Shows / vHopeful Conversations Podcast
vHopeful Conversations Podcast
vHopeful Conversations is a video interview series where director Vanessa Hope sits down with bold, visionary filmmakers and authors whose work confronts conflict, power, and injustice while still making space for nuance, empathy, and hope. Each episode offers an intimate, craft‑focused conversation that goes beyond loglines, headlines, and blurbs, inviting listeners into the creative process and the ethical, political, and emotional questions behind urgent films and books. Expect thoughtful…
Episodes
vHopeful Conversations PodcastMy Undesirable Friends: Part II -- Exile: “I'm always interested in the after... How do you get up the next morning? How do you keep going? And how do you keep telling the truth?”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I welcome back award-winning filmmaker Julia Loktev, my first returning guest, to talk about My Undesirable Friends: Part II —…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastRoom of the Absolute: “Natalie and Elizabeth trusted me to show my reality through my own eyes, and I trusted them to find meaning in what I filmed.” Alla Hurenko
In this vHopeful Conversation, I talk with co-directors Natalie Shirinian and Elizabeth Baudouin about how a friendship that began on Instagram turns into Room…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastFree Joan Little: “When you put people in cages and dehumanize them and lock them away from society...I don’t know what else you’re gonna get”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen about her powerful documentary short, Free Joan Little, and the…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastOne in a Million: “Suddenly she looks at me & says, this is freedom. And I was really shocked.” I.A. "There isn't just a binary between integrating & sticking to your culture.” J.M.
In this vHopeful conversation, I talk with Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes, directors of the extraordinary documentary One in a Million, about their decade of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThey’re Here: “Often the danger is what’s unseen. It’s the menace lurking off camera.” -- L.P. “It’s not about saying ‘F**k ICE,’ it’s about saying ‘Don’t take these people away from us.’” -- R.L.M.
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras and filmmaker and investigative journalist Rachel…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastRemake: “I hope that it provides—maybe some solace, but actually a better word is probably companionship—to people who’ve also experienced a loss akin to what I went through with the loss of a son.”
I was honored to speak with the extraordinary filmmaker Ross McElwee about Remake, his profoundly moving new documentary built from a lifetime of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Cycle of Love: “Being emotionally vulnerable & open is strength. When you are emotionally vulnerable, it’s almost contagious, and it allows everybody around you to be emotionally vulnerable too.”
I was so moved by The Cycle of Love, the luminous new documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel, director of the Oscar-winning The…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastEverybody to Kenmure Street: “There’s clearly something larger than life that happens when people put themselves on the line for the benefit of their community.”
In this vHopeful conversation, I speak with Chilean-Belgian filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra about his exhilarating Sundance-winning documentary, Everybody to…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastAn Eye for an Eye: “The feelings, the emotions, and the needs are universal, but they’re just in a different system.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with Emmy-nominated Iranian American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian about her searing new documentary, An Eye for an Eye…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Oldest Person in the World: “I do wake up every day thankful to be alive and feeling very, very lucky, which is a great kind of worldview to have.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I was delighted to speak with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green about his tender, funny, and profoundly moving new…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastCookie Queens: “The way that the world sees girls and women and the way we know ourselves to be are not always in sync.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Alysa Nahmias about Cookie Queens, her joyful, incisive documentary following four…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Righteous Road Trip: ““In the midst of hatred and in the midst of evil, they chose good.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I was honored to speak with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth about her moving new documentary short, The Righteous…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastFilipiñana: “It’s just such an important part of why I wanted to make this film: to make the violence of the Global South relatable to Western audiences as well.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with writer-director-editor Rafael Manuel about Filipiñana, his haunting and visually exquisite debut feature, winner of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastFreefall: A Reckoning for Boeing: “It was really his story, and then all these other whistleblowers—some of whom had never spoken publicly...—who were coming forward to me saying, ‘Please make this.’”
In this vHopeful conversation, I speak with the extraordinary filmmaker Rory Kennedy about Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, her urgent new documentary…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastA Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies: "And there it was in a nutshell: the rapture of seeing a thing and the horror of seeing it at the same time..."
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with the incomparable film critic and historian David Thomson about his revelatory new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastMan on the Run: "With somebody like Paul McCartney, he is the music—the words, the melodies, they’re all reflective of who he is and what he’s going through."
In this vHopeful Conversation, I talk with Oscar‑, Grammy‑, and Emmy‑winning filmmaker Morgan Neville about his new documentary Man on the Run, a wildly…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastAmerican Doctor: "It’s really in the United States that I learned how to dissent & how to fight for what really matters...and the only way I know how to fight is as a filmmaker.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, I sit down with filmmaker Poh Si Teng—Oscar‑nominated producer of St. Louis Superman, Emmy‑winning executive producer of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastQueen of Chess: "It’s extremely satisfying to watch, because it’s this unstoppable champion who is so driven, has such guts, and also has a sense of humor and a warmth about her..."
In this vHopeful Conversation, I sit down with Academy Award–nominated, Primetime Emmy–winning director Rory Kennedy to discuss her new Netflix documentary…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastWild Inside: “I get very philosophical when I talk about the film because it’s about really important things, but it’s mostly just really entertaining, fun & funny. A stranger‑in‑a‑strange land story"
In this vHopeful Conversation, filmmaker and birder Penny Lane joins me to talk about Wild Inside, her HBO documentary about Flaco the Eurasian eagle‑owl who…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastSavage House: “The more truthful we made it, the more honest it was — the more grotesque, sure, but also the funnier it was and the more timely it became.”
In this episode of vHopeful Conversations, I sit down with writer-director Peter Glanz to talk about his bold new period satire Savage House, a 1715-set black…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastPeter Asher: Everywhere Man: "I love to be slightly terrified when we start a new project. I want it to be so new in terms of topic and approach that I’m not comfortable. That makes it more fun."
In this vHopeful Conversations episode, I sit down with legendary San Francisco–based documentary duo Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine to talk about their new…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastGhost in the Machine: "I think the bravery and boldness to think outside the box, to create outside the box, and to trust that you’ll find your audience...that is what resonates right now."
In this vHopeful Conversation, I speak with filmmaker Valerie Veatch about her Sundance 2026 documentary Ghost in the Machine. We dive into the dirty wiring…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastWe Are Pat: "This needed to be funny, to show nuanced perspectives of trans people where we could be flawed, messy, idiotic, funny—all the things."
This vHopeful Conversation features director–producer Rowan Haber and Emmy‑winning producer Caryn Capotosto discussing their documentary We Are Pat, which…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastGaslit: "Even though the film is U.S.‑focused, these are the same fights people are experiencing everywhere!"
In this vHopeful Conversations episode, filmmaker Katie Camosy joins me to talk about her new Greenpeace‑backed documentary GASLIT, which follows Jane Fonda…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastGet Away with Janet Hsieh: "If you’re curious about people, you’ll ask questions. You’ll be more accepting. You’ll want to learn about them and their culture. Same with food, places, knowledge."
This vHopeful Conversation features creator, producer, and host Janet Hsieh whose journey runs from MIT pre‑med and the long‑running Discovery travel series…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastAsk E. Jean: "You will see yourself. You will see your sisters. You will see your mother. You will recognize so much of what we all experience... Men too."
In this vHopeful Conversation, filmmaker Vanessa Hope speaks with Emmy‑nominated documentarian Ivy Meeropol about her new film Ask E. Jean, a portrait of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastManas: "I hope that if even one woman or girl—or boy—who is suffering sexual violence or any kind of violence, from watching Manas finds strength and courage to break the silence and ask for help"
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with Brazilian filmmaker Marianna Brennand about MANAS, her powerful narrative feature debut rooted in a…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastAlphapussy: "Happy Mother's Day!"
Actor, musician, and storyteller Gina Gershon joins Vanessa Hope for a Mother’s Day vHopeful conversation about her fearless new memoir, AlphaPussy: How I…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastMistura: "In live screenings, appropriately, we give people a warning before they watch it that this film may—and will—make you hungry."
In this vHopeful Conversations episode, I speak with producer Ivan Orlic about Mistura, his first Spanish-language feature and first film set entirely in his…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastShow Up, Speak Out, Document Your Event: 1 Day to FALL OF FREEDOM May Day, 2026
In this special vHopeful Conversations episode, Vanessa Hope spotlights Fall of Freedom, a nationwide wave of creative resistance to rising authoritarianism…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastWe Are Guardians: "We have to make it so unbelievably cool and sexy...that we are not supporting big corporations; we are supporting local communities to protect the environment"
In this Earth Day edition of vHopeful Conversations, filmmaker Vanessa Hope sits down with producer Fisher Stevens and co-director Chelsea Greene to discuss We…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastErupcja: "this film, this experience is a table made of bubbles. It cannot support anything... Try to remember that this is supposed to be for fun. This is just supposed to be enjoyed."
In this vHopeful Conversation, filmmaker Vanessa Hope sits down with multi‑hyphenate indie director Pete Ohs to unpack his Warsaw‑set “volcanic experiment”…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Blue Trail: "It was fun to make something like Thelma & Louise meets Soylent Green together on the same screen—quite impossible, but it was the challenge."
In this vHopeful Conversation, filmmaker Vanessa Hope sits down with Brazilian writer-director Gabriel Mascaro to dive into the dystopian yet deeply…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastSteal This Story, Please!: "She broke that story, but what was important for her wasn’t “breaking” it. It was that the rest of the media paid attention and it changed the way that narrative was told."
Fiercely independent journalist Amy Goodman has spent three decades holding the powerful to account, from war zones to the Democracy Now! newsroom, and in…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastSay Everything: "Back then, if anyone did anything other than acting—like, God forbid an actor was musical and wanted to put out an album—that was really like, “What?!”
In this intimate vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope talks with actor, painter, and now bestselling memoirist Ione Skye about her book Say Everything, tracing…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastCrime 101: "The movie is about the haves and the have‑nots, and about the pressure to be “somebody,” this endless pursuit of status and where that can land you."
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope talks with writer‑director Bart Layton about his new L.A. noir thriller Crime 101, exploring how a Don Winslow…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastInvisible Nation: Why Authoritarians Fear & Target Women and Democracy
In this vHopeful Conversation for International Women’s Day, Vanessa Hope speaks with authors Anna Malaika Tubbs (The Three Mothers, Erased) and Soraya Chemaly…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastArmed Only With a Camera: "Since Brent was killed, more than 400 journalists have been killed around the world, and as of a few days ago 333 are locked up overseas."
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with director Craig Renaud and producer–photojournalist Juan Arredondo about their Oscar‑nominated short…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastCome See Me In The Good Light: "They kept saying: “I don’t want people leaving sad. I want to write a love poem to Megan and a love poem to life.”
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with director Ryan White and producer Jessica Hargrave about their Oscar‑nominated documentary Come See Me…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastAll The Empty Rooms: "Not only do we not show shootings or talk about the shooters, we don’t even mention the word “gun.” "
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope talks with director Joshua Seftel about his Oscar‑nominated short All the Empty Rooms, which follows CBS reporter…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Secret Agent: "A country that installs amnesia as an objective is really fascinating. In 1979, the military proposed forgetting everything that had happened until then—all the violence..."
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with Brazilian writer‑director Kleber Mendonça Filho about his Oscar‑nominated film The Secret Agent…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Alabama Solution: "A lot of people say there’s no way to understand this without seeing it for yourself. People are starved for information about what’s really happening inside prisons."
In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with Oscar-nominated co-directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman about The Alabama Solution, exploring…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastCutting Through Rocks: "we... mirrored both the production & the person we were following. It was a mirrored journey, & it made us even more determined to tell this story"
In this Hopeful Conversation, filmmaker and host Vanessa Hope speaks with Oscar-nominated directing duo Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni about their acclaimed…
vHopeful Conversations Podcast2000 Meters to Andriivka: "War is slowly crawling around us and touching all of us. So the question of how to remain human is the core question of our survival in the modern world."
In this conversation, Ukrainian director, novelist, and war correspondent Mstyslav Chernov reflects on 2000 Meters to Andriivka as a deeply personal follow‑up…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastMr. Nobody Against Putin: "what began as a very serious international whistleblowing exercise—and remained that—also... was filled with humor and light"
This Hopeful conversation centers on Mr. Nobody Against Putin as both an undercover whistleblower document and an unexpectedly funny, emotionally intimate…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Perfect Neighbor: "that street shows the best and worst of us. We’re in a deeply polarized time, and we’ve been polarized on purpose. Manufactured fear is a tool of authoritarian politics."
In this conversation, filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir delves into her documentary The Perfect Neighbor, an unflinching exploration of gun violence, racialized fear…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastCONGRATULATIONS to 3 superstars: Kaouther Ben Hania & her team on Oscar and BAFTA nominations for 'The Voice of Hind Rajab'; my brother, Andrew Guest, whose new series 'Wonder Man' airs tonight; ...
Director Kaouther Ben Hania in less than one minute speaks to why she made her now Oscar and BAFTA nominated international feature film, THE VOICE OF HIND…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastApocalypse In The Tropics: "not only am I scared of losing my democracy & seeing it become an authoritarian government, but a theocratic authoritarian government. That is the shadow hanging not just..
In this conversation, Vanessa Hope interviews Petra Costa, director of 'Apocalypse in the Tropics,' the feature documentary which was Oscar-shortlisted and has…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastSound of Falling: "this is the “unpitchable” film, because it’s about memory itself and how eruptive, associative, and non‑linear memory is."
In this conversation with Vanessa Hope, Mascha Schilinski discusses her Oscar-shortlisted film, 'Sound of Falling,' exploring themes of memory, trauma, and the…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastHolding Liat: "the guiding light... in telling this story has been to confront fear, because the amount of fear that has been communicated to us throughout this whole process...has not been realized."
In this conversation, Vanessa Hope and Brandon Kramer explore how Holding Liat follows Brandon Kramer’s own relatives after Israeli-American teacher Liat…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastThe Voice Of Hind Rajab: "I kept asking myself what it means to be a filmmaker when the unthinkable is happening...I remember the exact feeling—anger, sadness, helplessness. And I hate helplessness."
In this conversation, director Kaouther Ben Hania discusses her film 'The Voice of Hind Rajab,' which centers on the urgent and emotional story of a young girl…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastExtremist: "Sometimes a work of art can reach people more deeply than a news report or a clip on social media because it gets into their subconscious."
In this conversation with Vanessa Hope, Sasha Molochnikov discusses his Oscar‑shortlisted short film 'Extremist,' which dramatizes the real‑life case of…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastInvisible Nation: for China to "take (Taiwan), you’d need the largest amphibious invasion in human history...The idea that China can just flip a switch and do this is a fantasy."
Our next panel is this Sunday, February 1st: Watch The Film: Jan 28th - Feb 1st RSVP: https://watch.eventive.org/togetherfilmsus/play/68ed0fc3eb1ac02b56e6f2fd…
vHopeful Conversations PodcastFun, Live 15 minute radio interview on The Drive with Steve Jaxon
Thank you to all the movie theaters in the Bay Area and San Francisco screening our film INVISIBLE NATION starting THIS Thursday, July 31st through August 4th!…