Pasqual Gutierrez is a writer, director and actor. Sundance 2025 Comedy “Serious People” was his debut into feature filmmaking alongside veteran documentary filmmaker Ben Mullinkosson who co-wrote and directed. Gutierrez is also 1/2 of music video directing duo CLIQUA who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry including The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Rosalia, Madonna, and more. Gutierrez is developing his second feature, a sequel to Serious People.

Ben Mullinkosson was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and trained in directing at Chapman University. After graduating Ben spent 15 years directing commercial work and documentary films between Los Angeles and Shanghai.

Ben's newest film, SERIOUS PEOPLE, directed with Pasqual Gutierrez premiered at Sundance 2025 Film Festival. The film is sold by 2AM.

He is most well known for his feature length film DON'T BE A DICK ABOUT IT which won the Audience Award at the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam in 2018 and is currently distributed in North America by Oscilloscope Laboratories.
en also recently premiered his five-year project, THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS, which won the Special Jury Mention prize at CPH:DOX in March 2023 and was sold to MUBI. The film was represented for sales by CAA and a is co-production between Kindred Spirit (Executive producer of THE FAREWELL and HONEY BOY) and /avelength (Executive producer of CUSP and WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR).

Among Ben's advertisements, SAMSUNG: VOICES OF LIFE with Agency Leo Burnett won a silver lion at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival in 2016. His UNESCO World Heritage Ad with agency TBWA, THE LEFT HAND, was nominated for the ADC awards in 2020. His other clients include Facebook, Beats, Vivo, Yelp, The Home Depot, VANS, Converse, Apple, Red Bull, VICE and Nowness.

His short film, GNARLY IN PINK, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and premiered online as a NYT Op-Doc. A number of his other short films have received Vimeo Staff Picks and others have millions of views.

Ben is repped for commercials by Florence in Los Angeles. He also speaks Chinese fluently and is an X Games gold medalist for halfpipe skateboard competition in China.


Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• How the idea for Serious People came to Pasqual in a dream (00:03:15)
• Pasqual and Ben’s writing process for Serious People (00:08:26)
• Developing the film’s narrative and structure (00:11:38)
• Casting Miguel Huerta as the doppelgänger (00:16:17)
• Pasqual’s reflections on parenting (00:23:46)
• Friendship, the creative process, and working with friends (00:29:23)
• Being authentic and leaning into one’s childlike sensibilities (00:45:32)
• Shifting our perspective and opening ourselves up for magic to be observed (00:59:36)
• Final thoughts and future plans (01:09:26)

Ben’s Links:
benmullinkosson.com
instagram.com/benmullinkosson

Pasqual’s Links:
pasqualgutierrez.com
instagram.com/pasqualgutierrez
instagram.com/cliquamundo

Posted 2.28.2025

Shuchi Talati is a filmmaker from India whose work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, and South Asian identity.

Her feature film, Girls Will Be Girls, premiered at Sundance where it won an Audience Award and a Special Jury Award. Shuchi was a Gotham Awards Breakthrough Director nominee and a John Cassavetes Award nominee at the Spirit Awards. During development, Girls was supported by the Aide Aux Cinémas du Monde and Sørfond grants, Gotham Week, Berlinale Project Market and Script Station, and Cine Qua Non Script Lab.

Shuchi’s short film, A Period Piece, was selected for SXSW and her film Mae and Ash won numerous awards before becoming a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Shuchi’s documentary credits include story producing the Emmy-nominated film Being Mary Tyler Moore which premiered at SXSW. Shuchi also story produced the vérité series, We Are: The Brooklyn Saints, directed by Rudy Valdez for Netflix, and Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas for HBO, where one of her episodes was nominated for a GLAAD Award.

She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and an alum of Berlinale Talents. She lives in NYC and is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, the Bitchitra Collective, and the Freelance Solidarity Project.


Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Shuchi shares her childhood love for books, her exposure to Bollywood and Hollywood films, and her introduction to cinema in university (00:03:45)
• Making her first documentary (00:11:40)
• The influence of observation in storytelling (00:14:55)
• Interrogating values to harness a unique point of view (00:20:49)
• Learning then unlearning techniques in film school and her project “Me and Ash” (00:25:29)
• Capitalism vs. creative expression (00:27:50)
• Shuchi’s writing/directing process for “Girls Will Be Girls,” and giving oneself space to mature with the process (00:30:43)
• Discussing alternative ways of living (00:38:47)
• A discussion on relationships, vulnerability, and the complexity of human behavior (00:55:06)
• Shuchi’s daily habits, teaching screenwriting, creative accountability, and the importance of a creative community (01:08:47)
• Shuchi’s decision to quit using social media (01:20:43)

shuchitalati.com

Posted 1.31.2025

Landon Van Soest is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Fulbright Scholar, and two-time Sundance Fellow. His work presents social commentary through rich characters and immersive narratives. Landon recently directed the Hulu Original Documentary The Jewel Thief, which was the #1 most viewed movie on Hulu worldwide in the summer of 2023. His previous documentary, For Ahkeem, premiered at the 2017 Berlinale and Tribeca Film Festivals, won seven Best Documentary awards, opened theatrically in ten cities, and is being distributed by The Orchard and Amazon. His first documentary, Good Fortune, was broadcast on the award-winning PBS series POV, where it received an Emmy Award, the Witness Award for Human Rights and the Overseas Press Club’s Carl Spielvogel Award. Landon is a founder of the not-for-profit Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and co-founder of Transient Pictures, where he has collaborated with non-profits and brands including Toyota, UNICEF, eBay, Facebook, 23andMe, Lincoln Center, ABC, National Geographic and PBS.


Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Landon’s introduction to filmmaking (00:02:06)
• Skateboarding’s influence on culture and creative expression (00:04:31) 
• Landon describes his mindset on approaching his creative projects (00:11:49) 
• Discussion about Landon’s film Light, Darkness, Light and its conceptual roots (00:13:30) 
• How Landon chooses which projects he wants to work on (00:38:30) 
• Yoshino and Landon speak about the process of letting go (00:46:48) 
• Landon recounts the making of The Jewel Thief on Hulu, the story of master criminal Gerald Blanchard (00:49:15) 
• Yoshino and Landon discuss the importance of starting projects, evolving through them, and staying authentic to one’s interests (01:00:51)
  

transientpictures.com/
instagram.com/landonvansoest

Posted 12.27.2024

Growing up in Northern California, Jacob Rosenberg developed his passion for video and film as a skateboarder in the early 1990s, making acclaimed videos for Plan B Skateboards under the mentorship of the late founder Mike Ternasky. Upon his graduation from Emerson College, Rosenberg began his professional career directing music videos, short films, and commercials where he has directed and produced talent names such as LeBron James, Quincy Jones, Snoop Dogg, and Latto. Rosenberg served for a decade as a partner at the independent studio Bandito Brothers, spearheading forward-thinking digital workflows as their CTO and in-house director. He contributed expertise to productions such as Avatar and Act of Valor as well as numerous documentaries including Shine A Light and S.O.P..

In 2012, Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Waiting for Lightning, premiered at SXSW, going on to be released by Samuel Goldwyn Films. The documentary feature painted an intimate portrait of childhood friend and skateboard legend Danny Way, who in 2005 attempted to jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard.

With a penchant for telling deeply human stories, Rosenberg’s documentaries range on subjects from land speed racing to skateboarding, photography, technology, and the world of magician Franco Pascali. His award-winning broadcast work has included campaigns for Ford, INFINITI, HUMMER, NBA, MLB, Royal Caribbean, Burger King, Beats, Advil, Intel, and countless others. Rosenberg’s latest works include co-curating a first-of-its-kind museum exhibit on the emergence of skateboard videos in the 1990s at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, as well as his first photo book RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES, documenting a decade of Bay Area hip-hop and skate culture. The book focuses on Jacob’s story, coming up as a filmmaker for Plan B and then a photographer for the rap collective Hieroglyphics—which culminated in filming, editing, and directing their first group music video “You Never Knew” in 1998.



Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Jacob speaks about his new book, Right Before My Eyes (00:09:32)
• Magic, childlike curiosity, and the film “The Red Balloon” (00:13:19)
• Jacob shares his experience creating “Waiting For Lightning,” a documentary about skateboarder Danny Way (00:18:51)
• Jacob reflects on how creative pursuits helped him navigate childhood trauma (00:22:08)
• Finding acceptance through skateboarding (00:29:52)
• Jacob opens up about childhood trauma and how it fostered his ability to empathize with others (00:38:14)
• Yoshino shares how teaching boxing to kids highlights their natural embrace of diversity, connecting it to skateboarding’s cultural inclusivity (00:40:42)
• Jacob reflects on how childhood influences like Star Wars and Public Enemy shaped his creativity (00:52:09)
• Jacob recounts meeting his mentor, Mike Ternasky (Co-Founder of Plan B and H Street Skateboards), at a skate camp in 1988 (00:58:04)
• How authenticity and small acts of kindness create meaningful connections (01:04:56)
• The conversation explores empathy as a counter to divisiveness in politics and mass media (01:07:46)
• Yoshino reflects on experiencing racism while traveling (01:18:15)
• Jacob discusses creating Plan B’s iconic skate videos: Questionable, Virtual Reality, and Secondhand Smoke (01:21:54)
• Jacob highlights a museum exhibit celebrating 1990s skateboarding videos as cultural and documentary art (01:32:10)
• Joan Scheckel and her embodied storytelling technique (01:35:36)
• The importance of open-hearted living and artists staying fearlessly present during turbulent times (01:41:53)
• Yoshino and Jacob admire the subtle storytelling in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days (01:51:07)
• Jacob discusses his book Right Before My Eyes, chronicling his growth as a filmmaker and skateboarding’s evolution from 1988 to 1998 (01:58:28)
• Yoshino and Jacob explore how modern technology overwhelms and disconnects, emphasizing slowing down and finding grounding in nature and analog experiences (02:03:57)
  

jacobrosenberg.tv/shop
instagram.com/jacobrosenberg

Posted 11.22.2024

Joshua Hagler (b. 1979, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) is a first-generation graduate with a graphic design degree from The University of Arizona. A 2018 grant recipient of the Roswell Artist in Residence Program, Hagler has since made New Mexico his permanent home. Currently, he lives with his wife and daughter in the high desert village of Placitas at the foot of the Sandia Mountains.

In recent years, his practice has been guided by an approach he calls Nihil, a set of nine self-imposed principles that have grown out of solitary excursions throughout the state. These principles determine all aspects of the work from its imagery and process to the media and objects comprising it. Concept and meaning, as such, naturally unfold out of synchronistic experiences occurring over time.


Topics Discussed In This Episode: 

• Romanticizing solitude and isolation (00:05:53)
• Joshua describes his meditative practice (00:09:06)
• Yoshino reflects on how names and labels impact our perception of reality (00:14:15)
• Joshua discusses his project “Nihil” (00:17:24)
• How Joshua’s personal grief has shaped his work (00:23:28)
• Joshua and Yoshino share personal anecdotes and experiences with encountering spiritual signs (00:29:41)
• Yoshino discusses the challenge of describing spiritual experiences. Joshua adds that people often exist in a projected reality, shaped by narratives and labels, which sometimes diverge from actual reality (00:46:21)
• Exploring ideas around purpose (00:51:23)
• The danger of equating success with self-worth (00:58:39)
• Joshua shares his experiences about how his project “Nihil” began and ended (01:17:45)
• Yoshino uses the metaphor of the “Easter egg” in video games to explain an artist’s desire for others to understand the depth of their work (01:25:41)
• The benefits of living in simplicity and not being attached to outcomes (01:30:47)
• Joshua shares a recent interaction with a younger artist, offering advice on handling the pressures of age and expected timelines (01:37:59)

joshuahagler.com
instagram.com/aemenededeen

Posted 11.11.2024