What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Leo Berkeley wrote, directed, produced and is the sole performer in the film “Dark Matter,” a brilliant film that will forever be the first to film to ever win awards at Film Invasion Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, and Film Invasion Lima in succession.

I was thrilled to chat with Leo, who was zooming in all the way from Australia, and follow up with the 4 Questions!

You can see much of Leo’s work by visiting LeoBerkeley.com
I highly recommend ALL OF IT!

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

May the 4th be with you, Listeners!

Leo Berkeley wrote, directed, produced and is the sole performer in the film “Dark Matter,” a brilliant film that will forever be the first to film to ever win awards at Film Invasion Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, and Film Invasion Lima in succession. (I don’t get to say, “During a single calendar year,” because SOFF was held in December 2025 and FI-Lima was held in January, 2026.)                                                            Needless to say, Leo’s film has won more awards than I have time to list here!

Leo is a filmmaker and a retired academic, who has looked at interesting ways to combine these two roles.                                                                                                                                                                               He has had a 40- year career as an independent filmmaker and, before retiring in 2018, he taught and researched in film, television and video production at RMIT University in Melbourne for 20 years.

You can see much of Leo’s work by visiting LeoBerkeley.com
I highly recommend ALL OF IT!

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Cassie Keet directed the feature film, “Abigail Before Beatrice,” that was in Sherman Oaks Film Festival 2025 and took home the Best In Fest award, the Grand Jury award for Best Lead Performer – Feature Film (Olivia Taylor Dudley, the Grand Jury award for Best Supporting Performer – Feature Film (Shayn Herndon), AND the Grand Jury award for Best Cinematography – Feature Film (William Tanner Sampson).

Clearly this film inspired a lot of people in our festival and I had to know what types of films inspire her! To the 4 Questions!

Follow the film on Instagram at @abigailbeforebeatrice

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

Happy Wednesday, Listeners!

Cassie Keet came onto the podcast to talk about her feature film, “Abigail Before Beatrice,” that took home the Best In Fest award at Sherman Oaks Film Festival 2025!                                                                             Not only that, the film’s lead, Olivia Taylor Dudley, took home the Grand Jury award for Best Lead Performer – Feature Film.                                                                                                                                                   Not only that, but Shayn Herndon won the Grand Jury award for Best Supporting Performer – Feature Film.                                                                                                                                                                             Not only that, but William Tanner Sampson won the Grand Jury award for Best Cinematography – Feature Film.                                                                                                                                                                  Needless to say, you need to see this film when you get the opportunity. (Cassie will keep us updated when there’s a link to stream it.)

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this conversation half as much as I did. Cassie is the Best!

Follow the film on Instagram at @abigailbeforebeatrice
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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

Welcome to Darren Coyle’s third appearance on the DIF Podcast!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Darren has had three films as well as a screenplay be Official Selections at Sherman Oaks Film Festival, starting in 2018 with “Chasing Sunshine” and continuing in 2025 when his short comedy, “Devil’s Dilemma” screened at SOFF 2025!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In fact, “Devil’s Dilemma” took home the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Originality – Short Film – Comedy at last year’s festival.

At this point having Darren on the podcast feels like a visit from an old friend. I hope you enjoy it!

Visit Darren’s website at darrencoyle.com
Follow Darren on Instagram at @darren_w_coyle

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film