Janek Ambros is a filmmaker, producer, writer, and founder of Assembly Line Entertainment whose work has screened in connection with major festivals including Sundance, Venice, SXSW, and TIFF. As both a producer and director, he has built a career balancing the creative and business sides of independent filmmaking while helping bring a wide range of projects to life.

In this episode, we discuss Janek's unconventional path from studying economics and interning at Morgan Stanley to building his own production company and producing award-winning independent films. We talk about his documentaries IMMINENT THREAT and MONDO HOLLYWOODLAND, the importance of editing as a storytelling tool, and why producing other filmmakers' work helped shape his perspective as a director.

We also dive into the collaborative spirit of the legendary "Film Brat" generation, the influence of filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, and James Cameron, and the current state of independent cinema. Janek shares his thoughts on practical effects versus CGI, the future of moviegoing, why comedy films have become increasingly difficult to make, and the importance of building communities of filmmakers who support one another.

As always, we close the conversation with Janek's two favorite movie scenes and the lessons filmmakers can learn from them.

Hosted by Zef Cota

Produced by Cole Howard

Episode Description

Cannes 2026 just wrapped, and Zef is joined by producer Cole Howard to break down the films, winners, distributors, and festival buzz coming out of the world’s most prestigious film festival.

They discuss this year’s Palme d’Or winner FJORD, Christian Mungiu’s new family drama starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, along with some of the biggest films on their watchlists, including James Gray’s PAPER TIGER, Na Hong-jin’s HOPE, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ALL OF A SUDDEN, Nicolas Winding Refn’s HER PRIVATE HELL, and A24’s buzzy CLUB KID.

Zef also shares stories from attending Cannes in 2014 and 2019, including seeing WINTER SLEEP before it won the Palme d’Or and attending the Cannes premiere of THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL.

The conversation also touches on NEON’s incredible run as a distributor, Cannes standing ovations, Korean cinema, long movies that earn their running time, recent Palme d’Or winners, director commentaries as film school, and why Cannes still matters as the ultimate launchpad for world cinema.

Films discussed include: FJORD, PAPER TIGER, HOPE, ALL OF A SUDDEN, HER PRIVATE HELL, CLUB KID, WINTER SLEEP, THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, TITANE, ANORA, PARASITE, ANATOMY OF A FALL, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, SHOPLIFTERS, MY COUSIN VINNY, TWO LOVERS, WE OWN THE NIGHT, AD ASTRA, THE WAILING, MEMORIES OF MURDER, CITY OF GOD, and more.

Hosted by Zef Cota & Cole Howard

Alex Braverman is a filmmaker who has directed and produced acclaimed documentaries, including the 2023 film THANK YOU VERY MUCH, a fascinating portrait of the great Andy Kaufman.

I first discovered Alex’s work through THANK YOU VERY MUCH, which is currently on MUBI, and immediately wanted to talk to him about Kaufman, documentary filmmaking, and the strange blurred line between performance, truth, comedy, and reality.

We talked about Alex’s early work as a documentary cameraman, including MAKING MARINES, the making of THANK YOU VERY MUCH, the Safdie brothers coming on as producers, Andy Kaufman’s obsession with confusing and challenging audiences, and why documentary filmmaking is often truly built in the edit.

We also discussed STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT: UNLOCKING THE TRUTH, which Alex produced, the current state of documentary filmmaking, and the importance of cutting material that does not serve the story. Alex also shares two of his favorite movie scenes from THE HEARTBREAK KID and Bennett Miller's THE CRUISE.