CINEMA VERSES with Ari Gold
I’m a filmmaker whose new “live cinema” film is EP’ed by Francis Ford Coppola, and my films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Telluride. I always felt that mentorship is a lost art, which is why I keep looking for guidance - and why, on this Substack, I’ve decided to do my best to share what I’m learning - mistakes and all.
I thought it could be helpful to pull back the curtain on my vision of film (and poetry and music!). I share blueprints and breakthroughs from the trenches of live cinema.
Filmmaking from the inside out.
Who I am:
I make films & music with an emphasis on radical self-expression.
My new one-shot improvised musical Brother Verses Brother is Executive Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from its festival run, and stars my brother, my father, and me. It will come out in 2026.
My following film, Helicopter, is a documentary about my mother’s death, re-imagined as a psychomagic ritual for Alejandro Jodorowsky. Festival premiere will be in late 2026.
More stats in case you care about such things: I’ve won a Student Oscar, a Guinness World Record for air-drumming, and the High Times Magazine Stoner of the Year award (even though I don’t smoke…). I also made made the air-drum comedy Adventures of Power with Michael McKean & Jane Lynch, and the vintange-jazz musical drama The Song of Sway Lake with Robert Sheehan & Rory Culkin.
Why Subscribe?
Join my 9,000 subscribers in one of Substack’s top-ranked film communities, and get:
Masterclasses: Real-world lessons on how to make locations breathe, and finding the universal through the specific.
Blueprints: Insider tips on securing massive locations for cheap and navigating the slowness of the industry.
The Experiment: Follow the journey of my latest project, Brother Verses Brother, and see how to scale intimate stories into cinematic experiences.
Puns: Sorry, I have an addiction. I need to be sent to a punitentiary.
Paid subscribers get links to all my previous movies, and help me stay hopeful!
Start here with my short essays :
Coppola & the Street as Stage • Werner Herzog’s “Do the Doable” • Jodorowsky & my holy mountain
Or here for my previous films :
Shorts & Videos • The Song of Sway Lake • Adventures Of Power
PS - You can see the seeds of my current process in my first “live cinema” experiment - the sixty-second one-shot film Culture—which won the Best Film at SXSW. Here it is, enjoy!…
