In the Wake TV Producer Shayna celebrates the animated shorts at this year's festival—films that excel at making us feel deeply introspective, existential, and emotionally raw. But she also asks the hard question: How do you sell a ball of existential dread to a big studio? And once these films m...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia discuss Coexistence, My Ass!, the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award winner for Freedom of Expression. The film follows Jewish comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi as she creates a personal and political one-woman show about the struggle for equality in...

In the Wake TV Producer Shayna discusses Field Recordings, a devastatingly brief animated film about Palestinian wildflowers and the land itself bearing witness to genocide. In just 20 seconds, the film delivers an emotional gut-punch that lingers far beyond its runtime.

When Flowers Testify to ...

In the Wake TV Producer Shayna celebrates the animated shorts at this year's festival—films that excel at making us feel deeply introspective, existential, and emotionally raw. But she also asks the hard question: How do you sell a ball of existential dread to a big studio? And once these films m...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia discuss Azi's Revenge, a gripping 14-minute short film that proves you don't need feature length to deliver a knockout punch. Directed by Montana Mann, the film follows 17-year-old Azi during a weekend vacation with her best friend's family—where an unexp...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia deeply love Brides and engage in a powerful conversation about the film's unflinching exploration of Islamophobia, radicalization, and the cultural complexities of faith. Inspired by true events, the 2025 Sundance drama follows two teenage best friends, M...

In the Wake TV Producer Julia begins her review of the indie film Love, Brooklyn, exploring the gap between what we expect from love and what we actually get—both in relationships and in the places we call home.

When Love Doesn't Look Like You Imagined: Julia dives into Love, Brooklyn's explorat...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia celebrate the innovation and creativity that comes from budget filmmaking—proving that constraints often breed the most groundbreaking work. But they also call out a troubling trend in film criticism: people confidently discussing, critiquing, and forming...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia dive into Francis Ford Coppola's polarizing Megalopolis—a film that has audiences and critics split on whether it's a visionary masterpiece or a confusing mess. Shayna offers a revelation that reframes everything:

Megalopolis is a self-portrait of Coppo...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia get vulnerable about why we're drawn to sad movies—and why crying over strangers' grief on screen often feels easier and safer than processing our own pain in real life.

Permission to Feel Without Judgment: Shayna and Julia discuss the emotional release ...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia discuss a chilling short film from Sundance's Short Film Program 5 that takes modern dating anxiety to its darkest conclusion: a curious young woman attends the funeral of a man she met on a dating app to find out what happened to him—and why he suddenly ...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia celebrate the benefits of digital Sundance access while calling out a hard truth: travel costs and temporary housing make in-person festival attendance almost impossible for Black press, journalists, and cinephiles—effectively gatekeeping who gets to part...

In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia get real about one of the film industry's biggest divides: the tension between entertaining films that sell tickets and artistic films that push boundaries—and why the industry forces creators to choose between commercial success and creative integrity.

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In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia discuss Field Recording, a visceral, image-driven film that strips away traditional narrative to confront existential dread and the struggle for individuality in an overwhelming world. This is cinema that doesn't hold your hand—it makes you feel before yo...