The Modern Filmmaker

What Unfinished Work Does to the Soul - FilmStack Challenge - Day #119

Watch now | A filmmaker’s personal essay reckoning with fear, loss, and the courage to finish

Dec 14 • Mike Rekola

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The Week in Frame — vol. 01: Grief, Greenlights, and Building a Drive-In

This week in frame covers the pivot to micro-budget filmmaking, the launch of a production log, and early steps toward creating a community drive-in.

Dec 11 • Mike Rekola

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Drive-In Dispatch - Day 001: A teaser

Watch now (2 mins) | A build update on launching a micro drive-in movie theatre while documenting the process in real time.

Dec 10 • Mike Rekola

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Production Log #001: Kickstarting the process.

A production log on launching a micro-budget prestige ensemble film, confronting avoidance, and finally committing to the process in real time.

Dec 10 • Mike Rekola

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I can't bury my Grandmother until I make this film-- and it's been five years.

A personal essay on grief, fear, and reimagining a stalled film not as a business gamble—but as an act of healing, truth, and closure. From an 8°…

Dec 9 • Mike Rekola

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November 2025

In filmmaking, this is what failure looks like...

A personal essay on eight years of failure, fatherhood at midnight, and why the pain that breaks you can also be the pain that changes everything.

Nov 18 • Mike Rekola

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September 2024

The Modern Filmmaker's On Set Filmmaking Dictionary

The Modern Filmmaker's On Set Filmmaking Dictionary is the ultimate resource for filmmakers of all ages and skill levels. Full of updated filmmaking…

Sep 10, 2024

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February 2023

2023 - Animated TV Pilot "the Nouners"

Art Log #23.01: A Web3-native animated experiment in community, identity, and meaning.

Feb 16, 2023 • Mike Rekola

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May 2020

2020 - Photography on 35mm Film "the Covid Stills"

Art Log #20.01: 35mm film photographs of an empty National Mall during the first weeks of the COVID-19 shutdown, capturing absence, silence, and civic…

May 8, 2020 • Mike Rekola

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May 2004

2004 - Oil on Canvas [Reproduction] Marc Chagall's "I and the Village"

Art Log #04.01: A 6-foot collaborative oil reproduction of Marc Chagall’s I and the Village, exploring identity, place, and the bond between self and…

May 14, 2004 • Mike Rekola

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