As many of you know by now, 2016 was a flagship year for the No Film School Podcast. As of yesterday, we have produced, recorded, edited, and released a staggering 70 episodes of the podcast. This includes 41 installments of our weekly news series Indie Film Weekly recorded right here in our studio in Brooklyn and 27 interview podcasts produced on the road from festivals like Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, and NYFF. As part of our interview coverage, we sat down with everyone from the screenwriter of Se7en to all five directors of the critically lauded collective: unconscious. 

Of course, none of this would have been possible without all of you listeners. Each episode averages around 6,000 listens (our most successful hit 12k) and in total, we have over 400,000 plays. A special shout out to our 2,000 weekly listeners subscribed to the Soundcloud Feed and many more who have opted to get our episodes straight from the Apple Store or Google Play every week. We have earned our place in the Top 10 TV & Film on iTunes and have earned a spot on top of the Google Play podcast charts. 

We want to make this podcast the best as it can possibly be. Feel free to give us feedback, and be sure and tune in next year as we continue to increase our coverage (and even start up a few new shows).

Here are six of our favorite episodes from a solid year.

1. Going Guerrilla: How to Successfully Shoot Documentary Abroad

"What makes a guerrilla film shoot guerrilla? Sure, there are the circumstances that surround the act itself; limited resources, communication breakdowns, language barriers, nowhere to get a sandwich, not to mention the personal, emotional and creative risks attached. The most important ingredient, however, is one that is almost entirely paradoxical to the word guerrilla itself: sensitivity. It's the delicacy with which you navigate these obstacles—to fulfill the responsibility you owe to your film's subjects—that makes a successful venture." —Jon Fusco

2. The Mysteries of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab

"Honestly, I was worried about doing this episode — is the lab better off as a complete mystery? Am I revealing some sort of trade secret by doing this podcast? But ultimately, listening to our conversation, I realized that the lab experience itself is sui generis; it really can't be replicated." —Ryan Koo

3. Alice Rohrwacher on Why You Have to Go into the Void to Make Good Movies

"Growing up in the Tuscan countryside, Rohrwacher never saw a moving image until she was an adult. She faked her way into directing and shooting her first feature film, having never stepped foot on a film set. We spoke during her Film Society residency, and discussed how she pulled that off, boredom's role in producing creativity, and why we need to go into the void to be great filmmakers." —Emily Buder

4. Nailing the Insanely Competitive Art of Short Filmmaking with Bernardo Britto and Bérénice Eveno

"We tend to think of short films as easier to make than features, but the world of short filmmaking is more like the Wild West. Not only are there more filmmakers in the game, but with a short, there’s basically no room for error if something doesn’t work." —Oakley Anderson-Moore

5. Inside the Minds of Film's Coolest Gatekeepers (& How to Get Yours Programmed)

"We talk about what they look for in films to screen, how filmmakers can get our work out to appreciative audiences, and what it takes to create successful film events in Brooklyn—an area with an oversaturated but discriminating audience that has the potential to worldwide moviegoing trends." —Liz Nord

6. How Directors Joe Wright and Owen Harris Built the Dystopian Worlds of 'Black Mirror'

"What is it like to be part of a perfect production? From the beautifully conceived scripts to working with an impeccably matched distributor, the process as Mr. Wright put it, was 'like butter.'" —Jon Fusco

See all of our 2016 Year-in-Review coverage.