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.
- Update frequency
- every 27 days
- Average duration
- 35 minutes
- Episodes
- 71
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Trust Through Transparency: Rethinking Pay and Power in Documentary
In this episode of Rough Cut, Sweta Vohra and Emma Alpert from Multitude Films—an independent production company dedicated to transformative culture change through nonfiction storytelling—dive deep i…
From Grassroots to Netflix: Inside the Join or Die Impact Campaign
In this episode of Rough Cut, guest host Caitlin Boyle sits down with filmmaker Rebecca Davis to discuss the journey behind Join or Die, the powerful documentary that reimagines Robert Putnam’s landm…
Digging Through Time and Truth: Archival Ethics in the Age of AI
On this episode of Rough Cut, host Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros sits down with archival producer Stephanie Jenkins, whose work with filmmaker Ken Burns has uncovered rare historical gems like early footag…
Filming Family: The Ethics of Documenting Loved Ones with Ondi Timoner
Michael Werner returns to Rough Cut and sits down with filmmaker Ondi Timoner to discuss the unique challenges involved in making documentaries involving one's own family. Ondi talks with Michael abo…
Framing the Artist: Inside Nathan-ism with Dennis Scholl and Elan Golod
On this episode of Rough Cut, artist and filmmaker Dennis Scholl speaks with Elan Golod about his new documentary Nathan-ism, and the complicated work of making art about artists. Dennis and Elan dis…
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 h…
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 thro…
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 ran…
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 documenta…
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 no…
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 a…
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 exciti…
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 …
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 co…
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 epi…
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 …
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, among ot…
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 Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV premiere…
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 unpredi…
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 …