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PODCAST

First Time Go

Benjamin Duchek

A weekly podcast highlighting the creators of independent film and the business behind it. Hosted by Ben Duchek.

tv & film film interviews

All Episodes

63:09

Charles Frank

First Time Go ·

2025/09/09

His feature film, SOMEWHERE WITH NO BRIDGES (2020)? Too short, he was told. His award winning short film, SHANTI RIDES SHOTGUN (2025)? Also -- too short! What the world is telling my guest, filmmaker Charles Frank, is that we need to see more of his lyrical vision of the world in the documentary space. His awards and credits in the indie space -- an incredible 10 Vimeo Staff picks, New York Times and New Yorker films, he runs his own production company called Voyager -- only serve to cement this

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1:21

Indie Film Highlight: GOODBYE, HELLO (2024)

First Time Go ·

2025/09/07

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GOODBYE, HELLO (2024).Director: Jack Cooper StimpsonWriters: Jeremy Ford; Bec PittardCast: Steve Guttenberg; Nancy Linari; Hollie BaharSYNOPSISNate Ryan returns home to Bundy Canyon to visit his dying father; Nate opens old wounds in an attempt to make peace with his incredibly unpeaceful father.Subscribe to our YouTube channelFollow us on

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45:52

Alex Salam

First Time Go ·

2025/09/05

Watch This Episode On YouTubeThat’s my guest, Alex Salam, with one of the most riveting reasons to become a filmmaker I’ve ever heard. Given their significant training, it’s practically impossible to do, but I wish we had more doctor/filmmakers in the world. From those that I’ve seen, they’ve produced work that is equal parts precision and creativity, the perfect combination of soul and mind. Alex’s film, TWENTY TWENTY (2025) certainly does that — it’s “set over one brutal night shift at the height

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32:24

Elliott Hasler

First Time Go ·

2025/09/03

The tagline of the podcast is “the future of filmmaking.” I don’t think you can earn that without hosting my guest, Elliott Hasler, who began his filmmaking journey at the age of 10.Fifteen years later, he’s two features in, the latest being VINDICATION SWIM (2022), a biopic around Mercedes Gleitze and her attempt to become the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Big period pieces aren’t what you’d expect him to take on, but that boldness is partially, he acknowledges, why he’s been

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1:29

Indie Film Highlight: THE GRAND SEDUCTION (2013)

First Time Go ·

2025/08/31

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE GRAND SEDUCTION (2013).Director: Daniel AndreScreenplay: Daniel AndreCast: Brendan Gleeson; Taylor Kitsch; Liane BalabanSYNOPSISResidents of a small fishing community in Newfoundland charm a doctor into becoming the town's full-time physician, in order to secure a vital factory contract.Subscribe to our YouTube channelFollow us on

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37:23

Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder

First Time Go ·

2025/08/29

I haven’t done a how much I love New York City episode in a couple weeks, so the indie smash, OR SOMETHING (2024), and the film’s director, Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder, makes for the absolute perfect guest. Why is the film being extended at Quad Cinemas? What does it say for indie filmmakers that the Substack crowd got so behind this film? Is it repeatable? Let’s hope so. And if you haven’t seen it at the time this airs, go see it through September 4th. Or later, if we keep talking about it.In this

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17:24

Floriane Andersen

First Time Go ·

2025/08/27

Brilliant in acting. Brilliant in producing. Brilliant in executive producing. Brilliant in...directing? Let's hope so. Given her extraordinarily body of work, most recently in front of the camera in Gil Henry's PAS VRAIMENT ORDINAIRE (2025), we can only hope my guest, Floriane Andersen, will be in the director's chair soon. She certainly has made the opportunity for herself; the production company she co-founded, Artak Pictures, has six projects in the works, two of which she is slated

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25:13

Jordan Murphy Doidge

First Time Go ·

2025/08/22

When you prepare, special filmmaking tends to happen. That’s the case with my guest, Jordan Murphy Doidge, and his new film, CLOUT, which premiered at HollyShorts. It tells the story of a lonely teenage boy who risks everything to prove himself in a bid for online fame. In the wake of Netflix’s hit ADOLESCENCE (2025), CLOUT has resonated with nonprofits and theaters in the United Kingdom. And as the reviews have shown after its world premiere, that’s likely to spread. It’s phenomenal filmmaking that

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33:05

Kristen Gerweck Diaz

First Time Go ·

2025/08/19

Most people choose (relatively) comfortable and safe topics for their first films. A bank robbery over here, a meet cute over there. My guest, Kristen Gerweck Diaz has chosen Ramadi, Iraq, a phone booth on an ocean cliffside, and her newest, MILK BABY (2025), about a woman’s entry into a maternity home and the sheer enormity of breastfeeding. These are not what you’d call easy topics. But for this lawyer turned filmmaker, she’d never sign up for the easy path, anyway. In this episode, Kristen and I

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40:42

Brook Linder

First Time Go ·

2025/08/12

Let’s put it down right now: Brook Linder has the branded content hit of the year, with his weekly promos for Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney. Vimeo put it out as its own thing, and once you turn on the compilation of promos, you can’t turn it off. It’ll be running on repeat in your head. I warned you.We go deep in this episode in getting banned from Springfield, Missouri high schools, not just for his film crew but every film crew afterwards, early Kickstarter, what it’s like making branded

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3:28

Indie Film Highlight: KAJAKI (2014)

First Time Go ·

2025/08/10

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: KAJAKI (2014).Director: Paul KatisWriter: Tom WilliamsCast: David Elliot; Mark Stanley; Scott Kyle; Ali CookSYNOPSISHelmand Province in Afghanistan, 2006. A company of young British soldiers encounter an unexpected, terrifying enemy: a dried-out river bed, and with every step the possibility of an anti-personnel mine that could kill.Subscribe to our

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33:52

Ali Cook

First Time Go ·

2025/08/08

You’d expect comedy out of a comedian turned actor and then director, right? Think again. My guest, filmmaker Ali Cook, turns what you’d expect upside down. So far, he’s written two short films, directed one, and is working now on his first few features. He acted in a truly phenomenal Afghanistan war film, KAJAKI (2014), sometimes known as Kilo Two Bravo, and he’s got more insight than we could possibly cover in 30 minutes. I tried to keep my laughter to a minimum, but come on. Go watch his films

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40:29

Charles Hood

First Time Go ·

2025/08/05

Watch This Episode On YouTubeI feel like this would be a good plotline for a gonzo Mission Impossible movie: make romcoms and comedy dramas relevant again. In one sentence, my guest, director and podcaster Charles Hood, declared “comedies and comedy dramas are dead, sadly” but also came back in the next few sentences with the announcement, I’m releasing a romcom feature later this year. This sounds exactly like a challenge, if you choose to accept it, for one of the co-hosts of the official Mission

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1:08

Indie Film Highlight: PEOPLE PLACES THINGS (2015)

First Time Go ·

2025/08/03

Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: PEOPLE PLACES THINGS (2015). Director: James C. StrouseScreenplay: James C. StrouseCast: Jermaine Clement; Regina Hall; Stephanie AllynneSYNOPSISA graphic novelist /professor (Jemaine Clement) tries to navigate the unfamiliar waters of single fatherhood and dating.Subscribe to our YouTube channelFollow us on LetterboxdFollow us on InstagramFollow us on XFollow us on

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22:58

Ebs Burnough

First Time Go ·

2025/08/01

This is still an indie film podcast, don’t misunderstand, but if I had to do one conversation with somebody who made a studio film, it would be with my guest Ebs Burnough. I’d argue no other person understands the indie film market like he does, especially now with the release of KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION (2025). The film examines how Jack Kerouac’s iconic novel “On the Road” resonates in contemporary America. Ebs has a career that hardly seems repeatable — working for the White House to

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32:21

Imani Davis

First Time Go ·

2025/07/30

I don’t know if we’ve ever had such fire practical advice from a film festival programmer who — I know this is shocking — actually cares about indie filmmakers than the pod does today with my guest, Imani Davis. From how the PROOF Film Festival got started to the advice she gives directors to take notes and cut your short films, this is absolutely the pod for you if you want to make it in indie film today. I’m so excited for you to hear from such an innovative voice in the industry. Imani and I talk

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1:28

Indie Film Highlight: COME AS YOU ARE (2019)

First Time Go ·

2025/07/27

Watch This Episode On YouTubeEvery Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: COME AS YOU ARE (2019).Director: Richard WongScreenplay: Erik LinthorstCast: Grant Rosenmeyer; Hayden Szeto; Ravi PatelSYNOPSISA travelling nurse takes three disabled men on a road trip to Montreal so they can lose their virginity at a brothel.Subscribe to our YouTube channelFollow us on LetterboxdFollow us on InstagramFollow us on XFollow us on

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28:37

Xavier Encinas

First Time Go ·

2025/07/25

“Creative director, curator, publisher, collector” and founder of Sixteen World Xavier Encinas joins me on the podcast for this episode. I’d argue you could also add great podcast guest because he pushes back against this idea that France is a great haven for independent film. As part of his Sixteen artistic venture, he curates the Sixteen Film Institute, with a new film weekly, mostly from around the world, not France. Let’s not misstate his argument — he has nothing against French cinema, he lives

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39:28

Amanda Sthers

First Time Go ·

2025/07/22

There’s no more exciting place to be in independent film than the intersection of France and the United States, or as a filmmaker in either of these locations. In France, cinemas are packed and the Cannes Film Festival often sets the tone for what’s considered the best films of the year. So if the goal is understanding France’s role in global cinema, there is no better person than my guest, Amanda Sthers, who has released three feature films that star globally known actors and help explain, in each

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21:05

Nicolai Schumann

First Time Go ·

2025/07/18

Bottle films, films made predominately in one location, are like playing with fire. There’s not a lot of room to make a good film if you don’t cast well, for instance, or if the location of your bottle isn’t fantastic. My guest, director Nicolai Schumann, understood all this….because he watched a bunch of the previous bottle films…and went ahead with THE LONELY MUSKETEER (2024) anyway. And I’m so glad that he did. The film tells the story of “the psychological downfall of a man who is highly

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211 results

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