Indie filmmakers, festival stories, real movie talk.
Discover Indie Film brings filmmakers into warm, casual conversations about the shorts, features, and screenplays they have taken through festivals. The show mixes Q&A memories, blunt movie opinions, and practical talk about comedy, animation, public support, and why certain films stick.
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Discover Indie Film is a guest-forward interview show about independent filmmaking, festival life, and the taste maps that shape artists. It has a lived-in feel. Conversations start plainly, usually with Jeff Howard naming the guest, the project, and the festival history that brought them together. From there, the show lets the talk wander in useful directions. A short film screening can become a memory of a strange Q&A. A comedy award can become a discussion of why some jokes improve after multiple viewings. A screenplay finalist mention can turn into a friendly, slightly chaotic account of collaboration, live fact-checking, and the pleasant mess of being underprepared in real time. The show is especially strong when it gives filmmakers space to connect craft with personal history. JT Duran’s episodes move from More Dead Than Living and festival recognition into housing, public support, empathy, work, and the value of art. Sevan Najarian’s conversation about The Whitest Kids U’Know’s MARS. brings in animation, distribution, camera instincts, visual effects, and the odd naming choices around a comedy feature. The 4Qs episodes provide a recurring second lens. Instead of rehearsed biography, guests name favorite films, underrated films, overrated films, and lesser-known titles worth seeking out. Those lists become small arguments and little revelations. They also keep the show from sounding like a publicity cycle. Discover Indie Film is clearly rooted in festival culture, with frequent references to Film Invasion Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, Film Invasion Lima, official selections, juries, and filmmaker awards. But the center is not ceremony. It is the room after the screening, the Zoom call after the festival, and the filmmaker explaining what mattered before and after the movie was made. The language can be blunt, and the humor can run rough, but the editorial heart is generous. This is film talk for people who care about short films, small features, handmade comedy, animation, and the people who keep making work without waiting for permission.
Made for: For listeners who follow independent film, festival shorts, screenplays, animation, and filmmaker interviews with a casual edge. It especially suits people who like taste-based movie talk as much as production stories.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by pairing filmmaker interviews with recurring 4Qs taste episodes, so guests are defined by both their projects and the films they argue for. Its festival roots give the conversations concrete stakes without making them feel formal.
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Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Discover Indie Film connects candid filmmaker interviews with spirited movie arguments, keeping independent film culture grounded in creative choices and festival experience.
Jeff Howard begins with how a filmmaker reached a specific project, then follows the choices, accidents and material limits that shaped it. Discover Indie Film keeps production close to lived experience: one conversation connects public support, empathy and making a film during…
Jeff Howard takes you past festival laurels and into the childhood camera tricks that started everything.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose four-questions chat that turns Matrix Resurrections into a spirited argument and ends on festival values.
Jeff Howard keeps the conversation easygoing but focused as he brings JT back for a four-questions episode after their longer talk about More Dead Than Living and JT's festival run.
A festival win opens onto housing, grief, and the stubborn work of making art anyway.
The piece follows Jeff Howard as he frames JT Duran's More Dead Than Living with a few grounded festival markers, from Film Invasion Los Angeles opening night to a flight out from JFK and the film's 2025 Programmer's Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.
A loose, craft-minded interview about VHS beginnings, run-and-gun filmmaking, VFX fixes, and the awkward business of naming an indie animated feature.
Jeff Howard's conversation with Sivan Najarian, director of the feature animated film tied to The Whitest Kids You Know and Mars, follows the messy stretch between making a movie and giving it a public-facing identity.
Two filmmaker brothers discuss The Big Picture, then broaden the episode into film taste, awards, and the rules stories set for themselves.
Nathan Lambert and Brayden Lambert anchor this episode through their work on The Big Picture, a film framed as part music video, part performance piece, and part art film.
A relaxed four-question film-and-TV chat turns personal taste into a route through underrated and lesser-known picks.
Discover Indie Film uses its four-question format as a quick map of Olivia Haller's screen tastes, with Jeff Howard asking for films she loves, underrated, overrated, and lesser-known picks while Ana Long can jump in.
Horror recaps with sharp teeth.
Entertainment stories with the polish left off.
Criterion completism with sharp, messy charm.
Horror talk with strange-case static.
Host Jeff Howard interviews brothers Nathan and Brayden Lambert, filmmakers behind the award-winning music video 'The Big Picture.' They answer four questions about their favorite films, underrated picks like 'Vox Lux,' overrated films including 'Sinners,' and lesser-known recommendations such as 'Marketa Lazarova.' The episode concludes with promotion of their work and upcoming film festivals.
This episode features a casual conversation with Caleb Garrett about indie filmmaking, prompted by a previous time-limited interview, with mentions of the Sherman Oaks Film Festival and upcoming scheduling.
Host Jeff Howard interviews filmmaker Renée Veronica Freeman in a '4 Questions' format where she discusses her favorite films, an underrated film, an overrated film, and a lesser-known film to seek out, while also highlighting her award-winning sci-fi film 'Chromatography'.
This episode features a brief follow-up conversation with Anna Long, highlighting her award-winning film 'Death in the Desert' and discussing the cultural challenges women face in accepting compliments.
Host Jeff Howard conducts a '4 Questions' episode with screenwriter Olivia Haller and returning guest Ana Long.
Ronnie Namani names Whiplash, Inception, The Exorcist, Sicario, and Contact as films he loves, emphasizing creative pain, emotional through-lines, and ambitious storytelling.
Discover Indie Film host Jeff Howard interviews animator Ronnie Namani about Born Ready, a sub-minute music video starring Namani’s five- or six-month-old son that won the Sherman Oaks Film Festival grand jury award for best music video.
Host Jeff Howard interviews filmmaker Nick Zweig about his animated film 'I Am Duck' and reminisces about a humorous improv moment during a Q&A at Film Invasion Los Angeles.
This episode features a brief interview with filmmaker Daniel Padulo, discussing his award-winning short comedy film 'A Haunted Bushwick' and introducing a four-questions segment about his favorite films.
Host Jeff interviews filmmaker Daniel Padulo about his award-winning comedy short film 'A Haunt in Bushwick' that won the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Screenplay at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival.
This episode features Olivia Haller answering four questions about her favorite films, underrated and overrated movies, and lesser-known recommendations, with Ana Long joining for casual discussion.
Host Jeff Howard interviews Olivia Haller and Ana Long about their collaboration on the screenplay 'The Experience', which was a finalist for the Grand Jury Award at FilmVision 2025, while also discussing Ana's film selection in the same festival.
Jeff Howard starts with JT on Zoom and turns the visit into a four-questions episode.
Jeff Howard welcomes filmmaker JT Duran on Zoom.
Sivan Najarian tells Jeff Howard how The Whitest Kids You Know’s MARS.
Jeff Howard interviews filmmaker Ryan McCoy about supporting indie films like his upcoming release 'The Party' on VOD platforms.
This episode features an interview with filmmakers Elizabeth Schneider and Michael Covello, who discuss their award-winning animated arthouse film 'Becoming an Oyster' and share their personal film recommendations through the Discover Indie Film 4 questions.