IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

It has been nine years since Under The Skin, the last film from Jonathan Glazer. Once you hear him discuss the approach to the harrowing and complex subject matter of his new film, including bold approaches to the look and sound, you will understand why it took almost a decade to develop one of the best films of 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editor William Goldenberg has cut all but one of director Ben Affleck’s features, and Affleck says their partnership was the key to making “Air” fly. On today’s episode Affleck and Goldenberg talk about evoking period through editing, fine-tuning performances, and much, much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director and writer of Occupied City join us this week to explain how they crafted this very particular and precise cinematic experience, which presents a unique approach to a dark chapter in world history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Michael Mann joins Filmmaker Toolkit to talk about his latest film, “Ferrari,” a movie he’s been working on in one form or another for decades. Mann discusses how he conceived and executed the film’s extraordinary racing sequences, why the movie contains two complementary styles of filmmaking, and how he worked with actors Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz to build their characters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Sohn has long been a fixture at Pixar, and this week he spoke with us about taking the leap from voice acting and writing to directing. Hear how he finds his story through his drawing pen, and why his family's immigrant experience formed the beating heart of Elemental. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Emerald Fennell joined us to the joys of crafting a deeply unsubtle movie without being foolish, and how the many lush details of Saltburn illuminate its characters' murky morality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Color Purple” has already been a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, Academy Award-nominated film by Steven Spielberg, and Tony Award-winning Broadway show, but director Blitz Bazawule still found new areas to explore in his new adaptation of the stage musical. On this episode he talks about finding a visual language for the heroine Celie’s imagination, making the leap to big budget filmmaking, and choreographing every scene of the movie like a musical — even when the characters were just talking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast was always conceived as a place where filmmakers could have the kinds of detailed, craft-centric discussions that Martin Scorsese would love. Now, for our 250th episode, the master himself joins us explain why his new film both is and isn't inspired by the American Western, and reflects on what keeps him passionate so far into his career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone were nominated for Oscars for their first collaboration, “The Favourite,” and their new film “Poor Things” is even funnier, more moving, and more original. Lanthimos and Stone sat down with us to talk about their collaboration, the benefits of a stripped-down set even for an epic, and the challenges of editing such a unique movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikki Giovanni was one of the most prominent poet-activists to come out of the late-60s Black Arts Movement, and, as this film explores, is one of the Godmothers of Afrofuturism and the Afropunk alternative arts scene. But "Going to Mars" is far from your standard issue profile documentary, instead husband-wife co-directors Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster use Giovanni's life and writing as a jumping off point for their own formal exploration as they "delved into the soul of a poet." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices