Lingo on Docs
Kathleen Lingo, Jeanie Finlay, Penny Lane, Tom Oyer, Elizabeth Lo, Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza EyniI am a veteran documentary film and television producer writing this newsletter to think about how to keep making documentaries during these complex times. Here we go….
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 28 | Founded | 2 years ago | Last Issue | 3 months ago |
| Active | |||||
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kathleenlingo.substack.comLatest Issues
'Cutting Through Rocks' Takes Imagination: On Women and Power in Iran
Today I spoke to Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, the co-directors (who are also married to each other) of Cutting Through Rocks. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Doc...
Sundance 2026, Part 2: Why We Fight
The films were the point and the strongest work wasn't chasing commercial viability—it was deeply personal, politically engaged, and beautifully told works of cinema
Note to readers: This is Part 2 of my second annual two-part series on Su...
Sundance 2026: An Era Ends, A Movement Begins
Park City's farewell, Minneapolis's tragedy, Boulder's promise. And an oral history of SFF '26.
Note to readers: This is my second annual two-part series on Sundance. Yes, I know the news cycle has moved on, but Substack isn’t the news cyc...
Penny Lane: 'My long game is 10,000 fans'
THE BACKSTORY
Penny Lane burst onto the documentary scene in 2012, right as the golden age of big-budgeted documentaries started to kick into high gear. Her filmography includes Our Nixon (2013/Cinedigm), Nuts! (2016/self-distributed),...
How a director convinced a husband, wife, and mistress to all go on camera, twice
Please watch my interview with Elizabeth Lo to get a deep dive into her new film “Mistress Dispeller”
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Making a documentary following a cheating husband, an angry wife, and the husband’s girlfriend in real time seems implausible. Wha...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Independent documentary producer. Spent 11 years at NYT making docs: 250+ NYT Op-Docs, 5 feature films, and 2 tv series. Won 4 Emmys, got 3 Oscar noms, had films at Sundance etc. Adjusting to this new chapter and learning to love it (er make $)?!
Quiet girl in a loud dress. Artist & filmmaker. Feature #10 is ALL RIVERS SPILL... I make wry films with melancholic joy, and find inventive ways to connect them with audiences. Your Fat Friend, Seahorse, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch & more!
Making art and making a living in documentary film. I've directed 8 feature docs including LISTENING TO KENNY G, CONFESSIONS OF A GOOD SAMARITAN, HAIL SATAN?, NUTS! and OUR NIXON. I choose to LOL. I am also a sought-after consultant and educator.
Director of Oscar-shortlisted film MISTRESS DISPELLER and NYT Critics’ Pick STRAY
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