponsored by The Past Present Feature Podcast and Leica Camera, all screenings take place November 19 – 21 in Hollywood, CA, at the Eastwood Performing Arts Center (1089 N OXFORD AVE, 90029)

Tickets ...

Janicke Askevold unpacks her journey from shooting Together Alone with friends during COVID to premiering her new feature Solomamma at the Locarno Film Festival. The Norwegian actor-turned-director traces how a one-page pitch led to full Norwegian Film Institute backing and a 25-day Oslo shoot that balanced long summer daylight, short 8-hour workdays, and a five-year-old co-star.

Solomamma follows Edith, a journalist and single moth...

Mercedes Bryce Morgan unpacks the whirlwind making of Bone Lake, an 18-day Atlanta shoot that battled storms, injuries, and lost gear before completing its night-boat climax on a Los Angeles soundstage. After a Fantastic Fest premiere and Deadline-breaking international sales, the erotic survival thriller heads to U.S. theaters with buzzy audience reactions and a proudly “fun, commercial, popcorn” spirit.

Mercedes traces her path fr...

Norwegian filmmaker Audun Amundsen, director of Click the Link Below, which premiered at Doc Edge in Auckland, follows online gurus like Akbar Sheikh and Tai Lopez to show how engagement algorithms reward extremes and blur value with hype. 

Audun traces an unlikely path from renewable energy engineer and backpacker to documentarian, surviving a stroke at 23 before returning to Indonesia that resulted in his previous documentary Newt...

Nina Knag’s debut feature, Don’t Call Me Mama, which marks her arrival as a bold new voice in cinema, just premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Crystal Globe competition. She tackles the taboo subject of relationships between older women and younger asylum seekers through the lens of complex, unapologetic female anti-heroes. Drawing from personal insight and the influence of trailblazing female filmmaker...

Thom Powers, a renowned documentary programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), former artistic director of DocNYC, and host of the “Pure Nonfiction” podcast, delves into his journey from filmmaker to influential festival curator. Thom shares behind-the-scenes details about programming films like “The Bibi Files,” directed by Alexis Bloom, and Rebecca Huntt’s “Beba,” highlighting the unique power of documentaries...

In this conversation, filmmaker James DeMonaco discusses his journey from writing the comedy “Jack” and working with Francis Ford Coppola and Luc Besson, to creating the successful “Purge” franchise. Up next is his latest, a psychological horror film, “The Home” starring Pete Davidson, which is releasing theatrically July 25th via Roadside Attractions. 

DeMonaco shares insights on genre forms in screenwriting - and a 30 year career ...

In this first episode of Season 2, documentarian Madeleine Gavin joins Past Present Feature to discuss the making of "Beyond Utopia", her gripping BAFTA and Emmy-nominated film about North Korean defectors. She reflects on the emotional intensity of telling stories under high-stakes conditions and the delicate trust required between filmmaker and subject. From the invisible hand of editing to the indivisibility of sound a...

Julia Max, director of “The Surrender”, which premiered at SXSW and is now streaming on AMC+, discusses her journey as a filmmaker, with past inspiration coming from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”.

Julia shares insights into the horror genre, the importance of character development, and the challenges of navigating the filmmaking process. She emphasizes the significance of a supportive team, the role of women in film, and the impac...

Co-Directors David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano share their take on the unique blend of horror and comedy in their latest film, “I Don’t Understand You”, now in theaters following SXSW. Past films discussed include Eugene Levy’s 1992 crime-comedy “Once Upon a Crime”.

They share their personal experiences working with producing partners Joel and Nash Edgerton, what it’s like to film in Rome, Italy, and the importance of collaboration...

Indian filmmaker Natesh Hegde discusses his journey in filmmaking, from his early inspirations to the challenges and triumphs of creating his latest film, “Tiger’s Pond,” which just world-premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Past inspo includes Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's 1990 film “Close Up”.

Natesh shares insights on collaborating with family, including casting his father in the lead, the importance of sound design...